1990 BMW 3 Series 318i from UK and Ireland - Comments

Power steering noisy, maybe fluid issue.

Whole exhaust changed, rust holes etc.

The temperature needle goes above middle in heavy traffic, but normalises soon after.

A solid motor. Doesn't handle very well, but is quite nippy, especially with kick-down!

I bought it with genuinely low mileage and it does feel like a late model car. It is extremely reliable, has never let me down.

The Cabin is defitely gloomy, but the bmw red/orange dash light does it for me!

An E30 BMW that doesn't handle well?? That is a very rare thing indeed.

I've owned two of these cars and if it doesn't handle well there is something wrong with the suspension.

Actually the E30 were not that great handling-wise, unless you are fan of the snappy oversteer, which could be easily had at least on slippery greek roads. That was particularly true for early 4 cylinder 316 and 318i's (say between 1984 and 1987) - for which the rear anti roll bar was an option (at least in some south european markets). Obviously, we are talking standard unmodified cars here, not the M3 or the various "iS" upgrades. In comparison, its successor the E36 was a far superior allround package with just the right amount of oversteer at the limit to make the car agile without risking too much in terms of safety.

Interestingly enough, the rear suspension (independent set up, oblique wishbones) survived in the first 3 series compact, but the car was far more stable than the E 30, which proved the how valuable the fine tuning of a given set up really is.

The guy above who says the e30 318 does not handle well is way off-base. This is the best-handling car I've ever driven (mine is a 91 318 sedan with 5-speed transmission). The car has its faults (noisy, hot) but you can't beat the handling.