Faults:

Headliner unraveling slowly.

Door cards, see above.

Tensioner started to scream replaced.

Wheel bearing drivers rear loose, so re-tightened twice!

Front Ball joints for WOF.

Handbrake shoes replaced.

First to second gear when cold getting worse.

General Comments:

Awesome car, glad I bought it. Powerful, torquey, smooth, makes all the right sounds, drivetrain refinement is awesome. Auto is good, apart from that first to second when it's cold, as a 5 speed and 2.93 rear, it lopes along at highway speeds. Mechanically hard to fault even though I have done a lot of maintenance.

Spark plugs, oil, oil filter, tensioner, waterpump, new coolant and flush, replaced auto fluids as well, ball joints were painful to replace, handbrakes shoes replaced and adjusted, but it's worth it.

Nice car to maintain really, it's pretty straightforward mechanically. On board computer helps too.

A lot of upgrades available, which is great.

I have upgraded to 17" 2 piece rims and 225/45-17's, much better than the 16's (225-50) and previous to that the 15's (205-60)

I upgraded the entire sound system which is horrid to be honest, o.e speakers are proprietary items, do what you can, I got 6.5's in the front, no modifications required, 6.5's in the rear shelf and a 12" in the boot, Pioneer 3050usb headdeck, take ya time and because it is such a well made vehicle, the sound quality is very good in my opinion.

I had wooden trim, that's now gone, I got heated front seats and all leather, and I won't go back to cloth now if you paid me. It's decadent, yet simple. The fully electric seats do give you a sense of occasion. Mine has tinted windows which are awesome in the Summer. I have a coupe.

I re-gassed and checked the A.C, and it's hopeless by Japanese standards, but it's better than nothing in our Summers trust me, especially with leather all round.

I am going to do the headliner and door cards in the summer, and I am looking forward to doing it.

These cars are not for those who don't know much about cars, cause they will rob you blind. I have owned 15 plus cars, and I love my 328i coupe. It's not the fastest, but it ain't slow, it's a smooth performer that can pull up its sleeves if you need it to. Smooth auto, but I am going to do a manual conversion next year, cause I heard they are better fun still, but in push and pull traffic, the auto is the way to go.

Maintenance IS required on these, because if you don't the engines and transmissions are so expensive, you wish you did. If you blow your Corolla 1.6, replace it with a donor engine all in for $500.00. The same for my coupe is more like $3000.00, let's just say it's not worth doing, and you want your engine purring because that's a big factor in owning a 328i... the motor.

If you are seriously considering one, do so if you have a brother (my case) or close friend, who knows or who work on cars a d.i.y master. Join a BMW club. Budget for full insurance. Look around there are heaps out there in NZ at least.

I have driven all of the E36 class, and for the money the 328i is the one I reckon, 318i alright around town, but nah, not economical enough for the lack of performance and smoothness. 320i, smooth, but no guts, 325i better but still no 328i. If you've got the coin, get an M3, absolutely, but they are twice the price and the maintenance etc is roughly the same. You can get some serious tickets with a 328i I tell ya, M3 is not going to do you any favours.

My pick is a 328i, and get a motorsport if you can afford it, cause I didn't and I am slowly getting parts to get there, but that's just part of the journey, and it's awesome for now.

Faults:

Drop link bushings replaced.

Fan replaced due to a blade snapping.

Water pump replaced due to snapped impeller (caused by vibration from fan with missing blade, apparently).

Miles per gallon gauge doesn’t work.

I used a specialist for repairs. Much cheaper than the dealer.

General Comments:

I bought this car for £2000 in Jan 09’. It’s a 1995 328i coupe in red, or hellrot as BMW call it. It’s still in top condition for its age inside and out. It has half leather interior, but there’s not much in the way of extras.

It’s completely standard apart from a headlamp upgrade done by the previous owner. I was going to swap them back to original, but they look decent enough. It has the factory fitted MTEC kit on it so has the spoiler, the sports seats and sits a bit lower than the standard 3 series, as I am aware. The MTEC suspension isn’t what I was expecting, but still does the job nicely. I never got to drive it on a country road when I test drove it.

I bought the car with 15” wheels with 195 tyres. I didn’t feel that they coped very well with what I was asking from them, so I put a set of BMW 16” wheels with 225 tyres on and now it is much better.

Brakes probably need a proper service. They certainly aren’t dangerous but not as sharp as they could be.

It’s very well set out inside. Everything is in easy reach, all directed at the driver. You get a lot of feel through the steering, even though it’s pretty light. It tells you everything that’s going on, front and back, and gives plenty of warning before anything goes wrong - except in the wet. The tail can come loose very easily in the wet and if you’re not concentrating then be warned - it will remind you to stop day dreaming.

Dry handling is, as far as I am concerned, perfect. I like to be able to drive my cars fast (within reason) and this car can do it very well. It is very balanced. Grip from the Avons on the rear and Pirelli’s on the front help make for a good drive on a country road.

The car has a 2.8 litre inline 6 cylinder engine giving 193bhp. The engine is my favourite thing about the car. It makes a very nice sound at any rpm, and is happy to be thrashed but also comfortable just cruising around. It is the M52 version as there were no M50 2.8 engines made. The engine is a little underpowered for its size due to the smaller manifold that was fitted to the 328’s and 323’s, for whatever reason, I’m not really sure why. The manifold can be swapped for an earlier (larger) M50 manifold and then the engine remapped to suite. Which will usually allow the engine to produce 220 – 230bhp at around 6000rpm, instead of 193bhp at 5400rpm. Still, it has a healthy amount of power and lots of torque. It will still pull near to the manufactures claimed top speed, just a few mph short actually. Given enough road it may actually make 150mph, but I’m not planning on finding out.

Acceleration of the line is good considering the cars weight. It still shifts and will do 60mph in about 7 seconds. Manufacturer time is 6.6 seconds.

The car can give good MPG. It will return about 25MPG when running on 98ron fuel and 22MPG when running on 95ron. On a long run at around 70mph you can expect to achieve 35MPG, which is rather good. If you drive with a heavy foot then you can get from full to red within 200miles, so be warned.

If you are considering buying one then check if the car has had the block, or cylinder sleeves replaced as these cars have issues with their nikasil lining.

Check that the windows don’t creek when going up and down as that is a sign that they may need work doing in the near future.

Check that the suspension bushings are all in good order, they’re easy to spot if you know what you’re looking for.

Ask the seller if the car has a water pump with metal impellers instead of plastic ones. The plastic ones can snap and cause other complications.

And finally, don’t be concerned by the mileage as long as the car has a full service history and has been looked after in general. Age isn’t a major factor either. Check for rusting suspension parts and rusting arches.