Time for a couple of back-row cast offs, courtesy of a local dealership. It’s getting so that even the old trade-ins at local dealerships are nothing more interesting than mid-’90s Camrys and Tauruses, but this pair was enough for me to get out of the car.
The 318ti was a short-lived U.S. version of the E36 Compact. The Compact came out in 1993 in Europe and was quite successful. So successful, in fact that it came to the States for the 1995 model year. I remember seeing them at the ’95 Chicago Auto Show. That, along with the Dakar Yellow M3 and 1st gen Z3, are my best memories of ’90s BMWs.
But while the Z3 and E36 M3 were resounding successes, the 318ti fell flat. For most Americans, “hatchback” spelled “cheap,” and that meant little interest in the littlest BMW, despite a rather attractive MSRP. All U.S. imports got the 138-hp 1.8L inline four in 1995; the “M44” 1.9L DOHC unit replaced it in 1996 and was shared with the inaugural Z3.
The ti lasted only to 1999, disappearing with the introduction of the E46 3-Series. An E46 Compact was built and sold well in its home market, but we never got it, due to the dismal failure of the E36 version.
The E46 Compact was ultimately replaced by the 1-Series, which we DID get, and still remains available today. Due, I’m sure, in no small part to its three-box styling with a trunk, not a hatchback. This somewhat neglected ti with “DO NOT DRIVE” lettered on its windshield is the first one I’ve seen in years. Looks like it could be put to rights with little trouble, though.
Moving on, we have this Lexus SC coupe. This V8 400 and its inline six-powered 300 sibling were very classy luxury coupes when introduced in 1992, and, for what it’s worth, was Motor Trend’s 1992 Import Car of the Year. They looked good, and along with the Lincoln Mark VIII and redone Acura Legend coupe, made for some fine-looking sport/lux coupes in the early Nineties. Pity that this one’s been customized by some myopic previous owner.
The wheels actually aren’t bad, and I like the pearl-white paint, but that body kit says “I have poor taste, fellow motorists!” Are those tumescent sills on the rocker panels flotation devices, in case you drive into a lake?
Here’s a nice stock version, for comparison’s sake. Better, yes? These look especially nice in midnight blue or black cherry paint.
At least you can’t see what’s been done to it from the inside, though the leather has seen better days. Provided it hasn’t been neglected too much mechanically, the 256-hp 4.0L V8 could provide some fun on the road, as long as you can keep the thirsty mill in premium unleaded.
The back seat was near mint, but the legroom is a bit lacking…so which one of these cars would you take home? They both have needs, and their merits. Take your pick!
This V8 400 and its V6-powered 300 sibling were very classy luxury coupes when introduced in 1992
Psssssssssssssssss it had an I6 in the SC300… Legendary Supra mill.
Give me the Lexus, don’t need BMW headaches.
That tells you how much I know about Lexuses 🙂
Will fix.
Toyota Soarer actually its only a Lexus in America
“That tells you how much I know about Lexuses”
Uh…is it Lexii?
Or…maybe I’m dysLexic.
That might indeed be the proper term, but I really don’t like it. Hence, “Lexuses.” Or, a “herd of Lexus” if you prefer 🙂
What’s the collective for Lexii?
If you can have a murder of crows; or an absence of waiters (modern invention)…then, a repo of Lexii? Crash of Lexii?
(I can’t bring myself to say “Lexises.”)
My sister bought a 2003 745i with less than 50,000 miles for $19,000 a couple of years ago. It’s a great tourer and has been reliable up until last week when it required a new alternator and battery. Cost for replacement at a genuine BMW dealer? Try $2700, which included a 30 mile tow.
I got quite good at changing out alternators on my fleet of three 88-89 Olds 98s. Could do it in less than 15 minutes, even on the road. Rebuilt alternators from AutoZone or NAPA were about $105 with core. A lifetime NAPA alternator was $135. My guess is that BMW dealers assume that you wouldn’t feel that you had had a “true” BMW experience unless you had taken it up the old wazoo.
I want to bye it
I see 318ti’s here and there in LA, because LA is crawling with BMWs of every stripe, and they don’t rust here…I’ve pondered getting one as a fun commuter vehicle/third car. (But then there are the “BMW headaches” as Dan puts it.)
Uhh… Can I have the Mustang next to the SC?
Sure, why not 🙂
Yay!
For a number of reasons, despite a color combo that I do not like, I’d take the Mustang by a mile. The #1 reason, the fact that is a convertible.
I’ll have the Lexus in case I’m mistaken for a drug dealer!
One of my customers owned a 318ti new and when I saw it I asked him what happened to the rest of his car. The proportions on it are really awkward.
no more awkward than the original Honda Accord Hatchback, which the ‘ti’ looks a lot like.
I would take the Mustang over either. The BMW yea too expensive Civic Si hatch version. BMW best as a 4 door sedan only or convertible.
The SC coupe be an expensive nightmare when it ages. A friend of mine has a 95 SC400 and everything is outrageous and no room to get to anything plus 95 pre OBDII can’t tell what all the lights mean.
Yet there will be people that would buy either of these and try to gain respect from other by trying to live vicariously off the fumes of an aging older version of a premium car.
An acquaintance of mine has a 318ti… into which he stuffed an M3 engine! (And removed the a/c, installed a roll-cage, etc.) Fierce little vehicle.
Sweet. But sounds hairy, since (disclaimer: never driven one of these) I recall the Compacts have the semi-trailing-arm rear suspension from the E30, not the multilink setup of the other E36s. Wouldn’t want to try M3 speeds in that on an unfamiliar road…
Customizers must expect to own their cars for a long time, for I wonder what it does to resale value if it’s idiosyncratic in any way. For example, there’s a B14 Sentra here done completely in Green Bay Packers livery, including logo & stripe across the trunk, roof, & hood. I have to wonder what his residence looks like inside.
A premium-fuel requirement is a deal-breaker for me. Incidentally there’s a filling station which sells 100 octane racing fuel (something like $7/gal last time I checked). Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s on the road to Tucson’s fairground drag strip.
I have a 318ti but I also have a hatchback fetish. Life is not always about ‘power and speed’, sometimes quality and precision handling are sufficient. Mine is a 1997 and a bit service intensive, but that is normal for German/European cars. I love working on it. The previous owner didn’t do regular maintenance, So I am doing the required services.
I have just about completed the restoration, car is now nearly finished and in excellent nick. I could have a new BMW if I wanted, but I do not, I could have a M3 if it moved me, maybe I am just too old to ‘need speed’.
Perhaps having something rare and overlooked is more fun. Even in my local BMWCCA chapter, it’s the only 318ti. Daring to be different is sometimes a good thing.
Love the wheels and color combo on your Compact–very sharp.
Thanks Tom
I just noticed your car has the electric Webasto roof as well. That’s got to be rare!
actually the rarest ‘ti’ are the few with no sunroof or ‘Open-Air Folding’ top… They did make 330k ti’s (worldwide) with only 82k making it to the USA. Probably 3/4s of those have sunroofs about 16k have the folding top, so there maybe less than 5000 without either open top, here in USA…
For comparison, only 72k e36 M3s in coupe, sedan or convertibles were made. Not counting the ‘re-badged’ other e36s trying to pass as M3s!
there are quite a few ‘ti’s’ still around – checkout 318ti.org
It sure aint but thinking that this bucket handles is unrealistic they dont, I test flew several small BMWs and came away very underwhelmed they lack the cornering precision of my Xsara in spades but keep drinking the koolaide
KiwiBryce was the one you tried in perfect nick? Did the ones you tried have their Ball Joints, bushings & a new power steering fluid reservoir with fresh PS fluid and have staggered 17″ rims wearing Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires?
Or was it wearing mismatched 15″ Olde Shite tires with no proper maintenance to speak of? I remember driving my car last year with its terrible 15″ Toyos – before I serviced it, it wasn’t any fun, though it sure is now. And I don’t drink awful sugared water, thank you very much!
Citroën’s haven’t been sold in the USA since the late 1970’s, so alas, we have never been able to sample a Xsara. I do know of the French cars wonderful reputation for handling however.
Stock as a rock and tidy and about 200k from memory it had a recent Warrant of fitness so that means the suspension and steering were with in tolerance, I was quite disappointed in it I was going to replace my Amon Corona with it but no way, The 306 Pug I tried twe week before held the road like glue and by hold the road I mean at town speed 50kmh you can turn a rightangle corner by just steering my Xsara is an upgraded Peugeot 306 widely reguarded aqs THE best handling hatch of the 90s The Xsara went on to become the most successful WRC car ever its the one that put Subaru out of rallying. The suspension of the Xsara is an ultimate version of the system that allowed underpowered Citroen BXs .(240hp) to beat BMW M3s on race tracks by cornering underneath them. I realise compared to most of the cars sold in the US the BMW is pretty good but it aint that great and never was sorry.
Whatever about Koo-laid, you need to ease off the drugs………
IMO the 3-series should’ve been all-hatchback, all the time from Day 1; when the 318ti came out I paraphrased the saying about the VW 411 – “3 doors, 18 years late”.
You know you are an older car enthusiast when you habitually check out the trade in row of the back 40 of dealerships you visit. I do it all the time myself.
From a ‘soul’ and fun to drive factor I’d take the Roundel knowing it would be a love-hate relationship of German car ownership: You love driving it, you hate wrenching on it or paying the repair bills. I have more respect from someone who keeps something older going vs. getting the lease du-jour base BMW or Audi.
For being customized the Lexus does not look half bad, it doesn’t have the fart cannon exhaust, busy front clip, giant rims with no profile rubber bands and/or 3ft high spoiler that are the calling cards of most tuned cars.
Like this?
It looks like more of an anti-spoiler — it increases drag, instead of reducing it. (Maybe it has a speed governor attached to it.)
When Mercedes fitted one of those in the 50s it was for braking as usual german tech trailing the world, Jags had brakes Mercs didnt
The Jaguar may have had disc brakes but they were rather crap and disappeared within a few laps. The Mercedes brakes worked and it beat the Jag virtually every time they competed.
Thanks, I do like my car! The ‘ti’ was offered with the 2.3ltr six in Europe, but being nine inches shorter and 350 pounds lighter made it faster than its ‘bigger’ brothers, so it wasn’t offered in the USA. Plenty of people put sixes in these cars. I am happy with the stock setup.
I do like handling with the rear using e30 swing axles with the standard e36 front suspension and the full 106.1 inch wheelbase. Some guys in my CCA chapter thought the ‘ti’ had a shorter wheelbase.
I really do like hatchbacks!
Has no one else clicked on the pic of the BMW to read that it says “do not drive per Josh” on the windshield. Strange that they would have it out on the sales lot, even the back row.
This is a tough choice, because I have little use for either. The automatic in the 318ti is not the thing to have with a torque-less motor. A friend’s little brother had an automatic 318is from that generation, and he asked me if BMWs were supposed to be slow. This car looks like a good shell though, and I have a friend who turned a $500 318ti automatic into a 5-speed, M50 powered daily driver for his wife. I don’t know that he’d go through the bother for me though.
Back in 1996-1997, I drove a Lexus SC400. It was metallic black on silver basket weave factory wheels. I was completely immersed in the BMW cult at the time, so I hated it. The suspension was underdamped, the tires were greasy and short lived, a comfortable driving position eluded me, and I got 8 to 12 mpg. It was a company car, so I wasn’t paying for gas, but I was living in Palm Beach at a time when everyone had a story about their neighbor getting their head blown off at a gas station. Stopping for gas every 150 miles wasn’t something I wanted to do. The Lexus SC400 was exactly what the car jackers wanted. I couldn’t park it, or stop at a traffic signal, anywhere on the mainland without getting approached by people I didn’t want to meet. I’m guessing nobody cares about them anymore, but the modifications to this one imply that one of those aspiring Lexus drivers got to live their dream.
Thats interesting I drive a Citroen Xsara and thats how I felt getting out of a BMW 320 average, power poor turn in, uncomfortable. BMWs make great lawn ornaments around here dead ones are everywhere.
No doubt. Driving a Citroen after a BMW has to be like living in a world without women.
You people need to look aroud occasionally I watched the Worlds fastest road cars being raced for 12 hours around Bathurst recently at the front was an AMG Merc NO BMWs in the lead bunch too slow. The much vaunted M3 when it was the European touring car champ was beaten by a BX Citroen on a race track. The M3 arrived in OZ to much fanfare and it was raced with much success against other 2L cars against Aussie Holdens on tracks it failed miserably too under powered and since you all think I’m lieing look up the Chickadee Commodore that ran at the Spa 24hr , those are the cars that blew the3 doors off M3s on tracks. The late great Peter Brock Aussie touring car legend tried the M3 after losing his ride with Holden and declared it a good class racing car but not a commpetitive touring car. Have you seen BMW enter the WRC no neither have I thats where real handling is seen. Ive had all manner of BMW pilots try to overtake me and when the corners begin the mirror goes clear it may be the drivers but are they all that bad they cant follow a diesel Citroen at the speed limit thru a series of corners. No it falls back on a successful advertising campaignon a very ordinary car. Oh and the fastest sedan available in Europe during the initial M3 era, an English Vauxhall Carlton Lotus Elite not the dunger from bavaria
I remember Bathurst ’87,, wasn;t that the race where Jim Richards in his little 2.3 M3 in its first Bathurst drove around Peter Brock in his 5.0 Commodore ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nuRgzaJ-q8
By the way, the Lotus built Carlton with the chocolate engine was over twice the price of an E30 M3 so I should hope it would be faster !
I think I would have to go with the BMW. It looks straight and appears to be stock. I have to admit that I love the driving dynamics of the 3 series, so I do have a bias (besides, I’m a sucker for the blue with grey interior). The “do not drive is troublesome”, so the price would have to be very, very right. It’s also an automatic. The thing with these is that they are nearly the last BMWs that are easy for a DIY’er to work on. There’s excellent enthusiast support on the net, and this one is old enough for there to be plenty of parts cars sitting in the pick and pulls.
BTW, I bet the front seats on the BMW are also trashed. Note the cheap seat cover on the passenger side and the cheezy steering wheel cover.
BMWs of all models are cheap and nasty they do not make good used cars and values fall like rain you can buy a 7 series V12 here for 3k cost 230k new but the repair costs will kill you like most german cars the reliability only lasts as long as your wallet can support it.
Wounder what ” do not drive” means? If that was not so clear I would take the 318 if it was atainable at a decent price. My inner teenager says that it could be just what I want to have just for the handling and to hoon the tar out of it until it blows and do somthing scarry with its carcass. Same goes for the Lex but it already has a V-8 so maybe if Teen me chose it he could get some cheap huge chinese turbos a intercooler make some manifolds and slap together a real time bomb. And again hoon it untill it spits parts and send it on its way.
Regular old me says take the Lexus enen with the pontoon sills the bumper cover looks decent enough and at least its in one piece and one color and clean it up and change the fluides and drive it. If it can be bought cheap enough could make a decent lux o beater.
“Wonder what ” do not drive” means?”
I’m going to take a guess, and say that the missing grille may provide a hint that there is other damage lurking within. (Perhaps the radiator behind it was damaged in a collision, for example.)
The automatic in the BMW makes for an easy choice: “Nein!”
When I see body kits, I think of hooning. And I would be inclined to avoid buying a used hoonmobile of any sort.
Id rather walk
I’m with you man. Blecch.
Take one of these and call me in the morning…
Who-hoo! 😛
Thanks man!
Back in around 1994, I saw a TV commercial (maybe an infomercial) about pre owned certified Lexus’s. A number was given for brochures and information. I called the number and was told I would receive the desired information within a few days. Lo and behold, I never received the desired package. (Does anyone remember seeing the same on TV?) Similarly, when the new Riviera came out in the 90’s, I received a very elaborate package which included even a VCR tape. Same thing with the Olds Aurora, just the sales presentation helped put Olds into bankruptcy. Soon afterward, I bought a 2 year old certified Deville sedan.
Looking at all the brochures and stuff, I felt if you were going to spend Cadillac money, it better say Cadillac.
DO NOT drive means its a normal BMW with a toasted transmission thousands of these awful heaps came here ex Japan worth nothing here and getting cheaper. I like the Toyota Soarer nice cars but yep they get riced
Since the Mustang is spoken and the Volvo is, I presume, Tom’s and not for sale… I’d be checking for a manual shift knob in the blue Focus particularly if, as I suspect, it’s a ZX5.
I’d take the aforementioned Acura Legend coupe. As great as the 2nd gen sedan looked, the coupe’s shape was even better. It oozed pure sexiness. Not to mention the heavily bolstered, plush leather seats and real walnut wood trim on the inside. Good luck finding one with under 200,000 miles on it though.
Probably the best choice those Honda Legends were well made and didnt give trouble until everything goes out at once, then you walk away. I got offered one that kept flattening batteries, yeah no thanks Honda electrical problems are legendary did you really think the Rover version had the only faults no they just take longer to show up on the Jap version.
I had one of these back about 10 years ago. I absolutely loved it, although all of my friends gave my heaps for owning an old man’s car! I was 21 at the time. I just loved the amount of space it had, for a 2dr coupe it was VERY practical. The trunk was cavernous, and there was plenty of room in the back.
I had it for about 3 years, and it was mostly OK, except for a couple of suspension ball joints failing, and the AC compressor failing.
Went well, and was a great cruiser for long distance trips.
I’ll take the Gremlin…err 318i while regretting not getting the Mustang.
Despite my love for big coupes, the Lexus SCs never did anything for me. The front and rear end styling is too generic and busy, while the sides are very plain. It doesn’t proclaim it’s luxury like the LS400 or the competing Mark VIII does, it’s looks put it more in the class of a Prelude or a Thunderbird. Plus, with hindsight, it looks a lot like big ZX2.
Both of these say financial heartbreak to me. Both are old enough and the type of car that scream ” deferred maintenance “. Remember however much you pay buy these, it really only a deposit… I think I’ll take the bus!
Auto trans on the 318ti makes that a no-go, easy choice. A friend of mine had a 318i convertible with stick for a while, and it was pretty fun to drive. Really solid, hefty steering (new BMWs come nowhere close) and nice, progressive brakes. But the Four felt weak (the convertible’s heavier I’m sure) and made a nasty ‘zizz’ vs the DOHC music you’d get from, say, an Integra or Prelude. Love the looks of those 318 Compacts though.
Still, I wish that SC was an SC300 with the manual. A Supra in a suit, that is one sweet car.
A Supra with or without the grenading head gaskets?
I’ve never owned a Supra or SC, so can’t speak to that one. But the friend with the 318i ragtop seemed to be shelling out a grand or so every few months for things like cracked interior panels and electrics going on the fritz, and I sure didn’t envy that.
The JZ is mostly pretty good in the head gasket area, it was the earlier 7M that was the real head-gasket eater.
The SC400 and SC300 was USA market only. Because we are RHD countries, Australia and New Zealand got the Japan Soarer versions (grey imports only) mostly between 1999-2001. Here’s my very rare “special order” non-EMV UZZ31 V8 Soarer. Lives in Sydney. http://soarerrestorer.wix.com/soarerrestorers#!faq/c1npp