€3,500 to spend, which Bimmer?

Daveco wrote: Good info, cheers Diarmuid. That black 328 is a stunner, it would have to be up in bloody Donegal.

That's probably why its been there for a while and why the price has been dropped since first advertized.

My view is to never pay the full asking price, so a bit of gentle haggling should be the order of the day, but I'd say its not unreasonable if a couple of hundred were knocked off.  Its an m-tech spec - half leather sports seats, etc. Its had the block done - which means that the service history was good enough for BMW to put its hand in its pocket or else the owner spent a lot of money on the job.  Assuming the history since then is reasonable then it should be a good punt.  The only thing that might impact on that is the timeline you expect to keep it for.  By that I mean that by buying from a dealer you are paying a margin that you probably wouldn't get back if you sold it privately soon after.

The only other e36 on Carzone that might tempt me otherwise would be the one below.  Its a 328i Sport and the NCT date would suggest the likelihood of it being post nikasil but that should be confirmed with BMW UK (its an import). 

There is another 328i coupe for euro7k but I suspect its one that I looked at a couple of years ago.  If so the its a nikasil car and I had a couple of niggling questions about its history.  The description on the ad (no tax or NCT) would suggest the provenance hasn't improved.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car& carID=821073

In cases like this the VRT calculator is a bit of an irrelevance.  The same calculator generates an OMSP for a same age, 65k mile e46 328i SE at euro2577, an e36 328i SE at euro2250 and an e36 328i Sport at euro9297.  If anyone can find me clean e36 or e46 328i SE's at this price I'll take two of each.  A better test is, what can you buy a similar car for in the UK and what that would gross up to on the road here after exchange rate and VRT is added.  Add in a few hundred for getting the car back from the UK and then compare that against the price.  Add in the peace of mind that you'll get by buying from a widely recommended specialist.  (I have no association with the seller!).

At this end of the market you buy firstly on condition, secondly on provenance and these guide the third factor, price.  As a general rule too (unless you are very mechanically capable), you get what you pay for.  Buy cheap and it'll cost you more in the long run. 

My last 325i was a great example.  It was a 1993 car, 1 owner from new car with a full main dealer history and 70k miles when I bought it.  Just over two years and 22k miles later it cost me the sum total of 2 main dealer services, a pair of rear M-tech shocks, a couple of ABS sensors, some tyres and about euro1500 in depreciation.  Total cost, excluding road tax, insurance and petrol - about euro35 per week.  If I was being really tight about it I could have saved a few quid by breaking the dealer history and cutting a few corners.  I could have spent a grand or two less up front but it wouldn't have taken long to put that back in to running repairs and maintenance of a neglected example - and there are loads of those.

Daveco wrote: Cheers Ben, would the fact that a new engine block was fitted not be  more of a negative point in this car?

Definitely not a negative.  Not all engines were affected but those affected were terminal.  BMW quietly spent a lot of money fixing these long after warranties ran out.  It basically means that the most major engine components are relatively new and therefore have lots more life left (block, pistons, con-rods - not sure about crankshaft).

M50's and non-nikasil M52 engines are probably as close to bomb proof that you can get in a BMW.

btw. noted your comments re. 4 doors but if a mint low mile (low 50's), full history, post nikasil e36 323i SE for a little less than the coupe is of any interest, let me know.

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Would these mods be spotted by the thieves in the NCT dept? What kind of extra hp and torque would you get?
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It Definitely wont be spotted by the NCT guys anyway thats for sure... The manifold is an Original BMW part and the throttle body is untouched on the exterior.

As for power, by fitting the 325i/525i manifold expect to restore the M52's power to the 192bhp the M50 had and then with the throttle body you might be looking at close to 200... they respond well to a remap too, at least the M50 does so you could be looking at 210ish for a finish. Quite a lively engine.

It might seem a bit expensive for the miles but the fact that its a nikasil car that has had a new block is the big selling point.

A big bore throttle body combined with an inlet manifold replacement (from non-vanos M50 engines iirc) is the easiest way to get some useful additional horses from an M52 engine.  I'm sure there are some folks on here that have done it (ahealey on a 523i iirc).