Hi Dave

finaly you get a proper motor again...

e36 328 is certainly an option there are some b2.5's going around in the uk at the mo and a cheaky offer might get you one of those for your budget e34 or e39 might be an option too however if you are concerened with go fast than only 525's 535's or a 540 will fit the bill all can be had for your sort of cash 540 manuals however are as rare as rocking horse pooh as you probably know.

HTH

Chris

'93 or '94 320i or better again 325i.  The 323i's and 328i's for your budget will all have nikasil engines and plenty of miles.  Might be fine but unless you know the car there is a bit of risk. 

'93 and '94 320i and 325i have single vanos M50 engines there are plenty to be had in the UK (although nice ones are fairly scarce here).

The 325i has the same power output as the 328i.  Having had both vanos and no vanos 325i the vanos is noticably torquier and good to have.  The M50 engine is fairly bulletproof (assuming its not had any cooling issues).

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).

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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.

Ben O Brien wrote:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Just a quick practical note re. 323i - had to do a day trip to Norn Iron for a funeral today and took the 323i.  Mrs D brimmed it last night before I left and I brimmed it again on the way back after 377 miles.  It was a long fast run so was impressed to find the MPG calculated to 35.21mpg. 

This car feels noticably torquier and lively than my 523i with the same engine and it gets a few more mpg.  Obviously the 5 has a slight weight penalty over the 3 but not by that much.  Happy with that.

You know it makes sense:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=912301 - http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car& carID=912301

Sorry - couldn't resist, I know it doesn't meet your requirements in any way(except for being a BMW), but wouldn't it be worth it when you went out and fired it up each morning...

Seriously though, as mentioned above a good 328i sounds like the best bet, as long as you can stretch to the tax and insurance costs.