All-around solid car with minor quirks.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Smooth and torquey engine, solid handling and dependability.

Cons: Few minor repairs as expected with all cars.

Handling And Control:

The Bottom Line: 
A solid, all-around car with a smooth engine, proven dependability and a joy to drive fast or slow.

Author's Review
I bought a 1998 BMW 328i approximately one year ago and have had pretty good luck so far. When I bought the car it had about 65k miles on it and I paid about $14k for it. To date I have had a few minor problems with the car but have been able to fix them myself (I like to do my own repairs and know a moderate amount about cars) without too much trouble. I drive my car for business which includes long trips (5hrs) as well short trips (45min). I generally drive about 30k miles per year. Overall the car has been a great car and impressive in a few areas.

ENGINE:
The car comes stock with a 2.8 liter, inline 6 cylinder engine that rates about 190hp and 210 foot pounds of torque. The car is on the E36 body/chassis, as are all 328i’s 1996-1998. The engine is smooth and provides great power even at lower RPMs, due to the prevalence of torque. It also has smooth shifting and effortless starts (manual). If you have a heavy foot the car will promptly respond and put you in your seat, especially at about 5000RPM (peak hp is about 5600RPM). I also own several muscle cars and this car can hold it’s own during acceleration.

HANDLING:
The handling is far superior that my muscle cars as expected and is pretty well-rounded. There is a bit more body roll than I expected during high speed turns, but the car somehow seems to stay stuck to the road. Regular city driving has a nice balance between being smooth and being able to feel the road. Freeway driving is smooth.

INTERIOR:
The interior is sufficient, but I would not rate is as extremely elegant. The leather is nice but the dashboard is rather bland for a BMW. The driver’s cluster gauge is black and my interior is tan, so it is a strange contrast. There are a few wood accents, but nothing that exciting. The seats are reasonably comfortable and passengers of different sizes have all reported that the comfort of the seats was above average.


PROBLEMS TO DATE:
The first problem I had was that the onboard computer would sporadically indicate that there was a brake light failure or there was a brake light circuit problem (about 70k miles on the car at that point). After a bit of research on the internet and a bit of electrical testing I was able to figure out that the housing of the brake light (in the trunk) was not making a good contact. Since it was not making a good contact it caused failure of the brake light switch (attached to the top of the brake pedal). The switch was about $25 and the housings were about $8 each (two of them). Since replacing these I have not had the problem reoccur.

The second problem was with the shifter (manual). The car was not shifting as smoothly as I would have liked…first gear was a bit difficult to find sometimes. This problem was remedied by installing a new shift kit which cost about $85 and an 1.5 hours of my time.

Other than that all I have had to do is change the oil and put gas in it. Speaking of gas, I was very impressed with the gas mileage on the car, depending on how I drove. I have been able to get as high as 39 miles per gallon on the freeway, as long as I keep a diligent eye on the instant gas mileage gauge.

Overall I would recommend this car to just about anyone. It is sporty enough to satisfy most car enthusiasts, and at the same time is appealing for people that do not know much about cars. To date is has been comfortable, reliable and fun to drive. I would definitely recommend this car to a friend or family member.