mad_machine wrote:
ddavidv wrote:
The 4cyl guys love to toss that "lighter for better handling" out there all the time but I truly think the six cylinder cars are plenty well balanced. The engine is just uber-sweet in both sound and performance. Having owned mine, I would never take a 318 now.
depends on the 318.. the I or the IS? The 318i with it's sohc engine is not exactly a barnburner.. the Is with it's DOHC has long been considered the "baby m3".
And it is not only lightness that makes the 4 cylinders great, but the engine is practically behind the front wheels.
The '91 318i in the US came with the DOHC (M42); only in Europe was there a distinction between the 318i and 318is in the engine compartment.
Dwight - I think you'd be surprised at the performance of a proper M42. Mine's in good tune, chipped, and is pretty zippy...sufficiently zippy to give a friend in an E36 328i rather a hard time, which surprised us both, but that's another thread. I'm not going racing with it, but it pulls surprisingly well beyond 80mph. Stock M42 is 134hp,93 octane Mark D chip allegedly adds 12, slight bump from head shave, maybe 2 or 3? Say my car's somewhere around 145 (It was well maintained for it's entire life and is as fully documented as I've seen any car it's age). That's 23 off of the 168hp the M20's had - not exactly earth shattering....and I'd bet that many have lost a few HP over the years. The 318's do weigh less, due as much to lower content levels as to the engine itself. The 318i sedan is ~2630 lbs whereas a 325i is ~2840 lbs (per the owner's manual).
I'd recommend a clean E30 in a heartbeat. I have more in my car than it's worth, but it's something of a time-capsule car and a fine daily driver all at once, which I like.
FWIW, I came out of an E34 535i/5spd to the 318i and while I miss the torque and some of the de-luxe touches, it's more fun and not much slower. The M30 in its final iteration is one of my favorite engines of all time, btw. Those old things are just wonderful.
