Does anyone still daily an E36 or an E34?

What it says in the title...  Our Disco 3 is getting more and more maintenance intensive, and I'm thinking of using it as an excuse (sorry, reason, I mean reason) to get an SUV that's cheaper on the wallet for my other half (Kia Sportage or similar), and something else for me.  As most of the money will go on something for my wife, I'd be looking at the cheaper end of the spectrum.  In this market with what I may be interested in, it would basically mean E30 (318is or 325i), E36 (likewise 318is or ti, 320i or 325i), or E34 (525i or if very cheap a 520i maybe).  These being around half the price of my current Mazda 3 (obviously without considering the need to change all the suspension and cooling, but I'm finding anything older than 3 years old here needs all that doing anyway).  I do miss RWD.

Back in Blighty I was always dailying cheaper stuff, but I didn't have 2 kids and I could pop out and get most parts I need the same day, if not on next day delivery, here in Peru the best I can hope for normally is 5 working days.  In the UK I never gave A/C a thought, but now...working A/C is a necessity, for the heat of summer and the humidity of winter.

I had an E36 325tds as a daily in the UK for a bit, it was a 300 GBP special, in need of a new metering pump.   I actually genuinely liked it, and found it more fun than the 318ti I had after, which, I have to say, I found horribly slow.  I've never driven another ti or is, so I don't know if mine was a bad one or not, but it's the only time I had my nav tell me to go quicker on a rally..

Does anyone out there still daily 80s/90s BMWs??

I daily an e30. It's an '84 2dr that I m50 swapped. I had issues with the m20 but once the m50 went in it's been dead nuts reliable for over 6 years of neglect and misuse.

GRM, enabling bad decisions since...

Thanks, just what I wanted (but probably shouldn't) to hear..  I had a couple of mates who swapped an M52 (and everything else) into an E30 318is when the PO wiped the sump out of the M42.   The few drives I had of it I loved it!

I used to do bangernomics quite a bit when I lived in the UK, but that was partially because you could actually get worthwhile and interesting cars for fairly little money.

I did semi-daily an E34 for a while. It did pretty well, but even though this was a pretty late one ('94), it was getting pretty long in tooth. That said, they're pretty simple cars and tend to work well when looked after. Would I get another one? Hmm, maybe not, simply due to age. OTOH a good one that's well looked after tends to just go on for a long time.

I split daily driver duties between my '92 525i touring, that I manual swapped (in the USA), and my E39 M5. The M50 backed by a manual transmission is a pretty stout package, no matter the chassis you find it in. The drivetrain has never given me issues over 5 years of ownership. Watch the cooling system and service the vanos every 75-100k miles.

Any BMW of this era is going to be a car that you buy on condition. You want to have good records and know when key components have been replaced. Bushings are often neglected and you should know roughly how many miles are on the cooling system.

On the E34 side of things, watch out for rust on the doors. The drains get blocked and they'll rust from the inside out. The blower motors go bad and are a fire risk if you let them make noise for too long. They're all known for wearing out lower control arms, causes the dreaded wheel shimmy, but tourings are hard on rear strut mounts. Tourings also destroy the rear hatch wiring harness and can be equipped with the SLS rear suspension. Avoid SLS unless you really want to tow with the car. It's eye wateringly expensive to maintain. They are lovely cars to drive, but you'll want to buy a good one and stay on top of the maintenance.

I daily a 99 318ti S52 swap. 145k on the car, 125k on the drivetrain. I did a mishimoto rad and stewart waterpump. Also, look for sticky window regulators. Easy fix and problem solved. I did get stuck twice(once for each window) with the windows broken in the down position. I love most everything about this car. My only gripes are how uncomfortable Vaders are and my 25mpg combined, but that's an s52 issue. I love the TI because it get's you fold down rear seats. I sometimes use it like a truck so this is important to me.

Cheers folks.  I'm assuming anything I get would need all bushings, balljoints, dampers, and an entire cooling system as a minimum.  Also new steering lock as both my prior E36s had issues there (and probably window regulators, thanks buzzboy).  The rest of it would depend on the individual vehicle.

Rust here tends to be 2 extremes, either obviously rotten or remarkably clean, damn near everything here has less rot than I've seen in the UK.

My worry would be stuff like random dealer parts, wiring, etc.  At least they all have good aftermarket support.. I shall keep pondering, but please keep sharing experiences...

I’m back to dd’ing an E36. The drivetrain is solid, the rest of the car is falling apart. But it works

Fortunately, mechanical parts for older BMWs are still relatively easy to get, either from the dealer or from the many independent parts suppliers.  I daily drive an e28 and an e30 and have had few issues.  I know other guys who daily drive e34s and e36s, too.  Having said that, some things are starting to dry up for these older cars a little - for example, OEM windshields for e28 cars are pretty much nonexistent; aftermarket glass is still readily available, but it doesn't fit very well.  There are some weatherstrip parts that are no longer available for the e28s as well.

In reply to stuart in mn :

Don't want to thread-jack but your point about parts availability has been weighing on me as someone who has three BMW's that are all consider "classics" by RealOEM and the like. Is there any chance that we'll see real factory support of these cars? Something like what Mazda is doing with the NA's, Nissan with the RB parts, or even something like LMC Truck or Year One? I'm really hoping to enjoy my cars for a long time to come, but I worry there won't be the parts to keep them in good shape and on the road.

Not at all thread-jacking for me - this is one of the points I'm interested too

MTechnically said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

Don't want to thread-jack but your point about parts availability has been weighing on me as someone who has three BMW's that are all consider "classics" by RealOEM and the like. Is there any chance that we'll see real factory support of these cars? Something like what Mazda is doing with the NA's, Nissan with the RB parts, or even something like LMC Truck or Year One? I'm really hoping to enjoy my cars for a long time to come, but I worry there won't be the parts to keep them in good shape and on the road.

I still buy parts from the stealership all the time for my 3 e30s. They still make an incredible amount of stuff. I just bought a new lock set and keys coded from VIN for one car and a set of tail light gaskets. Both were had quickly and fairly reasonbly pricewise. Are you having problems getting parts?

They're old cars.  As long as you're ok with a large initial investment of time/parts/money to get it back up and going, then periodic infusions, you should be ok.

In reply to iansane :

I guess I was speaking into what stuart in MN was mentioning. Things like OEM quality windshields are a concern. Plenty of trim parts that are NLA, and I'm sure I could come up with more critical examples if pressed. My experience mirrors others where consumable parts are widely available, but time has a way of making most parts consumable and that can cause issues.

It's certainly not dire at this point, but I could see it heading that way. I've heard that there is a serious lack of replacement windshields and other stuff for MKI Scirocco's and that keeps owners from enjoying those cars. I'm just hoping out loud that this doesn't happen to the classic BMW's.

iansane said:

MTechnically said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

Don't want to thread-jack but your point about parts availability has been weighing on me as someone who has three BMW's that are all consider "classics" by RealOEM and the like. Is there any chance that we'll see real factory support of these cars? Something like what Mazda is doing with the NA's, Nissan with the RB parts, or even something like LMC Truck or Year One? I'm really hoping to enjoy my cars for a long time to come, but I worry there won't be the parts to keep them in good shape and on the road.

I still buy parts from the stealership all the time for my 3 e30s. They still make an incredible amount of stuff. I just bought a new lock set and keys coded from VIN for one car and a set of tail light gaskets. Both were had quickly and fairly reasonbly pricewise. Are you having problems getting parts?

E30s are still well supported as they were very popular (and are also newer.)  E28s are supported pretty well considering they are 30 years old or more, but certain things are NLA - mostly trim and body parts, mechanically it's not much of an issue.  The heater valve is getting tough to find, and people are looking for alternatives for that.  Also, BMW has a habit of randomly jacking up the price on certain parts for e28s, I'm not sure if it's because they are running out of them or what.  

Regarding windshields, one of the guys on the mye28.com website worked for months to try to get a group buy of OEM windshields from Sekurit in Europe, but wasn't able to get anything done.  A few guys have recently been able to source them from Schmiedmann, but one of them arrived broken because of poor packaging.

I on occasion will still buy parts at the dealer, but mostly go to the independents as they can get factory parts for less.  My current favorite is blunttech.com.

I was daily driving an e36 m3 up until a year ago. Spent thr better part of a decade daily driving an e36 of some kind. Current m3 is too loud, stiff and low to DD for my aging ass though. They make awesome DDs, buy the nicest example you can afford and maintain it. It will reward you.

My brother daily’d an E34 for a couple years then traded it for an e36 m3 that he daily’d for a year after that.

No pic of the e36 but he drove about 35k a year those years so it’s doable. He daily’s a W140 now.

In reply to chandler :

Your brother has good taste in cars. 

yupididit said:

In reply to chandler :

Your brother has good taste in cars. 

He does, there is a bagged e30 cab in the garage.

The issue with e36s isn't the drivetrains (which are stout) or the suspension or brakes (which are good, and many parts available for cheap). The real issue is they had pretty cheap interiors and trims stuff in the first place (IMO) and time hasn't been real friendly to them. So while with regular maintenance they'll largely run forever and drive fine, at this point most of them just feel kind of beat-down and junky, unless you're willing to invest a lot of time and money into replacing a lot of the interiors stuff as well.  e34s have this issue as well, but not as bad. 

Then of course you have rust issues. The older they get, the more they rust. And cheap ones tend to be rusty, it seems. 

I don't love the driving as much, but for a BMW daily driver on the cheap, I'd just as well go find a pre-2002 MY e46. They're simply nicer cars that perform as well or better anyhow. 

Dailied a 36 and 46 for a hot minute

36 was better

Both leaked horribly, and while fun and comfy I wouldn't do it again

Focus on the other hand has been great!

When I'm actually home I daily an E36 M3. Drivetrain is pretty reliable for me; everything else, not so much. Plastics are doing there breaky things, electronics are being German, but it starts and gets me to work, even if the door handle breaks or the locking mechanism for the doors things exiting through the trunk is more convenient. 

DirtyBird222 said:

When I'm actually home I daily an E36 M3. Drivetrain is pretty reliable for me; everything else, not so much. Plastics are doing there breaky things, electronics are being German, but it starts and gets me to work, even if the door handle breaks or the locking mechanism for the doors things exiting through the trunk is more convenient. 

With that being said, I do miss having a newer DD that I was accustomed to for the last 10 years of going through leases. A warranty, more comfy, if something did break see the warranty thing, no stress of trying to find parts for a 20 year old car and/or waiting for shipping because autozone doesn't have parts in stock for a 20 year old 3 series and you need to order from a niche online euro parts distributor, etc. 

Not having a car payment though is great. Being able to mod it how you want to because you don't have to worry about voiding a warranty, no car payment, etc

I also have an S2000 to hop into if the E36 fails or a Sequoia....both of which are way cheaper to operate and much more reliable in every way shape or form lol.

Here rust generally isn't the issue it is elsewhere, unless you get a really neglected one.  Even all the Landy's I've seen have been rustfree ..

Down here folk actually tend to take care of the interior and appearances in general more so than the mechanical bits.

If this 318is wasn't a slushbox I'd be very tempted. Before you all scoff at the price, that's only ever so slightly on the high side (maybe 10%-15% high), cars are expensive here..

https://lima-lima.olx.com.pe/bmw-318is-1997-impecable-iid-1062282839

Even this snotbanger has a reasonable looking interior:

https://lima-lima.olx.com.pe/bmw-318is-coupe-iid-1019923300

This 325 appears to be an exception, snotty interior but looking reasonable on the outside:

https://neoauto.com/auto/usado/bmw-325-1994-1452754

E46s are generally more than I'd get for the Mazda, so not really an option at the moment.