How much does loosing its roof affect the E36? I'll be in the market for a fun car soon, and they seem like a decent alternative to the answer. I've worked on both Miatas and E36s in the past, but I haven't been around an E36 vert since I was about 15.
They are heavier but still pretty well composed and probably a bit less flexible than a fixed roof Fox body Mustang. The main gripe I have about mine is that the power top mechanism is way too complicated and not especially reliable. I'd recommend looking for a manual top version.
They have a brace under the front end that stiffens the car up. Without that it's a floppy mess. People add that brace onto the coupe cars for additional stiffness.
In good condition it's not bad overall. We had a 94 325i for a while. Ended up rusting under the front end of the rockers. Also, I can't recommend the auto trans version as ours blew up around 50k miles. I don't recall them ever coming with a manual top.
Wifey had a '97 E36 vert for about a year. I really liked the car. Yes, the top was a bit of a job to get working, what with the window, the elastic straps, the headliner and bits that go with it, and the struts that hold up the cover. The motorized mechanism itself never gave trouble. I had it working perfectly by the time she got tired of it and sold it. Said it was too slow. 
I would own another one, but have no affinity for the vert, other than they're easier to find with low miles and cheap than a comparable coupe, by virtue of the fact that the verts pretty much all need work on the top.
I'll definitely be looking for one with a working top if I do decide on one of these. The dead power top is why I've decided to flip this Saab instead of fix it for me.
You'll need to log in to post.
