Christmas When holiday Spending time with friends and family is everything. When you're in her thirties, spending quality time with the former seems a lot harder than the latter. so far in age,like me throw but i love to have fun BMW 318ti.
Many of our readers 25 year old red hatchbackbut the little guy recently hit a milestone (literally), so I had to get a gift or two to celebrate. My 1997 BMW 318ti has 200,000 miles on it. but it still uses the original engine and transmission (a 1.9-liter inline 4-cylinder that produced a whopping 138 horsepower when new) and a 5-speed manual transmission.
Hell, the car is on the original factory clutch. I've lived this by teaching my two best friends how to drive a stick. I probably shouldn't be trying so hard to teach my friends how to use it. manual transmission my daily driver 318ti It is virtually impossible to stall.
G/O Media can earn commissions
Besides being a friendly teacher, 318ti has been a part of my daily life for ten years.All the while, as much as I've endured be patientAmong other shortcomings, these BMW M44 powered cars are notorious for having fragile cooling systems thanks to fragile plastics, and like all E36s, the window regulator arms bend and look weird. If you look, the glass will fall off the truck.
But overall, I think we came out better together on opposite sides of that decade than before. So instead of wool socks (an underrated Christmas gift) my girlfriend 318ti received a M. Technic bumpers and M-Technic mirrors this year.
These were originally BMW M3 of that era ( E36) and bumper included 318ti sportsThe rare 318ti Club Sport had both mirrors and bumpers and was fitted with a limited slip differential. Mine is a 318ti Sport, but strangely it didn't have a bumper when I bought it. Luckily, his M-Technic bumper in the rear became harder to find.
of 318ti More or less, BMW hastily wrapped up with components from the E36 and E30 in an attempt to attract young buyers looking for a cheaper way to get into a BMW than the standard 3-series or pricey 5-series. It was a parts bin car. But the truth is, I'm not that young anymore. Nor do cars.
That said, the 318ti is well past its age thanks to the features I've added to make it road tolerant. It includes things like the M3 bumper and mirror set, but also a Strömung exhaust, a Blaupunkt SQR 46 head unit, a Condor shifter, a shift boot and an e-brake boot, and of course, lots of Liqui Moly engine oil and Red Line transmission fluid. I'm here. . Oh, and those comfy seatbelt pads.
Other maintenance mostly consisted of replacing blown struts with Conis, replacing worn rubber in the suspension and also replacing the motor and transmission mounts. Funny story: I bought a polyurethane 75D mount when it came time to replace the original, but poly his mount wasn't great for everyday use so I ended up giving it to my mechanic (who drives an E46) It's decided.
I also had the front seats reupholstered in Mexico, Maestro Reuse Black Anthracite cloth to keep stock. I may have forgotten other parts and maintenance, but it's been a while. So many auto parts store receipts over the years. My 318ti is far from perfect, but don't panic.
Neither I nor 'ti would have made it without Jalopnik or without your help forum YouTube, uncles, cousins, honest mechanics, and now people in my house local body shop. Thank you everyone. Now he's 10 years and 200,000 miles away.
