Re: E30: What does "s" mean in 325is

[John Firestone <john.firestone@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

yOn Sun, 5 Dec 1999, Jeff Lloyd wrote:

> in the E30 days the "s" actually stood for somthing, that somthing
> was "SPORT" if the car was ordered with a sport package it got an S
> reguardless if it was a eta or I motor. It also got a limited slip,
> bilstein shocks and a couple other goodies.. with the later E36 any
> 2 door was badged a "IS" (Not cool in my book) I know a few other
> BMW drivers that were more then a little ticked off by this..  so
> you can see on the new E46 there is no "s" for coupe just "Ci" and a
> sport package coupe should get the tradional naming convention of
> "Csi" 

I wonder if the "s" for "sports package" on U.S.(?) E30's was the
first step by BMW of NA towards calling anything with two doors an "s"
model.

In countries overseen by less enthusiastic marketers, a car used to
get an "s" if it had its own sports motor, motor being the car's
middle name. As examples, there are the (European) 2-valve, 115 PS
318i sedan vs. the 4-valve 140 PS 318is coupe and the 300 PS 850Ci vs.
the 380 PS 850CSi.  A curious fish is the U.S. E36 318i which the
factory calls a 318is sedan on account of its motor.

However, I really like your idea of adding an "s" if a car has a
sports package. I bet a 323is touring would make any worthy NA
marketer wince. :)

- -John
'96 318is

- -- 
john.firestone@domain.elided

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