Impressions, anyone? On moving from E30 to E36.

[Paul De Zan <dezan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

For six years, I've had a wonderful relationship with a 1988 325is. Over
the years it has been heavily breathed on by Dinan Engineering, and now
has a stroker motor, trick exhaust, Stage 4 suspension mods, etc. It is
an absolute blast to drive, even with 210K on the chassis and well over
100K on the stroker. It's beginning to look shabby, but it's had the
living hell driven out of it, so this is understandable.

Last month I bought an almost perfect ('almost' because the sound system
had been ravaged by some moron) '98 M3 with 17K on it. It took me a few
days to realize how much faster it is than my older car, because it's so
much smoother and quieter. It also has much higher cornering limits,
mostly due to the much better rubber it wears; I'm still running stock
rims and Yoko AVS Intermediates on the old car, which probably defeats
most of the good the Stage 4 mods do.

I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm in any way disappointed by
the M3, but I can't help feeling that it's just not put together as well
as other cars in the same price range. The interior materials are
actually inferior to the older car, which was built to a lower price
target. I had to take a lot of the interior apart to deal with the
stereo nightmare, and I was astounded at how cheap some of the pieces
are, especially the under dash panels. Assembly is none too good either:
the insulation on the driver's side panel had never been cut to allow
the downward facing heater vents to blow through the panel, meaning the
vents have been blocked since new. That is an inexcusable manufacturing
defect in such an expensive car, and it makes me wonder what else might
be wrong.

Don't get me wrong; this car inspires an evil grin every time I turn the
key, and it inspires a lot of envy, which the E30 does not. But do you
E36 owners out there agree that it sure doesn't meet Lexus standards for
quality?

- ---
pld (very happy to be making the payments anyway)

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