BMW 3-Series

I’m writing this review to provide potential owners with a real story of what I have experienced with my BMW and some general things to keep in mind.
First I would like to say that I’ve driven a ton of cars and this one is VERY impressive. My 2001 BMW was purchased after I Carmaxed a troubled 2001 Mitsubishi Galant. Now I’m by no means rich, but after looking through an auto trader I found that BMW aren’t as expensive as people make them out to be. The trick that I later found is that someone can give you a Ferrari; however it might cost you over $20k a year to maintain. I hope you see my meaning. Anyways, I brought the car used with 67k miles on it and have driven it practically trouble free ever since. It’s important for futures owners to realize that a BMW is just a car. If you’re handy you can do a lot of the work yourself, with the help of a few online forums. For example most BMW 3 series’ conveniently wear out the control arm bushings; this is a small part under the car that the dealer usually charges $1000 to do, but can be done at home in the >$400 range. An oil change at BMW runs over $70 where as you can do it yourself for half the price.
-Driving experience- The BMW 325CI is one sharp looking car. The coupe has beautiful lines and a nice style that’s sure to grab attention. It’s no speed demon though, its 2.5l inline 6 does 0-60 in around 7.7sec with the 5sp manual. Kicking out a decent 184 hp puts it as an average accelerator in my opinion. Seeing that a Nissan Maxima, or Acura TL-S would knock about a second off that 0-60 time. That’s kind of disheartening, but this car was built for luxury. The inside offers easy to read gauges and comfortable seating. However the back seat is a pain to access and it’s not too big.


All in all this is a solid car to have and enjoy. The repairs are pricey, but the comfort and quality is equally yoked.

Great sporty car for a college student. Good acceleration and handling. Small in overall size but comfortable ride. The rear seat folds down to create a bigger "trunk."
Drove it home giving 31.3 MPG. Beat that for a car of this overall capability.
Parts and service are reasonable. My son loves it! My other son bought a AUDI A-4. Also a good pick.

The old car is an old parts car. Perfect for what I am doing. I am going to disassemble it to fix my other car.

This is a convertible 1998 BMW 328i. It really runs great and is a blast to drive. However, there are so many little items that aren't right with it that it takes away from the fun of owning it. First, the convertible top is one of the most mechanically complicated things I have ever seen. It has 3 drive motors, 8 microswitches, and straps and bungees and seals that all need to work just right, and in a 10-yr old car they just don't. So it has leaks, and to put the top down and up you have to manipulate the roof bows by hand a little to get it to work. Took me a while and lots of help from an on-line forum to figure it out. I have solved most of the leaks too, but again it took a lot of help from a forum to do that. The longer I own the car the better I like it, but it will never be a care-free hands-off car, and replacement parts are expensive and using the dealership is ridiculous. Also, the quality of the upholstory is not that good, and in my car it also needs work. The passenger seat electronics don't work, and I haven't figured out how to get the seat out to work on it without being abl4e to move the seat, and without the electronics working I can't move the seat. Kinda a catch 22. This is the 1st BMW I have owned, and I guess I expected more quality from a BMW. Although, it is 10 years old and I don't know how it was treated by its previous owners. Overall I like the car - but if you get one of these, be prepared to work on it.

sporty good looks drives well 4 cyld 5 speed fun to drive 28 city 32 highway mpg my girl friend loves it!

I love my bmw. the purchase was painless. everything went well with exotic motors and ebay. i will do it again.

Small comfy car,great on gas when you use 87 with no alcohol in it,not too fast acceleration but it was made for economy.At 65 to 85mph the car is phenomenal(I have the 86 325es) If I can't get an m3,I'll be buried in it...you can do alot of upgrades for speed.This car can do anything your body can take,a fast tight turn you will go into the door,the car isn,t going anywhere.I learned that the hard way.I can;t believe they,re cheap as they are

Completeley reliable, very simple car and incredibly fun to drive. These cars were made when BMW had quality control (unlike now).

This is our second eBay car and we are as delighted with this one as we were with my Toyota Rav4.

My husband has been watching Z3s for about a year and he bid on a few but didn't win as we had set a strict price limit. Just as he was about to bid on a higher priced one he thought to check for new listings and there she was!

This car was one of the very few BUY IT NOW offers and it didn't take much discussion before we clicked on BUY!

Air fare to get it would have been over $600 for the two of us but the seller offered to ship it to us for only $260! We had it in just a few days and didn't have the air fare or gas/food/lodging for a trip home.

It has over a hundred thousand miles and some wear but was still a great buy. To look at it one would never know it is 11 years old. It's missing the roll bars and some aesthetic items like a vent cover inside, it has a crack in the rear speaker panel plus it is missing the center console but we are replacing these.

We took it to a BMW car dealership for a tune up and a few minor repairs and it purrs like a kitten.

This car has comfortable leather seats with plenty of headroom and leg room. The stereo and surround sound is fantastic.

This standard transmission gets 30 mpg easily and we like the digital mpg indicator.

It has great pick up and sails on the highway. She stops on a dime. She corners in a snap with the wide wheel base and wide tires with great stability and control.

We like the tan leather interior because though it gets warm in the sun it is by far cooler than the black interior would be. The dark blue mettalic fleck paint glows aqua in the sun and is beautiful but it does show dirt and water spots where a neutral like silver wouldn't.

For a convertible this car is pretty quiet. We had a Triumph Spitfire many years ago and this beamer blows that car out of the water! My husband has said a million times how he loves to drive it. We are So glad we chose this car over the Mazda Miata! She's a head turner, pure fun, and we hope to have her many miles from now.

This is our second eBay car and we are as delighted with this one as we were with my Toyota Rav4.

My husband has been watching Z3s for about a year and he bid on a few but didn't win as we had set a strict price limit. Just as he was about to bid on a higher priced one he thought to check for new listings and there she was!

This car was one of the very few BUY IT NOW offers and it didn't take much discussion before we clicked on BUY!
Air fare to get it would have been over $600 for the two of us but the seller offered to ship it to us for only $260! We had it in just a few days and didn't have the air fare or gas/food/lodging for a trip home.

It has over a hundred thousand miles and some wear but was still a great buy. To look at it one would never know it is 11 years old. It's missing the roll bars and some aesthetic items like a vent cover inside, it has a crack in the rear speaker panel plus it is missing the center console but we are replacing these.

We took it to a BMW car dealership for a tune up and a few minor repairs and it purrs like a kitten.

This car has comfortable leather seats with plenty of headroom and leg room.

The stereo and surround sound is fantastic.

This standard transmission gets 30 mpg easily and we like the digital mpg indicator.

It has great pick up and sails on the highway. She stops on a dime. She corners in a snap with the wide wheel base and wide tires with great stability and control.

We like the tan leather interior because though it gets warm in the sun it is by far cooler than the black interior would be. The dark blue mettalic fleck paint glows aqua in the sun and is beautiful but it does show dirt and water spots where a neutral like silver wouldn't.

For a convertible this car is pretty quiet. We had a Triumph Spitfire many years ago and this beamer blows that car out of the water! My husband has said a million times how he loves to drive it.

We are So glad we chose this car over the Mazda Miata! She's a head turner and we hope to have her many miles from now.