Buying a 325ti...Euro Delivery/PickUp

[ddiorio1313]

I was wondering if anyone has tried this yet. I was thinking of doing the Euro Delivery/Pick up, but instead of getting one of the cars we can get here in the states I wanted to try and get the new 325ti compact that you can only get overseas. It looks awesome and actually has a six in it. They also just came out with the 1 series over there also, but I am a stickler for 2 doors. So, is it possible or do you have to get one of the cars we have here in the states?

[ddiorio1313]

Has anyone driven a 325ti

[1996 328ti]

I really doubt you will be able to get it federalized for any reasonable amount of money.

[ddiorio1313]

Steven what do you mean by Federalized?

[ddiorio1313]

How come they never come out with the cars I want over here! We always get the shaft...All these stupid people that drive monster cars and trucks and there freakin' stupid SUV's. They ruin it for all of us that like small sporty cars! There are so many cool little cars over in europe and we don't get any of them. I would asume that has something to do with the people mentioned above(monster vehicle people) or we have some crazy tax we charge the foreign car companies that makes it impossible for anyone to afford their cars even if they did bring them over.

[1996 328ti]

By federalized I mean the car has to conform to US DOT and emission specs. Cars can come into the country as a show car but is limited in the number of miles you can drive it per year. I know someone who has a BMW Z1.

My guess is that manufacturers have to do a lot of testing to have them approved for the US.
Not that there is anything wrong with that. I'm sure there are some cars we would not want on our roads.

But look around what people want to drive. The average Joe Consumer doesn't care about handling.
If you were a car manufacturer and could only bring in a handfull of cars, wouldn't you want to sell the ones that the most people will buy? Not what WE want.

I see more Pontiac Aztecs on the road than the 318ti. Go figure.

[brucelee]

"I see more Pontiac Aztecs on the road than the 318ti. Go figure."

Life is not fair!

[ddiorio1313]

Steven: Do they really want to drive those monsters or do they just not know any better...? Think about all the people that drive SUV's cuz Joe Schmoe down the street bought one! How many people do see hauling stuff in them or going off road. I think manufacturers hold alot of the blame...Unless you know how to build a car and have the machinery to build one, we have to buy what they bring out...True? The manufacturers market the cars, they can market whatever they want, but always put the emphasis on trucks and SUV's. Honda had to bring out the Pilot because their SUV's were to small...Do you think they ever would have brought out that SUV if FORD or GM wouldn't have brought the Excurssion or Suburban? What about the Giant Ram trucks people drive around as a daily drivers and don't even work in construction?

I understand what you are saying, and not trying to bad mouth you at all...sometimes I wish people would make their own desicions and not let the Manufacturers make the desicion for them... P.S. By the way thanks for the info On Federalizing....

[96cali]

Last I heard federalizing a car cost upwards of 10 G's and months of paperwork. Still, having a 325ti stock and with warranty would kick butt.

My favorite US-car-that-never-was is the e34 M5it touring. There are a few around the US but spendy still.

[2ndBimmer]

"Honda had to bring out the Pilot because their SUV's were to small...Do you think they ever would have brought out that SUV if FORD or GM wouldn't have brought the Excurssion or Suburban?"

People do make the decisions. Honda (and Porsche) HAD to build mid sized SUVs because thats what everyone is buying. If people hadnt been swooping up Suburbans, Excusions never would have seen the light of day.

[admittedly the X5 aint a bad ride, but just cant hang in the twisties like a 3]

People do have the choice. Thats why GM's market share has dropped from 50% back in the 60s to 27% today [source: Car and Driver]. This is why Toyota is barking up Ford's door to become the #2 auto maker; people like Toyotas for various reasons (read: quality over US makes).

Had the 318Ti flown off the shelves BMW would have brought over better models and would have one here still. If upscale hatchbacks take off, like the Mercedes C230 Coupe, then BMW WILL reconsider them as well and we could see the 1 and 2 series come out in the next 3 years (it seems to take about that long to federalize and ramp up production for the US market).

Thats the good thing about capitalism, manufacturers ALWAYS follow the money. The bad side to capitalism? Can 20 Million Americans spend the money on crappy automobiles? Well... yeah, easily it seems.

[brucelee]

I understand what you are saying, and not trying to bad mouth you at all...sometimes I wish people would make their own desicions and not let the Manufacturers make the desicion for them... P.S. By the way thanks for the info On Federalizing....

Actually they do make their own choices. There are TONS of cars to choose from. No one makes anyone buy an SUV.

[2ndBimmer]

My girlfriend HATES the Honda Element.
I think it looks a bit like the Scion xB: seem to be quite a few in MD.

But whether or not Im going to buy a Scion (Im not, but the Tc dont look too bad), Im still glad that theyre being made available.

[ddiorio1313]

Well...lets hope we get to see some more small sporty cars...Thanks for all the responses...

[Turo]

Yes, the 325 is an awesome machine. It has a substantially better ride than the E36 ti because of the more independent rear suspension. It's also a tad bigger and feels more solid. And the six-banger is a perfect fit for the car.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that I don't think BMW will sell you one of those Euro's for home delivery. They are too wary about liabilities in the federalizing dept. Besides emissions, you need to modify instruments to read miles, headlights to symmetrical, windshields to have DOT approval, bla-bla-bla-bla. I think you have to do a private buy if you want your car here.

I believe there would be a reasonable mkt. for E46 ti here, in Europe you can get it even with a very nice diesel engine - not a rocket, but gives you 50+ mpg.

I have some sales material + specs on the E46 ti if somebody wants a copy.

[e30sequel]

to keep it as stock as possible and to also rejuvenate my ti, i was thinkin of swapping a 323 engine from the last e36 323is coupe, which is avail in n america HOWEVER i would like it even better if i could go to germany and actually finding a 323ti bone stock and play around with it later-anyone know if i could just bring over a 323ti as the engine already exists here and slap on the clubsport bumpers(r the bumpers different in europe?) and i wouldnt have to worry about my mechanic fn my ride up!??!?!?!?! any feedback would be appreciated as i am in the market for a new car but wanna keep it a ti! swap or used factory euro 323ti?

[1996 328ti]

I think this thread has gone full circle. I doubt if you will be able to federalize a 323ti. If you could, it's gonna be expensive. It would be different bringing a 318ti into the country.

[robcarync]

previous owner said my car came over on a boat from germany...why would it be different for a 318ti v. 323ti? is a 323ti not available in american at all or something?

[1996 328ti]

323ti was never available in North America. There were rumors back in 97 that it might. There was also a rumor that the 1995 Club Sport was supposed to have had an M3 engine.

[ddiorio1313]

I have never seen a 323ti in the states, but then again I don't see many ti's at all! I guess it sounds like an engine swap might be our only bet, but we got to stay with the same body style...Don't get me wrong I love my ti and the way it looks, but I was hoping to get something that looked different besides just power. I was planning on keeping my 97 ti anyway...

[ddiorio1313]

Turo email me the info at ddiorio1313@yahoo.com unless it is just the download from BMW.com I already got that....Later...

[simo2k]

its like i never heard of the club sport over here but i think we get limited to smaller cars because of the stupid amount of money we pay for fuel we have to pay 82 pence per litre and get taxed and vat to the hilt thats why there aint many young people over here with bmws lol

just moaning thats all..

[1996 328ti]

But the UK does have a Sport Edition LE.
http://www.318ti.org/companion/models/318tiSpLE.html

[Rhys]

Some people put M3 engines in ti's , thats a lot of power going through the back wheels on a car that's supposed to be as tail end happy as an E30 (I've watched the back end of mine pass me a couple of times in the wet, and that was only a 2 litre 130bhp)