New to me 1997 Mtech black on black no sunroof, i hear rare?
 

Hello i am a 10 year long bmw enthusiast (have had 15+ bmws) that has been on dtmpower forever and but i just aquired this mtech ti and it has the factory Mtech (purple, red, blue ) pinstripe down the side and its on the window sticker as a factory add on, it also came without a sunroof? i hear from a local show this could possibly be one of less than 10 in the states like this?


lemme know what you guys think, pics soon!


Anthony-

You have a 318ti sport and there's definitely more than 10 of them in the states. All '96+ Sports came with Mtechnic bumpers and moldings. The only rare 318ti in the states is the clubsport which they only imported 300 of them in '95. It was basically the same as mine and your '97 sports, except it only came in red or black, had Mtechnic mirrors, red millpoint interior, and an M42 1.8L engine. Nothing special and definitely nothing rare.

Wouldn't the lack of a sunroof make it "sort of rare," or at least in the minority.

Mtechti, are you sure the "//M-colored" pinstripes were put on at the factory? I've never even heard of that.

theres no sunroof, factory 3.91 lsd, ice cold ac and mtech pinstripe on the side, red on front fender fades into purple across the door then blue on the quarter.. well its the only one ive seen in person, yea clubsport were 95 only with mirrors all came with lsd and they had the red and black interior..

I've seen the pinstripes before, it was a factory option. The no sunroof thing is sort of a rarity, personally I like my sunroof. The original owner may have ordered it that way. I was unaware of a factory 3.91 LSD being an available option. I thought they only offered 3.45 open or a 3.45 LSD for 318ti's with manual transmissions. Seems like a really high ratio seeing that the 3.45 revs around 3800rpm @ 80 miles an hour.

The LSD was definately not an option.
I don't think LSD was available in 97.
The car must have been ordered by an individual since the dealer would have ordered a sunroof.

I've never seen factory pinstripes.
I've seen aftermarket Motorsport flag decals.

I didn't know dtmpower still existed. :)

Yeah, there's a couple Ti's here in Socal with factory pinstripes. Not my cup of tea, but they do look kinda cool until they become faded.

probably done by the dealer if it was on the window sticker

welcome, post some pics, I'm curious to see what the pinstripe looks like

My 98 Bright Red had M color pinstripes come to think about it.

i have no sunroof :)

i like my sunroof.

Couldn't live without mine. Cracks me up when people brag about not having a sunroof as if their car handles so much better without one, lol. I have a sunroof cassete sitting in my garage and it weighs less than 20lbs.

mines acting up! my windows and roof dont roll!!! dad messed with the fuses so i gotta figure which fuse is for my windows and sunroof and replace them..

Reminds me of a car I had many years ago ... a 1973 Mach I. It was very rare. It had a 302cid, not the 351cid that every other 1973 Mach I had. Very rare, but not in a good way. Many people thought it was a fake (Mock?) Mach I until they decoded the VIN.

In my search for a ti, I've test-driven a lot. I've only seen one without a sunroof. It had the WORSE sagging headliner! It kept rubbing the top of my head! Annoying! I think the sunroof helps keep the sagging to a minimum.

I vigorously disagree with the statement that the O.P.'s car is nothing special, though. By definition, all 318tis are special!

what happened with the pics>?