How is it owning a BMW 318ti ?

[BMWannabe]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

There was a small run in 1999. Only Sports and included a 2-spoke M Steering wheel.

That's good.

Interesting ......Did a little research and came up with this ...Rare indeed ...only 656 1999 318ti's made it to the USA

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1999-...iew-1692222252

[mr-canada]

Originally Posted by BMWannabe

Interesting ......Did a little research and came up with this ...Rare indeed ...only 656 1999 318ti's made it to the USA

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1999-...iew-1692222252

I am lucky enough to have one of them. The 99 had a slightly more bored out engine (1.9L vs. 1.8L) and came with the M-Sport kit incl triptronic autoshifter for performance mode.

Thing grips the road like an addias shoe. It has a bit of a phantom mode, I call it grandma mode, where it drives just like a POS stock Civic. But when you punch it hard, it lights up and growls like a monster. Torque band really kicks in at 3500-4000RPM, M-Sport mode lets the engine rev higher than in standard automatic.

Hard as hell to find used parts for this year. AllBMWParts.com seems to be able to find anything and everything albeit not at the best price, but beats marching around one Euro pick-a-part after another hoping to find the correct part.

Also worthy of noting: The 99 has a different dimmer switch. Mine failed. It's a complete pain in the neck finding a replacement one. The older versions had one under the left side of the steering wheel, seperate from the headlight switch. In the 99 it's integrated into one switch up the dash. At this age, the rheostat can fail due to moisture or corrosion. Price I got for a replaement was 75 bucks - only 25 bucks less than both drivers' side windows. Owning a car this rare (the 99, anyway) is expensive but it's definitely worth the extra punch and M-sport kit with steering wheel.

[FunElan]

Originally Posted by mr-canada

I am lucky enough to have one of them. The 99 had a slightly more bored out engine (1.9L vs. 1.8L) and came with the M-Sport kit incl triptronic autoshifter for performance mode.

Thing grips the road like an addias shoe. It has a bit of a phantom mode, I call it grandma mode, where it drives just like a POS stock Civic. But when you punch it hard, it lights up and growls like a monster. Torque band really kicks in at 3500-4000RPM, M-Sport mode lets the engine rev higher than in standard automatic.

Hard as hell to find used parts for this year. AllBMWParts.com seems to be able to find anything and everything albeit not at the best price, but beats marching around one Euro pick-a-part after another hoping to find the correct part.

Also worthy of noting: The 99 has a different dimmer switch. Mine failed. It's a complete pain in the neck finding a replacement one. The older versions had one under the left side of the steering wheel, seperate from the headlight switch. In the 99 it's integrated into one switch up the dash. At this age, the rheostat can fail due to moisture or corrosion. Price I got for a replaement was 75 bucks - only 25 bucks less than both drivers' side windows. Owning a car this rare (the 99, anyway) is expensive but it's definitely worth the extra punch and M-sport kit with steering wheel.

All M44s were 1.9L from 96 on. My 96 has the interior light dimmer switch you mention, it's the headlight switch left of the cluster. Getting one at a junkyard will be cheaper

[mr-canada]

Mine is an E36

But good to know. Its just a headlight / dimmer switch, I'm certain if it's close to the same year a Mickey Mouse solution would make it work because it's a standard Bimmer plugs attached to the darn thing. I bought mine with a window fail, rain probably destroyed the switch. Im getting some electrical contact cleaner, going to blast the sh*t out of it see if that works on the rheostat but if not I'm stuck with another switch/knob. Hard to drive at night have to drop the visor to engage the vanity headlight just to change the gears, pretty sketchy.

[mr-canada]

But anyway, not to digress too far from the OPs post onto my Dimmer problem, yes its a 20 year old car but mine still runs like a champ after 340,000 kms.

Just be prepared to fix age-related problems. Its a sexy Bimmer, I don't like the eyebrows on the headlights in later models, comes across a bit pretentious. Thing flies.

318ti also has fold down rear seats. Talked to a BMW tech and a BMW parts guy and they said they could fit a whole 700 series car in the back almost with the seats down. Unladen, thing is light, there's almost nothing to it, no rear doors, no trunk, its a bit shorter.

So when you punch the gas to have some real big fun it definitely delivers. Mine's 1.9L cranks it out way harder than my 3.7L Jeep Liberty. Don't

get me wrong, the Jeep is a damn fine SUV, but I bought the 318 for fun on the highway and the Jeep for fun in the dirt. Best of both worlds. Wouldn't want to do too much dirt driving in the 318. I've seen a lot of videos of 318s rally racing and they do quite well. Just be careful squeaking the tires on hard turns with the gas fully depressed, the tires will get expensive. But it is a hell of a lot of fun so it's hard not to want to do it. Haha