Hello everyone!! I've been creeping around the forums for a few weeks now and I figured it was time to introduce myself.
My name is Jeff and I'm a Structural Engineering student in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (near Toronto). I'm in year 3 of 5 and loving every minute of it. I live at school from September-April and then move home for the four summer months.
I got my little '96 318ti at the end of May this past summer. Due to the amount of drivers at home and the lack of cars my parents bought a third car, mostly for my sister and I to share. The choice for a used BMW was obvious as my Dad is addicted (1st was 2001 320i, current is 2007 328i). Needless to say, I absolutely love it!! Right now, as I'm at school, my sister is driving it and she will continue to throughout the winter. However, she's leaving for school as well next year so I'm hopefully going to have it here with me permenantly. Anyways, thats the background, onto the good stuff.
As I mentioned above, it's a 1996. It had about 174000km when we bought it and it's running around 178 now. We had new brakes installed as well as all the fluids changed and topped up when we bought it. The passenger side door lock didn't work and the driver's side rear blinker was shot. Both were relatively easy fixes although the part we needed for the door took a while to come in. There is a really small dent in the hood, just above the rondel and a lot of paint scratches and swirls. Most of the paint deterioration is just from it being old, but I think the previous owner was blind because there are tons of key marks around the driver's side key hole. Overall, it's in pretty condition and most everything can be fixed or is just minor.
I'm not sure what was an option and what wasn't in 1996 so I'll just list a few of my favourite features of the car:
Fog Lights: I was a bit surprised it had them, but they are very handy in our unpredictable CDN climate
Six CD Changer: Probably the coolest thing ever!! It's in the trunk but I've still never heard of a 1996 have a 6 CD changer.
Pea-Shooter Exhaust: lol, my friend was laughing at it but it actually sounds pretty cool for a stock exhaust. However, it will need replacing
The next question is what to do first. Due to budget restrictions I'm not going to do anything with it for now as we're approaching winter and I only drive it on weekends. But the first thing will be a new paint job to get rid of all the paint imperfections (a pet peeve of mine). It's black right now and I like the colour but the paint chips are driving me crazy. Next will probably be tinting and then a new exhaust. I like the idea of a putting a CAI in as well so I might hold off on the exhaust, but we'll see. As the car performs and sounds pretty good already I'm more concerned with looks for now.
Anyways, sorry if I rambled a bit too much, this car is just so exciting and I love it so much!! I'm loving the forums, everything I ever need to know and more is here somewhere and I've learned a lot of my car and cars in general, as I'm a bit of newb in that department. Happy driving!!!!
PS: I posted a few pics in my gallery if anybody's interested. I'm not gonna lie, it just looks like a stock '96 318ti
I love BMW's!! 
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