German Car Zone

Former TG presenter Chris Goffey tests the then all new BMW 3-Series E36 in 1990.



The 318i in the video was red at some point in its life.

The vehicle details for H511 LOP are:

Date of Liability 11 02 2009
Date of First Registration 07 08 1990
Year of Manufacture 1990
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1796CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour RED
Vehicle Type Approval null

The trend for the 3 series over the generations is to become more and more like a 5er - Bigger, more comfortable and luxurious, and sadly, less sporty....

That's because the customers want so. Every survey & reserch don't among customers a vast majority want even more comfortable BMW ... Yet BMW are not ready for heavy compromises. Although the Adaptive Drive tech with several driving modes can make a very sporty car very usable for daily driving as well.

Yes, 3er is more comfortable & bigger & heavier and thus less sporty. Yet therefore BMW introduced 1er - which in Mk1 generation it wasn't as good as it should be (the platform was too rigid to make a more sporty car of it). The new platform will enable much sportier configurations as well - therefore models like tii, SuperSport, CSL, M1 are very possible - of course the version with best market potential & best profitability will be chosen for production. But - there will be a sporty version of 1er in the Mk2.


Btw, it's interesting to see that from introduction of 1600 / 1800 / 2000 series BMW cars (and the ones oh the rivals as well) are getting bigger, heavier, more comfortable & refined etc. And every time when new Mk is introduced journalists (not the majority of customers though!) & some hardcore aficionados start to complain how the edge is lost.

But time changes, and so do the customer population & their needs / tastes.

It's always like that, complaining how the current model is softer than the old one, till the next generation arrives.

Still, I hope the next 1er will take the E30 place as a compact, extremely fun car to drive... and also will have a version mirroring the mighty E30 M3 ...

Suspension borrowed from the Z1??? I sure didn't know that!!

Awesome vid Kowalski. Many thanks.....sweet, sweet memories!!!