South African e36 325/328i info?

[Ae85.6 3]

Hi. Just wandering if anyone can point out and info on these models or if there is some listed here that did not pop up in search ? 

More or less just checking what differences there are ? Apart from seeming that 328 are also iron block like american models do they also have detuned ecu or anuthing else ?

Is everything else more or less the same ?

I did see a 325i for sale a while back which i thought some of you commented it was specced higher than normal ones but i thought e30s the changes were more so than e36.

Cheers in advance.

 

[viskop 99]

Hi Michael,

I'm from South Africa, and there I owned the following BMWs:

1989 E30 325iS manual, 1993 E36 325i (auto, then converted to manual), 1998 E36 328i manual. So, in total only 3 BMWs in my 14 years of driving in SA.

Since coming to NZ more than 10 years ago, I have owned a 1995 325i, then a number of E36 328i BMWs, a 1996 318iS, a 2005 NZ New E46 330i. and now an E30 320i (with M20B25 engine) and another E46 330i. And all were automatic, but I had one converted to manual. So, around 9 BMWs in 10 years and 5 months in NZ. (This should give you an indication how little I really like the Jap imports)

BMWs (in general) from South Africa are better quality, especially their interiors. And I'm talking of personal experience. However, you need to be careful of rust when buying any make of car in SA, especially if the vehicle spend most of its life along the coastal cities (like Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, etc). With that said, I don't have the knowledge to say which (SA or NZ) is best when it comes to the mechanical side of BMWs. But in general, SA BMWs interiors are of a much better quality than the Jap imports. My 2005 NZ New 330 I had here in NZ, was in an awesome condition when I sold it, so it can be that NZ New BMWs are of the same quality as those of their SA counterparts.

Again, this is only my personal experience. I must say though, that my 1996 E36 328i manual that I had back in Johannesburg, was one of the best BMWs I have ever driven...and it was fast, faster than the E46 330s. (I've had many traffic light to traffic light races against E46 330s, and never lost one race. Lastly, in general I am not too happy with NZ BMWs (the only good one with NO issues, was my NZ New 330i and I only sold it because of other idiots opening their car doors and not worrying about other people's cars.).

Hope this helps you a little bit. And sorry that I'm no table to assist with mechanical info.

Finally...if I new then (before coming to NZ) what I know now, I would have brought my 1998 E36 328i over to NZ when we migrated here.

Cheers,

Charl

[Ae85.6 3]

Hi Charl,

Cheers for your reply and good to know.

 

Yes I was looking more at mechanical differences or I guess any in general really, a few of the e36's I have seen for sale here when you carjam them says they are SA imports or trying to decode a vin# I see had build plant ZA which I thought meant assembled in South Africa. Some seem a bit conflicting though as says imported here from South Africa but vin may say assembled in UK/Germany so I guess either decode was wrong or could have been imported to South Africa then imported here.

Mainly wanted to see what was different on them as the odd one I have seen people comment they were odd ball models with slightly different parts and hard to find or not interchangeable with others. E30s many seem to say SA ones are better but e36s seems a mixed bag but I think most of what I google is rubbish or people just repeating what someone else said and they don't actually know themselves.

Some of the things I have read was SA 325/328i had detuned ecu due to poorer quality fuel, 328i had iron blocks like the 325i (USA models were too ?) instead of alloy due to poorer fuel quality and that 328i had same driveline as 325i instead of the heavier.

Again I was hoping to decode the vin#'s better but I haven't found sites yet ones that get to the detail of engine block option and driveline like others say is findable so that should clear things up more.

Ideally I am hoping there is nothing much different or that even if an ecu was different that is hopefully swappable and an iron block 328i while a bit more weight could be more robust so not a bad thing and hopefully does have the heavier driveline.

 

[BM WORLD 1283]

i have a 98 e36 323i msport in stock at the moment for sale ,

spec sheet is listed as with a special engine , has a iron block ,

 

i would generally go for a NZ new car where possibly , but all depends on the spec and condition really .

have owned a few e30 and e34 sa cars , quite well speced , didn't like the wiring loom wrap they use though.

 

 

 

[Ae85.6 3]

Thanks for the info. Was there a specific vin inquiry page or decoder you used to get that detail or that showed special engine ? Cheers

[BM WORLD 1283]

2 hours ago, Ae85.6 said:

Thanks for the info. Was there a specific vin inquiry page or decoder you used to get that detail or that showed special engine ? Cheers

http://bimmer.work/

[Ae85.6 3]

Thanks for that, ill compare with any new ones I look at as some vins didn't  seem to work. 

Would special engine be noted after engine code usually ? 

 

Cheers 

[BM WORLD 1283]

this one here , SA spec