Today’s Nice Price or No Dice 318i is the cheap-seats model featuring manual windows, transmission, and seats. Let’s see if its wagon booty makes up for that poverty spec and its not-so-poverty price.
The ad for yesterday’s 1990 VW GTI 16V turbo boasted that the car’s state of tune makes for 13-second quarter-mile dashes. It also claimed an $18,000 asking price, a number that few of you readily raced to defend. The result was an 88 percent No Dice loss for the hotter than hot hatch.
As we discussed, yesterday’s GTI was a five-door model never officially sold here in the U.S.; our car arrived through private channels following a stint of being big in Japan. Today’s 1991 BMW 318i Touring is another plum bit of private import catnip, especially well-suited for old-school Bimmer buffs.
Being a European model, this wagon is also somewhat uniquely spec’d compared to the contemporary U.S. models. It features manual window and sunroof cranks, lower-end checkered cloth upholstery, and a speedo that goes all the way up to 240. Of course, that’s in kilometers per hour, which translates to 149 miles per hour. That’s still very optimistic since the 318i’s top speed is somewhere around 110 mph.
Getting up to any speed is made possible by the 1.8-liter M40 four-cylinder under the hood. Here, that’s backed up by a Getrag five-speed manual driving the rear wheels. In Euro guise, the SOHC cam four managed 111 horsepower and 119 lb-ft of torque.
This was the last model year for the E30, but it wouldn’t be the last year that Americans would rue being unable to legally own the wagon edition. That all changed in 2016 thanks to the 25-Year rule, which allows cars of a certain age entry to the country without having to pass federal safety or emissions standards. That doesn’t apply to California, which has its own emission regulations and still shuns non-compliant cars newer than the 1975 model year. This Bimmer’s seller notes that fact in the ad, stating that Californians need not apply.
The seller also mentions that this was originally a home-market car, having been imported from Germany. It has 165,000 miles on the clock and is described as being in “Good condition,” as well as running and driving “great.”
The Diamond Black paint looks to be without flaw but could stand a solid polishing. Underneath that sits a set of Style-10 15-inch alloys that appear to be in equally nice condition and wearing Fulda tires of indeterminate age. On either side of the traditional twin-kidney grille resides a set of smiley headlamps, which are fun. A pair of driving lights sits in the valance below those.
The cabin appears reasonably clean and tidy, most notably featuring an un-cracked dash in which is housed a factory AM/FM/cassette stereo. The seats do show evidence of having had one too many butts in them and should be addressed in some fashion. Everything is manually operated here, so there’s little to go wrong, and many of the major bits are easily obtainable, so maintenance and repair on the car shouldn’t be a hassle.
In its favor, the car has a clean Arizona title and current tags, so all the hard work of finding, purchasing, and signing here and initialing there of its importation has already been handled. All a prospective new owner needs to do is show up with $13,500 in cold, hard cash. But should they?
What do you think? Is this nicely presented 318i Touring worth the $13,500 asking price? Or do the low specs demand a commensurately lower price tag?
You decide!
Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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