Estate of the Art

There are certain spec BMWs that you look back on and wonder why nobody ordered more of them at the time. This often happens every time you find your dream spec car, only to find out it’s an auto when you wanted a manual. Demand 15- 30 years after production is very different to when that car rolled off the production line. This reflects in used values today, hence why a manual six speed BMW 540i (either E34 or E39) can sell for double that of the same car with an auto. 286bhp felt like a lot back then, but now it’s diesel numbers, and buyers want to have full control of each of those horses to keep it ahead of the Sprinter van in the outside lane.

The E36 is a model you can still pick up for buttons. They have yet to shed their drifter/stance image, and the rough sub-grand are still clinging on, and scraping through MOTs across the nation. It wasn’t long ago I recall E30s with dubious mods and eight less-thangentle owners kicking around for the same money. Look at them now. Any 325i Sport commands serious money. Even a rust free 325i Touring is quite a thing, and pushing £10k in excellent condition.

Jumping forward a generation, this E36 328i M Sport Touring with the coveted manual gearbox and quite a few other desirable extras, is a tough car to value, given its extreme rarity. Aside from the original M Contour alloys (from an E36 saloon), visually it’s completely as it left the factory. Hardcore E36 heads will correctly point out that the E36 Touring only officially came in M Sport flavour as a 323i in the UK. All 328i Tourings were

ESTATEOF THE ART

Photographs by Rafe Abrook

officially designated as SE cars with the DVLA, however not everyone realises that before a registration plate was assigned to them, they could still have all of the Sport boxes ticked during the factory build, as this one benefitted from.

Clues to its Sport origin are the original Avus Blue paintwork with anthracite headlining – options only available on Sport cars. Whilst it’s easy enough to add the requisite bumpers, M Sport suspension and interior trim later, it’s unlikely the car would have a full respray based on current E36 values and almost certainly not the headlining done. This particular car had some other boxes ticked, including parking sensors, upgraded HiFi stereo system, full onboard computer, and headlight washer system. It seems the original owner wanted to throw almost M3 money at the most practical 3 Series available.

It’s that practicality that surprises more than 20 years on. It was never a serious load lugger, but it’s a surprisingly practical beast. With current owner Rafe being a full time photographer by trade, he has no problem loading bags of kit

in the boot for weddings, or sports gear for his basketball coaching. It’s also a genuine 30mpg car and not just on a contraflow. Unless it’s given the full beans constantly or only taken on very short journeys, she returns between 28 and

32mpg which is quite something for a car of its age and engine size.

Compromises? Well there’s always some. Rafe notes it’s not his first choice of vehicle if the drive requires stop/start traffic due to the (relative to newer cars)

heavy steering, clutch and occasionally notchy gearbox. The ride is certainly on the firm side too if the road is unforgiving. The things that reward you on a spirited A or B road blast turn around and punish you when you are driving through London, or stuck on the M25 in a queue.

But if you want to drive and feel connected to the road, this car is remarkably analogue. Rafe recalls how in the late 90s, a friend of his became a successful recruitment consultant at a young age and had the keys to a company 328i coupe, a car that at the time felt ludicrously quick. A couple of years later Rafe was fortunate enough to own his own 320i coupe but always vowed to own a 328i himself. Another five years later he bought an early manual E46 328i Touring but found it disappointing by comparison. “It just felt like a completely diluted E36,” remembers Rafe. “It was like BMW was obsessed with refinement and the car had a lot of the fun sapped out of it. I’ve had a 330Ci E46 since and it was a great car but BMW got it so right with the E36, it’s just not been bettered as a 3.”

It’s widely known that during the 1990s BMW was under pressure to peg its top non-M engines down to less than

193bhp for tax reasons. Hence the 328i replaced the 325i adding only one extra horse, but a whole load of low down torque which made a huge difference to its driveability. Whilst Rafe is a big fan of keeping his cars as OEM as possible, he couldn’t resist the lure of opening up the performance with the popular

manifold swap for the M50b25. You lose a tiny bit of mid-range torque but it really opens up past 4,000rpm, and now the car absolutely sings all the way to the rev limiter. So much so that it’s still pulling hard when the limiter hits, something you never did before as you knew a changeup was required. The estimated 15-20bhp gains from this doesn’t exactly make it a monster but it’s addictive spinning it up there. So much so, says Rafe, that “this is the car that I drive fastest in, and my other two are both V8’s!”

Rafe bought the car a year ago from a gentleman on the south coast who runs a classic Italian race prep/restoration business, perhaps an odd choice of daily motor for an Alfisti! “Alex (previous owner) knew a good car when he saw it, and spent a lot of money keeping the Touring in the very best condition. You really wouldn’t know the car has now passed 180,000 miles. He was one of those rare sellers you meet who was genuine, and who wasn’t just moving a problem on. I knew it would be a long time before I would find a car in this spec and condition and I wasn’t put off at all by the mileage. I have a V8 Mercedes with 20,000 more miles on it than this!”

Besides the manifold swap, Rafe has also had the front bonnet resprayed

with the front wings blended in to cure some minor lacquer peel, and the car remains rust free. ”The current situation will almost certainly force me to sell one of my cars later this year but the Touring will be the last car standing because it does

everything I need a car to do, and every drive is a thrill. A mechanic friend of mine who has an E36 Touring with a Chevy LS1 V8 dropped into it did the manifold swap for me, and wants to build me some new cams for it. He’s a very naughty boy.”