Running Report
A cabrio is not just for summer…
March 29, 2013 | 
Author When I bought my current cabriolet, it came with the optional hardtop, which I love, and in theory it’s great for “winter use”, however this winter, I decided to run without it.
The pros are it gives the car a second look, you can run “frameless coupe” mode, which you can’t in the actual coupe, and unlike the cabrio roof, it has a glass & heated rear screen. However, I have neither a garage, nor the space at home to keep it, which runs a few compounded issues. Before the fabric roof is stored for any period of time, it has to be dry, the roof is a two person’d job, and again you want it dry before you take it off to stash it in the house. As I don’t really have room to stash it at home, this means dads, which means this also has to be planned. This means last year it went on mid September 2011, just as we witnessed a lovely heatwave at the start of October, and didn’t come off till near the end of March, so that was nearly 6 months with a convertible I couldn’t use.
Running Reports – BMW E36 323i Convertible pt2
BMW 323i Convertible (E36 2.5l M52)
Starting mileage – 117662 7th July 2011 – 127287 30th September 2012
Total Miles – 9625
MPG – 25.76mpg
Costs -
- £215 – 12 months VED (July 11)
- £134 – Inspection Service
- £251 – Front Dunlop SP2000E
- £43 – Crankshaft Sensor
- £220 – Pagid discs & pads all round
- £493 – Insurance
- £40 – MoT
- £30 – Bonnet Badge
- £400 – Front Bilstein B4 Shock Absorbers (£135), Front Sachs springs (£135) & fitting (£130)
- £223 – 12 months VED (July 12)
It’s been over 14 months since my last running report on the 323i, and at first glance the costs may look expensive, but, two years tax & the insurance are just annual unavoidable’s, and even if there are cheaper to tax cars I think I’m saving some on depreciation. Tyres & brakes are service items and should hopefully see at least two-three years motoring, and neither were chosen on price, the tyres particularly, were chosen purely because they’re the OEM spec, and one of the reasons I bought the car was that it was, even at 14 years old, still running OEM spec tyres all round, so when the moment came to replace them, I chose to carry on running it on OEM Dunlops, rather than a cheaper mid-premium option.
Posted in Motoring, Review, Running Report | 
Tags: 323i, convertible, E36, Running Report | 
1 Comment »
Running Reports – BMW E36 323i Convertible
- £60 - Wind Deflector
- £295 - Water Pump & Bottom Arm
- £440 - both rear arches & rear bumped painted
When I collected the car it was still wearing the previous owners private plate, and with the cars original registration in the boot. Luckily I wasn't pulled by the police, so no funny questions to answer, and also the new MoT, Tax etc arrived from the DLVA within a week, so I could transfer the plate without incurring any additional charge from my insurance company, which was a relief having being stung for an extra £100 over the previous Audi Cabriolet. On longer drives than the road test I discovered the front right had a bit of a knock, having being told it'd had bushes last year you start racking your mind 'what the hell is it?' but a trip to the local garage revealed one of the bushes fitted last year was fitted badly, and were now slightly broke. So nothing too major, new bottom arm ordered to fix it properly. Slightly more worrying, it turned out I'd got a water leak, a bit of an achilles heel on this generation of M50/M52 engines, only I'd not noticed, so first I knew was when the gauge suddenly shot towards red when out one afternoon by Ladybower (least there's plenty of water there). Another trip to the garage diagnosed a rather worn water pump. Repair urgency was escalated, and they've both now been sorted, so no water leak & handling on the front much improved now. Luckily the water pump was also covered under the warranty, a quick call to Gmund Cars, told them how much I'd been quoted, so they told me to get on with it & a cheque arrived to cover it shortly afterwards. Top service. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Motoring, Review, Running Report | Tags: 323i, BMW, convertible, E36, Running Report | No Comments »
It never rains but it pours…
I've got no real excuses, half asleep half looking at brake light reflections in the windows opposite far end of drive, missed the fact I was close to the wall on left and clobbered it on the rear arch. On the plus side the rear arches on the BMW had got a small amount of corrosion when I'd purchased it, so I'd already talked to @bunie78 about getting them sorted at the professional car bodyshop he works at, so fired off a MMS to find out how much this was adding to the bill, and to bring the job forward in the year. I did have to manually pull it out a little as could here on the short drive home the arch just rubbing on the sidewall of the tyre... Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Motoring, Running Report | Tags: BMW, bmwrepair, bodyshop, dint, oops, paint, paintwork, panel beating, primer, repairs | No Comments »
Hello Jon Gotta New Motor
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Posted in Motoring, Review, Running Report | Tags: 323i, BMW, cabriolet, long termer, motoring, review | 2 Comments »
