1986 BMW 3 Series Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Braking - excellent, Handling - excellent, Acceleration - needs improvement. Driving around town, at low speeds, you need to give it more gas than I expected, but has plenty of passing and highway power! Build quality is great for a 1980s car! Needs lots of maintenance to keep reliable, like all BMWs. Uses very little gas and it's very fun to drive with the manual trans and lsd. If I didn't drive it so quickly, I'm sure it would get more than 30mpg. I wouldn't recommend this car to someone who knows little or nothing about cars.Nov 03, 2011

Granted the fact that we are talking about a 25 year-old car; Performance is acceptable for its age though acceleration past 60 gets tough on freeways but not impossible. A lot of low-end torque means that drifting and burning out come pretty easily so care must be taken when accelerating from a stop. Braking is good but over the years the rotors have gone wobbly and should be replaced for its longevity. The build quality is excellent for a four door sedan that weighs in at 1.2 tons. I personally haven't heard any squeaks or rattles until recently when the factory installed lower arm bushings started to give. Styling is of the old 80's theme and will probably be looked down on from most modern car fans, especially with the plastic and vinyl interior that starts to fade and crack if not garage kept. Gas mileage is a whopping 23-28 MPG CITY depending on conditions of both the surroundings and the car. Some with the same make have reported 45MPG on the highway...... Maintenance goes up like the curve on an exponential graph with age, but this probably applies to all old cars. Unusually enough, the 4door sedan variant of this car has a Front to Rear weight dispersion ratio of roughly 50:50 so is easy to handle, even on the toughest of hairpins (<-NOT me), and very easy to spin, coupled with the quick pickup on cold days makes this car a joy to drive (city) in my humble opinion. Oct 09, 2011

INCREDIBLY RELIABLE!!! DEFINATLY if not the cheapest bmw one of the cheapest and VERY reliable. the ride is smooth. you can drive it across the usa and it will happily and steadily get you there without a hassle, did i mention it is reliable? the only problem is the specialty shops normally are kinda out of the way :( did i mention this car is reliable? :DSep 24, 2010

The 325e was the baby 6 cyclinder 3 series. 127 hp out of a 2.7 litre 12 valve inline 6. So engine performance wasn't what it could be, although the 177 ft/lbs of torque made up for the lack of power to some extent. What I eventually came to love about this car is that it was rear wheel drive (which I'm now hopelessly addicted to), and the fully independent suspension and light weight made it a very capable handler. The automatic transmission did give up the ghost shortly after I got it, but I converted it to a 5 speed which made it even better. This being my first car however I'm almost required to love it to death despite its many faults, but it did have many redeeming qualities that I still look for in new cars even today.Feb 19, 2010

It was free, but not worth it. Once you get a car this old it's hard to find parts for, and the more you put into it, the more expensive it is until you wonder if it was cheaper to buy a better car to begin with. The performance was decent, although the 2.5 L 168 hp (@ 6500 rpm) V6 engine is a bit dated compared to modern cars (28 more HP than a 2010 Honda Civic). 0- 62 in 9.7 secs isn't exactly stellar, but it's not terrible either. One important thing to note that since it was an 325xi meant that it had all wheel drive (unusual) and that it was also a coup. Since it was free, it needed alot of work done, and in the end it got junked...but if you find one in decent condition by all means try to get it functional, but remember that the cost of the car + repair probably should not equal the price of a new car if it's going to be your daily driver.Oct 30, 2009

There is alittle something holding back the engine but once I figure that out then this car will be all around amazing, the body is in great condition and I got 17in BBS rims on it now with the 1.5in drop shock and springs on it with stress bars front and back, performance wires, carbon fiber guage cluster, and alpine deck, soon to have two 12" subs with alpine amp.Also have stainless steel brake lines on it. and an IntakeSep 18, 2008

bought this one used, wish it was stick rather than automatic. i like the features but hate not having an owners manual. like, what does the letter "s" on the gear shift column stand for? my mechanic couldn't even answer that one. what i love about BMWs in general is the solid feel on the highway and the turning ratio. and i prefer the older body style like this one has.Jan 24, 2008

Clutch feel is excellent, not too smooth and not too harsh. you know exatly when it goes in. Steering feel is not too heavy, not too light. Car is very capable of performing and cheap upgrades can take it even further. i had ECU chip, K&N cone filter, stress bar, and 2.73:1 LSD. Fun to drive, decent gas mileage too. Mine had vinyl interior so it took abuse better than leather can. Looked and drove good at 300,000++ miles, right up until i swerved away from a dog and hit a ditch.Jan 22, 2008