Ownership Verified: BMW (E36) 323i Coup? - A winter sledge from Germany

[Posambique]

Over a year after purchasing the car I am finally ready (=had the time) to post it online. I bought it in August 2013 as I spent a year in Stuttgart as an exchange student/intern at Porsche. It is my winter car in Finland as the Porsche is stored away from the salty roads.

It is a 1996 BMW 323i Coup? manual in Boston Green metallic with fabric interior STOFF KLEE/ANTHRAZIT (D6AT).
EDIT: As I bought the car it had done 179tkm
The option list in full looks like this:

S240A LEDERLENKRAD - Steering wheel, leather
S243A AIRBAG FUER BEIFAHRER - Airbag for front passenger
S341A STOSSFAENGER KOMPLETT IN WAGENFARBE - Bumpers completely in body colour
S401A SCHIEBE-HEBEDACH, ELEKTRISCH - Lift-up-and-slide-back sunroof, electric
S428A WARNDREIECK - Warning triangle and first aid kit
S498A KOPFSTUETZEN IM FOND - Headrests mechanically adjustable, rear
S502A SCHEINWERFER-W ASCHANLAGE - Headlight cleaning system
S508A P ARK DIST ANCE CONTROL (PDC) - Park Distance Control (PDC)
S510A LEUCHTWEITENREGELUNG ABBLENDLICHT - Headlight vertical aim control
S520A NEBELSCHEINWERFER - Fog lights
S542A CHECK CONTROL - Check Control
S556A AUSSENTEMPERATURANZEIGE - Outdoor temperature indicator
S669A RADIO BMW BUSINESS RDS - Radio BMW Business RDS
L801A DEUTSCHLAND-AUSFUEHRUNG - National version Germany/Austria
S806A 3.BREMSLEUCHTE - Third stoplamp

This is how it looked back then (after a good wash of course)

And the MUST HAVE PROOF OF OWNERSHIP

 

[Mitchi]

Nice! That looks really clean.
How much has it done? Most of the E36 you can get over here are completely done with their life and are just waiting for the scrapyard... getting the last good ones can be a real challenge.

 

[Thujalvi]

One of us, one of us, oooooone ov uuuuuussssssssss.

Car looks sharp, not enough vanoses though. Also some nice wheels could do wonders for it.

 

[Lastsoul]

That example is one of the cleanest E36s I've seen in recent years. And I like the OEM wheels under it. Somehow makes it stand out, as 99% of even remotely sharp looking E36s have at least 17" wheels.

 

[Posambique]

Thank you for all the nice words, I will post some pictures with the winter wheels.

How much has it done?

It had 178tkm in the tacho as I bought it, at the moment the figure is 195tkm.

 

[BrunoAMG]

Nice!
In my opinion Boston Green Metallic is the best color for the E36 3 series

 

[Mitchi]

It had 178tkm in the tacho as I bought it, at the moment the figure is 195tkm.

Wow, that is somewhat rare since most have done 250-300+ kms. :lol:

 

[Posambique]

As I already was in south Germany, the first thing to do was obviously to drive the thing to the Alps. From Stuttgart to Livigno, Italy and from there to Bad Ragaz, Switzerland (and back) in just a few days. And what a wonderful drive it was! The thing is so well balanced and wonderful on the twisty alpine roads. The six cylinder engine sounds absolutely thrilling. One of the reasons I actually went for a 3-series instead of a 5-series (E34) was the dream to drive a six cylinder coup? over the Alps.

I know that Livigno has probably been mentioned here in the forums a thousand times, but I will do it once again. If you ever have the chance to go there, you should do it. A tax-free paradise in the middle of the Alps surrounded by a set of one of the best roads in the world is something worth seeing. Fl?ela Pass is a very fine strip even though it does not carry the magical name of the Stelvio Pass.

As said, from Livigno we headed to Switzerland and the small town of Bad Ragaz is not very well known but quite lovely indeed. The reason for our stay was a friend couple living there. The place to visit in Bad Ragaz is the natural spring/medieval spa that has given its name to the town. There is a pretty nice hotel there as well if you can afford it (we definitely could not).

 

[Posambique]

The BMW needed an Oil change @?185tkm and it got one. In went 6.5 liters of Castrol Edge 0W-40 and a MANN oil filter. The non-studded Central European winter tires were also fitted as the winter was coming. It was a nice car to own in the South German "winter", but the real test was coming in January 2014.

It was time to take the coup? to the famous Route Napoleon (Route nationale 85 = N85) from Grenoble to Antibes. We (me & my girlfriend Sonja) had some fears, whether one can even drive the route in January, but we simply packed a set of snow chains in the trunk and took off.

The drive from Stuttgart to France was nothing spectacular and we were just trying to get to the starting point of Route Napoleon anyways. "The Hexagon" did welcome us warmly though: There were a few beautiful cars and some better-than-expected snacks at the gas station:

More to follow...

 

[Posambique]

And oh boy when the actual Route Napoleon began...
The sceneries changed immediately. It was all mountains and mountains.

So far the routes had been pretty boring though, and actually quite a disappointment. It was all about to change though.

- - - Updated - - -

Sadly it was dark pretty soon (in january remember) and we actually had to hurry to make it to Sisteron in the same day.
I can tell you though, some of the roads were fantastic (e.g. the way down from La Mure).

Sisteron is a very beautiful town, and luck guided us well as we happened to choose it as our destination for the first day.
Some nightly pictures from Sisteron

To be continued...

 

[Lastsoul]

Route Napoleon is a fantastic road. I need to drive it again as soon as possible.

 

[BrunoAMG]

Why you changed the wheels? In my opinion the old original ones were better looking...

Nice pictures and cool trip

 

[Lastsoul]

As far as I know those with hub caps were temporary winter tires

 

[BrunoAMG]

As far as I know those with hub caps were temporary winter tires

Oh,sorry...

I live in a hot country so sometimes i just forget that people need winter tires in cold countries:lol:

 

[Posambique]

The non-studded Central European winter tires were also fitted as the winter was coming.

Why you changed the wheels? In my opinion the old original ones were better looking...

Nice pictures and cool trip

Thank you for the nice words, Lastsoul is right as he knows the car.
The wheels in the first pictures still go together with the summer tires.

The steelies with hub caps seen in the pictures later have already been sold, but we will get back to that later....

 

[Posambique]

And this is actually where the true awesomeness started. Waking up in the beautiful village of Sisteron was in itself wonderful, but the roads only got better. The sights were amazing as well. Sadly we were not really blessed with a nice weather, but what can one expect in the middle of January. From Sisteron to the shore is in my opinion the best part of the whole N85. You should also reserve time to visit Gorges du Verdon - we did not. Though one must say that the weather was not really helping.

When we woke up the weather was still somewhat okay and I managed to take some pictures, but it went full bad quite soon after...

We eventually ended up on the coast line...

P.S. Did you spot the french copy of Lastsoul?s 406 Coup??

 

[BrunoAMG]

Waking up in the beautiful village of Sisteron was in itself wonderful, but the roads only got better.

Sisteron!
I was there this week too, driving my beautiful Mercedes SLS trying to discover some barn finds and doing my best to win the Horizon festival :lol:


I was just kidding,it's nice that while i visit Sisteron in the Xbox (Forza Horizon 2) you visit in real life.

 

[Posambique]

The coast line and Antibes are quite beautiful and even managed to capture a couple of cool cars.

 

[Posambique]

Nice is a pretty nice place as one would expect. We did visit Monaco very briefly as well (and spotted a La Ferrari La Ferrari La La)

That is when it was time to head back home....

 

[Posambique]

And the journey back really was a joy!
Route Napoleon is more of a fast flowing road than an alpine road with millions of hairpins. I am not so sure whether it actually is the best road in the world, but definitely one of the bests I?ve ever driven. There is also the thing that in one end of the road there is Cote d?azur waiting. The fact that you drive this magnificent piece of road to reach places like Antibes, Nice and Monaco only makes it better.

I also got really fond of my E36 (if it didn?t already happen in Livigno). The six cylinder engine sounds fantastic and the car is well balanced. There is more than enough comfort to travel long distances, but it still likes to be driven hard. It actually reminds me quite a lot of my Porsche 944, even though they are two completely different cars. There is just the thing that I would love to have better seats in a car. The basic seats in an E36 are, if not horrible, at least not very good. Other than that...

I actually posted the the Route Napoleon story also to our website Ajakaamme.net but that is in finnish.