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Are BMW E36s too Old to be Daily Drivers?
35K views
Jan 29, 2023
Got a view comments about whether BMW E36s could actually be used as daily drivers in 2020. Here is my answer: based on driveability, reliability, practical use, and fuel consumption, I believe that E36s still make pretty good daily drivers. An E36 in this day and age certainly does not make THE BEST daily driver. These vehicles are getting old, maintenance is always an issue when you are buying one. But overall these vehicles have a solid track record for being excellent on the road, and solid for daily use.
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey, E36 Fanatics, Steven here
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Today I want to talk to you about BMW E36 as a daily driver
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So the BMW E36 was produced from 1992 to 1999 in the United States
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And what that means is since it's now 2020, these cars are fast approaching 30 years old
0:22
I mean, they're approaching classic car age. So it really brings up the issue. Are these cars really still
0:30
realistically good daily drivers and if so like what makes them a good daily driver in the first
0:36
place so my response to that is hell yes they're good daily drivers if you take care of them correctly
0:44
and they're maintained right and here are some reasons why i say that they are good daily drivers
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so if you've seen my youtube channel before seen any of my videos you know that i've been daily
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driving at bmw 36 since i was like 16 i'm 24 now so
1:00
It's been a while. I've had two different dailies and those are literally the only cars I ever drove
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Before, up until recently, we had three different E36s that different members of my family were using as a daily driver
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Now we're down to this puppy right here, but up until very recently we had three
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So what made them such good daily drivers for us? Well, first was the fact that these vehicles are bulletproof
1:28
They're absolutely bulletproof in terms of their drive train. Their transmission, their engine, they're differential
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We've never had a single issue with any of those components on our cars
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Now we have always taken relatively good maintenance of these vehicles in terms of changing your fluids your differential fluids changing the oil on time changing the transmission fluid Even though BMW for some reason says that it a lifetime fluid yeah that not true
2:00
But the drive trains are, they're never going to leave you stranded on the side of the road because your engine blew up, your transmission blew up, and you're going to have a couple thousand dollar bill
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You're just not going to have that issue if you take care of it. Another reason these cars make great daily drivers is they're just absolutely gorgeous vehicle
2:20
You know, they call them like dolphin-shaped cars, the E-36 series, but in my opinion, they're by far one of the most beautiful three-series BMWs that BMW has produced
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I really like the E-30, too. I like that boxy style, but the E-36 makes a gorgeous car, and the E-30 is getting a little too old for a daily driver
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But so, they're very attractive cars when you've got them painted up, looking nice, they look gorgeous, absolutely and stunning
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reason why they make pretty good daily drivers is that they're not bad on gas mileage
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Now they were really good on gas mileage back when these cars were produced in the 1990s
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But nowadays you've got smart cars, you got hybrid cars, even traditional gas vehicles
3:07
use a lot less gas per mile than they used to. So they're not as good as they used to be
3:14
I would say that the 318s are still relatively really good gas consumption vehicles
3:19
once you get up to like the 328 i or the m3 it's not the best but then again gas is so cheap right now
3:27
it's not that the gas might not be as big of a deal okay another reason why these cars make pretty good
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daily drivers and probably my favorite reason out of these is that they are absolutely amazing cars
3:41
to drive around the city their handling is awesome when you have some good quality suspension components and your shocks and struts aren worn these cars are an absolute joy to drive around the city You know I driven my father big he got a big E430 Mercedes Benz
4:01
drive that around the city as much. It's nice, but it certainly doesn't handle like a three-series BMW
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And that's one of the things I really love about those cars. When you're on the highway, when you're in the city
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you just dart in and out of traffic as you're moving. moving along because these cars are extremely zippy
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So that's one of things I really like about those as a daily driver is that they're
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enjoyable to drive and you know you get around a little bit quicker in the city
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So I'm not going to go too much into the question of BMW reliability because I can go
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on and on about you know different aspects of BMW whether it's reliable or
4:40
unreliable or not. Plus I have if you haven't checked it out yet I have a really
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depth video on whether BMWs are reliable or not. The link's going to be in the card right above
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so you can check that out. But overall, E36s, as far as BMWs go, they're extremely reliable
5:00
vehicles. Finally, the last thing that anybody really wants to consider about a daily driver
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is practicality. Like, how practical is a three series to drive daily, to work, to wherever
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whatever you got to do? I would say, depending on your situation, it's a pretty good car to have as a daily driver. Now, if you're a family person
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you got like three kids running around and you got to pack that thing with five people every
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day, then I'd tell you don't get a three series as a daily driver. It ain't going to work unless
5:32
you want to strap somebody onto the roof or something like that. But besides that, you know
5:37
three series probably ain right for you maybe a van or an SUV or something But you know If you a single person or just one or two people using that vehicle every day I would say it makes a great option from a practicality standpoint
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And I wanted to throw out a tip. If you plan on driving a BMW E-36 as a daily driver, you're planning on buying one maybe
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And this has just come from my experience with owning these vehicles
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You know, like I mentioned before, these cars are getting older. So it becomes a much bigger deal when you're dealing with a car
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that has 20 years of age on it and maybe 80, 100,000 miles on it
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it becomes a really big deal on how well it has been maintained over the years
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You know, if somebody maintained it like crap, I remember checking out of BMW E36 when I was flipping these things
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I went out to Greensboro to go check out one. And when I started test driving it, it ran really, really rough
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So one of the questions I sometimes like asking people with E36s is like
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what kind of gas do you put in it? And the guy told me you put in 87 regularly
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And after that, I was like, nah, because if you're putting 87 in your E36
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you're probably not taking care of it in various other aspects. So I just skipped over that car
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So just something important to remember, if you're looking at an E36 with a little bit higher mileage
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make sure you've got all the information about the car because also, like I mentioned before
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these cars can be pretty good dailies. If you've got one that's been taken care of like crap
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it's going to be a nightmare to own. So those are the different things that I consider when thinking
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about a daily driver, practicality, gas mileage, handling, and then like how reliable are these cars
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actually? And that's something I think most people would consider and I think E36 is passive
7:34
with flying colors, pretty much all of them. So I hope you enjoyed this video
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If you did, please like and subscribe. Y'all have a go on
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