So You Want a BMW E36

Oh my Lord. Praise to the two people in the comment section that just wouldn't, they just wouldn't, wouldn't give up. Parents, you should be proud of your children. Why? Well, because today we're looking at the car that has littered high school parking lots, has just established itself as a car that can truly do it all for about everyone. Doesn't matter if you're 16 years old or 95 years old, that's only been using it as like a weekend, like Sunday driver. Which is, I don't know if it's actually compliments of the car, maybe it's not compliments of the car. In all honesty, it could be taken either way. But anyway, I'm Alex, Alex.FI on the socials and today, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about the iconic, the oddly shaped, the beautiful with two O's and a Y, the BMW 3 Series E36. The E36 BMW is the third generation BMW 3 Series produced from 1990 to 2000. Because you know what? First generation is just, it's a touch, it's a touch too old, okay? Like it's a good car, don't get me wrong. Nothing bad about it, but two doors, not enough. Okay, then you have the second generation, not bad. Came with two extra doors, body style, ain't half bad. I mean like, we've got one, so that should say enough. But the third generation is when things really started to look up for BMW. Oh yes, yes indeed, wide legged jeans, flannel shirts and boy bands were just screaming along. We had the Backstreet Boys. Don't tell me you didn't sing those songs underneath your breath, because I know you're a liar. It don't matter who you are, it doesn't matter if you're a dude or not a dude, you sang the song, you know the song I'm talking about too. But anyway, the third generation E36 was probably one of the most significant design changes of its time in history. It was coupe oriented. It had a strong A line and C line. What that means, the angle, it had a sporty incline and it had like those beautiful twin headlamps behind a glass enclosure, it was just beautiful. Like everything that BMW was doing with the third generation was just about perfect. In fact, this generation was the start of the three series becoming like the standard BMW. I mean, it really was the car that put BMW even more on the map than before. And this generation did it better than ever before. I mean, it had manual suspension, it had a multi-link rear suspension. And I meant to say it came in a manual, but I screwed it up, but I'm gonna keep going. It was named one of the 10 best cars from car and driver for every year that it was on sale. I mean, to be fair, though, the three series does have about like nine different models or eight different models and 9 million different engine variations throughout its lifespan. So it's a little bit loaded, but still gets the trophy. That's what everybody remembers. That's what Wikipedia remembers. That's what you remember. Now that's what I remember. The E36 would see all sorts of different models, all sorts. The E36 takes the cake. It had the 316i, the 318i, the 318is, the 320i, the 323i, the 325i, the 328i, the M3, which had both the Euro spec and a US spec. And throughout the years, the variations of the E36 would have different sorts of motors and had different sort of various little tweaks and changes just in case you didn't like to have the same motor in the same car for more than about three months because that's just what BMW is. You had the M40 B16, the M43 B16. You had the M40, M43 B18. You had an M44, an M50 B20, an M52 B25, an M25 B28, an S50 B30, a 32, an S50 B32, and an S52 B32. Had a lot of ----. The E36 had some pretty gnarly things going for it. I mean, it was revolutionary. It had the 50-50 weight distribution out of the car that was really never really meant to be some sort of super fantastical sports car. It was just a good car. The six-cylinder engines received Vanos. Vanos, which sounds like a evil person from Marvel. It was a fancier VTEC, which again, a lot of BMW people, man, it's actually more than that, but we're not gonna get into that. The E36 generation BMW was a car that was systematically sold everywhere and all the time from 1990 to 2000. And over time, the car got saturated in pretty much every single market it possibly could. And really, at the same time, BMW was also doing some pretty fancy stuff with it. It was going through the British Touring Car Championship, the GT Cup driving, the Super Tourer Wagon Cup. Their diesel won a 1998 24-hour Nürburgring because the diesel engine didn't need to stop for gas as much. I don't even understand it at this point as to how BMW could make so many different variations of a 3 Series and still somehow win at everything. But this is why a lot of BMW owners like the E36 generation. Well, the car did feature the M badge. The third generation is most popular across the less than focused performance trim. After all, the car did come out in the 90s. Everybody loves the M3, but let's be honest, a little pricey, a little dicey, not a lot of people are ever gonna own it. It became the car for the 80s kid and even the few 90s kids, I would say, would pick it up. But post-95 kids, don't count, all right? Not barely even a 90s kid. I'd call you like a 2000s kid, okay? Fight me about it. The E36 was made in so many different trims in so many years that over time, prices on them came, you know, they came down. But they came down so much for people like you and people like me that could actually buy one. Not only that, but they were like a bang and deal because of their dolphin-esque design, they were more aerodynamic. They came with a pretty decent motor. They had everything that was just a good bargain used sports car. They had good weight distribution, which meant they were fun to drive. And because there was a million made, they depreciated like a proper German car should. E36s were stashed up about as fast as my wife eats M&Ms and that's why they hit the aftermarket scene so hard, which goes into our next point. So you want a BMW E36 3 Series? Well, I'm glad you're here there, bud, because let me tell you a few things you should suspect if you pick one up. Because of their value, they are everywhere, which is great and not so great. Great because yay, they're everywhere. But also not great because oh, they're everywhere. They're absolutely perfect, nearly bulletproof, but pro tip, check that cooling system. But I mean, that's pretty much all you really gotta worry about. But where the E36 truly shines is when you start putting a good old fancy little sprinkle of modification dust on it. You just, you know, you do the thing. Because they look so good once you start modifying them and they look even better when they're just on the ground. Now they are not inherently very fast. So unless you plan on doing an upsized engine swap or just do a full on turbo install, most people just make up them looking good, which is not a terrible thing to do, especially with an older 90s car. I mean, what else are you gonna do? Turbo swap it, LS swap it, people have done that too, makes a few people mad. But what belongs on an E36? Well, I'm so glad you asked because I wonder if there was a brand that had a heavy focus on your own cars and had styling from the 90s that has held for over two decades. That's 20 years, son. And just seems to be built around these kind of cars. If only there was a brand that could truly capture that like styling into their design that would match the body style of an E36, third generation BMW. Oh, BBS, yeah. BBSs look just about perfect on these cars in case you're wondering. Upsized wheels, new wheels, old wheels, just needs a BBS logo on it because once you put those wheels on an E36, I mean, they just, it's like Ice Cube from Friday. It's just perfect every single time. There's no questioning when you put BBSs on an E36 or pretty much any generation BMW that you're just gonna, it's just, it's just right. It's like when a small box goes into a big box and you let it go and just like, and it just like gets in there perfectly. You know how satisfying that is? Like that's BBS wheels on an E36. The cars can be functionally set up or they can be a stancy setup, whichever you prefer. Tires usually have a tendency to stay around the Atsu Federal Nitto lineup versus many others. And that's mostly because the budget of these cars and a lot of people that buy these sort of cars aren't really the biggest, which is okay. You don't need to have a ton of money to pick up an E36 and start doing fun things with them. Now, I know I just said probably one of the most expensive wheel brands, I mean, E36s, BBSs, if there's a place to spend money, I'd probably spend it there. What you do need to know is that it kind of helps like, you need to do one thing and that is to bring the 90s car back to life. A lot of these cars have a little bit of issues with headlight restoration, paint correction, plastic restore, all of the stuff that you're gonna need to do to make that E36 look new and look perfect. Pair it with some proper like BC coilovers or BBS air or BBS again, because BBS is awesome on these cars. I'm telling you, maybe some summer tires or all seasons if you wanna just risk it for the biscuit. And you've got yourself a proper cruiser that almost everybody is gonna look at and just appreciate for what it is because it's an E36, it's a BMW, it's a three series. Just don't expect to kick anyone's tush in a race because that's not really why anyone owns E36s unless you have the M3, which if that's the case, just give me the car please and I promise I'll take care of it. It's gonna go to a fantastic home. So if you picked up an E36 or you're about to, be sure to drop a comment below and let us know what you think about it so far. And of course, if you're looking to snag some wheels, tires or suspension for your E36, BMW three series or any other BMW, be sure to check out fitmentindustries.com where we've got it all like BBS, BC or whatever else just happens to strike your fancy. I was gonna say another joke, but then I realized that that would probably demonetize the video in which case I'm just not going to say that. I'm Alex from Fitment Industries. We hope you guys enjoyed. Let us know in the comment section what you'd like to see us talk about next. We will see you later. Peace.