4 door - undesirable?

[PaulC]

I looked at two 91 318i 5spd sedans before I found my E30. Both were in pretty good condition but needed a little attention. I walked because both sellers wanted more than I though they were worth. I have to say I like the 'spartan' interiors of the sedans. Reminds me of driving rental cars in Europe. Except that no one is yelling at me in languages I don't understand.

[mkodama]

4-doors are the exact same length and wheelbase anyway, and they are even a bit stiffer torsionally than the coupes. For someone who is as tall as me, though, it takes a bit of contortion to get in and out.

Yeah, all of the information on the 3-series, from the E30, E36, E46, and E92, have shown that the sedan frames are lighter and stiffer than the coupes.

Nothing bad about 4 door cars!  Just that people who buy 2 door sports cars usually have a little more money and hence the slight luxury markup.

[nomad]

people who buy two door cars typically don;t have kids, hence the extra cash on hand. ha ha

[xwill112x]

Poor choice of words on my part - I meant look including the suspension and lowering, and worth meaning you won't gat the cost back in added value. You are right about "look" cost but look without the suspension = poser.

Maybe you could ship me those $40 seats:D  

You can keep the IS emblem though.

ahahah
actually, i have a set of 325iS seats...there tan, paid the 40$ for em...no rips!
aint in the m42 yet cause my interior is black..tryin to trade a guy for black ones...better yet sparco's. and you can pick up suspension fairly cheap..i been lookin for some lowering springs for my car.

[EN318isPDX]

Yeah, all of the information on the 3-series, from the E30, E36, E46, and E92, have shown that the sedan frames are lighter and stiffer than the coupes.

Nothing bad about 4 door cars!  Just that people who buy 2 door sports cars usually have a little more money and hence the slight luxury markup.

Prove it. Sounds like a pile of garbage to me.

You may as well say "Cabrios are lighter and more aerodynamic"
I'd believe you if you said that Cabrios are stiffer than coupes.

The difference between 2 door and 4 door is you don't have seats that lean forward and you got a little extra weight.

[xwill112x]

my seats lean forward.
and i think the fourdoors are actually stiffer, ive seen on diffrent sites that the fourdoors frame is more stable in cornering etc..

[EN318isPDX]

my seats lean forward.
and i think the fourdoors are actually stiffer, ive seen on diffrent sites that the fourdoors frame is more stable in cornering etc..

Haha ya thats not what i meant... not like a fixed bucket, more like the seats are designed to get over and behind them. Where as you have an entire door designed for this purpose. I doubt four dour makes any difference in handling.. Slick top i can believe has less flex but doors.... cmon now people

I know for a fact that the door internals are heavier on a 4 door. I felt it in my arms when i was trying to modify a 4 door window to go into my 2 door

[xwill112x]

i think personally if i was gonna make a drift/autox/drag car, id pick a four door. less buck for the same bang

[tony92ic]

I'd believe you if you said that Cabrios are stiffer than coupes.

NOT!!!!

[jrobie79]

Our M42 powered 4 door E30s are also extremely rare because they were only offered in america for 1 years. The 318i 4 door in europe could only be had with the 8 valve M40 engine.

i got two of em in my family, i own one with 253K, and my sister also has one with 180K, still running strong, jsut a little bad of an idle on mine, hers was 500 from my dads boss, and mine was 900 on craigslist, only thing i have done major to it was replace the fuel pump and some suspension shit. great little engines

30mpg is possible, especially on the interstate. You do need premium, though.

i actually calculated my MPG to be around 30.5 with regular unleaded, using premium i noticed a .6-.7 increase, car has 253K ill stick to the cheap shit for now.