- Oh my Lord.
Praise to the two people in the comments 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 the car
that can truly do it all, for about everyone.
Doesn't matter if you're 16 year 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 compliment to the car,
maybe it's not a compliment to the car.
In all honesty, it could be taken either way,
but anyway, I'm Alex, ALEX.FI in the socials,
and today, ladies and gentlemen,
we are talking about the iconic,
the oddly shaped, the beautiful with two Os and a Y
the BMW 3 Series E36.
(deep bass music)
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 was a strong A-line and C-line.
What that means, that angle has 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 3 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 had came in a manual,
but I screwed it up,
but I'm going to 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 3 Series does have
about, like, nine different models,
or eight different models, and nine million
different engine variations throughout its lifespan
and so it's a little bit loaded,
but still gets the trophy.
That's what everybody remembers.
That's was Wikipedia remembers.
That's was you remember, and 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 have different sorts 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 did.
You had the M40B16, the M43B16,
you had the M40 and M43B18, you had an M44,
an M50B20, an M52B25, an M45B28, an S50B30,
a 32, an S50B32 and an S52B32.
(exhales sharply)
Had a lot of (beep).
The E36 had some pretty narly things going for it,
I mean it was revolutionary,
it had the 50/50 weight distribution out of the car,
that was never really meant to be
some sort of super fantastical sports car.
It was just a good car.
The 6 cylinder engines received VANOS,
VANOS which sounds like a evil person from Marvel.
It was a fancier V-tech which according to
a lot of BMW (mumbles) it's actually more than that but
they'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 GG cup driving, the super tour riding cup,
the 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.
While 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 90's
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 80's kid
and even a few 90's kid's I would say would pick it up.
But post 95 kids don't count, all right.
I'm barely even a 90's kid,
I'd call you like a 2000's kid okay, fight me about it.
The E36 was made in so many different trims
and so many years that over time
prices on them came you know,
(long low whistle)
(inhales)
(low whistle)
(trendy music)
(ends whistle)
It came down.
But it 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 banging,
(claps)
deal.
Because of there dolphin-esc 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.
E36's were stashed up about as fast as my wife eats MNM's
and that's why they hit the after market 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 inspect if you pick one up.
Because of there value they are everywhere,
which is great and not so great,
great, huh-huh because yay they're everywhere,
but also not great because (moans) 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 bit sprinkle of modification dust on it
you just (blows) you know you do the thing,
because they look so good once you start modifying,
but 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 up-size 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 90's 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 newer cars
and had styling from the 90's
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 the design that would match
the body style of an E36 third generation BMW.
Oh BBS yeah, BBS is like just about perfect
on these cars if you're wondering.
Up-size wheels, new wheels, old wheels,
just has the 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 BBS's on an E36,
or pretty much any generation BMW that you're just gonna--,
it's just right, it's like when
a small box goes into a big box and you let it go
and it just like (simulates sliding down)
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 setup
or they can be a fancy setup, whichever you prefer.
Tires usually have a tendency to stay around the
hot suit federal middle lineup vs 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'em.
Now I know I just said probably
one of the most expensive wheel bearings but,
I mean E36 (mumbles) if there's a place to spend money
I'll 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 90's car back to life.
A lot of these cars have a little bit of issues
with headlight restoration,
paint correction, plastic restoral,
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's gonna look at
and just appreciate it for what it is,
because it's an E36 it's a BMW it's a 3 series.
Just don't expect to kick anyone's tush in a race
because that's not really why anyone owns E36's,
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've picked up an E36 or you're about too,
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 snag some wheels tires or suspensions for your
E36 BMW 3 series (inhales) 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 streak 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.
(upbeat music)