Hi all,

Im contimplating either buying an E36 328i Sport or a 2wd Saphire Cosworth in the summer for everyday use. I'm really stuck for what to choose between at the moment.

The BMW seems the sensible choice, £30K car brand new, mint ones these days for £6-7K - super reliable, refined, comfortable and lots of standard kit. May be a bit boring however.

The Cosworth, always dreampt of owning one, but decent ones are hard to come by these days - and im worried that it'll be a dog to drive through traffic, expensive to maintain and insure.

I know there must be a few folk on here who have owned a Cosworth and a BMW in thier time - which is the better car and why?

Cheers,

Agar

 

you will never be happy until you have experienced owning a cossie.

the 328i sports are a great car but can get a little boring-better with an e36 m3.

if you dont mind messing with cars,and a bit of hassle every now and then,and like spending money on your car(other than routine maintainence) buy a cossie.

if not,buy a bmw-but they are not guaranteed to be 100%reliable-but you stand a fighting chance!

 

Agreed Jay - problem is, as much as I love messing around with cars i really can't justify spending the money on tuning them to the extend that i would with a cosworth. Guess the best way would be to buy one with the mods already done.

Interestingly enough ive read alot of peoples' views on PH and commented on the 328 being the best car they'd ever driven.

With the Saphire it kind of feels like now or never - and sometimes i do wonder why i should?

 

I have owned 2 sapph cossies,and have recently bought an e36 m3 evo.
I am now looking for another cossie as the beemer promised so much,but i am a little underwhelmed by it. It is very fast,but the brakes are shite,and the offset pedals are hardwork. It is definately NOT the ultimate driving machine. It has leather,climate control,cruise control etc.,but it is missing that buzz you only get with a cossie.
I feel instantly at home in any sierra though,having owned at least 20 of them,so my view is not totally unbiased!

 

IMO I would never buy a cossie a a daily driver, I know lots of folk would/ have cossies in daily use but it's just not for me. As I'm self employed I just couldn't risk it as any breakdown would cost me at least a days wages and messing a client about.

Cossie for play, BMW for day

 

Get it out your system....

If you get a good sensible modded Sapphire that is looked after regular, you will LOVE IT

Get a simple Stage 1....more than enough on the road and go very well.......

 

Cossie every time, least with a cossie you'll be able keep your eyes open when driving it, BMW = YAWN, and when it comes to M.O.T.time the BM's still fail like any other car, no more reliable than a standard saff, hate BM's always have and always will, most over rated pile of shite on the road, just my opinion, and yes, i've driven hundreds and worked on hundreds.........

 

Also,try to buy one that somebody else has spent all the money on,saves grief in the long run,and 330 bhp is plenty for road use,so dont worry that you have to spend 9 grand on an engine build to have 600 bhp (or not as the case may be!)

 

I have the choice of driving my cossy or my M3 evo cab

Its the cossy that wins every time

until the engine loom went wrong last week so i am using the M3 at the moment


deffo go for a cossy if you have not had one they are awesome

The M3 is a bit boring if i am honest

 

a cosworth is NOT an everyday car.

 

Why not Jim???????????????????????????

Did you use yours everyday

 

also be aware the e36 m3 is considered the WORSE m3 ever made. its stilla fucking googd car tho, pisses over a saph as a package. problem is the linear power delivery and smoothness make it a tade tame/boring.

the m3 may be faster, but its not as exciting

 

mine was a fake, with a more everyday style engine.

and i did use it every day, it was shit

 

328i sports are NOT worth 6-7k mate!!! you can get a pretty decent M3 evo for that sort of price

 

Half the problem is finding a decent one for the sort of money I can afford to spend.

What are 2wd Saphs like to run and maintain on a yearly basis, MPG, Tax, servicing, parts etc?

The 328's struggle to improve on 35MPG even on the motorway - wouldn't be surprised if the cosworth is far off that.

 

PMSL.......That was my point Jim.....you have never owned one

If you get a nice well looked after Cosworth of course you can use it everyday.........ITS ONLY A FUCKING CAR

 

you can use an f40 every day, but you wouldn't want to...

 

Mint ones as in concours condition. Don't fancy a tatty one - im really after a minter, needing very little if any money spent on it.

Hence my looking for a mint/well specced Saph - requiring little expenditure its way.

 

Off topic, you selling your cossie mate? seen it on Piston heads ... Looks stunning

On Topic, Cossies are a marmite car, you either love them or hate them, and every man and his dog will tell you that an M3/ evo/impreza/ blah blah blah is better/newer/faster etc etc, BUT, there is just somthing about a cossie that is that little bit special , they get a hold of you like nothing else.

Been looking at cars for my mate tonight, it is actually very hard to get a good clean saff these days , but as for an everyday driver ? Why not, sensible power (350ish) with the right mods such as closed loop etc, and well looked after will be fine.

 

Because it is a 2 seater Supercar..........

A Sapphire Cosworth is a 4 door Sierra.............They are a Family car FFS

 

why???

 

If you are even contemplating assessing a yearly budget for cossie, fuel, tax, servicing, repairs etc, then do yourself a favour an don't buy

 

If you are looking in the 6-7k bracket then you will get a VERY VERY good Sapphire that will EASILY be a daily car ................

Just look after them as they should be looked after.....Proper oil and filter every 3000mile ect ect ect

Change the sensors of brand new ones when you get it...............that rules them out for fucking up.

Just look after it...........

 

I feel this might be the thing that makes my mind up for me. I know that Tac on here has been looking for 2wd's for a good while now with not much luck. Stg 3 might be a little wild for me (and more specifically my insurers, i'l be 21 with 3 years NCB)

 

ignoring the e90 as i know fuck all about it. the e30 m3 was a "proper" car. built to perfection, just lacked in the bhp department.

the e36 was a case of "shit, throw a big engine in the 318is and put an m badge on it"

the e46 was a case of "now, we fucked up the e36, now lets make the new one a PROPER car with the handling AND the big engine"

 

Put it this way.....

I bought my First Sapphire about 6 years ago with 96k on the clock and no rebuilt engine........

I gave £3000 for it and i looked after it, owned it for 2 years and it NEW EVER let me down in the 20k mile i put on it.

 

i use my cossie everyday and its turned out to be abit of a dog tbh, though mine is a 4x4 and standard

i have no issues driving it around its not a particually bad car to drive and it is pretty comfortable (well b4 the coilovers it was)

i used to have a 1.4 fiesta and i went to collect my mates m3 evo for him as he didnt have a licence, tbh i was very disapointed and even being used to driving a very slow car i found it almost dull. I could tell it was bloody quick obviously but it didnt really feel it

i definatly think if i had bought a better looked after cossie all would be good, i only have general wear and tear problems due to bad maintainance by the previous owner

basically get the cossie

 

To be honest i don't follow your reply - surely most people before buying a car assess how much they cost to run etc? To be honest i have no idea how much it costs to keep one on the road compared to the Fiesta i currently run.

 

You would be surprised mate, have been looking all night ( here, piston heads, trader, ebay, rsoc bb ) and there are VERY few clean tidy saffs with sensible mods and milage out there ... very few

 

Why do you think its a dog exactly? Pain to drive, not exciting in traffic etc?

 

What i mean, is that unlike a bmw/ audi/merc etc that you can safely say each year will need two new tyres, one service, set of pads etc and be reasonably safe in that assumption, with a cossie you just cannot..................

 

its actually really nice to drive but nothing has been replaced on it for years by the looks of things so i am currently replacing loads of bits to try and get it how it should be

its all the sierra part thats going wrong like hubs, diff, bearing that kinda thing the engine is sweet as a nut hasnt missed a beat in the 3 months i have had it

 

Very true - although you'd expect a mint FSH example not to be troublesome?

 

Little story for you......................... I bought my first cossie (in my sig) when I was just 20, it was stage 1 120k miles etc, it drove fine etc and I had/ have a good mechanical knowledge etc. Anyway.............. was burning a mass of oil in the preceeding weeks and after taking it PJ's a rebuild was needed. It was getting through around a dozen spark plugs a week due to oil blowing past the pistons are putting them out etc, all kinds of electrical gremlins etc, blown diffs, boxes etc ........................


THEN................ the bug bites and I wanted 400bhp etc, etc, Tremec box, AP's the list goes on.................... and all this payed with plastic

RESULT................... nearly £20k in debt at the age of 22

If you have pockets deep enough to finance the above kind of antics go for it, if not think very carefully as if you live for today, you could be paying not just tomorrow but for a long time after the fun has LONG gone.

PS It took me nearly 8 years to clear all the debts racked up against my cossie adventures and it was not an enjoyable experience

 

You have to remember you are buying a classic car, that also happens to be very easily tunable..... 99% of them have seen abuse at some point, and you have to remember that they are 20 years old .... Things will wear out and break, as they have been used so much, even the best maintained cars will have foibles..

 

I can see where you went wrong

PJ's

 

And here endeth the lesson

 

Ive got an escos and an e36 alpina bmw, and it feels like ive just jumped in some shitter if jump straight out of the escos into the bm

 

Now, now............... I 'll not have a bad word said against Mr Jagdev Tiffany

It was a clear case of cossyitis a particularly nasty condition that effects young males with credit cards

 

So basically what me and Wil are saying is DONT GO TO PJs