Depends upon your driving. I don't think you can drive on normal highway roads (90 speed limit) over than 160-170km for a long time, unless if you are using the north-south expressway (110 speed limit), maju expressway (KL to Putrajaya) etc. A 318i can take you around 180-190 depending upon the condition of the car. If you choose to go beyond that, then try the 2.5/2.8L, that's where the 6 cylinders push in.
I am also driving an E36 318i manual. The pickup is really good compared to Malaysian and most Japanese cars. When I rev the engine my friend says, the engine sounds more like its a diesel engine, quite powerful. Being driven a friends V6 twin-turbo perdana (gearbox changed to manual @ RM6k cost), I feel the E36 is a heavy car and thus the initial pick might not be there as compared to a manual V6 Perdana, where I feel the Perdana is lighter. However, BMW is a UDM, which is what that matters most.
The fuel consumption depends upon how much you press the accelerator (light or heavy footed you are), you can check the fuel consumption in the OBC. Here are my analysis (just got the car and have driven it for a week almost, mine is manual):
If you are driving 80/90 km I believe it should be around 7-10L/100km on a road with less gradient of slope. It depends: if you are going uphill its going to eat more gas rather than going down or on a road with no slope.
What I have seen for my car is, after I put 18" rims, the fuel consumption increased compared to 17" rims or the 15" rims which came with the car. So if you increase the weight of the car the fuel consumption will also increase. The same goes if 5 people are sitting, then it will eat more gas as compared to 1 person, the more load more the more the fuel consumption.
I was considering to swap my single-cam 318i manual to a 318is twin-cam. However if you see in the table in the link, under "Sedans", there is not much of a pickup difference (0-100km) between 318i and 318is, i.e., 11.5 secs compared to 10.2 secs, just 1 second only. I am not sure if these stats are for manual or auto.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_3_Series_(E36)
Major difference:
- In terms of output power the 318is is more powerful than 318i.
- The 318is is a DOHC with 16V as compared to 318i which is a SOHC with 8V.
Minor difference:
- 318is has a small negligible increase in torque as compared to 318i.
- Pickup difference (0-100km) is only 1 second between 318i and 318is.
A friend of mine quoted me RM3k for the 318is engine with manual gearbox, so if I sell my 318i engine I need to top-up around RM 1k+ to do the swap. Still thinking if it is really worth in doing, obviously 318is is not a 6 potter, but some improvement over the 318i.
