Final update for my supercharged BMW 318is

Today is the final update for the supercharged BMW 318is as it has been sold and I will be attempting to use my new (to me) Volvo V50 as my daily transport.

The BMW sold very quickly - within a couple of hours of being advertised - and thanks to strong demand for manual E36s I got a reasonable price (A$5,350). E36 prices will probably rise as they are now reaching a similar age to when E30 started rising in price. I suspect this is secretly linked to me selling a car as E30 prices went up not long after I sold my last one :)

The final mileage of my 318is was 312,339 km, and in my 7 years and 2 months of ownership I put on just under 120,000 of those kilometres.

In that time I put in nearly 9,000 litres of petrol ($12,500 worth!) and averaged 7.39 l/100km. When I was driving to work in traffic my average was usually around 9 l/100km, but once I moved to the Blue Mountains the average went down to around 7 l/100km. My best recorded figure was 6.5 l/100km.

Registration and insurance costs were $4,350 over the 7 years.

For maintenance and running costs I spent an average of $310 per year on servicing and maintenance (oil and filter changes, tyres, etc) and $490 per year on repairs.

My average yearly running cost, which excludes fuel and registration/insurance costs but includes the purchase and sale price of the car, was about $620.

The new owner is - not surprisingly - a BMW enthusiast and looks to have plans to repair the hail damage and repaint the car, and also to modify it.

I had owned this BMW longer than any other car and it has possibly been my favourite overall car. I've owned faster cars and more sporting cars, but this car overall has been the most enjoyable to own, partly because it nice to drive, economical to run, and fairly easy to fix (much easier than a Volvo).