My 1994 318is: Final Update

Today I said farewell to my 1994 318is coupe, which has served me well for the last five years.

The new owner picked it up this morning and left on a 1,000 km journey back to his home on the NSW north coast.

Like my previous 318is coupes, it has been extremely reliable. Aside from one problem with the ignition switch which required a few attempts to start the car, it never had any serious problems. And it certainly never left me stranded or required any roadside assistance.

Having kept a spreadsheet of all expenditure since I purchased the car, I see that over five years and 75,000 km I spent $610 servicing the car, $465 for repairs, and another $620 in upgrades. Pretty reasonable costs I would say. Depreciation was around 30%.

Fuel economy averaged 8.15 l/100km since I bought it with a high of just under 9 l/100km and a best of just under 7 l/100km. Fuel expenditure was $8,325, which makes it the biggest cost to owning this car!

Second was registration expenses and comprehensive insurance which totalled $4,995.

I am sad to see such a good car leaving, but am looking forward to my next car purchase which has to be a 4-door manual and will most likely be another BMW 3 series.