1st Car Specs Question

oldboy

Hi Folks,

Here is my situation.

I have access to a 1991 316BMW that is in excellent excellent condition (a friend is going away to live in Australia and said I can take the car for literally next to nothing). Its the old style ones. I've been in love with this style beemer since I was a kid.

I have no driving experience on the roads, I have basic car control skills (learned when I was 17 on a provisional but never got insured in the end, im 28 now) but again absolutely no road driving experience at all.

I was going to get my 2nd provisional and take 20 driving lessons and see how I felt, more again if needs be since the car is costing me so little I was going to spend bigtime on the learning to drive................. and then maybe get insured on the beemer.

Is this the wrong thing to do ? I've fallen in love with the car.... but as much as I love the car I don't want to let that cloud the fact its a big engine and that my inexperince could mean I am a danger to other drivers on the road.

What are peoples opinions on starting out in a 1.6 ?? (Quinn direct have alreadyn quoted me 1,555 for the insurance)

Should I just let it go and get back to reality, get myself a 1 litre and let him sell the car to somebody else ??

I've had a mixed response from friends & family, some say go for it, some say get a smaller car ?

What do u guys think ????

Thankls

colm_mcm

a 316 isn't that fast, and even if it was you don't have to drive fast.

unkel

You might as well go with the lucky hand you've been dealt

Your insurance quote is not bad and contrary to what you've been told, a 1.6 engine is not big and there's not that much difference between a 1.0 and a 1.6 engine in terms of power

Take a good few lessons first with a good instructor to give you the confidence that you lack at the moment

Best of luck!

frasr

agreed, you've got enough cop-on not to just hit the road without any lessons, so chances are you'll be careful on the road until you get more experience. Also a 1.6 isn't overly powerful & your getting a bargain of car.
& you have to learn to drive at some point, so do it in style

mloc123

An e30 1.6 is probably as slow as a new 1litre yaris so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Mind out for the rear whwwl drive in the wet tho, shouldn't take much to get the arse out.

cantdecide

run!- run like the wind before he changes his mind. that car is perfect to learn to drive in IMO. ps is it the one with round lights or square?

oldboy

its the round lights

leather interior and metallic black respray done about 2 years ago, new tires and engine just serviced

its a beaut !!

i think i'll go for it.

Nice1 all -

mloc123

If you don't mind me asking, how much are you giving him for it? Because if its under 2k I wouldn't think twice, they are making huge money these days for one in good condition. I would have loved an e30 as my first car. By far the nicest 3 series they ever made.

Del2005

Don't worry about learning in a 1.6l car, as said before it won't be the most powerfull of cars anyway. There are some driving schools using diesel Sunnys for lessons as they are an easier car to drive then a 1.0l Yaris. A big(ish) dieseil engine is much more forgiving to abuse then a 1l.

Just make sure to get your first few lessons in a school car, so if you do make mistakes you don't damage the nice BMW;)

I also think that it is better to learn to drive in a big car as when you learn in a small car it can be too easy to get into places. I learned to drive in a old mini and when I got a full size car I had to re-learn to drive and parking was a pain in the b*ll*cks.