Every so often, a new model is introduced into the world of motoring, which ends up inventing and effectively defining a brand new niche of car. It’s not always that these cars manage to immediately win over the imagination of the broader public – or the motoring press for that matter. As such, despite bringing something new to the table, they sometimes live quiet lives both as new and as they transition into being merely old second-hand cars. But usually their time will come as they eventually make it to classic car status, and it suddenly dawns on the real enthusiasts just how fabulous these niche-defining cars both were and still are.
So which niche is it that I’m blabbering on about this time? Well, let me ask you: What was the very first car to combine the virtues of a practical and relatively compact 3-door hatchback body with the driver-orientated characteristics of a reasonably powerful straight-6 engine coupled with a smile-inducing rear-wheel drive chassis? Take a moment and think hard as there really aren’t many cars which fit that description. We’re effectively talking classic GTi territory only with rear-wheel drive and a 6-cylinder engine…
I’m happy to stand corrected if any of our knowledgeable readers know something that I don’t, but I believe the first car to combine these attributes was the 1997 BMW 323ti Compact.
I’m in no doubt that many will be quick to dismiss the little 3-door Bavarian. “It’s not a proper classic” they scream! And frankly they’re right – it’s not. At least not quite yet. But it’s 30 years since BMW launched the E36 range, more than 27 years since they launched the E36 Compact (internally known as E36/5) and more than 23 years since we first experienced the delights of the 6-cylinder hot rod that is the 323ti Compact. That must surely make it a sound contender in the youngtimer segment.
Still others will merely scratch their head in confusion as the name tag does nothing to bring back memories of the late nineties. This is entirely understandable as the BMW 323ti Compact was only manufactured in LHD form and to the best of my knowledge only sold in mainland Europe and a few selected South American countries. So the British, North Americans, Australians, Asians and a whole lot of other car enthusiasts around the world who would have no doubt loved this unassuming little driving machine lost out, and many will not know that it even existed.
To be honest, it also wasn’t the greatest of sales successes as BMW only managed to churn out approximately 15,000 examples of the 323ti Compact during its three and a half year production run. I can only assume that this would have been rather disappointing for the bean counters at BMW in period, but as the car creeps closer and closer to becoming a classic, such low production numbers will obviously only aid it towards becoming a coveted and sought after peculiarity.
So for all of those who have never previously acquainted themselves with the BMW 323ti Compact, let me fill you in: When BMW first introduced the E36 hatchback with their 316i Compact in late 1993, it was a very decent and brave attempt at capturing a younger market segment with a practical and comparatively cheap (for the marque) entry-level BMW. The entire front of the car was identical with the rest of the E36 range, but from the A-pillar and back the hatchback was unique from the rest of its brethren. The 2.7m wheelbase of the 2- and 4-door E36 was retained, but the overall length shrunk by approximately 22cm to only 4.21m.
Therefore, in order to retain a decent sized boot, the Compact utilised the old semi-trailing arm rear suspension of its E30 predecessor, as it took up less space than the fancy Z-axle multilink suspension which had been introduced with the funky BMW Z1 and then productionalised with the E36 range in late 1990. Furthermore, the semi-trailing arm suspension was also cheaper to manufacture allowing the Compact to be priced more competitively. The pricing of the product also affected the quality of the interior as it was a mix of new E36 and old E30 while using cheaper and harder plastics for the dashboard and doorcards. However, the motoring press had now grown accustomed to the qualities of the new E36 and as a result, the Compact was in period criticised especially for its inferior rear suspension and its claimed tendency to oversteer.
While I can just about understand the logics of this back in 1993 when it was introduced, the simpler rear suspension oddly stands out as a bonus when looking at the Compact today. Sure it’s a little less composed on the limit, but on the flipside, it offers good old fashioned rear-wheel drive characteristics and is an entirely analogue driving experience. And that my dear friend – in case you should be in doubt – is a good thing! Besides, if you manage to reach the limits of the Compact on public roads, frankly, you’re either a complete fool or perhaps just another motoring journalist with an over-inflated ego to nurture.
At introduction, with the 102hp 316i and even the later and much livelier 140hp 318ti, there just wasn’t all that much punch behind the driving experience. But boy did that change once the 323ti made its entry. With the 2,5-litre straight-6 from the 325i having its induction somewhat restricted to create the 323i, it still pushed out a healthy 170hp (and often tested to produce even a bit more than that in period) and not least 245nm of torque. When installed in the relatively light Compact body shell, the small BMW would suddenly sprint from 0 – 100 km/h in 7.8 seconds and continue to a topspeed of 230 km/h. Not too shabby for what is now a 23 year old hatchback! But even more importantly, both the soundtrack and especially the driving experience was fabulously analogue and smile-inducing. Suddenly the entire package came together and resulted in something way beyond the sum of its parts.
Ask me how I know? Well, I talked myself into buying a 1998 BMW 323ti Compact about six months ago and have since been thoroughly enjoying every moment of my ownership. As our most loyal readers may – or may not – remember, I ran into a spot of trouble when my daily-driver Reliant Scimitar GTE blew a headgasket last winter. It was never going to be sorted in a day or two and having just started a new job in Luxembourg, I needed a quick and a safe fix to keep me mobile. So I bought another car to see me through the winter while my Scimitar was receiving some medical attention at Jesse’s Oldtimerwerkstatt in Trier, Germany.
In a moment of clarity, I realised that I really needed to prioritise something very reliable. It would have to be newer than my Scimitar but still old enough to be interesting, of course. It also needed to be relatively cheap! I’ve always rated very highly the combination of quality engineering combined with a comfortable yet truly rewarding driving experience which is almost by default found in all older BMW’s. I still have fond memories of an E36 325i saloon which I owned back when it was just a cheap old car almost 15 years ago, and I also recalled how Dave had emphatically recommended the E36 range as I was getting bored with my BMW 330Ci E46 which had proven just a tad too modern, cumbersome and devoid of character for me. But short of being able to afford the epic E36 M3, I knew I wasn’t aiming for a saloon again or even for a coupé. It simply had to be the 323ti Compact! A car I had always admired deeply and now was my chance to justify buying one.
The search is of course always half the fun. As mentioned, it’s quite a rare little beast, but within its mother country there are still a reasonable amount left. Many however have been brutally abused as trackday cars or for drifting, which I guess in some weird backwards way is a compliment towards what the little BMW is capable of. I didn’t make life any easier on myself as I insisted that ‘my’ 323ti would simply have to come with the factory installed M-package. The bodykit comprising the M3 frontspoiler in conjunction with modest side skirts and a rear skirt just make the hatchback appear a tad more masculine. On the inside, the M3 steering wheel is a delight to hold, while the M-package sports seats are significantly more supportive offering both better comfort on longer drives but also much improved lateral support as they grab you tightly when powering through a sequence of bends. There are many other small niceties which come with the M-package, but the most important is after all the M-suspension set up. If you enjoy having a bit of fun along a twisty backroad and might even entertain the odd lap of the old Nordschleife (yes, I now live only an hour from it!), then the M-suspension is simply a must.
Last but not least, I have a self-imposed rule of avoiding silver or black cars as there are simply too many of them on our roads nowadays. Not surprisingly, it seemed every second BMW 323ti Compact I came across was black.
Patience is a virtue and all good things will come to he who waits. Eventually, the right car came up for sale in Düsseldorf just a couple of hours northbound. A very late 1997 BMW 323ti Compact with the all-important factory installed M-package, a very handsome metallic dark blue from the Individual colour scheme complimented by an interior in half black leather / half blue “Millpoint” cloth, the big BMW Business HiFi system, air condition, heated seats, elec. tilt/slide sunroof and a few other goodies. It had been kept hugely original and unmolested with only two previous owners where the second owner bought the car only two years old in the year 2000. The first owner had certainly ticked a lot of the right boxes when they spec’ed up his new Compact and both owners had clearly cherished the car. Mileage was a very sensible 153,000 km (that’s 95,000 miles) and the service booklet had all the right stamps in the right places. The only real downside was a small dent in the rear wing, but this just ensured that the Compact remained (just) within my price bracket. I didn’t hesitate a split second with handing over the cash and heading back south in my newly acquired Bavarian youngtimer.
In these six months of ownership I’ve really piled on the kilometres! With my family in Denmark and work in Luxembourg, my 323ti and I have been up and down the German Autobahn more times than I care to count. But the 23 year old Compact has taken it all in its stride with zero complaints or issues. In this time I’ve also treated her to a little tlc by changing all fluids, filters, front discs & pads, brake hoses and various other minor bits like wiper blades and a few bulbs. While I’m normally not a fan of bigger alloy wheels, I must confess to having always had a serious soft spot for the early ‘Style 22’ E36 M3 alloys with “BMW Motorsport” cast into the centre of the alloy – it’s just sooo nineties, and I love it! So with an E36 in my ownership, I simply had to upgrade from the stock 16” to these sexy 17” M3 alloys wrapped with a fresh set of Contisport tyres. At least to my eye, the looks have improved and I’m happy to report that so has the handling. However, I still need to address that dent in the rear wing and the seats would benefit from a deep clean and some leather balm.
But for now, I’m just enjoying the drive. To me, this is in reality the true spiritual successor to the 1971 BMW 2000tii Touring. A genuinely sporty, rear-wheel drive 3-door hatchback which easily seats four people (or five at a squeeze) and even has a split folding rear seat if required. It’s a great companion whether munching up kilometres on a German Autobahn, being hassled down some undulating backroad for a bit of fun or transporting the whole family including our tiny dog, Fittipaldi, to the beach.
The straight-6 is typically BMW – smooth as can be. It’s obviously not so fast that it’ll scare you silly, but it really can get a good wriggle on when asked to work. There’s enough torque on tap with the engine omitting a lovely grunty growl at low revs which transitions into the well-known straight-6 wail as the revs pass 4,500 rpm and continue to soar for the red line. The pedals are nicely spaced for some toe and heel, while the transmission has a longish throw which somehow still manages to have a pleasantly precise and chunky feel to it. Admitted, the steering is perhaps a little vague on feedback – especially around the straight-ahead. But the chassis makes up for it and you quickly learn to trust that where you point the Compact, it will take you. For a stock road car, turn-in is sharp in a way it can only be in a rear-wheel drive car where the front wheels are only asked to do one thing – steer. And as you approach the exit of the corner and you start to feed in the throttle again, the Compact sits down heavy on that outside rear wheel and digs in. It’s highly addictive and despite doing mega-miles in my Compact over these six months, I still feel tempted to take her out for a pleasure drive every so often…
I sense that I should probably keep this one. It’s a truly accomplished all-rounder and being both rare and the first of its niche, I reckon it might yet achieve stardom. In a world where cars only grow bigger, fatter and more and more devoid of character or driver appeal, the 6-cylinder Compact is one of the last analogue and agile driver’s car which delivers way more smiles per mile than you would expect. So there we go, the secret is out: The BMW 323ti Compact is – or was – Bavaria’s best kept youngtimer secret.
