Bmw E36 316 Engine Swap [318IS Or 323i?]

[trapone3]

Hello there guys first post on the forums and i just want your opinion.
I drive my Beautiful E36 to work everyday i can't really say i'm driving a lot in town
but the MPG is Horrible! maybe around 11-12 but the car is super slow and i just can't stand it anymore
im looking to buy a new engine. at first i thought of a 318IS (decent power 145hp and a nice fuel economy)
but then again i thought of a 323i which has a lot of power for me 170hp its a 6 Cylinder what more could i ask for?
What worries me tho is the fuel consumage, here in Greece the price of the 95 octane petrol is 1.80 euros(2.34 USD) per Liter
which is a little expensive coming to think about it i think either of those engines would do better on M.P.G than my current one.
What do you guys think?

[fahdyehia628]

I really don't think that a well maintained 6 cylinder will consume that much fuel on the highway ... A 6 cylinder is my choice and i'm going to do that on my 316i ... go with an M52B28 from a 328i

[slocar]

Your 11-12, I'm assuming is liters/100km ... and yes, that is terrible for an engine that small. My dad's 318is hovers around 8 L/100km city and much lower on the highway. My 323 hovers about where your car is ... but really, it's worth having the 6 cylinder. The difference is much bigger than the 25hp you see on paper.

[forthewinwin]

11-12 sounds like something's wrong... even on my 328i's 6-cylinder engine I get 18 mpg in horrible traffic, and I get high 20s - sometimes 30-32 mpg on the highway.

I love my 328i's engine. You feel yourself being thrown back a bit when you push it and plenty of enough power for everyday driving :)

[E36 n00b]

I think Slocar nailed it, 11-12 is l/100, not mpg. My 318is does about 10/100 all city...and I tend to drive it pretty hard. Pure highway it's right around 8/100. I don't mind the M44, although I find myself being fairly aggressive with it to stay with traffic. I could definitely see a 6 being a lot more driveable in town with much more low end torque.

[xlDooM]

My 323 uses 9 to 10 litres/100km with a fair amount of 70km/h cruising. On the highway it indicates 8.5 at 120km/h, in town I hardly see the needle at all.

Something to consider though, a 323 comes stock with a very mellow final drive ratio which is good for highway economy. With the 316's diff, expect to burn 10l/100km at 120km/h cruise.

I expect your 316 engine needs a tuneup as well.

[peterson328is]

So according to a handy online converter, my 328iS manual does 12.4L/100km city and 9.8/100km highway. But that's going 80 mph or 120-130 kph on the highway, and I don't really aim for fuel economy anyway. I've tried it once on the highway going around 68, so 110 kph, and i think my mpg was close to 27-28. Which i guess is about 8L/100km? Idk my inner Bulgarian is coming out with these conversions. moral of the story: if you have a lead foot, it makes up for it with a light wallet(mainly empty) haha. I would do the conversion to the 2.5 or the 2.8, just be careful not to gun it all that much, it can be tempting. Oh and i have the stock 2.93 open diff...