Help us set a friendly debate!

Hello everyone,

Today, me and my best friend had an argument regarding engines. He, as an owner of an E36 318is Sedan, and me, as a future owner of an E39 Touring (preferably, 23i/28i).

All started after an E36 328i came up for sale in our country, which is quite rare (we often see 316i, 318i, 318is and 320i, and the diesel variants), so the price was a bit steep.

In his opinion, as mainly city and highway drivers, there is absolutely no need of having a bigger / more powerful engine. He (and I, admittedly) are more into the car ext/int spec rather than the engine the car carries. Still, I think the M52 on the 23i/28i is one of the best engines to have in these cars. I argue that is a very smooth engine, often mentioned as “silky smooth”, and the “sweet spot” in terms of hp/weight. He says that such thing is often unnoticeable in city driving, the consumption will be significantly higher, so there’s no point of having a bigger engine if all you’re gonna do is drive the car arround as a daily.

I argued back, that then there would be no point on having many engine options between a 316i and an M3. He said that the only reason to pick a bigger engine is if you’d take it to the track or race it often (on mountain passes, for example), or to just flex on other people that “their car is better than the others”.

I, on the other hand, disagree. I think all these engine options are important, because they all serve different purposes and suit different customers and their needs.

So, what we would like to know is, what are your opinion on all this? Since we only have a 318is as a base for our conversation, and my slight knowledge on BMW engines. As 4cyl and 6cyl owners, who have tried multiple engines on E36s (and E39s, if even), what’s your saying regarding all this?

We await your answers to settle this, hahah. Thank you in advance!