Well it's been another strange month. After my decision to sell one of the Ventos I actually ended up selling them both, and I sold my brother's for him! All on the same day! I doubt even Volkswagen can claim to have sold 3 Vento VR6s in one day! 2 to the same person…

So what to replace them with? Well I made my mind up it had to be rear wheel drive, I enjoy doing trackdays as often as possible and having seen the fun that was to be had in a Caterham Superlight I couldn't take a front wheel drive car on track again.

My budget wasn't massive so I narrowed the list down to a few possibles: Porsche 944, BMW E36 3 Series, Mercedes 190 Cosworth or a Nissan 200SX. The Porsche and Mercedes were quickly ruled out because of their age. Most of the ones I saw advertised either had massive mileages or were 'garage queens' Neither of which would be suitable for thrashing round a track. The 200SX was next to be axed; I'd owned 2 previously and remembered that while they were good to drive and easy to extract more power from, they never really 'did it' for me. That and the crazy prices people were asking for them!

So it came down to an E36 3 Series but which one? First thing was to get my head around BMWs crazy badging policy; 318s that were 1.9s, 323s that were 2.5 etc. I initially considered a 318is for a blend of fuel economy and good handling but having spoken to owners they all said the same thing, to get any speed from them you need to use all the revs thus drinking the fuel almost as quick as the bigger engined cars. A friend told me not to rule out the large engine as they were very good on fuel so I broadened my search. Ebay, Autotrader and various car forums were scoured daily, a few cars presented themselves but 99% of them were way down south! Now I know I bought my second VR6 blind but I was talking about spending double the money here so I was reluctant.

The first one I test drove was a 328 Coupe advertised as excellent condition. Well I have to say that some people's idea of excellent is not mine… The rear arches were rusty, there were dents in the bodywork and the gearstick came off in my hand! I made my excuses and left. I saw another possible advertised so I called the garage, the mileage he said was 100k, high but not what I'd consider excessive. I went to see it only to be disappointed again. The bonnet didn't close and had clearly been resprayed, a sure sign of a bump. He gave me the keys and I opened the door, the alarm bells which were in the background became Big Ben now! The leather on the driver's seat was heavily worn and when I put the key in the ignition I found out why, not the 100k as I'd been told but 150k! I handed the keys back and left. A 120 mile round trip for nothing.

Next day I was scouring Autotrader again and I saw another 328 Coupe. Advertised with full BMW history, low miles at 82k and excellent condition inside and out. I'd heard that before. The car was 120 miles from me so I was in for a potentially wasted trip of 240 miles, something I was very reluctant to do. I sent the seller a text asking for more details, he called me back and we had a chat. He assured me the car was immaculate so I agreed to go and see it in 2 days time.

In the meantime I saw a 328 Sport on Ebay; only 40 miles away and the seller was open to offers. I went over there that afternoon to see it. It was good but it wasn't great. A few nasty rust patches and too many dents. A test drove highlighted the deafening Scorpion exhaust and that the return spring on the gearshift was faulty.

Were there any tidy E36 Coupes left? My thoughts returned to the car I'd arranged to go and see, I was still unwilling to travel all that way to be disappointed again and it wasn't until the morning that I made my mind up to take the risk. Fortunately it was the right decision this time! The car looked great, a few tiny rust bubbles on the rear wings but nowhere near as bad as the others I'd seen and easy to sort. A test drive revealed it to be the best one I'd driven, the gearshift was tight and precise, the car handled well and everything fitted and lined up like it should. There was only a month of tax left so we agreed a price to take this and the cost of sorting the rear arches into consideration. It was advertised for £3,300 and I bought it for £2,800 not a bad deal I think!

Leafing through the service history I discovered that it had originally been fitted with a 'Nikasil' engine. You may remember that BMW had a batch of engines (estimated to be 7,000-8,000 units) that failed due to sulphur in petrol eating the cylinder linings. This cars engine had failed at 33k and a new one had been fitted. It wasn't 82k now, it was nearer 50k. Result!

And the biggest surprise of all? Well you may remember the horrifying thirst my VR6s suffered from, 220 miles from a full tank was usual; so far I've done just over 250 miles in the BMW and it's just under half full! It appears to be getting high 30's to the gallon on a motorway run.

Only problems I've found so far are the passenger side window will not close properly if you use the 'one shot' system. The anti-trap system is being triggered. The owners club have suggested a few possible causes so I'll look into it soon. The only other niggle is the rear trailing arm bushes need replacing but they are only £9 each from a main dealer so that's ok.

Here's to BMW ownership!