European Market Find: 1994 BMW Individual Violet Blue 318is Coupé in Switzerland

What: 1994 BMW 318is Coupé
Color: Violet Blue Metallic (violettblau; non-metallic; 528; BMW)
VIN: WBABE51000JG28978
Mileage: 83,890 km / 52,126 miles
Price at Time of this Writing: CHF 22,900 (est. $25,928)
CarFax: N/A
Window Sticker: N/A
Location: Noville, Switzerland
Dealer listing: Link

Why we love it:

However special or deep the options list may have been for European market BMW buyers in the 1990s, cars remained expensive to own and operate. Seeing an exceedingly well appointed and appreciable specification with a small displacement engine wasn’t uncommon, which is how you end up with such a special build on what would otherwise be a more mundane BMW model.

Yes, this is a 318, which means just the 1.8-liter 4-cylinder. However, visually it’s full-on M-spec M3 with all of the proper body kit, wheels and more. Even better, it’s got BMW Individual Violet Blue paint and very tastefully coordinated sport cloth interior. On top of all that, it’s a manual.

Back then, it was BMW allowing you to have an M3 without the money or the pace of an M3. Today, that advantage remains the same, because if this were an M3 Coupé in like condition it would be anywhere from double, triple or possibly nearly quadruple the price!

For the collector, we’d suggest buying it and leaving it the way it is while enjoying the great chassis. And, if you got tired of the slow pace, you could probably swap a more potent M-spec engine into it and not lose any money. Either way, we’d count that as a win.

As with any of our European Market Finds, this car is older than 25 years, making it an easy import into the U.S.A. should you be so inclined. Notably, this car is in Switzerland, which is an interesting pocket in the European space. Switzerland hasn’t adopted the Euro, meaning you don’t often find Swiss cars in the typical European sales channels. They also tend to be well kept.