Living with/Daily driving an S13?

Cheers dude

I run an S13 as a daily for a year and was possibly my favourite ever car..
I didnt have any problems with it other than blowing it up but I was running a stock car with waaaaay to much boost and raced it everywhere and it blew up at 150mph..
Id love another!

Suits me fine

Regardless how many people say CA's can be reliable, treat them with extreme care. If one makes an odd noise walk away unless you're willing to do an engine swap/proper rebuild and can afford it. I've got a few friends who rate them really highly but all of them have experienced bottom end woes. Worth paying more for an SR powered one.

And IMO the handling on the standard wheels and suspension is garbage, coilovers make them handle well but I'm yet to be a passenger or driver in an S13 on coilovers that's a nice ride.

I had an s13 with the ca18de here in Australia. I didn't daily it, it was a weekend car, but did plenty of decent size trips in it and used it for hillclimbs. It was more or less stock (exhaust and air filter the only engine mods) and it was soundly beaten every time I drove it. I never had any problems with mine, main thing is to keep the oil fresh and don't punish them when cold. If you are leaving the engine relatively stock I doubt you will have any issues as long as it is well maintained. Also if you cut the airbox out on the N/A models they sound like you are running webers. Brilliant!

As for the handling, I found that fitting a set of uprated swaybars to an otherwise standard car made an enormous amount of difference. Definitely make sure that you have an LSD, the s13 seems to be more adversely affected by having an open diff compared to other cars I've driven.

All that being said, I sold mine to get an ae86, ha ha

Oh and also, you can fit a bmx bike in the back seat if you drop the front wheel off (and think laterally), a friend of mine used to put down the back seats and sleep in his (legs thru into the boot) and my corgi loves them

A friend of mine had an S13 for a good few months it looked awful and abused (kinda like an orphan that had been attacked by a halfords shop window) but aside from the horrid body kit it flew and and sounded great, that said it was killed by a lady in corsa c who was clearly blind and deaf as when she pulled out of the junction she didn't see or hear it. if it wasn't for that he would still have it.

Re-reading this thread makes me want to add, judging by your choice in car you are intending to skid it? The way I look at it is.......

The Japanese use S13's to skid as they are super cheap and disposable in Japan (the same goes for Chasers, AE86's and loads of other stuff), they don't use BMW's as they are more expensive to buy/fix and rarer. In Europe IMO it doesn't make a huge load of sense to skid an S13 you pay a premium for the car, a premium for parts for what boils down to wanting to emulate the Japanese. Don't get me wrong thats not a bad thing, but you'll get a good 325/328 for the same money as a pretty poor S13. Plus both look hella tasty drop low on the right wheels ;D

However having said that buy what you want, if you really, really want an S13 you'll never be truly happy with an E36. Contradiction 101 - Check out my Sierra build thread LOL, I've spent loads of money on bits to make a Sierra skid like a mediocre E36 or S13, but that's what I want and NO ONE CAN STOP ME hahahahhahahahahh!!!!111!!11!!!!!!one

CA18s only seem to cause issues with people who rag them quite hard if I am honest. With a bit of care taken they seem to last well from the few people I have seen with them. A hard to read oil dipstick with them does not help matters.


However, if I were to buy one I would look into whether the engine has been cared for (regular servicing seems almost essential on one) in addition possibly bargaining for the replacement of suspension bits. As standard they are a little soft, and 20 years does them no favours (subframe bushes seem to dissolve if they are the original items from the factory and the dampers become near useless. Even a general lowering spring and damper kit with half decent Poly Bushes seems to transform them.

That is before you even hit the rust issues. I was never a fan of the S13 although I do like the drive of a sorted car I must admit.

But when an E36 can deliver the same things for less cash, with easily available power upgrades to boot? I know what I would be tempted with. From what I have seen recently, S13s are not as cheap as they used to be, with it seeming that there are mostly wrecks available at the lower end of the market (I.E below £1k).