Vehicle report
1988 BMW 3 SERIES
This model year
What the record shows
The 1988 Bmw 3 Series is a subcompact car, and the 5th model year of a nameplate NHTSA records from 1984 to 2023.
The EPA rated eight configurations: engines from 2.3-litre four-cylinder to 2.7-litre six-cylinder, 4-wheel or all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive, two transmissions and running on premium gasoline and regular gasoline.
Combined fuel economy ranges from 18 to 20 mpg depending on which one you have.
The federal record holds 7 service bulletins for it.
Counts are reports, not rates. A complaint is something an owner chose to file; it is unverified and unadjusted for how many of these cars were sold, so the useful comparison is against other model years of the same car. Recalls and investigations carry more weight because a manufacturer or regulator acted on them.
Reading this report
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.