One of the most beautiful BMWs ever made, and one of the most beautiful sport coupes ever made, the BMW 3.0CSi from the 1970s, the classic graceful lines of the old sport coupes exhibited on this classic German beauty are timeless. And unlike modern cars, these old dames just keep looking better with age. Time has definitely not caught up with these classic cars. Produced in 1971, the E9 as it was called, was one of the most desirable cars of it’s time. It combined a powerful 200 Horsepower in-line6 with a light compact chassic, propelling the car from standstill to 100km/h in 7 seconds. Remember, this was in the 70′s!

I personally, just love the look of it. It has all the correct proportions and lines to give it a wonderful graceful appearance without looking too brash or ostentatious. It has a nice quiet charm to it. The front forward-angled sharknose, running back towards a gently sloping rear end. Its not a car that shouts about it’s performance, it’s all rather sedated really. But damn, it does look good. I had the chance to see a real life example and i just adored it. In comparison to most modern cars, these classics are masterpieces of automotive design. Sad fact being, most automotive manufacturers nowadays have lost touch with the fact that cars, should be beautiful.

I can go on and on about how much i love this car, but then, there will be no more space for the model’s review. So let’s get back on track here, does the Autoart model do the car justice? Minichamps also makes the 3.0CSi model, but it just isn’t as good as Autoart’s car. So, does the Autoart model satisfy me after my disappointment with the featherweight Ford GT? Yes, Yes, Yes, it sure does. (Getting it as a Christmas present makes it all the more better!)

Paint

Autoart makes this car in 2 colors, a nice vintage white and in this wonderful shade of blue. Initially i was opting for the white car, because i always felt that classics looked great in white. But when i saw the blue on this car, it looked really really good. The color choice was a no brainer, the hue of blue here is very unique and probably only seen on this car. The car wears the color very well too. The color just “goes”. Paint application on this car is flawless. No color mismatching, no peeling and no thinning of paint. Just the way i like it, perfect.

Exterior

The graceful lines of the 3.0CSi has been faithfully reproduced in all it’s 1:18 glory, front grille is well moulded and is perforated. Front lights and indicators are well made and attachment stubs are not visible at all. The chrome bumpers have been replicated accurately as well. Vents on the bonnet are also perforated but those at the sides are not. But not much of an issue here though. Wipers are very delicate little pieces made of chrome-ish plastic and the chrome trim around the windows and windscreen are again, well made. Mirrors are seperate items made of the same chrome-ish plastic. They look very convincing though.

Take a peek under the bonnet and first thing you’ll notice is how smooth the bonnet lifts up. Realistic hinges are used to hold up the bonnet allowing you to view the wonderfully replicated engine in all it’s glory. Everything here is very well detailed and looks great.

Flowing along the sides of the car is a nice stripe of chrome made of plastic but again, accurate and convincing. The stripe lines up nicely along the sides from the front, down towards the doors and ending off at the rear. The BMW badge on the rear pillar is made of a seperate piece and is well detailed. Windows are all in the “up” position with nice quality clear plastics used to replicate them.

Coming up towards the rear of the car, lights are again, attachment stub-free and very well replicated. Rear bumper being made just as well as the front, with the exhaust pipe excavated deep enough to give the impression of a properly made exhuaust pipe. Badges and the boot release along the rear of the car are also seperate pieces and very well made. Superlative effort from Autoart on this car.

Interior

With such wonderful details and features on the exterior of the car, does the interior fall short of my expectations? Not a chance, open the door (with it’s tight panel gaps!), and you’ll be greeted to a very well made interior. It really looks good. Autoart seems to have placed alot of effort on this car and it does show. Small little details are all present inside the cabin of this model and little latches and hinges are replicated in 1:18 style as well. One particular feature worth mentioning now will be the steering wheel, sure it looks good, but it hides a very cool feature of this model. Whereas, most 1:18 models make do with a normal steering which turns left and right to a small degree, this model has a steering mechanism that requires a proper full-lock left/full-lock right motion to get the wheels up front to steer. Fantastic!

Wheels and Brakes

If there’s one are where this model falls short, its on the wheels. The tyres here are sadly, of the “generic” brand. With no brand markings along the tyre walls. It tries to make up for that with some nice thread patterns but the lack of a brand is a sore point in an otherwise fabulous car. Rims though are very nicely done and well detailed with a nice chrome looking center cap. Brake calipers behind the rims are static pieces with brake discs that spin with the wheels.

Summary

Just how should i sum up? I love the subject matter, and i adore the model. Autoart has really done a great model with this car. I just can’t help thinking that there are a number of different divisions assigned different cars to develop at Autoart, and the team making this car, just put in that much more effort into making this (When compared with the Ford GT). This model is just so well put together and it shows. The quality here is old-school Autoart Millenium Model quality. Which is a really good thing. Unlike the other “newer” released Millenium cars, this car feels good and has a nice weight to it, it feels like how a proper Autoart should feel. The other cars like the Ford GT and Carrera GT, just feel like your holding a semi-plastic model.

Sadly, this car will probably be passed up by a number of collectors because not many collectors will pick up a classic automobile like this. Prefering to grab a modern supercar instead. It’s a shame really, its just a really really good model or a beautiful classic car. They don’t know what they’re missing out on.

Overall 9/10

This score is a reflection of a model that distinguishes itself as one of the best available on the market. Accuracy, detail and quality are all present. A model deserving of this score suffers from no meaningful drawbacks. Although it would be difficult to improve upon this model,it would not be impossible. (I like it so much, i added in an extra photo!)

*Rating system and review was written with reference to DiecastXchange’s review guidelines*

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006 at 8:24 pm and is filed under 1:18 Reviews, BMW, Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.