BMW E46

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff348...7AD2EABCAFB.jpg

This is what I replaced my Coupe with.

Depressing aren't they.

Not as depressing as a 20vt cambelt change!

I hanker after a convertible - if it's a 330? Not likely to happen for me, but nice for you! I hope you enjoy lots of depressing reliability and fun!

It's a 328, a lot cheaper than a 330.

Hmmm... Interesting! Though as likely to be parked outside my casa as an Aventador any time soon...
Enjoy your motor - given my recent motoring history I'd give my eye teeth for something half as nice!

Always fancied an e46.. 330ci sport coupe or club sport..

Lots of toys at right spec and cheap to purchase.. I imagine repairs can be costly?

I've been looking into e46 M3's today. Interesting feedback from people on various forums. I'm quite interested in them, and Porsche Cayenne's

The single Vanos E36 M3 is less troublesome
Buy with a hard top too ..

Don't be put off by the adverse comments regarding SMG either Phil, it's a tremendous system that works extremely well. My M3 has every extra and its by far the best, most refined car i've had and yet beneath the skin its an absolute beast. I love M3, not the "normal" e46's i'm afraid - of which i've had 2 and got rid of quickly prior to dying of utter boredom........sorry

All things are relative; my recent car history has been: no car, a 2003 LDV Convoy minibus, no car, a 2005 Kia Sedona diesel (in gold) and a 1.5 diesel Mégane. Believe me, a "normal" 3 series can be very exciting indeed!

Yes indeed Jim, i guess we've all been there - on the other hand you live in Spain and i live in Burton on Trent......

See Steve, now your swaying my thoughts…. What's the spec, year of yours?

Repairs on my BMW are quite cheap as I'm a BMW Technician.

oh dear

Afraid I got old and needed more doors for children etc.

Me too, I've got the 325ci and it ticks pretty much every box. Unfortunately it's not at all exciting and I don't look forward to driving it like I use to do in the LE

Mapped to around 360bhp but the previous owner can't find the graphs - however i did see them when i went to view it and it drives MUCH quicker than the other, standard, M3's i tried.

Tyre pressure indicator, heated seats, memory seats, leather all the way through, rear-windscreen auto blind, CSL wheels, Harmon Kardon sound system with wiring for a sub-woofer, sports button, electric tilt and slide sunroof....everything really, all the options available are on it.......it's a great car, but

I ditched a dull e46 ci for the coupe and I have 3 kids!!!

I found it hard to get one with a solid idle as 99% when warm hunt like hell. I didn't avoid the nasty ripped arse though, a costly 500 quid to fix.

I may have an m3, would have to be a v8 though as all the tossers and drug dealers around here have moved to audis!

Nasty ripped arse?

My mate has an e46. Already warned him to check his arse isnt ripping open! Puts me off thats for sure.

But …. it's not a coupe

The rear floor and the rear subframe have a tendency to fall.out, so the arse of the car literally gets ripped off. BMW squirt foam in to fix it, I had the whole thing opened up and the areas reinforced but it was a bloody expensive bit of welding!

I have read that the rear floor and subframe tends to crack, and needs strengthening. If the car is 10 or less years old then BMW will pay for this, if older, you need to negotiate.

The BMW negotiation part was something I was sadly unaware of at the time. My car was only about 5 years old with a full S/H. I wouldn't have an E46 for this reason ever again.

So why does it happen, too much power 'ripping the arse out of it' or badly made. Hope it's a power thing cause then my pathetic 325 will be safe...

Its a fault across all e46's i'm led to believe - obviouslyi had mine checked prior to purchase, but like the coupe marque there are specialists who do a great job repairing the subframes, ie Reddish in Bristol.

My brother has an E46 M3 and shortly after getting it (about 3 years ago when it was around 10 years old) he discovered it had the floor cracks. After a lot of negotiation, visits to more than one BMW dealer and a few threats he got a full repair paid for by BMW. It shouldn't be the case though that a car like this needs it, and it isn't just the M3 that is affected. Just think what negative publicity there would be had it been a Fiat that had the problem, or a British designed car. Somehow BMW have managed to keep it quiet without it damaging their reputation - maybe long term loan cars to journalists were used to help!

Edited to add - once you get it going a a level which isn't often possible on a public road it is a very nice car to drive.

It's a poor design, the higher the power the worse potential damage but it impacts all E46's, worse on the coupes.

They are a nice car to drive and it's only the floor thing that now stands between me even thinking about one and ownership again. It's not something I wish to repeat and the noise when it's failing / as it fails and the results afterwards are not nice.

Proccy - do you keep getting it inspected or has it already been strengthened / repaired?

I've got a 320d estate and it's nice enough without being thrilling (apart from in the wet when it had old Continentals on the back :o).
It carries out its function as a commuter hack without protest and returns about 50mpg.
Once you've adjusted to the skewed driving position, where the clutch pedal is in line with the centre of the steering wheel (imagine if Fiat cars were like that) it's pretty comfy.

I haven't looked at the boot floor but I have a suspicion the tearing thing might be related to drifting, something the 1 previous pensioner owner clearly didn't do (hence the lethal Contis the car had).

Repeat inspections at Bridgegate BMW

Cool!

Suppose it's not a worry if you do it your way Round!

The floor thing was apparant on both e36 and e46 models. However they reinforced the floor on the e36 chassis.

After 8 years of using e36 M3 for competition drifting the floor is still in good shape. :-)

Really? Never heard anything on the E36 at all, my dad had a 320 back in the day that was also fine.

Ze Germans always seem to manage to hide these massive flaws (excuse the pun) yet Italian and British cars are noted as being pants at the drop of some oil.

So, is there an obvious way to tell if an E46 has a problem? I imagine the owner will be happy to tell you it's been fixed if it has. And if there is no apparent issue and the owner swears blind all is ok, could it still fall apart without notice?
It might affect my purchase of a 330 convertible (in my head, obviously)

Yes jim, it could. Mine started with a very slight creaking which i assumed was a suspension bush. It very quickly gained in volume and was apparent it was more sinister.
Id want proof it had been fixed, or like proccy get it into a main dealer for a check up and then hope if it did fail theyd come good.
I couldnt get mine to do it by me using my 17st bulk while stationary, i have seen demos of cars with handbrake on and driven, this forces the issue and looks scary as!

Nice car btw, a 330 'vert!

My dad had a 330ci for a while.

Apart from being dull to look at it was a really good car. Quite fast, reliable and not too bad on fuel.

The only problem was that his was an Auto, and the manual ones are much better.

I've had both manual & Auto 330ci's, I think the Auto is much better suited to the car, they are very sedate, Auto is just 'D' & Rooollllllllll,
I would say Auto is no slower either, when you squash & kick down engages... They fly!

I found that it was quite easy to catch the gearbox out and end up in a higher gear than you wanted, especially when you wanted to overtake.

I am not a big fan of auto boxes on any car though if I am honest.