E46 325i Sport
Discussion
It was time to sell my E90 M3 and move on to something else. I still don't know what that car is, so I bought this in the mean time. I absolutely love E46's and wanted a cheap car to run around in. This one popped up and was in an actual colour rather than the boring silver or shades thereof that most seem to be, with a cloth interior and a straight six engine. I wanted a sport spec too because I prefer the wheels and sport seats. Enter the 325i Sport. I bought it completely unseen but trusted a friend to view it for me and drive it 200+ miles home as he happened to be a five minute walk from the car while working away for a few days.
I picked it up the same evening he drove it home and this is what I was greeted with:
Not too bad in first impressions. There's a bit of rot that was known about beforehand but hopefully it's not too serious. I'll have to find some repair panels and fire up the welder in due course. It desperately needed a really thorough clean inside and out, so I got on with that. Mechanically everything seems ok, if a little 'old' feeling. No doubt I'll go through the suspension and anything else that needs attention. It likes to give low oil and low coolant lights on the dash randomly while driving. Both levels are absolutely fine so I'll be ordering a new expansion tank and oil level sensor soon.
It's been through this car dealer in the past. Rather than use a sticker, they've spray painted their details on the inside of the rear screen. I had to use 2000 grit sandpaper carefully to remove it, but it's all gone now. Mid way though:
A quick wash and brush up made it look much more presentable:
It's going to need a lot of cosmetic work to make it really nice, but what do you expect for 20+ years of use? Almost all of the plastic exterior parts have lacquer peel so I'll have those sprayed at some point to tidy it up. Headlight lenses need replacing as usual, along with the rear inner lights.
The interior looked a lot better for some cleaning too:
Driver's seat is the worst bit. I'll need to find a replacement seat or someone who can stitch in some Alcantara and make the current seat look new again. The soft touch plastics are all scratched which is very normal. I'll have a think about what to do there.
I didn't clean the engine bay. It was surprisingly clean already. I can't even see any oil leaks. I'm sure there are some, because BMW, but on the face of it it's dry as a bone.
I scanned the car with DIS and INPA. I cleared some historic faults and then rescanned, which only left the oil level sensor reporting faulty. Interestingly the AC doesn't seem to work yet I have no fault codes for low gas pressure or broken compressor. Possibly the system pressure is just high enough not to trigger a fault but won't make cold air in the cabin? I'll have to have a look at that.
Assuming it stays reliable then I've got a big road trip planned for it in the summer. 400 miles covered in the first five days of ownership and not a hint of any issues, so my gut feeling is that it's a good one. I do love a BMW straight six...
I picked it up the same evening he drove it home and this is what I was greeted with:
Not too bad in first impressions. There's a bit of rot that was known about beforehand but hopefully it's not too serious. I'll have to find some repair panels and fire up the welder in due course. It desperately needed a really thorough clean inside and out, so I got on with that. Mechanically everything seems ok, if a little 'old' feeling. No doubt I'll go through the suspension and anything else that needs attention. It likes to give low oil and low coolant lights on the dash randomly while driving. Both levels are absolutely fine so I'll be ordering a new expansion tank and oil level sensor soon.
It's been through this car dealer in the past. Rather than use a sticker, they've spray painted their details on the inside of the rear screen. I had to use 2000 grit sandpaper carefully to remove it, but it's all gone now. Mid way though:
A quick wash and brush up made it look much more presentable:
It's going to need a lot of cosmetic work to make it really nice, but what do you expect for 20+ years of use? Almost all of the plastic exterior parts have lacquer peel so I'll have those sprayed at some point to tidy it up. Headlight lenses need replacing as usual, along with the rear inner lights.
The interior looked a lot better for some cleaning too:
Driver's seat is the worst bit. I'll need to find a replacement seat or someone who can stitch in some Alcantara and make the current seat look new again. The soft touch plastics are all scratched which is very normal. I'll have a think about what to do there.
I didn't clean the engine bay. It was surprisingly clean already. I can't even see any oil leaks. I'm sure there are some, because BMW, but on the face of it it's dry as a bone.
I scanned the car with DIS and INPA. I cleared some historic faults and then rescanned, which only left the oil level sensor reporting faulty. Interestingly the AC doesn't seem to work yet I have no fault codes for low gas pressure or broken compressor. Possibly the system pressure is just high enough not to trigger a fault but won't make cold air in the cabin? I'll have to have a look at that.
Assuming it stays reliable then I've got a big road trip planned for it in the summer. 400 miles covered in the first five days of ownership and not a hint of any issues, so my gut feeling is that it's a good one. I do love a BMW straight six...
That's a great motor
New headlight lenses will have the front end looking spot on soon enough; as others have said a quick detail & polish will have it up to spec too
The soft touch plastics inside can soon be sorted; think Sreten of M539 Restorations fame used Goo Gone on his and it soon stripped it all off
New headlight lenses will have the front end looking spot on soon enough; as others have said a quick detail & polish will have it up to spec too
The soft touch plastics inside can soon be sorted; think Sreten of M539 Restorations fame used Goo Gone on his and it soon stripped it all off
The Sprinter is still lugging building materials but as you can see by the state of the garden I'm far from done yet with the house project.That looks great. 
There is something so right about a manual E46 325 Sport in Imola Red - I still miss my E46 325ti. Soon after I bought it my nephew decided he wanted one too so I found him a black one, but then in 2016 he became a dad for the first time and it wasn't much good for child seats. So it got replaced by an Imola Red 325i Sport Touring.
The Sport seats are just so much better, although both of ours had full leather.
There is something so right about a manual E46 325 Sport in Imola Red - I still miss my E46 325ti. Soon after I bought it my nephew decided he wanted one too so I found him a black one, but then in 2016 he became a dad for the first time and it wasn't much good for child seats. So it got replaced by an Imola Red 325i Sport Touring.
The Sport seats are just so much better, although both of ours had full leather.
Aside from the hole, it looks smart enough. It’s a great colour too and as you say, it’s not silver, grey or black.
As Dan said, I’d be tempted to strip the soft touch plastics off.
I think the 2.5 is a great engine having had a 325ti - I always thought that it sounded sweeter than the 3.0.
Have you sold the M3?
As Dan said, I’d be tempted to strip the soft touch plastics off.
I think the 2.5 is a great engine having had a 325ti - I always thought that it sounded sweeter than the 3.0.
Have you sold the M3?
Nice buy there. That is a model I was not aware of, looks a good spec from the photos.
I have a 2002 E46 318iS SE, which was low mileage ( 69,000) when I bought it a couple of years ago. On the original build sheet it had a cloth interior, but a previous owner swapped it out for a "sport' spec black leather one, which I prefer anyway.
Mine had the standard soft touch black interior trim.....with the infamous sticky issue. I replaced all the trim pieces ( ie door tops, fascia trims, centre console) with the Carbon Cube like yours...which looks so much better !
After I had done that, I decided to bite the bullet as they say and removed all the centre dash trim ( from the air vents down to the gear console, as well as the arm rest/handbrake surround etc.
I too had seen all of Stretton's E46 Youtube videos, and at the time I could not find any of the Goo Gone (?) stuff that he used, .... so I tried all sorts of solvents .
I cannot remember which one worked 'best', but in the end I opted for sanding all the sticky stuff off, and then used some acrylic satin black spray paint.
It all took a lot of effort, but it is well worth it IMO : not only does it look so much better, it actually feels nice ....!!
Your car looks pretty good..an Imola Red E46 is quite rare ( up here in the North East anyway !) so after you repair that rear arch ( I have had mine done as well !) it will look great
I have a 2002 E46 318iS SE, which was low mileage ( 69,000) when I bought it a couple of years ago. On the original build sheet it had a cloth interior, but a previous owner swapped it out for a "sport' spec black leather one, which I prefer anyway.
Mine had the standard soft touch black interior trim.....with the infamous sticky issue. I replaced all the trim pieces ( ie door tops, fascia trims, centre console) with the Carbon Cube like yours...which looks so much better !
After I had done that, I decided to bite the bullet as they say and removed all the centre dash trim ( from the air vents down to the gear console, as well as the arm rest/handbrake surround etc.
I too had seen all of Stretton's E46 Youtube videos, and at the time I could not find any of the Goo Gone (?) stuff that he used, .... so I tried all sorts of solvents .
I cannot remember which one worked 'best', but in the end I opted for sanding all the sticky stuff off, and then used some acrylic satin black spray paint.
It all took a lot of effort, but it is well worth it IMO : not only does it look so much better, it actually feels nice ....!!
Your car looks pretty good..an Imola Red E46 is quite rare ( up here in the North East anyway !) so after you repair that rear arch ( I have had mine done as well !) it will look great
Mr Tidy said:
That looks great.
There is something so right about a manual E46 325 Sport in Imola Red - I still miss my E46 325ti. Soon after I bought it my nephew decided he wanted one too so I found him a black one, but then in 2016 he became a dad for the first time and it wasn't much good for child seats. So it got replaced by an Imola Red 325i Sport Touring.
The Sport seats are just so much better, although both of ours had full leather.
Cheers! My number one preference on colour was blue, but red will certainly do. It does mean that I own two bright red cars now. See my thread on the Audi A4 Avant. I wouldn't have minded a Touring but it felt like overkill as I've already got the Audi. This saloon came up and it was the kind of thing I was after so I went for it. Talking of child seats, we found that the Small One has more room in the back of the 325 compared to the Audi with the front seats in their usual positions for us both. I wonder if I can persuade LadyGPM in to an E46 Touring in the future... Agreed on the sports seats. I deliberately didn't want leather this time around. I reckon cloth seats are more comfortable overall. One of my E46 M3's had the rare half leather/alcantara interior and I absolutely loved it.There is something so right about a manual E46 325 Sport in Imola Red - I still miss my E46 325ti. Soon after I bought it my nephew decided he wanted one too so I found him a black one, but then in 2016 he became a dad for the first time and it wasn't much good for child seats. So it got replaced by an Imola Red 325i Sport Touring.
The Sport seats are just so much better, although both of ours had full leather.
Court_S said:
Aside from the hole, it looks smart enough. It’s a great colour too and as you say, it’s not silver, grey or black.
As Dan said, I’d be tempted to strip the soft touch plastics off.
I think the 2.5 is a great engine having had a 325ti - I always thought that it sounded sweeter than the 3.0.
Have you sold the M3?
Thanks! It's a bit rough around the edges at the moment but it's in 'cheap old car' territory for most people. I'll go through it as I usually do and it will be better in time! The M3 has gone to its new owner now sadly, but it was definitely time to move on for me. I'm probably more excited about this sheddy motor than I was about the M3 for some reason. The engine feels a bit flat at the moment if you ask me. It's either in need of DISA valve and Vanos work or I'm just not used to half the power of the M3 yet. Might be both!As Dan said, I’d be tempted to strip the soft touch plastics off.
I think the 2.5 is a great engine having had a 325ti - I always thought that it sounded sweeter than the 3.0.
Have you sold the M3?
Paul S4 said:
Nice buy there. That is a model I was not aware of, looks a good spec from the photos.
I have a 2002 E46 318iS SE, which was low mileage ( 69,000) when I bought it a couple of years ago. On the original build sheet it had a cloth interior, but a previous owner swapped it out for a "sport' spec black leather one, which I prefer anyway.
Mine had the standard soft touch black interior trim.....with the infamous sticky issue. I replaced all the trim pieces ( ie door tops, fascia trims, centre console) with the Carbon Cube like yours...which looks so much better !
After I had done that, I decided to bite the bullet as they say and removed all the centre dash trim ( from the air vents down to the gear console, as well as the arm rest/handbrake surround etc.
I too had seen all of Stretton's E46 Youtube videos, and at the time I could not find any of the Goo Gone (?) stuff that he used, .... so I tried all sorts of solvents .
I cannot remember which one worked 'best', but in the end I opted for sanding all the sticky stuff off, and then used some acrylic satin black spray paint.
It all took a lot of effort, but it is well worth it IMO : not only does it look so much better, it actually feels nice ....!!
Your car looks pretty good..an Imola Red E46 is quite rare ( up here in the North East anyway !) so after you repair that rear arch ( I have had mine done as well !) it will look great
Cheers! I'll have a re-watch of Sreten's stuff on E46's and I'll most likely do what you've done with the plastics. I'm not sure if my car came with the carbon cube trim originally or not, I'll have to do a VIN decode on it and see what's original and what's not. I have a 2002 E46 318iS SE, which was low mileage ( 69,000) when I bought it a couple of years ago. On the original build sheet it had a cloth interior, but a previous owner swapped it out for a "sport' spec black leather one, which I prefer anyway.
Mine had the standard soft touch black interior trim.....with the infamous sticky issue. I replaced all the trim pieces ( ie door tops, fascia trims, centre console) with the Carbon Cube like yours...which looks so much better !
After I had done that, I decided to bite the bullet as they say and removed all the centre dash trim ( from the air vents down to the gear console, as well as the arm rest/handbrake surround etc.
I too had seen all of Stretton's E46 Youtube videos, and at the time I could not find any of the Goo Gone (?) stuff that he used, .... so I tried all sorts of solvents .
I cannot remember which one worked 'best', but in the end I opted for sanding all the sticky stuff off, and then used some acrylic satin black spray paint.
It all took a lot of effort, but it is well worth it IMO : not only does it look so much better, it actually feels nice ....!!
Your car looks pretty good..an Imola Red E46 is quite rare ( up here in the North East anyway !) so after you repair that rear arch ( I have had mine done as well !) it will look great
I'm going to build a list of parts for the car today and go through it all in a priority order. First up will be getting the engine tip top for sure. I've only got a couple of months to have as much as I can ready for the planned road trip in July.
TotalControl said:
Brings back memories of my 01 325i in boring silver I had some 6 years ago now. Great car. Got the rust sorted on the rear arches and then sold up to buy an IS200 for some reason.
Yours looks in much better condition for the year.
Thanks! I'm looking forward to sorting the rust out too. I dread to think what I'll find when I remove the side skirt Yours looks in much better condition for the year.
BTW - Anyone know where I can get ISTA from? I saw someone using it the other day and it looks a lot more modern than DIS. Might be worth trying that out instead going forward.
Pablo16v said:
Good luck getting all the jobs done. Will follow with interest as I had a '53 plate 325i M Sport Touring back in 2009/10 which my wife and I realy liked.
I've just been making the list of everything I want to sort out. It's looking like a few hundred pounds already just on giving the engine bay and brake hydraulics a really good going over!Gallons Per Mile said:
Pablo16v said:
Good luck getting all the jobs done. Will follow with interest as I had a '53 plate 325i M Sport Touring back in 2009/10 which my wife and I realy liked.
I've just been making the list of everything I want to sort out. It's looking like a few hundred pounds already just on giving the engine bay and brake hydraulics a really good going over!E90_M3Ross said:
The question is where do you draw the line? If you really wanted to you could easily spend over £4-5k on it I reckon, depending how rusty it is underneath.
I guess I'll see how I feel about it as I go. If it turns in to a long term vehicle there's no problem spending a bit on it. If it's only a 6-12 month deal then I'll probably stop after the above service items.E46 sport 4 doors look great, sorry if I missed it but guessing it's Imola red, was it a standard colour or an Individual? Really like the cloth/Alcantara interior.
These sound so good compared to e46 M3s , none of that tinny, raspy sound!
Have you checked the underside/rear subframe yet?
These sound so good compared to e46 M3s , none of that tinny, raspy sound!
Have you checked the underside/rear subframe yet?
Edited by Ianbe46m3 on Monday 6th May 15:31
Edited by Ianbe46m3 on Monday 6th May 15:33
Ianbe46m3 said:
E46 sport 4 doors look great, sorry if I missed it but guessing it's Imola red, was it a standard colour or an Individual? Really like the cloth/Alcantara interior.
These sound so good compared to e46 M3s , none of that tinny, raspy sound!
Have you checked the underside/rear subframe yet?
Yep I'm pretty sure its Imola Red. It's not an Individual spec AFAIK. Agreed on the cloth seats too. I've got to get that driver's seat repaired and make it look pretty, its really comfy!These sound so good compared to e46 M3s , none of that tinny, raspy sound!
Have you checked the underside/rear subframe yet?
I noticed just how quiet this is compared to either the E46 or E90 M3's I've had. I really like the sound of the E46 M3, but 325's also sound great with a sportier exhaust.
Not been underneath yet. Fingers crossed it's not too bad!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff