So today I fnally rolled the dice and bought a 330i M Sport. Been looking for about a year, and have seen and driven quite a few, but this was the best. It's 2002, and had about 68k miles on it. It's not without it's problems: slightly sticky nsf window, clutch needs practice to get a smooth getaway (possibly damper valve) and the aircon and rear parking sensors don't seem to work. Spoke to the previous owner after a couple of days stalking on the internet, and he said it was a great car, so I took a chance. Got 36 mpg on the way home (mostly M1) and now after a few local runs it's at 34mpg average. If I get 30mpg on average I'll be happy - my old Prelude only managed 27.

Here are some pics - if anyone sees anything dodgy, please don't tell me straight away - I'm a nervous wreck already today!













Any advice on what immediate precautionaly servicing whould be done would be appreciated (water pump? waxoil wings etc?). And also, what's the best boot mounted bike rack to get for these cars - one that wont damage the paint?

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and answered my questions on this forum over the past months - I really appreciate it.

Looks great, ive always loved the 330i fabulous engine, i remember driving one about 10 yrs ago & i still remember it well, great car, enjoy.

Looks fantastic. Just enjoy it for a while and worry about the niggles later. I bought the saloon version earlier this year and absolutely love it. My rear parking sensors often don't work but seems to be a common problem. That engine

If you've not driven many manual BMWs before you mightn't be used to the feel of the Clutch Delay Valve (CDV); not all cars have them. Or maybe you are used to it and yours is faulty or has been removed... That'd be one of the first things I'd look into, anyway... All the manual BMWs I've driven seem to appreciate the clutch being released fairly slowly if you want smoothness.

Congrats on te new motor. Good choice! With the window you'll probably need to fix the regulator, I did this with mine with a couple of cable ties following the vids on youtube. Very easy fix and quite fun. Took a couple of hours as im hopeless but thats better than 200 quid in a garage. With the aircon stupid question but have you checked the central vent is rolled to show blue rather than red?

Imola red, very nice...



Mines an auto, but my last 330 was a manual, I would get 30mpg on a run, and around 24 mpg urban.

Enjoy that silky six !

Looks great and I really like the spoiler too! Quite rare I think.

Imola Red, is my favourite E46 colour, cracking car OP

glad its not just me with the clutch on these, feels like i was riding the clutch so to speak and was worried the clutch was on its way out but local bmw indy garage said it was fine

worth keeping an eye on the radiator, mine is bowed but not leaking but it could get worse and start to leak over time (my car is on 99k)

how do you find the handling? at around 80k my bushes needed replacing and i went for powerflex and the car handles alot better.have a read here to decide if you want them:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

oh and mine is about to hit 100k, had my coupe over 3 years now and its been 100% reliable

Mine handled awfully when I first got it and tramlined all over the place. Checked the tyre pressures and they were all 17PSI! (it had only done 6,000 in 4 years). I too have the slow near side regulator but I've just bought a house so it can wait for the time being

Looks good on the MV2's. Mine came from factory with MV1's even though it's an 08/2002 car

As has been said, waxoil the car underneath, check the rear subframe mounts, clean the front/rear arches and waxoil all over the place. A bit of preventative maintenance and it'll go forever.