The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[Andrew Kettle]

Have reduced the price of my 325ti to £2350 as I think I was a bit keen at £2500 looking at others on the market.

[bodhi]

Mr Tidy said:

I think there is a firm in the UK that can do the same - Evolve IIRC.

But I seem to also remember that the brakes need an upgrade if you do that - for some reason the 125i got smaller front brakes than the 123d or 130i!?

There is also a company in Wolverhampton that will do it called P-Torque. Incredibly tempted, but will need to wait until next year now sadly.

I had also heard about the brake upgrade - personally I think the 125i's brakes are fine as it is, and seem to last forever.

I would highly recommend the 125i though, completely different animal to the 135i, slower but sounds better, and has better throttle response imo. It's also hardly slow (0-60 is around 6s), and sounds awesome in a tunnel, even with the standard exhaust. Reminds me massively of my old E36 328i, which is a pretty decent compliment imo.

[Hil_lo]

Random, but does anyone know the part number for the lower intake boot. Can't find it on real oem. Cheers.

[aka_kerrly]

Andrew Kettle said:

Have reduced the price of my 325ti to £2350 as I think I was a bit keen at £2500 looking at others on the market.

I'm doing an advert for my current BMW now, if it sells relatively quickly then you may have a buyer!!

[PaulGT3]

Hil_lo said:

Random, but does anyone know the part number for the lower intake boot. Can't find it on real oem. Cheers.

13541435627 is the part number you require!

[dirtychinchilla]

So I can't afford to keep my 325Ti Compact (sport) any more. I'm putting it up for sale with some faults, so if anyone wants it for £750 (open to offers) they're welcome to it - the engine runs sweetly, so it could be a great project car. It has 126k on the clock. Problems that I'm aware of are:

• rear passenger side shock needs replacing
• oil sump cracked
• driver window doesn't open (repair kit included with the car)
• sun shade is a tad dodgy (repair kit included with the car)
• trip calculator button doesn't work
• bodywork needs work - front splitter cracked, a few scratches, but nothing functionally wrong with it, and nothing other than the splitter that doesn't just need some paint

By the way, it is a manual. I don't know why some websites show it as auto.

The photos are from when I bought it, but the condition hasn't changed too much other than the splitter. Interior is really really nice.







Drop me a message if you're interested, and sorry if I'm breaking the rules here but I'd really rather it didn't get scrapped.

Edited by dirtychinchilla on Wednesday 12th April 13:17

[danp]

I was checking tyre pressures earlier and noticed the recommended ones (on the B pillar) are 2.2 bar (about 32 psi) front and 2.6 bar (about 38 psi) rear.

If fully laden it went up to 2.6 bar (38 psi) front and 3.3 bar (45 psi) rear!

These seem very high to me? I don't think I've ever had a car that needed more than early 30's psi before.

Our Nissan Leaf is 36 psi all round and that's presumably for eco purposes...

[Twin2]

Andrew Kettle said:

Have reduced the price of my 325ti to £2350 as I think I was a bit keen at £2500 looking at others on the market.

Think I'm the same, it's a bit discouraging to have no calls in 2 weeks!

I thought thought for a moment we were going to bring the market up

[Hil_lo]

PaulGT3 said:

Hil_lo said:

Random, but does anyone know the part number for the lower intake boot. Can't find it on real oem. Cheers.

13541435627 is the part number you require!

Many thanks, ordered from BMW today, lower boot and 3 clamps 18 quid, not to bad.
Also ordered a disa rebuild kit, and will clean out ISV, nice bank holiday weekend job.

[Mr Tidy]

dirtychinchilla said:

Edited by dirtychinchilla on Wednesday 12th April 13:17

PM Sent!

[Andrew Kettle]

Twin2 said:

Think I'm the same, it's a bit discouraging to have no calls in 2 weeks!

I thought thought for a moment we were going to bring the market up

I've not had as much interest as expected either, had one guy call up the moment the ad went up who tried to knock me down and then hung up when I said I would probably wait as the ad had been up all of 2 minutes, and a lot of compliments and people saying they would buy if they had the money, but that's it!

The 135i has two leaky injectors so I can't drive it at the moment so it's a bit of a blessing that I have 2 cars for the moment while I get parts together to fix her.

[dirtychinchilla]

Mr Tidy said:

PM Sent!

Just emailed you

[LocoBlade]

Just put mine up for sale for £1395, being a pre-facelift SE means it's probably a bit less desirable than some but it's a good solid car and I was sorely tempted to keep it as a hobby car perhaps for a couple of trackdays but I don't really have the room for it sadly.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Edited by LocoBlade on Thursday 13th April 21:03

[Max M4X WW]

LocoBlade said:

Just put mine up for sale for £1395, being a pre-facelift SE means it's probably a bit less desirable than some but it's a good solid car and I was sorely tempted to keep it as a hobby car perhaps for a couple of trackdays but I don't really have the room for it sadly.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Edited by LocoBlade on Thursday 13th April 21:03

You could have given me advance warning! Looking at another from in the thread tomorrow but may be in touch later in the weekend...

[Hil_lo]

Changed the brakes/pads/fluid recently on mine, keep getting a strange hum at lo speeds, particular on full lock.
Disassembled today and checked calipers aren't seized, nothing.
Car rolls as normal no grabbing, checked resistance when jacked up, nothing beyond normal. They only thing I can think off is, I either didn't clean the discs off enough prior to install or I didn't bed them in right.
Padgid Discs and pads, checked manufactures literature and it just says use lightly when first installed, doesn't specify a bedding procedure.

It's an odd noise, humm/reverbarate kinda noise.

Any thoughts?

[Max M4X WW]

LocoBlade said:

Just put mine up for sale for £1395, being a pre-facelift SE means it's probably a bit less desirable than some but it's a good solid car and I was sorely tempted to keep it as a hobby car perhaps for a couple of trackdays but I don't really have the room for it sadly.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Edited by LocoBlade on Thursday 13th April 21:03

Viewed this Sunday (I think) and collected Monday. Just been out for a drive, very impressed - the internet and this thread are correct. Quite a bit different to a 320i we had, and I seem to instantly get it more than I do my E46 M3!

Also viewed the black car above, will be a great buy for someone but this car was ready to go.

Now to commit a possible crime and remove half the interior and fit some sticky tyres!

[dirtychinchilla]

My car is still up for sale - as I said before, possibly a great project car for a reasonable price. You could get it fully up and running for about £400 if you were so inclined:



https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-325ti-compact-sp...

Looking £750 for it.

Max had a look at my car and I think he'll say that it's driveable for a good distance!

[JakeT]

If I didn't have a 328ci project I'd have that off of you... Two of the same car may be a little silly though!

[dirtychinchilla]

Hah that's a shame! It's a bargain I think.

Everyone already has their project car, so it seems.

[Max M4X WW]

dirtychinchilla said:

My car is still up for sale - as I said before, possibly a great project car for a reasonable price. You could get it fully up and running for about £400 if you were so inclined:



https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-325ti-compact-sp...

Looking £750 for it.

Max had a look at my car and I think he'll say that it's driveable for a good distance!

If I didn't have the M3 I would genuinely buy it and have two 325ti's!