The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[Andrew Kettle]

TheAlastair34 said:

hi guys,

stumbled upon this thread whilst hunting for a cheap daily car

what are people thoughts on these two that are for sale?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/53-BMW-325TI-COMPACT-M-S...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-325ti-Sport-M3-M-Spo...

ive seen afew around 1k non m sport kit cars, are they worth a punt or likely to be money pits?

I still have alerts on Auto-Trader from when I got mine, if you are still looking this one caught my eye as a nice example for the price - especially as it is a face lift.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[ethomas]

Quick suggestion for anyone who has squeaky noises in their car, treat your door seals with this stuff:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonax-03400000-SONAX-Rubb...

It has made my car so much quieter, I cannot believe how much noise was coming from the doors!

I also just got an engine light come on, I think this is due to extra air entering the engine when it is started (as the pressure is sucked out of the block, pipes, and catch can). A PCV should fix this, but I will read and reset the code and see how often it returns.

[mark.c]

Worth checking both intake bellows if you haven't already, very common to find one or both split.

[quads]

Andrew Kettle said:

I still have alerts on Auto-Trader from when I got mine, if you are still looking this one caught my eye as a nice example for the price - especially as it is a face lift.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

hI, this is my car up for sale, been a lurker on the forums for a while.

[s m]

quads said:

Andrew Kettle said:

I still have alerts on Auto-Trader from when I got mine, if you are still looking this one caught my eye as a nice example for the price - especially as it is a face lift.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

hI, this is my car up for sale, been a lurker on the forums for a while.

That does look a nice one - good colour too

[Fishy Dave]

ethomas said:

I also just got an engine light come on, I think this is due to extra air entering the engine when it is started (as the pressure is sucked out of the block, pipes, and catch can). A PCV should fix this, but I will read and reset the code and see how often it returns.

Yes, the PCV should help, in my case the engine warning light came on whilst at idle for a long period or going down a long hill, when vacuum was highest. Look for oil leaks as anywhere oil is getting out could be letting unmetered air in, commonest areas are sump gasket, dipstick tube, oil filter housing and cam cover/spark plug seals (mine were crispy at 80k miles). As mentioned above splits in the intake hose would be the first place to look (mine was split). Buy a Bluetooth OBD widget and an ap like Dash Command so you can read and switch off codes.

[JakeT]

quads said:

Andrew Kettle said:

I still have alerts on Auto-Trader from when I got mine, if you are still looking this one caught my eye as a nice example for the price - especially as it is a face lift.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

hI, this is my car up for sale, been a lurker on the forums for a while.

Nice looker that, and the sunroof makes these cars much better, I think. Use mine pretty much daily.

[FredClogs]

JakeT said:

quads said:

Andrew Kettle said:

I still have alerts on Auto-Trader from when I got mine, if you are still looking this one caught my eye as a nice example for the price - especially as it is a face lift.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

hI, this is my car up for sale, been a lurker on the forums for a while.

Nice looker that, and the sunroof makes these cars much better, I think. Use mine pretty much daily.

I agree, my sunroof is used a lot. Pricing on these is a bit random, if you can get that price fair play it certainly looks like a nice car.

[Mr Tidy]

s m said:

quads said:

Andrew Kettle said:

I still have alerts on Auto-Trader from when I got mine, if you are still looking this one caught my eye as a nice example for the price - especially as it is a face lift.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

hI, this is my car up for sale, been a lurker on the forums for a while.

That does look a nice one - good colour too

I still have the alerts as well! Would be tempted by that myself if I didn't already have one, as facelift Sport models with a sunroof don't turn up that often.

Will just have to make do with a 5 speed and go without the sunroof - at least my climate works now since it was recharged!

Good luck with the sale quads!

[quads]

Mr Tidy said:

I still have the alerts as well! Would be tempted by that myself if I didn't already have one, as facelift Sport models with a sunroof don't turn up that often.

Will just have to make do with a 5 speed and go without the sunroof - at least my climate works now since it was recharged!

Good luck with the sale quads!

Thanks all, the main reason I got the car, was reading this thread a few months back, so waited for a nice example to pop up. But unfortunately I need to put it up for sale. its a lovely car, but three cars in the family is one too many !!

[Mr Tidy]

quads said:

Thanks all, the main reason I got the car, was reading this thread a few months back, so waited for a nice example to pop up. But unfortunately I need to put it up for sale. its a lovely car, but three cars in the family is one too many !!

Three cars may be too many, but why not sell one of the others?

I am in a household of one, but I've got two cars and wouldn't want to part with my 325ti!

[ethomas]

mark.c said:

Worth checking both intake bellows if you haven't already, very common to find one or both split.

Intake bellows are both fine. Since it only happened after installing the catch can, it is likely to be downstream of the throttle body. I suspect the DISA valve gasket if anything. I will see how often the code occurs and go from there. Certainly the car feels fine to drive, so it may just be a transient thing that happens on startup.

[quads]

Mr Tidy said:

Three cars may be too many, but why not sell one of the others?

I am in a household of one, but I've got two cars and wouldn't want to part with my 325ti!

December will be the earliest before I can make any decision, so its a shame to just a car unused, so the compact is up for sale.

[Twin2]

What do you guys recommend regarding changing the brake discs and pads?

On eurocarparts it has a few different ones, Eicher being the cheapest by quite a bit but there are also Brembo options.

I can get the discs, pads and sensors for just under £200 which seems okay to me, and they're easy enough to fit so don;t need to pay the £500 quoted by garages.

Are there any better ones?

I don;t particularly want to pay the extra for green/yellow/red stuff pads if they're not significantly better.


Also, When I was checking out the rear off side brakes I noticed a little resonator on the back box. I removed it to see if there was any difference to the sound, it seems like there was some difference but not much. Is it bad to have taken this off? Or will it cause no real extra stress on the exhaust system or other?

[ethomas]

Twin2 said:

What do you guys recommend regarding changing the brake discs and pads?

On eurocarparts it has a few different ones, Eicher being the cheapest by quite a bit but there are also Brembo options.

I would skip Eicher. I have heard some horror stories about them. I would go for the Pagid discs and pads and sensors. If your pad warning light has not come on yet you can reuse your existing sensors.

Anything you can find on EuroCarParts you can usually find cheaper at CarParts4Less. They have exactly the same stock, one is just cheaper for some reason. Order 100 quid in one go and use CP15LESS code for 15 pounds off. Depending on the size of the rest of the order use CP15LESS (£15 off 100) CP10LESS (£10 off 75) or CP5LESS (£5 off 50) for a discount on the remainder.

In your case, the total comes to £177.84, if you can manage to split that perfectly, you will get £25 off

[dirtychinchilla]

Or if you wait until the weekend, at GSF they ALWAYS send me a code for at least 40% off every weekend.

[Twin2]

ethomas said:

I would skip Eicher. I have heard some horror stories about them. I would go for the Pagid discs and pads and sensors. If your pad warning light has not come on yet you can reuse your existing sensors.

Anything you can find on EuroCarParts you can usually find cheaper at CarParts4Less. They have exactly the same stock, one is just cheaper for some reason. Order 100 quid in one go and use CP15LESS code for 15 pounds off. Depending on the size of the rest of the order use CP15LESS (£15 off 100) CP10LESS (£10 off 75) or CP5LESS (£5 off 50) for a discount on the remainder.

In your case, the total comes to £177.84, if you can manage to split that perfectly, you will get £25 off

Oh sweet! any reason why Pagid is best?

If anyone else wants to do this, the split is:

Front disc + Rear disc + Front pads + rear pads = 102.xx

Front disc + Rear disc + Front sensor + rear sensor = 75.30

£177 in total coming down to £152... bargain

Edited by Twin2 on Wednesday 13th July 16:26

[ethomas]

dirtychinchilla said:

Or if you wait until the weekend, at GSF they ALWAYS send me a code for at least 40% off every weekend.

They usually start out quite a lot more expensive, so the 40% discount brings them roughly inline. It is an annoying way to do business, so because of this I never bother with them.

Twin2 said:

Oh sweet! any reason why Pagid is best?

Not necessarily best, but they have a good reputation, and they are a good price. Brembo or ATE will also be perfectly good OEM equivalents.

[Captain Answer]

Been bouncing the idea of getting a 325ti around in my head for a little while now and selling up my saabs to get one, but just wondering if someone could let me know about the practicality side...

Back seat - whats the leg room like? I've got a 5&6 year old so they would probably have to go in the back at some point

Boot space - looks ok for size of car from pics, does that ring true?

My aim would be to have at least one other car so it doesnt have to do everything, I've got a cactus for a day to day hack and my mrs takes her test soon so no doubt will end up getting her something small to run about in as well like a fiesta/jaz

[FredClogs]

I'm 5ft9 so my seat isn't all the way back, my missus is similar and we've had 3kids in the back with boosters, it's not ideal but perfectly do able. Its as big in the back as a coupe and same as most small hatches, obviously being RWD the centre seat in the back is compromised.