The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[jj.]

Muzzman said:

That both surprises and disappoints me. I've got a 330ti, I'm in two minds whether to strip it out completely as it's mainly used on track, or leave it as is, which is back seats removed and seats swapped for buckets.
My issue is I drive once a year to the Nurburgring and the thought of doing that in a completely stripped car isn't that appealing. If a fully stripped car is coming in at that weight I might not bother. I was expecting alot less

The reason I specifically chose the Compact, was I thought was the lower weight. If I'd have done my research, and realised that a 330 ci was only another 30kg more in weight, I would have gone for the bigger engine version. How did the 'compact' get so porky..!! Am very surprised of the weight, the half cage probably adds 40kg, so in theory the basic car would stand alone at around 1225kg in its stripped form, once you remove driver/cage/fuel. The front standard seats seemed to weigh around 15-18kg each.

For me the car is trackday only (and driven there/back) and with the rear stripped as is, it is quite a droning sound when sitting at a constant speed. I also have no radio/speakers, so taken to wearing noise cancelling ear buds (and put some music on), which takes all of the sound away. I'm not sure I would like to travel 2/3 hours trying to talk to a passenger in mine, let alone the distance to the 'ring. Although if I was prepping a car from scratch for my use again, I would still strip the rear out, if nothing else makes it feel more purposeful, and the ability to easily carry some more wheels is very handy.
jj

[easy_]

Because it only lost a few inches off the back end, plus the saloon roof line and the extra reinforcement around the rear subframe area..

[Mr Tidy]

Muzzman said:

My issue is I drive once a year to the Nurburgring and the thought of doing that in a completely stripped car isn't that appealing. If a fully stripped car is coming in at that weight I might not bother. I was expecting alot less

I've only ever had one stripped and caged car and that was pretty horrible on the road just going from Surrey to Goodwood, Castle Combe, etc.

No way would I have wanted to go to the Nurburgring in it!

[Thoglan]

jj. said:

If I'd have done my research, and realised that a 330 ci was only another 30kg more in weight, I would have gone for the bigger engine version.

Just put the bigger engine in, easy swap.

[Astburycompact2]

dubster2007 said:

What type have you got? self opening (lifts tailgate unaided) or standard lift version?

I know from experience the self opening version can be a pain especially on colder days, so i've gone to taking them off in the winter and putting on some standard versions which i picked up cheap from eurocarparts, to be honest i didn't even know they did different lengths, weaker or stronger versions, ecp ones just said fitment e46 compact.

I have tried others struts in the past but they have been a waste of money ( the same as these OEM ones) but its only during the colder weather when temperatures get to below - degrees when they start to fail. The OEM ones have a spring as well as the gas strut but at £150 a set I expect them to last longer than the warranty period

[dubster2007]

Astburycompact2 said:

I have tried others struts in the past but they have been a waste of money ( the same as these OEM ones) but its only during the colder weather when temperatures get to below - degrees when they start to fail. The OEM ones have a spring as well as the gas strut but at £150 a set I expect them to last longer than the warranty period

So you have the self lifting versions like i have.

Im on my third set and they are pretty rubbish when the temp drops, but lucky for me none have actually broke.

btw, when you said failed in your post what do you actually mean? total failure wont lift anymore or jammed?

[Astburycompact2]

dubster2007 said:

So you have the self lifting versions like i have.

Im on my third set and they are pretty rubbish when the temp drops, but lucky for me none have actually broke.

btw, when you said failed in your post what do you actually mean? total failure wont lift anymore or jammed?

They wont lift the tailgate and it seems as though the spring binds and when lifting manually the strut shows resistance and then cracks/bangs as it opens.
They are not fit for purpose but BMW refuse to accept any default in them but the original ones 20 years ago lasted 7/9 years.
Standards have dropped and so have the companies commitment to their customers which will come back and bite them in the end.
I am looking for another car for my wife and this time it will be a Mercedes unlike the 3 BM's she has had previously.

[dubster2007]

Astburycompact2 said:

They wont lift the tailgate and it seems as though the spring binds and when lifting manually the strut shows resistance and then cracks/bangs as it opens.
They are not fit for purpose but BMW refuse to accept any default in them but the original ones 20 years ago lasted 7/9 years.
Standards have dropped and so have the companies commitment to their customers which will come back and bite them in the end.
I am looking for another car for my wife and this time it will be a Mercedes unlike the 3 BM's she has had previously.

Thats the same problem i had on my second set, you get a horrible bang as you manually lift the tailgate.Found out it was the longer of the two plastic covers popping off the strut body.
It feels like they weren't meant to be lifted manually, but when you want to get in the boot and feel resistance you got no choice to give it a harder shove.

So far my third set have done a couple of years, but as i said they now only get used in the warmer months where they lift no problem.

[Astburycompact2]

dubster2007 said:

Thats the same problem i had on my second set, you get a horrible bang as you manually lift the tailgate.Found out it was the longer of the two plastic covers popping off the strut body.
It feels like they weren't meant to be lifted manually, but when you want to get in the boot and feel resistance you got no choice to give it a harder shove.

So far my third set have done a couple of years, but as i said they now only get used in the warmer months where they lift no problem.

Its a pity that we could not force BMW into supplying parts that made to last instead of fobbing us off with these duds.
I have tried others but they are just gas struts and only hold the tailgate open and not lift it.

Good idea though of replacing the good ones with others during the winter months, I will have to see what I can do as I have 2 compacts!

[was8v]

My 325ti sport is now up for sale

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/16605145

[Thoglan]

Anyone have any exhaust recommendations?
Not satisfied with the stock exhaust on my 330ti. A stock 330i with the 'golf tee' mod is louder at idle and sounds better, the 325i exhaust feels quite a lot quieter.

[Toltec]

Our venerable 52 plate 325ti Auto has to go, we have had it over 17 years but it is time to replace it. While it has been mechanically great, just needing the front bushes replaced a couple of times, it has quite a few age related niggles now. The airbag light is on with a driver airbag error, it went through the MOT in January as the garage managed to turn it off for long enough to get through, but it came back on after a couple of miles. The speedo went intermittent in February, likely a wiring issue, then someone decided not to leave a note when they reversed into the front while it was parked on our drive loosening the bumper off the clips and one of the indicator lenses has also disappeared now...

There is other stuff, other carpark rash and issues with the interior so I'm thinking of putting it up as spares or repair really due to the airbag and speedo faults, the main upside is that it is only just about to tick over to 80,000 miles.

What do you think I should price it at? New car will be turning up at the beginning of June so ideally want it gone by then.

[Thoglan]

Toltec said:

There is other stuff, other carpark rash and issues with the interior so I'm thinking of putting it up as spares or repair really due to the airbag and speedo faults, the main upside is that it is only just about to tick over to 80,000 miles.

To be honest, those are probably very easy fixes to someone that knows what they are doing. Airbag light is either the seatbelt pretensioner (easy and cheap to replace), or the occupancy sensor (can be coded out in <5 minutes). Loss of speedo is likely just a bad wheel speed sensor. Easy and cheap to replace.

[Toltec]

Thoglan said:

Toltec said:

There is other stuff, other carpark rash and issues with the interior so I'm thinking of putting it up as spares or repair really due to the airbag and speedo faults, the main upside is that it is only just about to tick over to 80,000 miles.

To be honest, those are probably very easy fixes to someone that knows what they are doing. Airbag light is either the seatbelt pretensioner (easy and cheap to replace), or the occupancy sensor (can be coded out in <5 minutes). Loss of speedo is likely just a bad wheel speed sensor. Easy and cheap to replace.

From what I have read the sensors fail or work, they do not become intermittent, they are just a basic reluctance sensor, more likely to be a break in a wire. Though that could easily be in the sensor cable than harness of course so easy and cheap.

One of the more personal things is my wife broke her wrist badly a couple of years ago and she is finding the steering weight a bit too much now. She can drive it OK, but it starts to get tiring and uncomfortable quite quickly.

Bearing in mind it is an auto, so not the preferred version, I'm not sure how much effort someone would want to put in to tidy it up. Most of it is cosmetic really and it is a Sport so could be a small project for someone to tidy up properly or just sort the worst. It is even ULEZ compliant and tooling around Khanville in a twenty two year old straight six makes me smile. However, it isn't the right car for my wife anymore and I have a 530i touring to enjoy so maybe someone else will enjoy it for a few more years?