£600 car - worth a punt?
Discussion
I have been offered an E46 saloon
It’s a 2001 car on a 51 plate (LCI)
It has BMW history and 121k miles, the bodywork is clean, as is the MOT.
The interior is a different story, it is filthy, the steering wheel is f
ked, the seats are fked, but it does have electric and heated full leather interior.
The doors don’t lock and the n/s rear window doesn’t go all the way up, so it’s taped over.
The doors don’t lock.
It’s £699... should I be expecting a new world of problems? It appears to be able to be rectified quite cheaply:
A complete set of interior is £100 on ebay.
A new steering wheel is £75
A window regulator is £20
The mechanicals appear to be fine from what I’m told... is it worth my time to go and see this and take a punt? I wouldn’t mind a project, I’ve always liked the E46, my parents have had 2 330i’s which both had the same faults this car has (window and locking)
The crucial thing is it doesn’t appear to be rusty, and E46’s are an appreciating car, there doesn’t seem to be any clean saloons with low miles on the market for under 2 grand!
Help!
It’s a 2001 car on a 51 plate (LCI)
It has BMW history and 121k miles, the bodywork is clean, as is the MOT.
The interior is a different story, it is filthy, the steering wheel is f
ked, the seats are fked, but it does have electric and heated full leather interior.The doors don’t lock and the n/s rear window doesn’t go all the way up, so it’s taped over.
The doors don’t lock.
It’s £699... should I be expecting a new world of problems? It appears to be able to be rectified quite cheaply:
A complete set of interior is £100 on ebay.
A new steering wheel is £75
A window regulator is £20
The mechanicals appear to be fine from what I’m told... is it worth my time to go and see this and take a punt? I wouldn’t mind a project, I’ve always liked the E46, my parents have had 2 330i’s which both had the same faults this car has (window and locking)
The crucial thing is it doesn’t appear to be rusty, and E46’s are an appreciating car, there doesn’t seem to be any clean saloons with low miles on the market for under 2 grand!
Help!
I own an e46 325i, bought for £400 four years ago.
It ran fairly smoothly for the first 3 years with minimal spending required, mainly just tyres to get through an mot.
Hasn't been without faults but just minor things that I didn't bother sorting. Rear window motor failed, EML on intermittently but no running issues, oil light on start up (a sensor in the sump I believe). Unfortunately it didn't start after last christmas and has been sat on my drive since.
Luck of the draw really but I couldn't have done better if I tried.
It ran fairly smoothly for the first 3 years with minimal spending required, mainly just tyres to get through an mot.
Hasn't been without faults but just minor things that I didn't bother sorting. Rear window motor failed, EML on intermittently but no running issues, oil light on start up (a sensor in the sump I believe). Unfortunately it didn't start after last christmas and has been sat on my drive since.
Luck of the draw really but I couldn't have done better if I tried.
tomsugden said:
Rather than buying a new interior, you could get a proper valet done. The leather can be brought back with some cleaning and feeding, shampoo carpets etc. The company that cleans my car would have that looking like new.
Surely the steering wheel is beyond saving however?essayer said:
BMW roof rails were probably £600 alone 
Why's the traction control light on?
It's probably not worth huge sums but as runaround, pretty decent once cleaned up, I'd have thought?
That’s what I thought. Parents don’t approve though, they think it’s going to have some murky past that’s been hidden (aka it’s going to be a world of problems), and are against the purchase. I’m going to try and convince them to let me have a look (I’m nearly 18, and the insurance is not unreasonable, at around £120 monthly, very similar to my 60hp Polo)Why's the traction control light on?
It's probably not worth huge sums but as runaround, pretty decent once cleaned up, I'd have thought?
I’ve always fancied an E46 having grown up around them, originally I was looking only for clean ones then the “project” thoughts came in to mind. Being 17 I really have no money to spend on major faults. I can only afford to run it on a shoestring budget, spannering it myself with mates.
Some of my mates cars:
E36 318is
E46 330d
E60 520i
Golf GT
Mini Cooper S
A35 AMG
So a bit varied there.
Who knows. This might be pointless purchase, I want to have a good look at it. I’m scared of any potential catastrophic failures, so head says clean it up and sell it before it explodes. Heart says clean it up, and run it as a daily, I’m going to have to be very pleading though to my parents to set me up with some money to pay for the insurance, I can’t afford the insurance on 2 cars being an unemployed sixth former living off savings because the job market is awful right now. I also have A levels to worry about so apart from the easy repairs/cleaning needed for this if something goes catastrophically wrong I will just have to SORN it and get round to it another time. Hopefully I will have a job again by the end of October, which will allow me to run both. But this one seems a bit of a risk.
Edited by VS02 on Friday 25th September 13:35
Edited by VS02 on Friday 25th September 13:37
Get it bought,
It can go one of two ways,
1, You have a £600 shed that lasts 2~4 years with minimal spend and a few hours with the spanners (I'd spend on cleaning products rather than new interior)
2, You have a £600 shed that begins to haemorrhage money ..... you learn a valuable life lesson
You'll look back in 3~4 years and consider £600 as a lot smaller sum than you consider at present
It can go one of two ways,
1, You have a £600 shed that lasts 2~4 years with minimal spend and a few hours with the spanners (I'd spend on cleaning products rather than new interior)
2, You have a £600 shed that begins to haemorrhage money ..... you learn a valuable life lesson
You'll look back in 3~4 years and consider £600 as a lot smaller sum than you consider at present
Get it bought!!
For the price of two months lease, bargain that, who cares it's not a 6-cylinder, cool cars!
Give it a good service and see how you go.
Just deep clean it, be tempted to leave the steering wheel (once cleaned) adds a bit of character/patina to the car...all the rage these days
For the price of two months lease, bargain that, who cares it's not a 6-cylinder, cool cars!
Give it a good service and see how you go.
Just deep clean it, be tempted to leave the steering wheel (once cleaned) adds a bit of character/patina to the car...all the rage these days
There's not really much risk with the smaller engine BMWs. Parts aren't crazy and they are relatively easy to work on (apart from the usual caveat around rusted bolts on old cars).
Not really sure why your parents are trying to discourage you from it. At the very worst you'll get the remainder of the MOT out of it and will probably learn some new skills working on it. All of which would cost less than the depreciation on a nearly new, supposedly reliable car or renting some characterless dross like an A35.
Not really sure why your parents are trying to discourage you from it. At the very worst you'll get the remainder of the MOT out of it and will probably learn some new skills working on it. All of which would cost less than the depreciation on a nearly new, supposedly reliable car or renting some characterless dross like an A35.
If the MOT history checker looks OK, knock a chunk off that asking price, clean it up, fix the obvious faults, and I can't see how you could have transport for much less.
Go watch what this bloke can do to a filthy car, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcgj9Zmh3nis20yNo...
Go watch what this bloke can do to a filthy car, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcgj9Zmh3nis20yNo...
I am aware E46’s are hard on the suspension so it doesn’t seem to be anything unusual.
My parents are refusing to give me £100 to get it imsured for a month (I have 0 money at present due to the insurance on my other car)
I’m trying to go halves with a mate and then buy his share out and reimburse him for the insurance. Going to go and see it soon if I can
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