BMW E36 and E46 Touring
Discussion
Back in July my (t)rusty 944S failed its MOT due to the dreaded tin worm. I didn't have the funds or patience to have it repaired so started to hunt for a replacement. It had to be cheap, fun to drive and preferably have more space in the back.
The solution turned out to be a very cheap 1995 E36 320 Touring (this is the original advert picture).
It was very cheap (£250) as it was down on one cylinder, but still drove surprisingly well. I took a chance that the problem might be electrical (which I felt I could probably sort out), but unfortunately it wasn't. I ran it briefly whilst trying to work out what to do and it lost another cylinder, presumably a bit of valve from the first missing cylinder had made its way into another.
I ended up buying a used engine from a breakers and getting Protech Cars (just outside Aylesbury) to do the swap. Jason at Protech did a brilliant job and I've been enjoying the car ever since. It still needed some cosmetic work and the front suspension needed an overhaul but it was comfortable, quiet and fun to drive and hadn't actually cost me that much more than buying a good runner to start with.
Fast forward to last week, I was late for work and had to park on a main (30mph) road all day. Upon returning to my car after a days work I find a note under the wiper from the Police informing me it'd been involved in an accident.
A look around the back revealed this:
here's a closer picture of the wing
As I read the note it appeared that there had actually been 4 cars involved (presumably all written off), a Panda hit a Golf which ran into my car, which then forced my car into a Peugeot that was parked in front of me (I remember it being there in the morning and I left a good half cars length between us). As I walked back around to the front of the car I wondered how on earth I hadn't noticed the damage to the front (in my defence it was very dark):
Naturally it started first time, proving just how tough an old bus it was.
I needed another car fast, so drew up a short list, at the very top of my price range (£1k) was a 2001 E46 325 touring for sale at a dealers 90 miles away - it looked like a bit of a bargain, so I put a deposit down over the phone, and today with a lift from a good friend, went to collect it.
I'll post about it later when I've had a bit more time to get used to it and take some pictures, but it does seem true that every cloud has a silver lining.
The solution turned out to be a very cheap 1995 E36 320 Touring (this is the original advert picture).
It was very cheap (£250) as it was down on one cylinder, but still drove surprisingly well. I took a chance that the problem might be electrical (which I felt I could probably sort out), but unfortunately it wasn't. I ran it briefly whilst trying to work out what to do and it lost another cylinder, presumably a bit of valve from the first missing cylinder had made its way into another.
I ended up buying a used engine from a breakers and getting Protech Cars (just outside Aylesbury) to do the swap. Jason at Protech did a brilliant job and I've been enjoying the car ever since. It still needed some cosmetic work and the front suspension needed an overhaul but it was comfortable, quiet and fun to drive and hadn't actually cost me that much more than buying a good runner to start with.
Fast forward to last week, I was late for work and had to park on a main (30mph) road all day. Upon returning to my car after a days work I find a note under the wiper from the Police informing me it'd been involved in an accident.
A look around the back revealed this:
here's a closer picture of the wing
As I read the note it appeared that there had actually been 4 cars involved (presumably all written off), a Panda hit a Golf which ran into my car, which then forced my car into a Peugeot that was parked in front of me (I remember it being there in the morning and I left a good half cars length between us). As I walked back around to the front of the car I wondered how on earth I hadn't noticed the damage to the front (in my defence it was very dark):
Naturally it started first time, proving just how tough an old bus it was.
I needed another car fast, so drew up a short list, at the very top of my price range (£1k) was a 2001 E46 325 touring for sale at a dealers 90 miles away - it looked like a bit of a bargain, so I put a deposit down over the phone, and today with a lift from a good friend, went to collect it.
I'll post about it later when I've had a bit more time to get used to it and take some pictures, but it does seem true that every cloud has a silver lining.
Thanks Sam.
Thought I'd add something to follow on from where I left off. The car was for sale at a dealers (Burton Motor Workshop) who had looked after it for the previous owner for 7 years (who was also only the second owner). It needed an MOT and I was warned that it wouldn't be ready till the afternoon as they were waiting for rear shocks and some arb bushes - my lift was in the morning, I had no real back up plan if the car was no good, but it ended up being one of the easiest purchases I've ever made.
Top marks to the garage, it was exactly as described, a 2001 car with 145k in very good condition with the only blemishes being a small patch of rust on the rear wing and a non working heated rear screen. Nice people to deal with too.
Yesterday was the first chance to wash the car and properly get to know it (in fact it was also the first time I'd really seen it in daylight since collecting it). Please excuse the camera phone pic:
The interior showed little sign of wear, with a lot more gadgets and creature comforts than I'm used to. It even has a MiniDisc player in the dash to remind me it's not a new car (there's a CD changer in the boot thankfully). It's nice to find that a lot of the ergonomic niggles of the E36 have been addressed.
Now the important bit, so much smoother and better sounding than the engine in the E36, and with a nice increase in grunt too thanks to the extra half litre. The previous owner kept it this clean, the garage said they didn't have to touch it during prep. This is a shame, for some odd reason I like cleaning engine bays.
The only real negative, which I hope to get sorted soon. Washing the car it became apparent why - I doubt the rear arches had been rinsed out for several years, I was literally able to grab whole handfuls of mud at a time.
It's interesting to compare how the cars drive, the later one is clearly heavier and more refined.
The E36 wanted to go sideways everywhere - to a degree that constantly surprised and amused me - perhaps it was the tired suspension or the ditch finder tyres, but it was a hoot if you were in the mood.
The E46 is much grippier and more stable. The nannying traction control is frustrating and at times dangerous (pulling out of a damp side turn on a busy road triggered it, cutting the power almost completely) and I don't like the DSC either, it's far too intrusive and just feels wrong to me (seems to increase understeer well before it should).
Without this 'assistance' go beyond the limits of rear grip and all it does is messily spin up a wheel and lose momentum, so unlike with the E36 I have no desire to get it on track, but that's not what I bought the car for (although I do mourn the constant chassis movements of the E36).
The throttle response is a step backwards too, give me a cable any day, it seems to be a bit variable at times and not immediate enough. What's also not immediate is the clutch delay valve, its days are numbered.
Those niggles aside I'm amazed at how nicely it drives and at just how much car it's possible to get for £995.
Thought I'd add something to follow on from where I left off. The car was for sale at a dealers (Burton Motor Workshop) who had looked after it for the previous owner for 7 years (who was also only the second owner). It needed an MOT and I was warned that it wouldn't be ready till the afternoon as they were waiting for rear shocks and some arb bushes - my lift was in the morning, I had no real back up plan if the car was no good, but it ended up being one of the easiest purchases I've ever made.
Top marks to the garage, it was exactly as described, a 2001 car with 145k in very good condition with the only blemishes being a small patch of rust on the rear wing and a non working heated rear screen. Nice people to deal with too.
Yesterday was the first chance to wash the car and properly get to know it (in fact it was also the first time I'd really seen it in daylight since collecting it). Please excuse the camera phone pic:
The interior showed little sign of wear, with a lot more gadgets and creature comforts than I'm used to. It even has a MiniDisc player in the dash to remind me it's not a new car (there's a CD changer in the boot thankfully). It's nice to find that a lot of the ergonomic niggles of the E36 have been addressed.
Now the important bit, so much smoother and better sounding than the engine in the E36, and with a nice increase in grunt too thanks to the extra half litre. The previous owner kept it this clean, the garage said they didn't have to touch it during prep. This is a shame, for some odd reason I like cleaning engine bays.
The only real negative, which I hope to get sorted soon. Washing the car it became apparent why - I doubt the rear arches had been rinsed out for several years, I was literally able to grab whole handfuls of mud at a time.
It's interesting to compare how the cars drive, the later one is clearly heavier and more refined.
The E36 wanted to go sideways everywhere - to a degree that constantly surprised and amused me - perhaps it was the tired suspension or the ditch finder tyres, but it was a hoot if you were in the mood.
The E46 is much grippier and more stable. The nannying traction control is frustrating and at times dangerous (pulling out of a damp side turn on a busy road triggered it, cutting the power almost completely) and I don't like the DSC either, it's far too intrusive and just feels wrong to me (seems to increase understeer well before it should).
Without this 'assistance' go beyond the limits of rear grip and all it does is messily spin up a wheel and lose momentum, so unlike with the E36 I have no desire to get it on track, but that's not what I bought the car for (although I do mourn the constant chassis movements of the E36).
The throttle response is a step backwards too, give me a cable any day, it seems to be a bit variable at times and not immediate enough. What's also not immediate is the clutch delay valve, its days are numbered.
Those niggles aside I'm amazed at how nicely it drives and at just how much car it's possible to get for £995.
Yes you're spot on, it definitely helps, but it really cries out for an LSD more than any car I've driven.
I have realised it has Pirelli P6000s on the front, so changing them to match the rears will probably improve things, but given I'm trying to run it on a tight budget and P6000s last forever, it might be a while before I change them.
I have realised it has Pirelli P6000s on the front, so changing them to match the rears will probably improve things, but given I'm trying to run it on a tight budget and P6000s last forever, it might be a while before I change them.
Still ongoing, but at least they've not come after me for my excess which did seem a possibility for a while (which would have been a pain as it was set at £600). It's no wonder insurance is as expensive as it is - it's such a ludicrously compex system - as I understand it the car my car hit comes after me for their costs (hence the excess being payable) and then my insurers pursue the car that hit mine, whilst they pursue the car that started it all off.
Needless to say that the uninsured losses and injury claim companies have been in contact already, but I have no need for the former and the latter is frankly ridiculous.
Needless to say that the uninsured losses and injury claim companies have been in contact already, but I have no need for the former and the latter is frankly ridiculous.
To echo previous posts, that was a shame about the E36 but the E46 is a great car, I had an E46 touring as a work hack when I was working in Heathrow for 6 months and having the pleasure of living in a Premier Inn (Bath Road, if anyone reads this is staying there go for the chicken faghitas as an evening meal from my extensive taste testing, lol).
It was a pre-facelift 320i though, went for the 320 because it was cheap as everyone wants a 330! And the company were paying fuel costs, yeh, I know, I should have gone for a V8! It was black with silver leather, it even had the same Khumo tyres you have on the back of yours. I loved it, did Cardiff to London every week for all the time I was there without a problem, it only had an unhealthy obsession with Magnitec oil!
I couldn't warrent keeping it after I finished working there, I already had too much of a fleet (1 Series, Seat Leon, and 2 Fourtrak's) so sold it to a mate if mine in work, he's had it over a year now and had no problems with it, I do regret selling it
It was a pre-facelift 320i though, went for the 320 because it was cheap as everyone wants a 330! And the company were paying fuel costs, yeh, I know, I should have gone for a V8! It was black with silver leather, it even had the same Khumo tyres you have on the back of yours. I loved it, did Cardiff to London every week for all the time I was there without a problem, it only had an unhealthy obsession with Magnitec oil!
I couldn't warrent keeping it after I finished working there, I already had too much of a fleet (1 Series, Seat Leon, and 2 Fourtrak's) so sold it to a mate if mine in work, he's had it over a year now and had no problems with it, I do regret selling it
I've found out a little more about the incident recently. According to the various insurance companies I've spoken to it was actually the Peugeot that started it all - there is a very minor road about 2 car lengths behind where my car was parked. Somehow the lady driving the Peugeot pulled out of this road in front of a Golf coming down the main road. I can only assume it must have contacted the side/rear of the Golf, causing it to be deflected into the rear of my car. That's my current theory anyway!
Talking of oil, I do find remembering to check it when it's still warm is a pain - to me this is counter intuitive as it's the last thing I'm thinking about after a days work. Thankfully I don't think mine is using much, but I can't have done much more than 600 miles or so yet, so it's probably too early to be sure.
I couldn't comment!At the moment I'm getting 22 mpg according to the computer (this is with a relatively heavy right foot and shortish journeys on backroads). I did see 25mpg on the motorway when I first picked it up, which combined with the larger tank should mean I can get to Manchester and back (about 350 miles) on one tank - something that I couldn't manage in the E36.
When I bought my 944S it had a minidisc player in it too, but I changed that straight away. The stereo in the E46 is pretty good and looks right, so I will probably just add an aux input in the small cubbyhole under the steering wheel and leave an mp3 player in there.
When I bought my 944S it had a minidisc player in it too, but I changed that straight away. The stereo in the E46 is pretty good and looks right, so I will probably just add an aux input in the small cubbyhole under the steering wheel and leave an mp3 player in there.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff