Is an E46 330i SE the perfect daily car for UK roads?

[Bispal]

Is an E46 330i SE the perfect daily car for UK roads?

1. At 4.47M long it fits in a UK parking space
2. At 1.74M wide it is narrower than a 1.0 VW Polo, perfect for narrow British lanes
3. The non 'M' Sport suspension will be far more complaint on pot holed badly repaired British roads.
4. A manual gearbox and RWD
5. 228 BHP naturally Aspirated straight 6 engine
6. Only 1430 kilos, while heavy for a sports car this is peanuts for a compact luxury 4 door
7. 0-60 in 6.0 seconds, the exact same as an M635CSi
8. None of the faff you don't need, touch screens, lane departure, electric boots etc.
9. But all the extras you do need. AC, electric mirrors, cruise control etc

It seems to tick all the boxes for me, quick, great engine, good economy, reliable, compact, comfortable and engaging to drive. I can't think of a single modern car for sale right now that has all the above attributes? I was shocked (but not surprised) to discover you can't buy a new 3 series with a manual gearbox and they are all turbocharged. If you put manual / petrol / saloon in into the Autotrader new car search you will see all the options are FWD or 4WD without adding anymore requirements. There are no RWD manual petrol saloons!

[twokcc]

Very much agree with the above ( I own a manual 6 speed2003 330ci m sport convertible) bought 13years ago - but they do rust on front/rear arches. First job I did on mine on was to remove all the crud behind the rear wheel arch lip and this seems to paid of so far.. This car is a garared queen weekend toy and only gets used in summer so no rust so far on front or rear arches.
Have a 2009 325d auto SE touring as a daily. Went for SE as a result of m sport suspension on 330ci. Changed to non runflats and now a comfortable suspension but driving both back to back in comfort terms the 330ci is as good as the 325d. Not driven an msport E91 but suspect the suspension would be too hard for me. (both on staggered 18" wheels)
Although an SE is loaded and has the msport seats which are far better than the standard ones in the SE

The big advantage of the E91 is that no rust- its 11 yrs old. Would be interesting to hear from older e9* series cars how they are standing up.Most E46 are at least 15yrs old and finding a rust free one is almost impossible. So if was buying today would go for a e9* series car.
Both fantastic cars and as already said many times on this forum the 6 cylinder petrol is such a peach

[Mave]

I agree with the above. I've got a 330i msport convertible as my daily driver, for me it's a Goldilocks car in many different areas. 16 years old, not much rust (yet!), uses a bit of oil but still feels nice to drive

[BFleming]

An E46 is an old car at this stage, so in my experience they generally fall into one of 2 categories...
a) Shed. Cheap. May fail without notice. Will have visible rust.
b) Classic Car. Overpriced. Loads of service history. May fail without notice. May have hidden rust.

Personally I would buy one if I needed a shed; then it would be manual (less risk) and a saloon or coupe. The Touring is a heavy car.

Bispal said:

I was shocked (but not surprised) to discover you can't buy a new 3 series with a manual gearbox and they are all turbocharged.

You might be more shocked to find you're wrong! You can order a new G20 318d with a manual gearbox, if that floats your boat.
Yes, they are all turbocharged, just like the outgoing F30.

Edited by BFleming on Tuesday 11th August 12:42

[smn159]

Here's my Touring. Bought it on a whim last year and still my daily. It did need rear fuel pipes for the last MOT, and I got my local specialist to change the scabby front wing for a pre-painted pattern one while it was there, but other than that it's been brilliant.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Mave]

BFleming said:

b) Classic Car. Overpriced. Loads of service history. May fail without notice. May have hidden rust.

Edited by BFleming on Tuesday 11th August 12:42

Seriously, over priced compared to what? Which other daily driveable, compact, 6 cyl RWD manual gearbox car can you get for £2k other than an E90 BMW 3 series?

[BFleming]

Mave said:

BFleming said:

b) Classic Car. Overpriced. Loads of service history. May fail without notice. May have hidden rust.

Seriously, over priced compared to what? Which other daily driveable, compact, 6 cyl RWD manual gearbox car can you get for £2k other than an E90 BMW 3 series?

£2k isn't overpriced, it's a fair price. There was an E46 328i in stunning condition with low miles on here a few months ago, and everyone said at £15k it was overpriced. So overpriced compared to every other non-M3 E46 out there. It had sold for just over £5.5k at auction not long beforehand, which irked some people. Some light reading: https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-germancars/bmw... It now seems to have sold; last time I saw it, it was around £10k.
I understand what you're saying, it's a niche car (hell I used to own one). I don't miss it though.

Edited by BFleming on Tuesday 11th August 13:48

[Mave]

Yeah, OK, but that's an extreme example of a chancer trying to push up the market value. There are sensibly priced cars around, but just like any 15 year old car, you have to look for them.

[BFleming]

Mave said:

... just like any 15 year old car, you have to look for them.

Agreed - and you have to know what you're looking for when you do find the right one. There are good buyers guides out there for the E46, and knowing the weak points will help.

[Mave]

BFleming said:

Mave said:

... just like any 15 year old car, you have to look for them.

Agreed - and you have to know what you're looking for when you do find the right one. There are good buyers guides out there for the E46, and knowing the weak points will help.

Agreed

[g3org3y]

Yes, E46 330 is a decent daily but imo the E9X is a much more polished product overall.

BFleming said:

An E46 is an old car at this stage, so in my experience they generally fall into one of 2 categories...
a) Shed. Cheap. May fail without notice. Will have visible rust.

I don't know what you're talking about

[helix402]

No. It’s missing a d.

[dr_gn]

0-60 in 6.0 seconds? My 330i Sport certainly doesn’t feel anything like that quick. Of course it’s done 140+k miles, but still...Despite the size of the engine I really have to drop gears to get any decent mid-range acceleration.

No way of checking without abusing it I guess, apart from getting it on a rolling road.

[Mr Tidy]

I had a manual E46 325ti Sport Compact and loved it, but even 2 years ago struggled to find any E46 330is that weren't crusty.

So I now have a manual E90 330iSE and really like that. It just feels a bit more solid and you get 258bhp, although at times it feels a bit too refined for my liking!

I thought BMW claimed 0-100km/h in 6.5 seconds for the manual E46 330i? Manual E90 330i is 6.3 - and the manual 130i I couldn't afford is 6.1.

[bmwmike]

BFleming said:

You might be more shocked to find you're wrong! You can order a new G20 318d with a manual gearbox, if that floats your boat.
...

You know its PH when someone suggests a derv as an actual comparable alternative to a nasp straight six petrol.

[Kawasicki]

Some good points.

Some counter arguments.

The ones I have driven (about 3 in total) all felt weirdly slow. I had a 325ti, and that felt a little quicker.

Does it have the same clutch delay valve as the 325ti? It really was a terrible solution for driveability.

I think the E46 was a low point for BMW. After the E36 it felt fat and lumbering, and understeery. The steering had/has a lot of friction, which made it tiresome to drive. The E46 is also very sensitive to wheel imbalance/brake disc unevenness.

All just my opinion, obviously!

[BFleming]

bmwmike said:

BFleming said:

You might be more shocked to find you're wrong! You can order a new G20 318d with a manual gearbox, if that floats your boat.
...

You know its PH when someone suggests a derv as an actual comparable alternative to a nasp straight six petrol.

And you also know it's PH when someone uses quotes out of context to suit their agenda. The OP said you couldn't now buy a new manual 3 series, I merely enlightened them. I never suggested it as an alternative to a 330i, which I thought I'd point out just in case you're as shifty at comprehension as you are at posting.

[dr_gn]

Kawasicki said:

Some good points.

Some counter arguments.

The ones I have driven (about 3 in total) all felt weirdly slow. I had a 325ti, and that felt a little quicker.

Does it have the same clutch delay valve as the 325ti? It really was a terrible solution for driveability.

I think the E46 was a low point for BMW. After the E36 it felt fat and lumbering, and understeery. The steering had/has a lot of friction, which made it tiresome to drive. The E46 is also very sensitive to wheel imbalance/brake disc unevenness.

All just my opinion, obviously!

Mine had a clutch damper valve, but I removed it. Didn't make much difference to the feel though TBH. Mine often feels like the bite point varies slightly. I sometimes find it difficult to drive smoothly. I had a new clutch fitted a couple of years ago, but that made no difference.

Still, it keeps going. The only real issue I have is rusty arches, the sub 30mpg combined with less than brilliant acceleration, and wondering when the rear suspension is gong to fall off.

[JakeT]

dr_gn said:

wondering when the rear suspension is gong to fall off.

This was my concern with my 328ci. At least I wasn't shocked when it happened.

[dr_gn]

Out of interest - re.the acceleration:

Does anyone have any official figures for 30-50 and 50-70 times for an '02 330i sport, 5 speed?

This would be a good way of seeing if my car is grossly out, or just old.

The BMW indi garage owner I use reckons it feels normal.