e46 330ci sport - ownership questions
Discussion
Hi All,
I'm thinking of getting a 330ci sport as a 'sensible' car from a running costs point of view. I'm looking at cars around 2001-2002 but wondering about ownership experiences and at what mileages things start to break / wear out?
I'm trying to find a manual, coupe, sport in something other than silver and just didn't manage to get one last weekend that had 66k miles on it for £7k but I'm wondering if I need to be worried about mileage or just the condition of the car?
General comments about MPG and servicing for cars between 60-160k miles would be interesting.
Cheers,
Ben
I'm thinking of getting a 330ci sport as a 'sensible' car from a running costs point of view. I'm looking at cars around 2001-2002 but wondering about ownership experiences and at what mileages things start to break / wear out?
I'm trying to find a manual, coupe, sport in something other than silver and just didn't manage to get one last weekend that had 66k miles on it for £7k but I'm wondering if I need to be worried about mileage or just the condition of the car?
General comments about MPG and servicing for cars between 60-160k miles would be interesting.
Cheers,
Ben
There are already a few threads like this.. But...
MPG will settle out around 28 - 29 on average
Suspension can start to need replaced at the kind of mileages your talking about but they don't have any serious faults that occur based on mileage alone.
Overall they are reliable cars and don't cost a fortune to run.
MPG will settle out around 28 - 29 on average
Suspension can start to need replaced at the kind of mileages your talking about but they don't have any serious faults that occur based on mileage alone.
Overall they are reliable cars and don't cost a fortune to run.
I bought an 02 330 Ci Sport (Manual) 64k miles, in Topaz blue for £6700 back in Sept. Has leather, xenons, HK etc...just doesn't have Nav.
Passed MOT with no issues in Jan and the only problem I've had is a leaky washer bottle.
I replaced the front bushes though as soon as I got the car.
Passed MOT with no issues in Jan and the only problem I've had is a leaky washer bottle.
I replaced the front bushes though as soon as I got the car.
dooosuk said:
Same issue I had. Keep looking and I'm sure you'll find something soon. Might have to be prepared to travel though. I bought mine in Birmingham, travelling down from Manchester.
Yep, no problem travelling. Last car was in Belfast and I'm near Reading 
ETA: Another question was, do people generally use 95 or super unleaded / do you notice any difference?
Edited by nonuts on Wednesday 24th February 11:47
They're great cars!!
If you look at the alternatives in 2002 there was of course the CLK and then the higher level 4 door audi's. A5 didn't exist then.
Today the 330 is still an awesome car, as it's cheap, not known for big issues and won't let you down. The cars still look great unless they've had the mis-fortune to be driven into Halfrauds sideways into a bodykit and a rear spoiler as big as a boardroom table. You should of course still be careful and check the car out, but the engine is solid, and under-stressed so looking out for smoking and any mayo is okay. If you really want to you could pick up a fault code reader to check no issues on the car too, as they are about £40 off fleabay. Their weak points are suspension, as the front bushes wear and there's no known issue with the rear subframe mounting on early cars that BMW fixed on goodwill. Bushes are a few hundred to get changed but sadly tyres do cost on them as you shouldn't really put cheap rubber on them unless you want to get up close and personal with some bushes, trees, roundabouts etc.
Bodywork should be okay but again a careful eye for panel alignment. Electrics are usually okay except for windows and that can be a pain but none of that is big expense. They are condition based cars too, as a 70k car may well be in worse state than a 110k mile one that's been serviced without any expense spared.
Don't get too hung up on Sat Nav, as though desirable money wise when you come to use it you'll realise that the £100 tom tom is far more useful. Also the HK sound option is pretty poor still too, so you'll be better off with some discrete changes to the stereo as it's not that hot.
If you get a car with a great wodge of paperwork, no accidents, both sets of keys and a good colour and leather option then you'll be minimising the risk of any issues. While I think of it on older cars keys can be a pain too, as the battery doesn't take a charge and you end up using the metal key rather than blipper. Keys from BMW are not cheap at £100 and over with coding, but I guess if you buy a car that someones cherished little things like that will alread be fixed.
If you look at the alternatives in 2002 there was of course the CLK and then the higher level 4 door audi's. A5 didn't exist then.
Today the 330 is still an awesome car, as it's cheap, not known for big issues and won't let you down. The cars still look great unless they've had the mis-fortune to be driven into Halfrauds sideways into a bodykit and a rear spoiler as big as a boardroom table. You should of course still be careful and check the car out, but the engine is solid, and under-stressed so looking out for smoking and any mayo is okay. If you really want to you could pick up a fault code reader to check no issues on the car too, as they are about £40 off fleabay. Their weak points are suspension, as the front bushes wear and there's no known issue with the rear subframe mounting on early cars that BMW fixed on goodwill. Bushes are a few hundred to get changed but sadly tyres do cost on them as you shouldn't really put cheap rubber on them unless you want to get up close and personal with some bushes, trees, roundabouts etc.
Bodywork should be okay but again a careful eye for panel alignment. Electrics are usually okay except for windows and that can be a pain but none of that is big expense. They are condition based cars too, as a 70k car may well be in worse state than a 110k mile one that's been serviced without any expense spared.
Don't get too hung up on Sat Nav, as though desirable money wise when you come to use it you'll realise that the £100 tom tom is far more useful. Also the HK sound option is pretty poor still too, so you'll be better off with some discrete changes to the stereo as it's not that hot.
If you get a car with a great wodge of paperwork, no accidents, both sets of keys and a good colour and leather option then you'll be minimising the risk of any issues. While I think of it on older cars keys can be a pain too, as the battery doesn't take a charge and you end up using the metal key rather than blipper. Keys from BMW are not cheap at £100 and over with coding, but I guess if you buy a car that someones cherished little things like that will alread be fixed.
Owned mine for 2 years and the only thing I've had go wrong has been a dodgy wheel bearing and the front bushes like everyone else. Other than that it's been solid as a rock and I love driving it. I wouldn't worry about the nav, as said a £100 garmin is probably better and I agree about the audio package, apparently it's not much better. Definetly hold out for a car with Xenons and a manual, the manual box is great. I am currently getting 25/6 mpg but that is 95% short trips. On a long motorway trip I can get about 36mpg fairly easily.
I'd suggest when looking at cars to check the front suspension (bushes and control arms), with 2000/1 cars check the seat height as it may not go low enough which is a known issue. If the car has a fair bit of milage, check the cooling system has been overhauled as that is a weak park of the car. Other than that it's pretty hassle free.
I'd suggest when looking at cars to check the front suspension (bushes and control arms), with 2000/1 cars check the seat height as it may not go low enough which is a known issue. If the car has a fair bit of milage, check the cooling system has been overhauled as that is a weak park of the car. Other than that it's pretty hassle free.
I haven't had my 330C for about 5 years now but I'm not recognising the fuel consumption figures I see quoted here. It's a very willing engine and if you exploit it at all you'll not see much above early 20's in mpg. Around town I was getting about 18mpg. My car was very reliable in the 2 years I had it. A new clutch at 34,000 miles was all that it needed and when I sold it at the same mileage the rear trailing arm bushes felt as if they needed replacing. Also the rear sub frame issue mentioned above has affected the cars throughout the lifetime of the model and not just the early cars as previously believed. Definitely worth getting that checked before you buy.
Run from 90k - 135k so far.
Transmission - £1500
Tyres - £600 a set
Coolant stuff - £500
Power steering belt stuff - £400
Sensor - £10
Pads discs - £250
Xenons ballast thing - £250
Mid service oil change - £50
Coming soon-ish :
Injector - £250 ish
Turbo I would assume - £800
Suspension stuff - £400-£500
Glow plugs x 6 - £xxx cant remember the quote
Transmission - £1500
Tyres - £600 a set
Coolant stuff - £500
Power steering belt stuff - £400
Sensor - £10
Pads discs - £250
Xenons ballast thing - £250
Mid service oil change - £50
Coming soon-ish :
Injector - £250 ish
Turbo I would assume - £800
Suspension stuff - £400-£500
Glow plugs x 6 - £xxx cant remember the quote
Edited by 4nonymous on Friday 26th February 02:06
nonuts said:
So when everyone says front bushes what are we talking about the wishbones or ARBs or other? As is it easy to tell from driving a 'bad' one?
I'm not too big on the mechanics of cars I'll admit but I'll have a bash. The plastic bushes inside the wishbones go, when I went to look at the car they had gone but had new ones fitted before I bought it. I assume they fitted OEM bushes, they probably lasted me 21k to 35k ish, I can't remember but will have a look tomorrow if I have wrote it down. When I changed them over I went to Powerflex bushes which seemed to improve the handling to me and if I recall it probably handles better than when it did with OEM bushes. The actual wishbones are also supposed to go bad but I'm yet to have bad wishbones as my car is only on 39k miles. I have read a fair bit on this though as I read the E46 fanatics forum a fair bit, it's definetly worth a look as well as E46zone.Edited by obscene on Friday 26th February 03:06
4nonymous said:
Run from 90k - 135k so far.
Transmission - £1500
Tyres - £600 a set
Coolant stuff - £500
Power steering belt stuff - £400
Sensor - £10
Pads discs - £250
Xenons ballast thing - £250
Mid service oil change - £50
Coming soon-ish :
Injector - £250 ish
Turbo I would assume - £800
Suspension stuff - £400-£500
Glow plugs x 6 - £xxx cant remember the quote
Transmission - £1500
Tyres - £600 a set
Coolant stuff - £500
Power steering belt stuff - £400
Sensor - £10
Pads discs - £250
Xenons ballast thing - £250
Mid service oil change - £50
Coming soon-ish :
Injector - £250 ish
Turbo I would assume - £800
Suspension stuff - £400-£500
Glow plugs x 6 - £xxx cant remember the quote
Edited by 4nonymous on Friday 26th February 02:06
I can only assume you have a diesel? And also assume the OP wants a petrol. Is nice to see if the petrol is a safer choice maintainence wise for the long run.
Mine is a 2002 auto saloon, so expect the fuel consumption to be a bit better on a manual.
In town I get around 20mpg, on a long run, can hit 30. Averages around 25mpg.
I've run mine for 3 years and 30k miles.
Costs I've had are:
- New power steering pump £480 - that was direct from BMW, wasn't much cheaper by a specialist
- New tyres. Falken 452s were £180 for front pair, £225 for rears. These seem to have been a good choice. When I first bought the car, it had Dunlops on. The 452s seem to have better grip and have also improved the ride quality.
- New front wish bones £250 (via a local specialist)
- Full set of wheel re-furbs. The MVs on mine seem to be made of swiss cheese, so needed a good going over to clean them up
- Servicing. BMW have more recently changed the costs of it for older cars, so it's standardised at all garages. Mine's due it's Inspection 2 soon (biggest) and that will cost £321, which I didn't think was that bad.
In short, I've had one significant issue during 3 years of ownership, which was the power steering pump. Apart from that, it's performed perfectly.
Be aware that it's common for the 3ltr engine to use a little oil. Mine needs it a little more regularly when given some pasta. So at the moment, doesn't use any oil as it very rarely gets stretched.
In town I get around 20mpg, on a long run, can hit 30. Averages around 25mpg.
I've run mine for 3 years and 30k miles.
Costs I've had are:
- New power steering pump £480 - that was direct from BMW, wasn't much cheaper by a specialist
- New tyres. Falken 452s were £180 for front pair, £225 for rears. These seem to have been a good choice. When I first bought the car, it had Dunlops on. The 452s seem to have better grip and have also improved the ride quality.
- New front wish bones £250 (via a local specialist)
- Full set of wheel re-furbs. The MVs on mine seem to be made of swiss cheese, so needed a good going over to clean them up
- Servicing. BMW have more recently changed the costs of it for older cars, so it's standardised at all garages. Mine's due it's Inspection 2 soon (biggest) and that will cost £321, which I didn't think was that bad.
In short, I've had one significant issue during 3 years of ownership, which was the power steering pump. Apart from that, it's performed perfectly.
Be aware that it's common for the 3ltr engine to use a little oil. Mine needs it a little more regularly when given some pasta. So at the moment, doesn't use any oil as it very rarely gets stretched.
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