RE: Shed of the Week | BMW 330i (E46) Touring
Discussion
This is my favourite feature - and I'm a guy who 'rents' an 18-reg Disco Sport.
But that's only occurred very recently. Up until a matter of years ago I was shedding with gusto and I must miss those days in some way as I can often be found trawling eBay for an unnoticed bargain. Oddly enough, I added an E91 320i with a knackered eccentric shaft to my watch list last night.
Car in the OP looks ideal for someone keen with the spanners to revive. Great shed.
But that's only occurred very recently. Up until a matter of years ago I was shedding with gusto and I must miss those days in some way as I can often be found trawling eBay for an unnoticed bargain. Oddly enough, I added an E91 320i with a knackered eccentric shaft to my watch list last night.
Car in the OP looks ideal for someone keen with the spanners to revive. Great shed.
Turbobanana said:
nunpuncher said:
Why do people that don't understand shedding read SOTW?
Why would it require to be worked on by a specialist? It's a BMW, it's not a Bugatti Chiron... it's not even an M car FFS. Most mechanics will have worked on loads of them and they're not beyond the skills of a relatively competent home mechanic.
Cheap lease or PCP is what, £3k in the first year at the least? So you could buy this, have it blow up, buy another shed, have that blow up, buy another and would still only be in it as much as you'd paid for a fking boring diesel A class.
You win some, you lose some. That's the joy of shedding.
I believe this wins the internet.Why would it require to be worked on by a specialist? It's a BMW, it's not a Bugatti Chiron... it's not even an M car FFS. Most mechanics will have worked on loads of them and they're not beyond the skills of a relatively competent home mechanic.
Cheap lease or PCP is what, £3k in the first year at the least? So you could buy this, have it blow up, buy another shed, have that blow up, buy another and would still only be in it as much as you'd paid for a fking boring diesel A class.
You win some, you lose some. That's the joy of shedding.
SOTW is a weekly highlight, for most of us. I'm lucky in that 0- at the moment - I can afford to run cars that are not SOTW material, but you never know what's around the corner and I always imagine a "What if...?" scenario where I get made redundant or some such, and have to return to shedding, so I occasionally trawl through the Classifieds. (Don't tell the OH, but I secretly long for a return to shedding...)
I wouldn't buy this though. While trawling I found a Saab 9-5 Aero Estate which is bigger, as quick, newer and a manual. I'd buy that.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1130461
AMGSee55 said:
Happened across this a couple of days ago - some classic shedding for you Turbobanana - 7 seats too!
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1130461
Lovely that, isn't it? Decent price for one of them, too.https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1130461
BeirutTaxi said:
I'm going to have the pitchfork brigade on my six for saying this:
The SOTW story in general should be scrapped. Canned. Binned. Fininto.
Old, previously premium expensive cars are simply ste at this price point. Spend the extra cash and have a FMDSH example that's been looked after perfectly.
Alternatively, hand over the hundreds of notes per month that you would pay in maintenance anyway to the finance company and have a actually nice to drive car on PCP.
Fair enough, I can see why you would say that. The SOTW story in general should be scrapped. Canned. Binned. Fininto.
Old, previously premium expensive cars are simply ste at this price point. Spend the extra cash and have a FMDSH example that's been looked after perfectly.
Alternatively, hand over the hundreds of notes per month that you would pay in maintenance anyway to the finance company and have a actually nice to drive car on PCP.
As a counter to that point, I find grazing through adverts less entertaining than before, because of the prices being asked for cars these days. SOTW serves a useful purpose by demonstrating that interesting cars can be had for money you can afford to lose. Yes, such a purchase is always going to be like catching a falling knife - hence the budget. You would have to be seriously unlucky for, say, three such cars going terminal on you in a year.
CornedBeef said:
E46's are not at all as ruinous as that potential issues list makes out to be. I've had 4 over the years, all bought for around £4k - all had the M54 engine and were smooth and reliable. They can have quite a few niggles, but they're all actually cheap to fix and there are lots of outfits out there who will refurbish things like the VANOS for far cheaper than replacing it. Although as the article says, VANOS failure is rare - generally the biggest thing plaguing them all is plastic cooling system parts failing - again cheap, and easy to DIY on these.
All well and good if you WANT to be constantly trouble shooting niggles. Sounds like a pain if I'm honest. BeirutTaxi said:
HumanSteamroller said:
It's an entertaining feature. It's easy to avoid clicking on the link.
That's hilarious. It's just an Internet forum and we don't have to agree or would you rather the mods policed thoughts like Mr Charrington in the novel 1984?I've owned plenty of old cars, and each time I buy I convince myself they're worth it. In the end it's just headache after headache. Ask yourself this.. Why have they depreciated so much? Why is every car buyer not grabbing these apparent jewels?
Edited by BeirutTaxi on Friday 12th July 10:15
So much wrong with this I don't even know where to start.
I like my 20 year old M3 but apparently it's only fit for the scrapper!
steveb8189 said:
Had one for a couple of years and just couldn't get past the throttle by wire in the 330i unlike the 328i I had previously. Just seems very hesitant when trying to feather the throttle.
328i had a throttle cable and an electric throttle, seems BMW didn’t trust just the throttle motor till they introduced the M54. Just thought I’d touch on my side of the reliability of the E46.
I purchased a 330d Manual Touring a few years ago, ran that car for a year and half. In that time it only needed a wheel speed sensor, pair of front discs and pads, a service and the MOT which it passed. It never put a foot wrong that car, that was at shed money and was easily the best vehicle for the money I’ve ever owned.
Obviously every second hand car will be different, but I was highly surprised with how well it was put together and the reliability.
I purchased a 330d Manual Touring a few years ago, ran that car for a year and half. In that time it only needed a wheel speed sensor, pair of front discs and pads, a service and the MOT which it passed. It never put a foot wrong that car, that was at shed money and was easily the best vehicle for the money I’ve ever owned.
Obviously every second hand car will be different, but I was highly surprised with how well it was put together and the reliability.
I really like the E46, but not sure I'd go near this - mine was a complete pain in the arse; chocolate cooling system, love of eating suspension components etc. Add the likelihood of rust in and I'm out.
I like the shed feature, I'm just not liking this particular example having had issues in the past.
I like the shed feature, I'm just not liking this particular example having had issues in the past.
only1ian said:
Good car new but not as a shed. BMW’s of this era don’t last well without serious and regular maintenance bills ideally at a specialist. This example looks like a particularly tired money pit
Disagree.. Ran one for 7yrs and 80k with only servicing, and a couple of small issues that were easily and cheaply fixed. Sold it on with near 200k running well.Jhonno said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Does this come with the indicator system or was that still an added extra when this rolled out of Munich?
The joke that was old and boring 15yrs ago seems to have made a reappearance of late!sgtBerbatov said:
Jhonno said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Does this come with the indicator system or was that still an added extra when this rolled out of Munich?
The joke that was old and boring 15yrs ago seems to have made a reappearance of late!sgtBerbatov said:
Jhonno said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Does this come with the indicator system or was that still an added extra when this rolled out of Munich?
The joke that was old and boring 15yrs ago seems to have made a reappearance of late!Jhonno said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Jhonno said:
sgtBerbatov said:
Does this come with the indicator system or was that still an added extra when this rolled out of Munich?
The joke that was old and boring 15yrs ago seems to have made a reappearance of late!And takeaway delivery driver types in ropey 90s Toyotas.
And French city cars.
And ropey old Ladas.
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