RE: Shed of the Week | BMW 330i (E46) Touring
Discussion
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 f
king boring diesel A class.
You win some, you lose some. That's the joy of shedding.
Yep, winner! Nail on head!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 f
king boring diesel A class.You win some, you lose some. That's the joy of shedding.
Threads like this make me happy to be a petrol swede.
I have run E36 and E46 cars for the last 15yrs, just put my 330 coupe up for sale after 2.5yrs of perfect service, used every single day and nothing but oil changes and disc were needed, not a single dash light has flickered.
Only selling due to buying a 330 convertible (mid life crisis), they are both 18yrs old, make a great noise, go very well indeed and have no rot.
If you look and buy well, the good ones are out there.
Love them.
I have run E36 and E46 cars for the last 15yrs, just put my 330 coupe up for sale after 2.5yrs of perfect service, used every single day and nothing but oil changes and disc were needed, not a single dash light has flickered.
Only selling due to buying a 330 convertible (mid life crisis), they are both 18yrs old, make a great noise, go very well indeed and have no rot.
If you look and buy well, the good ones are out there.
Love them.
I had a run of E36's from the 316i Compact to the 323i/328i. Before that, various E30's including an M3 Sport Evolution. The E36 was much better than the non M3 E30 - now that was a very pointy machine. The E46 was another step on from that. Much nicer initial turn in and I found the standard car (SE) on 205 tyres more fun to throw around on a good fast country road where you use all the suspension travel. The last one I drove was a particularly tired 320i and it reminded me how good they were to drive.
An appalling shed as an old car (I hate them with a passion) but they were nice when new. There's a good reason E36 owners fit the purple tag E46 steering rack.
E90 with hydro PAS was another step on again. A 330i Coupe is still a favourite.
An appalling shed as an old car (I hate them with a passion) but they were nice when new. There's a good reason E36 owners fit the purple tag E46 steering rack.
E90 with hydro PAS was another step on again. A 330i Coupe is still a favourite.
Gad-Westy said:
I realise it's subjective but I cannot fathom how anyone could prefer the E46 steering over the E36. The E46 always felt horribly over assisted and lacking in any meaningful feedback. The ride depends on the spec, but my SE on 18" wheels rode terribly compared to any other BMW I've driven.
Might be dependent on the year - IIRC the E46 had quite a few different racks with different ratios and levels of assistance over the years.The Z3 rack is the quickest and the sharpest by some margin. Some find them a bit too fidgety for the road on an E36 but they are superb on the track. 2001 onwards N42 stuff (all) has the purple tag 'Clubsport' rack which is good but not massively better imo than a standard E46. E46 racks are a direct swap, using the E36 track rods.
This is a very good thread:
http://bmwowner.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58623
This is a very good thread:
http://bmwowner.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58623
I think that this is my first post - apologies if it does not add to the sum of human consciousness.
Ref original post from Shed of the week- missed coz in Germany at Porsche museum among other things ( the family holiday)
I choose to run an E46 330iSE Touring Auto as my daily driver.
It was my father's. He bought it new, did 43k miles in 15 years and then he died ( this was not related).
Being both sentimental and a PhD in Bangernomics, I could not bear to let a good car go ( for peanuts).
I changed the fuelling to ( mostly-) LPG (....shortly after to realise that there are no lpg stations any more), sold the latest in my long line of 'hacks' and doubled the car's mileage ( and av speed ) in 2 years.
The car is maintained using decent bits ( apart from Eurocarparts window regulators.......) and has not let me down ever. Everything works.
A 2005 Ford Focus 1.6TDCi Estate is an excellent car ( previous hack); a 2002 BMW 330i is a better car - honestly, the BM costs a bit more money to run but for those occasions when I wish to 'make (even-) better progress' it is worth it, to me.
If you are interested here is a list of cars that I may or may not own, or have owned ( depending on how resilient to ridicule I am feeling):
Triumph Dolomite 1850HL
Opel Manta 1.9SR A-Series
Ford Fiesta 1.1
Peugeot 205 GRD
Cavalier SRi H/B
Citroen AX D
Peugeot 106 1.4D
Citroen AX D
Citroen AX GT
Peugeot 405 GLD Estate ( nope, no Turbo)
Ford Mondeo 1.8TD Estate
BMW E30 325i 4 door
BMW E34 535I Auto
BMW E39 528iSE Touring Auto
Citroen ZX 1.9D
Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9
BMW E39 528I SE Touring Manual
BMW E30 325i Cabrio
BMW E36 325i Coupe
Porsche 968 Sport
Seat Arosa TDi
Mazda MX5 MK1
Rover 75 CDTi Classic Touring Auto (115) Pale Blue with Beige on 15"
VW Polo 1.4 GL 5 door 1998..whatever MK that makes it
Porsche 993 C2 Coupe
Porsche 996 GT2
Mitsubshi Grandis diesel
Volvo XC90 D5 Auto
Ford Focus 1.6TDCi Estate 'Studio?'...it had a tape player in it and non-electric mirrors in 2005
Porsche 944 2.5
BMW E92 320d SE Touring
Honda Fireblade
Ducati 996
Honda CN250
Others that we have had ( and 2 of which I would love to find..)
Rover P5 3Litre
Triumph Vitesse MKII Convertible Maroon ( was changed to white when we had but back to orig acc to HPi : Registration : CPO297G ; Chassis : HC50519CV
Triumph Stag MkII Manual White/Beige ( changed to Green by the bloke who has owned it since 1988 [ when I sold to him] in 2002 acc to HPi) : Registration OJJ379R ; Chassis : LD437940
would love to find either of the above two ( sentimental stuff again)..any help from anyone would be very much appreciated - not that anyone's got this far, surely?
Renault 30 Manual ( Douvrin V6 ) - first car I chose...aged 11..it was amazing..it spun it's wheels in 2nd..
Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 ( I chose Mum's 1st company car)
Nissan 200SX Manual, late first-shape one( I chose her 3rd co. car)
Peugeot 405 Mi16 ( I chose dad's co. car)
........many others but you must have got bored by now.
Ref original post from Shed of the week- missed coz in Germany at Porsche museum among other things ( the family holiday)
I choose to run an E46 330iSE Touring Auto as my daily driver.
It was my father's. He bought it new, did 43k miles in 15 years and then he died ( this was not related).
Being both sentimental and a PhD in Bangernomics, I could not bear to let a good car go ( for peanuts).
I changed the fuelling to ( mostly-) LPG (....shortly after to realise that there are no lpg stations any more), sold the latest in my long line of 'hacks' and doubled the car's mileage ( and av speed ) in 2 years.
The car is maintained using decent bits ( apart from Eurocarparts window regulators.......) and has not let me down ever. Everything works.
A 2005 Ford Focus 1.6TDCi Estate is an excellent car ( previous hack); a 2002 BMW 330i is a better car - honestly, the BM costs a bit more money to run but for those occasions when I wish to 'make (even-) better progress' it is worth it, to me.
If you are interested here is a list of cars that I may or may not own, or have owned ( depending on how resilient to ridicule I am feeling):
Triumph Dolomite 1850HL
Opel Manta 1.9SR A-Series
Ford Fiesta 1.1
Peugeot 205 GRD
Cavalier SRi H/B
Citroen AX D
Peugeot 106 1.4D
Citroen AX D
Citroen AX GT
Peugeot 405 GLD Estate ( nope, no Turbo)
Ford Mondeo 1.8TD Estate
BMW E30 325i 4 door
BMW E34 535I Auto
BMW E39 528iSE Touring Auto
Citroen ZX 1.9D
Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9
BMW E39 528I SE Touring Manual
BMW E30 325i Cabrio
BMW E36 325i Coupe
Porsche 968 Sport
Seat Arosa TDi
Mazda MX5 MK1
Rover 75 CDTi Classic Touring Auto (115) Pale Blue with Beige on 15"
VW Polo 1.4 GL 5 door 1998..whatever MK that makes it
Porsche 993 C2 Coupe
Porsche 996 GT2
Mitsubshi Grandis diesel
Volvo XC90 D5 Auto
Ford Focus 1.6TDCi Estate 'Studio?'...it had a tape player in it and non-electric mirrors in 2005
Porsche 944 2.5
BMW E92 320d SE Touring
Honda Fireblade
Ducati 996
Honda CN250
Others that we have had ( and 2 of which I would love to find..)
Rover P5 3Litre
Triumph Vitesse MKII Convertible Maroon ( was changed to white when we had but back to orig acc to HPi : Registration : CPO297G ; Chassis : HC50519CV
Triumph Stag MkII Manual White/Beige ( changed to Green by the bloke who has owned it since 1988 [ when I sold to him] in 2002 acc to HPi) : Registration OJJ379R ; Chassis : LD437940
would love to find either of the above two ( sentimental stuff again)..any help from anyone would be very much appreciated - not that anyone's got this far, surely?
Renault 30 Manual ( Douvrin V6 ) - first car I chose...aged 11..it was amazing..it spun it's wheels in 2nd..
Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 ( I chose Mum's 1st company car)
Nissan 200SX Manual, late first-shape one( I chose her 3rd co. car)
Peugeot 405 Mi16 ( I chose dad's co. car)
........many others but you must have got bored by now.
fushion julz said:
About 4 years ago I bought a 190K mile E46 330i Touring...for £850!
It had a short MoT and needed a rear wheel bearing....
However, mine is a pre-facelift SE manual (5 speed) version with heated sports leather interior, sun/moonroof, HK soundsystem on 17" wheels...it also has winter pack (heated mirrors, washer jets), auto dimming mirror, ran sensing wipers
It is now on 260k miles and is still going strong as an everyday driver and towcar.
What has gone wrong...plenty...but all (fairly) easy fixes:
It's had:
rear wheel bearing
discs and pads and caliper service all round
front trailing arms/bushes
steering rack
power steering pump
alternator
radiator (twice)
expansion tank (twice)
water pump (twice)
thermostat and housing
passenger seat occupancy sensor bypass
fuel pump
yaw sensor
Since I've had it I've fitted a removable towbar and electrics, upgraded the headunit from the cassette player to the single CD unit and fitted an aux 3.5mm input.
The parking sensors don't work, the folding mirrors have stopped working and the (2) remote keys no longer lock the doors and the dash CD player has stopped playing disks.
But it is very reliable having only broken down once (when the fuel pump died on a Sat afternoon whilst towing the caravan on the A30 near Oakhampton...about as far from any spares shop with parts and train station as it is possible to get in England!
Is the 330 still running?It had a short MoT and needed a rear wheel bearing....
However, mine is a pre-facelift SE manual (5 speed) version with heated sports leather interior, sun/moonroof, HK soundsystem on 17" wheels...it also has winter pack (heated mirrors, washer jets), auto dimming mirror, ran sensing wipers
It is now on 260k miles and is still going strong as an everyday driver and towcar.
What has gone wrong...plenty...but all (fairly) easy fixes:
It's had:
rear wheel bearing
discs and pads and caliper service all round
front trailing arms/bushes
steering rack
power steering pump
alternator
radiator (twice)
expansion tank (twice)
water pump (twice)
thermostat and housing
passenger seat occupancy sensor bypass
fuel pump
yaw sensor
Since I've had it I've fitted a removable towbar and electrics, upgraded the headunit from the cassette player to the single CD unit and fitted an aux 3.5mm input.
The parking sensors don't work, the folding mirrors have stopped working and the (2) remote keys no longer lock the doors and the dash CD player has stopped playing disks.
But it is very reliable having only broken down once (when the fuel pump died on a Sat afternoon whilst towing the caravan on the A30 near Oakhampton...about as far from any spares shop with parts and train station as it is possible to get in England!
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
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