My BMW E46 330i Sport

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Patrick Bateman said:

XJRs are unbelievably cheap to insure relative to the performance.

Just so you have an idea, at 23 with 3 years NCB, the best quote I can find for an M5 is a shade under £1700, good luck with that at 21!

XJR was about £900 though.

Already got some quotes a 21yo me. M5 would be similar to what I pay now, and the RS6 in Saloon Guise would be around £1300 and the Avant £1800.

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wackojacko said:

M5 time it is then .....

Stedman said:

It would have to be an X350 R.

Will need to test-drive all of them nearer the time. That is if I don't catch wackojackitis in the meantime and buy another car before then.

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wackojacko said:

Indeed ....funny you mention that .... Just as I'm in talks with a dealer about part ex' the S3 for a 330i Sport Saloon. I bought the S3 as an early 19th BDay present, problems is that I'm not 19 for another 4 months.

Your Surrey area yeah? You can have a look at mine sometime, I'll take you out in it if you want. I'm pretty sure I met you briefly at the SS last week, I was the chap working there with the Ray-Bans got you and a mate out in an E63 if I recall?

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Benjamin Shute said:

Sorry to move back points, but only £2000 (roughly) for that? Amazing. Cannot wait to finish college and get a full time job. Off to the classifieds I go.

Umm £2000 was the insurance, the car was around £4000. I'm managing to run it (just) while being at uni with a weekend job.

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Time for another little update. The Smileys are on! This month car has just cost me lots of petrol and lots of oil, A worrying amount of oil, which is going to be looked at, doesn't appear to be leaking under the car, Mechanic thinks there is a small rocker cover leak, and the M54s tendency to use up oil. A motor sport friend has ensured that I have a cheap source of oil though, so not too worried.

I also encountered a puncture a little while ago, and due to my stupidity in stopping on a slight hill to change it and not finding the wheel chock in the boot I moved the car and ruined a repairable tyre. So I replaced the rears with a set of Falken FK452s, very pleased, seem quieter than the old GT Radials which came on the car, and much grippier in the wet too. Also the 50 mile trip from Uni to home on the spave-saver (half the profile of the normal rears) resulted in 41mpg. Over the moon with that. Normal 23mpg service has since been resumed though.

The car will be heading to Croatia and everywhere in-between during the summer for 3 weeks so is going in next month for a nice big service to get it all ready for that. I have also finally gotten rid of that butterfly valve that was seized half open in my exhaust, now it sounds simply gorgeous and deep at about 2000rpm. Also just fitted some BMW roofbars that I got on eBay for £50, some pics of those another time. Here are some recent photos, you wouldn't believe it had a full 5 hour valet about 3-4 weeks ago!


Dirty E46 by tlynchie, on Flickr


Dirty E46 by tlynchie, on Flickr


Dirty E46 by tlynchie, on Flickr


Dirty E46 by tlynchie, on Flickr

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Max M4X WW said:

Let us know how you find the Falken's when they are half worn or so, long running debate!

Oh? What's the debate over? I had read about them on the E46 forum, and they struck me as good value for money, I got a pair of 255/35 R18s for £250.

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BorkFactor said:

Butterfly exhaust valve? Will my E46 328i have one of them?

As far as I am aware only the 325 and the 330 had them, easy to check just look down the end of the twin pipes and if it does have one the right one should have the valve about 4 inches in. Has made a massive difference to the way it sounds, people always ask what I've done to the exhaust to make it sound so deep and lovely.

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DJC said:

petrolveins said:

Time for another little update.

Always like seeing your pics as I drive on these roads daily and always try to work out the exact location of each shot! [/sad]

I'm always keeping an eye out for you, whenever I'm bored I always head out that way for a little explore, resurfaced tarmac over the Beacon is very enjoyable at the moment I'm sure you'll agree.

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Some stupid bh pulled out of a car park into my path today, I swerved and hit the brakes but couldn't avoid her. Will now need both passenger doors replacing, just thankful it was quiet as there are usually throngs of cyclists about. Could easily have been a fatality. Doesn't look too bad but there is also a concern that the sills might have taken a bit of thwack, and my insurers have warned me that if they are damaged then the car will be written off. Just what I wanted to be sorting out just before my end of year exams.

First ever collision with anything before, was shaking so much I struggled to take pictures and write any details down. Horrible experience, thankfully she has admitted fault and I have the details of a security guard who witnessed it all.

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JayTee94 said:

That sucks mate. Any pictures that you can share?

I've only got some on my phone, and they don't really show the damage that well.

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Ouch, that looks much worse than mine, I'll get a photo this afternoon and pop it up. It's booked in for repairs for 2 weeks time. Should take 5 days. Looking forward to getting it fixed, thatnkfully it is cosmetic so I can still enjoy driving it. Not sure about how capable the garage are, as they say both doors need replacing and then the whole side of the car will be resprayed, sounds like overkill to me.

I also wonder what the great hire car lottery will provide me with. I thought I had like for like cover, but it seems that because of the age of my car I don't get that, and the small matter of not having many 3 litre petrol hire cars.

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Stedman said:

petrolveins said:

Ouch, that looks much worse than mine, I'll get a photo this afternoon and pop it up. It's booked in for repairs for 2 weeks time. Should take 5 days. Looking forward to getting it fixed, thatnkfully it is cosmetic so I can still enjoy driving it. Not sure about how capable the garage are, as they say both doors need replacing and then the whole side of the car will be resprayed, sounds like overkill to me.

Not really, as it's across two doors. The rear quarter and wing, and front wing will be blended. Don't complain you douché

Excuse me Dickie, I'm only referring to what some of the experts at work have said, that a decent place shouldn't need to paint any extra panels to get the paint matched, but I'm no expert.

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Clivey said:

The problem is that the existing paint on the other panels may have aged / worn / faded etc. slightly over the 8/9 years you've had the car - fresh paint on just the doors would look like a slightly different colour if not matched properly. The whole side of our car has been matched (I'll post some photos later) but it seems the body shop is trying to do you a favour by making sure it all matches.

I'm just worried if they do that, what about where that panel meets the bonnet, or the rear of the car.

DJC said:

Which bodyshop are you taking it to, is it one in Brighton?

It's in Shoreham, my insurers don't have any approved ones in Brighton seemingly, I did point out a rather nice one called Chandlers BMW, but that would have been way too complex for them to work out.

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Wrong topic for car cleaning here, I've personally cleaned my car once, had two blokes valet it for 5 hours once, and most recently a colleague at work actually asked if he could wash because it was looking such a mess. So that's 3 times since January it's been cleaned. In all fairness now it's almost summer I will try to clean it more. I say me, I mean the valet chaps.

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Just made this little GIF for my own pleasure, and also to annoy Stedman with the state the car was in.

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Waugh-terfall said:

Stedman said:

Is it just me, or does the rear tyre look a little flat?

GIF was a great idea though

I'm guessing this was just before the puncture was discovered...

It was much flatter looking than that when I realised, I'd say it looks pretty much like that anyway.

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So the BMW went in today for repairs, and I came out with a Volkswagen Scirocco GT 2.0TDI Bluemotion. Think that is the hire car lottery equivalent of winning the euromillions. Really enjoying it in the sunshine today. Not least because my Uni exams finished yesterday.

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Thanks for the replies, have been working a lot lately and not had time to reply. Interesting to hear the opinions on the tyres. I chose the Falkens because they weren't the best I could buy but I wanted a little less grip on the rear compared to the front. When I have the money I'm looking at some Hankooks which have been very well reviewed to put on the front to try and reduce that initial understeer when pressing on.

The BMW has been repaired and I am going to pick it up today. I'm really worried, this Scirocco has far exceeded my expectations, and despite being almost 100bhp down on the BMW and a FWD I have loved my time with it. 40mpg when hooning it was brilliant and 50mpg on my short morning commute was far better. I'm finding it hard to justify the BMW doing well under half that and costing what it does to insure. The Scirocco had a fun factor the BMW just can't match. I'm back to thinking about selling it again, I just know that I will regret it later. I think it is by far one of the nicest example around. Low mileage, good condition, and a good spec. That and I have no idea what I can replace it with. I am a slave to that car, and used not to mind, I'm lucky I really enjoy my job, but I have no money to spend on anything else other than the car, and occasionally my social life. Just can't bare the thought of selling it though.

Will report back later after I've spent some time with the BMW again.

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Well I was right to be worried, compared to the Scirocco the BMW just felt a little twitchy and nervous. Not sure it should, might get it looked at, and I hadn't appreciated before how much it understeers. I've already begun exploring the option of selling it :/

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mwstewart said:

petrolveins said:

Well I was right to be worried, compared to the Scirocco the BMW just felt a little twitchy and nervous. Not sure it should, might get it looked at, and I hadn't appreciated before how much it understeers. I've already begun exploring the option of selling it :/

The steering on the 3 series is very communicative compared to a lot of other more regular production cars, so maybe you're not used to that. They are certainly tail happy with cheap tyres, but definitely shouldn't be twitchy. Understeer does not sound right at all. I owned 5 E46's and 1 M3 years ago and I honestly never found that to be the case, and I often corner at three figures

Well I've the good tyres on the back and the crap ones on the front, might upset things. I don't know, can't put a finger on it, but it isn't quite right.