The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[Dale79]

eezeh said:

Have you considered a roof mounted bike rack? Compact roof racks pop up on ebay occasionally

I have but the kits seem few & far between & start around £250 for the set up minus the bike mount, I'm not too keen on the roof mounted option tbh but it is probably the way to go I guess

[Dale79]

Quick update on the bike transportation issue, I have decided after much deliberation that the roof mounted option is the most safest & easiest option after all, I got the bars, mounting kit & rack just a fraction over £200 Will update once I've installed it all, I have an mot due at the end of Feb & the only issue I can tell present atm is my rear wiper has decided to give up the ghost, I will get to work on that shortly also.

[Max M4X WW]

Spent a bit of time on mine this morning, raising the suspension slightly in the hope it goes on the MOT ramp easier next weekend.



Also relocated the climate (this was a nav car) and fitted a BMW radio blank:



Lastly the 325ti with its matching Twizy and Titanium Silver E39:

[s m]

eezeh said:

I believe its an 8.5

Did you get hold of one eezeh?
I’ve got a spare rear but miles away from you ( Welsh Border )

[anonymous-user]

s m said:

eezeh said:

I believe its an 8.5

Did you get hold of one eezeh?
I’ve got a spare rear but miles away from you ( Welsh Border )

unfortunately not, seem to be few and between.

[s m]

eezeh said:

s m said:

eezeh said:

I believe its an 8.5

Did you get hold of one eezeh?
I’ve got a spare rear but miles away from you ( Welsh Border )

unfortunately not, seem to be few and between.

There’s a set w/o tyres in Barnet ( appreciate you’re only after one though )

[330ti]

mwggriffiths said:

Hi all,

I could do with some assistance in valuing my 330ti as it will be for sale come April, as the opportunity to buy my realistic dream car (E46 M3) has come up and I can't justify keeping them both. So what do you think my Compact car would be worth?

330Ti’s seem particularly hard to value as they don’t come up all that often and tend to hang around a bit waiting for the right buyer when they do come up.

This car has been my daily for nearly 2 years, and it’s been the best, most dependable and most enjoyable daily I’ve had, and has wanted for nothing in that time (as you can see from spec below).

Spec:
2002 325ti Sport Compact (genuine, with all the bumpers etc)
154k (plenty more come sale time)
Fresh 12 month MOT come April
Will need an Inspection service before April, this will be done prior to sale.

Exterior:
A very good 3 metre car, once you get to within 1 metre you start to notice issues
Titanium Silver
Glass Sunroof
Split in the front bumper which has been repaired but is ugly - could do with painting properly.
Signs of a respray in the past
Passenger A Post laquer peel
Facelift tail lights

Interior:
Black leather, fair-to-good condition for the age / mileage.
Standard bar upgraded BMW CD53 Stereo with Aux-In and USB charge ports in the glovebox.

Suspension & Brakes:
In past two years its had:
Refurbished 330i calipers, new Brembo discs and pads front and rear (inc trailing arms at the back so the handbrake works properly).
New TRW front lower control arms.
New BMW OEM Z4M offset front lower control arm bushes (increased castor for greater straight line stability and turn-in feel).
Refurbished 330i trailing arms inc wheel bearings, both rear ball joints and powerflex black series rear trailing arm bushes, painted with POR 15.
Rear subframe painted with POR 15, billet aluminium subframe bushes (to prevent boot floor cracking), new Lemforder diff bushes (x3).

Wheels & Tyres:
Comes on 4x Style 97 Sport Compact rear wheels (8.5J) and 245/40 R17 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3s
If the price was right I could also include a set of 4 Style 97 front wheels (7.5J) and 225/45 R17 Goodyear Ultragrip Performance Gen1 winter tyres.

Engine & Driveline:
In March 2018 at 137k I swapped the original 2.5 litre M54 for a 3.0 out of a 330i Saloon Automatic (had 122k on removal, so the engine has 15k less than the shell).
Rebuild VANOS, with besian systems bits
Upgraded DISA valve with metal screw replacing the failure-prone pin and clip
New oil filter housing, sump and rocker cover gaskets (no leaks!)
Completely new coolant system (water pump, radiator hoses & thermostat in 2017, radiator and expansion tank in 2018)
Serviced every 6k miles since 2017
M20 Single Mass flywheel conversion with new clutch (done with the engine swap)
5 Speed Manual
545i short shifter and new bushes
Clubsport gearknob

The biggest issue with the car: Oil consumption is ~1 litre per 1000 miles, however that’s actually not bad for these things!

A few photos on my instagram (@mwggriffiths), but I'll obviously take a proper detailed set when I'm actually ready to sell.

Cheers
Matt

Hard to value a non standard car. Mine is very very similar spec but almost mint with under 100k miles on it. I use it for track day duties and they work well with 3.0 engine, and so much better on road too. Best bit about them is they are worth next to nothing so if it all goes tits up it’s not the end of the world. If anyone’s looking for one yours with the upgrades should be well worth a look.

[helix402]

I’ve put a pair of Bilstein B6 rear dampers on EBay if anyone’s interested.

[MrF193]

I’ve recently picked up an 03 facelift 325ti sport and loving it! However, I’ve noticed the steering is really quite heavy when the car is either stationary or at low speeds when doing parking manoeuvres. Is this normal for these cars or do I have a problem? Steering is completely fine once on the move.

[anonymous-user]

MrF193 said:

I’ve recently picked up an 03 facelift 325ti sport and loving it! However, I’ve noticed the steering is really quite heavy when the car is either stationary or at low speeds when doing parking manoeuvres. Is this normal for these cars or do I have a problem? Steering is completely fine once on the move.

Mine isn't really heavy as you've described but there is a good weight to it, checked the PAS fluid level?

[Sardonicus]

Try a fluid change no flushing compounds etc just fresh PAS fluid and no usually not heavy

[Mr Tidy]

Sardonicus said:

Try a fluid change no flushing compounds etc just fresh PAS fluid and no usually not heavy

I wish I had read that sooner - my 325ti always seemed heavy, but I don't have it any more.

Still it's replacement (an early E91 325i with HPAS) has lovely steering weighting and feel!

[Dale79]

Hi guys little update on my latest one, roof rack now installed with double bike rack & definitely was the best route to take regarding my main past time so that's problem solved that end, I'm now getting the car ready for it's mot that's due next month, so far replaced both number plates for a refresh as they were both very poor conditioned, im now in the process of fixing the rear wiper motor, cog needs replacing so is all stripped down out of the car with delete bung currently fitted, I actually prefer the look without! Is it essential to have the wiper fitted & working for an mot or will it be advised/failed nowadays minus the wiper?

Edited by Dale79 on Saturday 26th January 18:27

[330ti]

Rear wiper not tested for MOT .

[Mr Tidy]

Lucky it isn't required for the MOT - mine never worked!

IIRC using the rear washer tends to drown the wiper motor.

[W211]

There's one in the classifieds here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Any thoughts on this one chaps? Seems good value but has some rust on the front wheel arches...

Thoughts?

[anonymous-user]

W211 said:

There's one in the classifieds here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Any thoughts on this one chaps? Seems good value but has some rust on the front wheel arches...

Thoughts?

just to note: xenon but no washers

[W211]

What does that mean? (Forgive my ignorance!)

[vsonix]

eezeh said:

W211 said:

There's one in the classifieds here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Any thoughts on this one chaps? Seems good value but has some rust on the front wheel arches...

Thoughts?

just to note: xenon but no washers

Washers and self-levelling have to work when present but it's not mandatory for a car to have them as many did not, from factory. It's also why they can't blanket fail HID/Xenons in a reflector unit, because there were quite a few xenon equipped cars in the early '00s that didn't have projectors, notably Mercedes.

[Mr Tidy]

W211 said:

There's one in the classifieds here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Any thoughts on this one chaps? Seems good value but has some rust on the front wheel arches...

Thoughts?

The driver's side front wing is very crusty, but the front wings aren't structural so shouldn't cause MOT problems. And I'm pretty sure they are bolted on, so not too big a problem to change them. Unlike the rear wings!

Bonus is it's a facelift (mine wasn't, and I did miss not having a 6 speed box).

If you can get a set of winter tyres on rims thrown in I wouldn't say it was dear. I sold my 52 plate Sport in Imola Red on 103K miles last February for a few quid more. I sold my winter wheels separately as the buyer didn't want them.

Wood trim in a Sport model looks a bit weird though.