E46 as an investment
Discussion
Some mad comments in here.
First one. E46 better than the E90. It isn't.
The other. E46 being a classic. Not yet it ain't.
I own a E36 M3 GT2, a E90 LCI 325d M Sport and a E46 330ci Sport Auto on a late 2005 with loads of spec.
Best car out of all of them, the E90 for 99% of the time.
E36 M3 if you want old school proper driving, speed handling and looks.
The E46, although looks pretty (black facelift with xenons) it is hugely thirsty (owned auto and manual 330i and the manual is not much better) performance unless ragging the ass out of it is not impressive. The toys are old (sat nav, no audio Bluetooth streaming etc) handling is only any good if running a new front end, anything with a few thousand on the front end and it pulls all over the road) They rust like nothing you have ever seen and is only matched by an old Alfa.
The M3 and CSL will always be worth money in years to come when the numbers have dropped (not yet like owners think) (caveat, exclude CSL from that)
I love a BMW as you can tell, but the E46 has a long way to go before it will be worth anything in standard M3 form or lesser models.
And for reference, people asking over £3k for a 330ci unless silly low miles will not get it. We cannot get 2250 for ours.
Enjoy th3 car for what it is, but do not think you are sat on a gold mind unless in a CSL
First one. E46 better than the E90. It isn't.
The other. E46 being a classic. Not yet it ain't.
I own a E36 M3 GT2, a E90 LCI 325d M Sport and a E46 330ci Sport Auto on a late 2005 with loads of spec.
Best car out of all of them, the E90 for 99% of the time.
E36 M3 if you want old school proper driving, speed handling and looks.
The E46, although looks pretty (black facelift with xenons) it is hugely thirsty (owned auto and manual 330i and the manual is not much better) performance unless ragging the ass out of it is not impressive. The toys are old (sat nav, no audio Bluetooth streaming etc) handling is only any good if running a new front end, anything with a few thousand on the front end and it pulls all over the road) They rust like nothing you have ever seen and is only matched by an old Alfa.
The M3 and CSL will always be worth money in years to come when the numbers have dropped (not yet like owners think) (caveat, exclude CSL from that)
I love a BMW as you can tell, but the E46 has a long way to go before it will be worth anything in standard M3 form or lesser models.
And for reference, people asking over £3k for a 330ci unless silly low miles will not get it. We cannot get 2250 for ours.
Enjoy th3 car for what it is, but do not think you are sat on a gold mind unless in a CSL
sparks_E46 said:
I know a lot of people are mentioning rust, and yes they do. But genuinely I think an E39 is worse for it.
You’re probably right about the E39 being worse. The problem (in terms of values) is that the E9X 3-Series and E6X 5-Series are now dropping in value as well and don’t seem to suffer nearly as much, which makes the argument for an E46 challenging. A E92 325i has similar performance to a E46 330i in most situations but can be bought pretty cheap and seem to be plentiful.
Having owned several of both I have a soft spot for the E46 but M3/CSL aside couldn’t be arsed dealing with the recurring rust issues for a daily driver.
survivalist said:
sparks_E46 said:
I know a lot of people are mentioning rust, and yes they do. But genuinely I think an E39 is worse for it.
You’re probably right about the E39 being worse. The problem (in terms of values) is that the E9X 3-Series and E6X 5-Series are now dropping in value as well and don’t seem to suffer nearly as much, which makes the argument for an E46 challenging. A E92 325i has similar performance to a E46 330i in most situations but can be bought pretty cheap and seem to be plentiful.
Having owned several of both I have a soft spot for the E46 but M3/CSL aside couldn’t be arsed dealing with the recurring rust issues for a daily driver.
sparks_E46 said:
I think an E92 330i M sport coupe can be the only way forward for us after the E46 to be honest, far prefer the E46 looks mind.
I prefer the looks of the E46 too, but they rust for fun. 
If you don't need more than 2 seats a 3 litre E86 Sport has to be a better option than any E9* 3 Series - even if I do have an E91 325i as a daily!
nxh66 said:
I can't help looking at that 3k mile 330i clubsport and thinking thats crazy money.....but the other side of my brain is thinking you can't buy a new N/A 6 cylinder BMW anymore and you probably can't buy a 3k mile bmw of any variety for 16k normally, never mind a 3.0.
There are plenty better "N/A 6 cylinder BMW" choices than the E46 330, which is why they aren't appreciating, and probably won't for the foreseeable future.A fine enough car, but really not special enough to be worthing holding onto anything E46 other than an Alpina or M3 as an investment.
C70R said:
There are plenty better "N/A 6 cylinder BMW" choices than the E46 330, which is why they aren't appreciating, and probably won't for the foreseeable future.
Which model 3 Series has more petrol sixes? From E9x-on it's diesel four-pots all the way and hard to find a petrol six because of diesel obsession and strong price when new. Genuinely interested, not arguing!I would want an auto petrol six Touring with no privacy glass or silly wheels - very hard to find.
From an investment angle, only a low-mileage, non-modded manual M3 in a funny colour will ever be 'investment-grade'. Doesn't stop ordinary 330is being depreciation-proof motoring sub-£3k if looked after well, though.
Edited by stevewak on Wednesday 6th June 08:39
stevewak said:
Which model 3 Series has more petrol sixes?
I don't know, and don't really care TBH. It's not the pinnacle of 6cyl BMW motoring - in fact, as modern 6cyl BMWs go, I'd suggest that an early 1-series is significantly better in almost every respect.The E36 handles better, the Z4 is a much more visually-appealing package, the E39 is a nicer place to be. In fact, the E46 isn't actually that brilliant - which is why they are cheap as chips at the moment.
That, in itself, is great - because I really like the E46 and will continue to enjoy it while it's cheap.
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