e46 BMW 325i touring - should I buy one?

[V8Wagon]

Nice one near me for £4500. Seems a lot of money for a '51' plate car to me though it does drive perfectly and it's in A1 condition.

If you had two kids so needed an estate, enjoyed driving and had 5k. Would you go for it?

[pwd95]

Great machines.

[Jw Vw]

Good cars, although for that money I would probably go for a 330 with all the toys thrown in.

[66comanche]

V8Wagon said:

If you had two kids so needed an estate, enjoyed driving and had 5k. Would you go for it?

No, for an estate it's really quite small (and your example is pricey for the year), would go for one of these:

2003 BMW 5 SERIES 530i SE 5dr Auto Touring
£3950

[bmthnick1981]

Jw Vw said:

Good cars, although for that money I would probably go for a 330 with all the toys thrown in.

Agreed, go for the 330 if you're going to bother. I got a 2001 330i Sport (saloon) with 140k on it last year for £2.5k. They seem to be dipping in value a bit at the moment (petrols particularly) now that the E9x is getting cheaper.

[V8Wagon]

Cheers guys. Yeh, I'd like a 330 but finding a tidy one is hard work, and most of the lower mileage ones seem to be up near 6k....and auto's.

What particularly attracts me to this one is the fact that it's a manual.

85k and a deal may be able to be done at £4300. Still seems pricy to me for a 10 year old car though.

Edited by V8Wagon on Monday 30th May 22:49

[LayZ]

Wait and find a 330. Almost identical running costs, with a load more grunt.

How about something like this:

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2678979.htm

Edited by LayZ on Monday 30th May 22:59

[bmthnick1981]

V8Wagon said:

Cheers guys. Yeh, I'd like a 330 but finding a tidy one is hard work, and most of the lower mileage ones seem to be up near 6k....and auto's.

Really? Here is a 2000 330i Touring Manual for £2.5k;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-BMW-330-SE-TOURING-BLAC...

Bit leggy but only 2 owners (BMW + 1) from new and looks tidy enough.

[V8Wagon]

bmthnick1981 said:

Really? Here is a 2000 330i Touring Manual for £2.5k;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-BMW-330-SE-TOURING-BLAC...

Bit leggy but only 2 owners (BMW + 1) from new and looks tidy enough.

Good find mate, and yeh it does look OK.

I honestly couldn't bring myself to buy a car with near 150k miles on it though. 100k I could live with.

If I could live with lunar miles then I'd probably be tempted my an E60 5 series or E90 3 series or new shape Audi A6 that pop up now with 150k on for the 4-6k mark.

[kambites]

Personally, I'd be looking for one that already looks shoddy and hence cheap - I've never really seen the point in buying a perfect car and then sticking kids in it.

[V8Wagon]

kambites said:

Personally, I'd be looking for one that already looks shoddy and hence cheap - I've never really seen the point in buying a perfect car and then sticking kids in it.

Fair point. I just like shiny cars.

Quite liking these things too! Similar spec and performance to the BM but on an '05' plate with a lot less miles for the same money.