My short but sweet car history including new addition [PICS]

[a1burns]

Only my second post so be gentle!

At 17 i bought my first car and used to help me learn to drive. My dad would go out with me after having a few driving lessons and let me hone my skills.
The car was a 1 litre citreon saxo... it is the worst car I have ever driven and had brakes made from milk bottle tops but at the time it was the best I knew...
16 days after passing my test I did this, D'oh...

Car was a write off and Mr Scrapman came and picked up the car and paid me for the pleasure, luckily I wasn't put off driving and quickly jumped into my next car, a 1.25 Fiesta Zetec, an awesome car.

I absolutely loved my fiesta but when i started a new job aged 19 everyone else had large saloons and I felt a bit lift out, so I went out and obtained my first 'big' car. A 1998 'S' registered E46 318. I absolutely loved this car and it was my pride and joy. I was so proud of this car and it was the first time I did any real modifcations to a car. I changed the steering wheel to a more modern sports wheel, changed the front indicators and side repeaters to clear lenses. Subtle but finished it of for me.



Picutres are from original advert!
Now aged 21 I feel I have peaked too soon and the 318 was just not enough and I was constantly looking for a replacement. I could never find a car I liked as much as a BMW, especially a E46 so I gave up looking at other cars and focused on BMWs, one day I randomly stumbled upon a car I thought may be too good to be true and sort of in the range of money I was looking at, A 2005 330ci Clubsport in Estoril Blue, 2 owners from new, 65k miles and a full BMW service history. I went to see the car last weekend and came away with a huge dilema. Borrow money and buy the car and possibly ruin myself on fuel costs, or walk away from what was now my favourite car in the world and a rare chance.
So I bought it picked it up yesterday morning and have done around 110 miles so far and am absolutely loving it, its a huge step up from the 318 and I am absolutely loving it. Nothing planned for the clubsport except maybe chaning the wheels as it has MV2 wheels on at the minute and although they look nice im just not sure about them on this car :s
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Hope you enjoyed reading

[R300will]

Good man! reach right up to your highest limits at all times! sure the car will reward you.

[Ian974]

I had a look at a couple of other similar cars in the classifieds a month or so back, they appear to be excellent value for money, and that colour is the best for that car IMO!

[deltashad]

You're doing very well at 21 to have such a nice well sorted car.

Keep smiling...

Agree about the wheels btw

[getawayturtle]

Great looking car, can't beat a straight six bimmer. Man points for going through with the deal too instead of walking away

[VinceFox]

God that's an awful colour though.

I may have mentioned this before.

[JPearson]

Really like the 330 clubsport for some strange reason, maybe its because theres hardly any about.

Good buy

[a1burns]

Thanks for all the nice comments. I was explaining how rare they are when me and my dad went to look at it. We saw 3 on the way there including 1 2 minutes from my house and 1 2 minutes from the car in a Tesco carpark! Typical. Have cleaned the car outside and reblacked the plastics with some autoglm and it looks a lot better now! Just need to clean inside and under the bonnet.

[Bodie390]

Nice story

What year is the 330 ??

I'd be checking the VIN number with your local BMW dealer.

Edited by Bodie390 on Monday 14th May 19:05

[DanielJames]

Nice motor, more pics needed!

[a1burns]

Bodie390 said:

Nice story

What year is the 330 ??

I'd be checking the VIN number with your local BMW dealer.

Edited by Bodie390 on Monday 14th May 19:05

It's an 05 plate, why do I need to get the VIN checked?

[Bodie390]

They only produced the Clubsport in 2002 and most are wearing 02,52,03 plates.

Yours is a facelift model,check out the side indicator and the front indicator.

I may be wrong but for peace of mind take the last 7 digits from your VIN and ask BMW for the spec sheet or PM me and I'll do it for you.

[liller]

is your insurance really high being 21 with a 330? mine is high and i'm 31!!

I saw a few facelift clubsports around when I was looking, I figured that they carried it on after the facelift in 2003. It's not wearing the right wheels for cs

[a1burns]

Bodie390 said:

They only produced the Clubsport in 2002 and most are wearing 02,52,03 plates.

Yours is a facelift model,check out the side indicator and the front indicator.

I may be wrong but for peace of mind take the last 7 digits from your VIN and ask BMW for the spec sheet or PM me and I'll do it for you.

I did an HPI check on the car before purchasing and it came back as a 330-CI CLUBSPORT, this is also what it says on the V5 when I did the transfer and in the enginebay on the BMW Panels in the engine bay. I have read up about the facelift models and it does appear they carried on the trim level although they became increasingly rare and 2005 was the last year they were made accoring to howmanyleft.com

[Bodie390]

If that's a 2005 Clubsport then you've got a rare one, I've never seen or heard of a 2005 CS.

One final check with the dealer with the last 7 digits will tell you.

Here's my CS -



2002 model, pre facelift

[Chunkychucky]

Nice car OP, IMO better every day car than an E46 M3, ample power, creamier smoother unit, lovely cars.. Estoril suits it aswell

[a1burns]

liller said:

is your insurance really high being 21 with a 330? mine is high and i'm 31!!

I saw a few facelift clubsports around when I was looking, I figured that they carried it on after the facelift in 2003. It's not wearing the right wheels for cs

Its fairly high but only £400 more than my old 318! I know people a few years younger than me paying several hundred pounds more than me to run 1.4 sheds about.

Bodie390 said:

If that's a 2005 Clubsport then you've got a rare one, I've never seen or heard of a 2005 CS.

One final check with the dealer with the last 7 digits will tell you.

Here's my CS -



2002 model, pre facelift

Very nice mate im considering getting me some of them split rims if funds allow. How do I check with BMW? just ring them and ask for a spec check quoting the VIN? I'm getting a bit worried about what I've got now...

[Bodie390]

Are you local to any dealers??

If so pop in and ask the kind chaps behind the parts counter to run off a spec sheet with your VIN - last 7 digits will do, failing that ring the parts dept up and ask them nicely

PM me the vin now and I'll do some digging this evening.