Another E46, Baby 320i Individual

[Max M4X WW]

Lots of E46's about at the moment, so I thought I'd add to the collection with our 'baby 6' 320i 2.2. I picked this up to replace a fairly un-reliable 2001 A3 which I never really bonded with. No its not a 330i, but the colour combo won us over and the 330i's were fetching a fair amount more at the time (and probably still are)

Pics from the ad..









As you can see, the colour is 'Mora Metallic' which can look fairly awful in low light but in the sun its a lot better. The car has the early 'Sport' or M-Tec kit, Sport suspension and sport seats.

Once we had it home (as it seemed mechanically sound) I began with replacing various cosmetic parts including the gear knob, M-sport steering wheel, new exhaust tips, having the interior trim painted gloss black, fitting an M Sport rear spoiler, mp3 compatible CD headunit, OEM xenons, smoked front indicators and individual door kick plates.

The car now stands as follows, with an extra battle scar on the front bumper which will get sorted at some point. Its not perfect, but I need to remember its just the wife's daily driver!















We have also had a few mechanical issues along the way, all are directly from the common E46 problems list. The rad was bowing, so I did this along with the water pump, thermostat and expansion tank. More recently we had a stalling issue so I replaced the spark plugs, intake hoses and exhaust cam sensor which I hope has fixed the issue.

The car drives really well, it shows up my M135i I think as it just feels better for some reason. The power is sufficient really, if you rev the car out it pulls quite well but you don't appreciate the speed gaining as everything is so quiet.

I hope this is of interest at least to any E46 geeks if no one else!

[deltashad]

Really nice. The colours are very pleasing and unusual. The 320i 6 pot is a lovely engine too.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Nice car
Can't be too many individual specced cars with the smaller engines in?

[qwertina]

I don't think I've ever seen that colour. Looks great.

[MJK 24]

That's really nice. I imagine it was an expensive car back in the day.

[helix402]

Looks good. You have the best E46 wheels. If it was mine I'd take the 320 badge off and put some clear front indicators on.

[wolfy1988]

helix402 said:

Looks good. You have the best E46 wheels. If it was mine I'd take the 320 badge off and put some clear front indicators on.

Agreed, looks great. Lovely colour combo, is it Mora?

I agree, with Helix, original white front lenses would look classier. OME looks so much better on older BMW's imo

[stuart-b]

Lovely car, very solid and quite unique. You get to enjoy the 6 pot refinement without the big engine cost. Good compromise. Hope she enjoys!

[Max M4X WW]

Thanks all!

helix402 said:

Looks good. You have the best E46 wheels. If it was mine I'd take the 320 badge off and put some clear front indicators on.

I was always tempted to take the badge off as for some reason its wonky but I didn't want people thinking it was a 318i or 330i. The only difference is 318i's have a single exit and 330i's have slightly bigger twin tailpipes.

I personally like the smoked indicators, I don't like the line the clear ones 'cut' against the black headlights.

stuart-b said:

Lovely car, very solid and quite unique. You get to enjoy the 6 pot refinement without the big engine cost. Good compromise. Hope she enjoys!

I think the larger engines cost the same to run, but in the back of my head I still thought this would be better on fuel.

We took the car out last night after fitting the exhaust cam sensor, it seems OK. Hoping to take it to Surrey Rolling Road soon (as I do with all my cars) to make sure its doing what it should be.

[Benton]

That is a stunner, love the colour.

My brother has had a 325 auto for a while now, think it's on about 125k and it's been excellent. Only really had the usual cooling system issues to report.