My first toy car: E46 325Ci convertible Tourmaline Violet
Discussion
I have never been much of a ‘car guy’. I don’t know much about cars, I haven’t driven many cars, I just don’t know that much about cars. But a few years ago I moved to the countryside from London, and the amount of driving my family did increased from about 6k miles a year to more like 25k miles. And it turned out that this sparked an interest I never knew I had.
Despite OTT levels of reading stuff on this forum, I still haven’t got around to upgrading our two family cars. Now we do a lot more miles, it makes sense to allocate more resources to having better ones. Instead of doing that however, over the past few months I got sidetracked into doing something more interesting and enjoyable, which is buying a car I don’t need and will barely use, just for fun.
I have never done anything like this before. I had three thoughts when doing it which I like to pretend are logical.
Firstly I’m renovating my house, and we’re having a garage built as part of it. I like the idea of having a ‘nice car’ to go in the garage but I have no real idea what I mean by that or what I want. Perhaps I like the idea of a convertible, perhaps a coupe, perhaps a hard top convertible, perhaps I want a manual car, perhaps I don’t, perhaps I want a fast car, perhaps I don’t, perhaps I want something I can fit my family in, etc etc etc etc etc.
Secondly I know I know the square root of f
k all about cars and the chances of me making optimal purchasing decisions in relation to cars are low. I’m not a particularly practical person and in my professional life I make spreadsheets, not anything tangible. So instead of spending ‘proper money’ on a car I wanted to buy a relatively inexpensive ‘toy car’, with the idea being that when I make mistakes they won’t be massively expensive ones, and I can try to learn somewhat cheaply.
Thirdly I’ve come up with the idea of going on a road trip to the Highlands with my brother. My 2014 Skoda Yeti family car wasn’t going to cut it, we needed something else. After a bit of searching on here I decided I wanted a cheap old manual BMW convertible with a good 6-cylinder engine, four seats and both a hardtop and softtop.
Anyway TLDR version is I found this on Autotrader. It was the first car I went to visit, and reader, after a short test drive in which I pretended I knew what I was looking for when I actually didn’t, I bought it.
Despite OTT levels of reading stuff on this forum, I still haven’t got around to upgrading our two family cars. Now we do a lot more miles, it makes sense to allocate more resources to having better ones. Instead of doing that however, over the past few months I got sidetracked into doing something more interesting and enjoyable, which is buying a car I don’t need and will barely use, just for fun.
I have never done anything like this before. I had three thoughts when doing it which I like to pretend are logical.
Firstly I’m renovating my house, and we’re having a garage built as part of it. I like the idea of having a ‘nice car’ to go in the garage but I have no real idea what I mean by that or what I want. Perhaps I like the idea of a convertible, perhaps a coupe, perhaps a hard top convertible, perhaps I want a manual car, perhaps I don’t, perhaps I want a fast car, perhaps I don’t, perhaps I want something I can fit my family in, etc etc etc etc etc.
Secondly I know I know the square root of f
k all about cars and the chances of me making optimal purchasing decisions in relation to cars are low. I’m not a particularly practical person and in my professional life I make spreadsheets, not anything tangible. So instead of spending ‘proper money’ on a car I wanted to buy a relatively inexpensive ‘toy car’, with the idea being that when I make mistakes they won’t be massively expensive ones, and I can try to learn somewhat cheaply.Thirdly I’ve come up with the idea of going on a road trip to the Highlands with my brother. My 2014 Skoda Yeti family car wasn’t going to cut it, we needed something else. After a bit of searching on here I decided I wanted a cheap old manual BMW convertible with a good 6-cylinder engine, four seats and both a hardtop and softtop.
Anyway TLDR version is I found this on Autotrader. It was the first car I went to visit, and reader, after a short test drive in which I pretended I knew what I was looking for when I actually didn’t, I bought it.
Here’s a picture of it when I got it home. Not quite as neat as in the glossy photos, and when the guy I bought it from drove it round to drop it off, a brake light came on the dashboard. But I was still pleased to see it.
I had googled E46s and read this forum extensively, so had watched some youtube videos about radiators and rear subframes and stuff like that, but in practice I didn’t have enough experience to have any idea whether this is a decent example or not.
I paid £5,500 for it, and it had 68,950 miles when I bought it. I’m the fourth owner but in practice the third proper owner as the guy I bought it off didn’t have it for long. The history of the car looks honest to my untrained eye, and the lowish mileage is because it was sat for five years pretty much without use.
I like the colour, which I understand is rare. I think it needed to be a special order from the factory when new. I also like that it hasn’t been modded, which a lot of the cheaper cars for sale of the same model were when I was looking at them.
The first thing I did was book it into our local BMW specialist. There were a reassuring number of E46s in the car park when I got down there. The MOT history on the car seemed alright but I figured the car was likely to need a decent amount of recommissioning. I asked the guys at the garage to tell me all the things they would do to it if it was their own car and they wanted to make it a nice example.
A month later, and with £2,280 spent at the garage on repairs, the car has a new clutch, new radiator, new front suspension, a new brake pad sensor (and therefore no warning lights on the dash), new brake pipes, a wire brushed and cleaned subframe, lots of new bolts and a few other new bits. The mechanics said it was a pretty decent example to start with, and now it’s in pretty good shape from here mechanically.
I haven’t driven it up the Highlands yet, indeed I haven’t got any further than the next village in it yet, but with spring coming around it’s about to start getting its use. There is a whole bunch of cosmetic stuff I think I could do, starting with a good wash. And it will need four new tyres.
I thought typing up this thread would be fun, partly as I’ve enjoyed reading similar threads for others, and partly because it will be fun for proper car enthusiasts to realise just now naive someone can be in buying a car like this (!).
I had googled E46s and read this forum extensively, so had watched some youtube videos about radiators and rear subframes and stuff like that, but in practice I didn’t have enough experience to have any idea whether this is a decent example or not.
I paid £5,500 for it, and it had 68,950 miles when I bought it. I’m the fourth owner but in practice the third proper owner as the guy I bought it off didn’t have it for long. The history of the car looks honest to my untrained eye, and the lowish mileage is because it was sat for five years pretty much without use.
I like the colour, which I understand is rare. I think it needed to be a special order from the factory when new. I also like that it hasn’t been modded, which a lot of the cheaper cars for sale of the same model were when I was looking at them.
The first thing I did was book it into our local BMW specialist. There were a reassuring number of E46s in the car park when I got down there. The MOT history on the car seemed alright but I figured the car was likely to need a decent amount of recommissioning. I asked the guys at the garage to tell me all the things they would do to it if it was their own car and they wanted to make it a nice example.
A month later, and with £2,280 spent at the garage on repairs, the car has a new clutch, new radiator, new front suspension, a new brake pad sensor (and therefore no warning lights on the dash), new brake pipes, a wire brushed and cleaned subframe, lots of new bolts and a few other new bits. The mechanics said it was a pretty decent example to start with, and now it’s in pretty good shape from here mechanically.
I haven’t driven it up the Highlands yet, indeed I haven’t got any further than the next village in it yet, but with spring coming around it’s about to start getting its use. There is a whole bunch of cosmetic stuff I think I could do, starting with a good wash. And it will need four new tyres.
I thought typing up this thread would be fun, partly as I’ve enjoyed reading similar threads for others, and partly because it will be fun for proper car enthusiasts to realise just now naive someone can be in buying a car like this (!).
Congratulations, that's a superb colour combination. 
Back in 2014 I bought an E46 325ti Compact as a daily. It hadn't quite reached 80K miles, but within a month the radiator was leaking so it got a cooling system refresh. It turned out the bottom of the radiator was the shape of a banana!
But it drove really well and I often wish I had kept it but I had some strange urge to have a Touring.
It was my second straight 6 petrol BMW and I seem to have become addicted to them as I'm on numbers 5 and 6 now.
As someone suggested a set of MV1 wheels would look good, or a set of MV2s. If you can find them Style 32s are a bit lighter than the other 18" options.
Anyway it will make a great car for you to enjoy your trip to Scotland in.
Back in 2014 I bought an E46 325ti Compact as a daily. It hadn't quite reached 80K miles, but within a month the radiator was leaking so it got a cooling system refresh. It turned out the bottom of the radiator was the shape of a banana!
But it drove really well and I often wish I had kept it but I had some strange urge to have a Touring.
It was my second straight 6 petrol BMW and I seem to have become addicted to them as I'm on numbers 5 and 6 now.
As someone suggested a set of MV1 wheels would look good, or a set of MV2s. If you can find them Style 32s are a bit lighter than the other 18" options.
Anyway it will make a great car for you to enjoy your trip to Scotland in.
First few run-outs this week, and a problem.
Had a 60 mile out-and-back trip to do of which about half was motorway. On the way back the EML light came on. Car drove home ok for another 20 miles or so.
This morning on starting the car the EML light isn't there, weird. Not really sure what to do about that. Will try to do a few more local trips I guess and wait to see it again.
I had put a full tank of premium petrol in it yesterday, the pump I went to didn't have any regular left so I figured why not. But I can't imagine it would be that?
Had a 60 mile out-and-back trip to do of which about half was motorway. On the way back the EML light came on. Car drove home ok for another 20 miles or so.
This morning on starting the car the EML light isn't there, weird. Not really sure what to do about that. Will try to do a few more local trips I guess and wait to see it again.
I had put a full tank of premium petrol in it yesterday, the pump I went to didn't have any regular left so I figured why not. But I can't imagine it would be that?
tiger roll said:
First few run-outs this week, and a problem.
Had a 60 mile out-and-back trip to do of which about half was motorway. On the way back the EML light came on. Car drove home ok for another 20 miles or so.
This morning on starting the car the EML light isn't there, weird. Not really sure what to do about that. Will try to do a few more local trips I guess and wait to see it again.
I had put a full tank of premium petrol in it yesterday, the pump I went to didn't have any regular left so I figured why not. But I can't imagine it would be that?
As above; check the intake boot from MAF back to the throttle body and replace the parts perishedHad a 60 mile out-and-back trip to do of which about half was motorway. On the way back the EML light came on. Car drove home ok for another 20 miles or so.
This morning on starting the car the EML light isn't there, weird. Not really sure what to do about that. Will try to do a few more local trips I guess and wait to see it again.
I had put a full tank of premium petrol in it yesterday, the pump I went to didn't have any regular left so I figured why not. But I can't imagine it would be that?
The vac hoses can go too, as can the small bung on the back of the valve cover etc
Usually a smoke test will find them out quick enough; but deffo do the intake boots first and go from there
Great car you have there. But I am a bit biased, as I currently also have an E46, albeit the 318i SE saloon version in Titan Silver.
I am somewhat jealous of your 'new toy'...!! If I were to change my car, it would be to a 325 straight six.
As you did, I bought mine with about 69,000 miles on. It was a rust free well looked after car, and had never been out in the winter months before I found it. Also like you I had to 'recommission' mine....similar items as it happens.
I immediately did my first oil change....It had been so long since the last one....I could not actually get the filter element to part company with the housing....just due to lack of use by the previous owner ( the engine also had cowb webs all over it which may have been a hint I suppose !!)
Mine now has over 115,000 miles on it : it has always been my daily ( ie only !) car and that included a trip to Germany and a few laps of The Nurburgring, followed last year by an amazing trip to Verona and Modena.
They are superb cars, very good to drive and well built....some say the E46 era was the best for build quality and I would agree ( I have also had 2 E36s and the E46 is so much better IMHO.
And, I see yours has the standard alloys which I am assuming are the 16" ones...? If so, I would keep them . Mine came with the same 16" wheels, and the ride is so good on those size tyres. Mine handles very well on the Toyo Proxes that I fitted, and 16" tyres are a lot less expensive to replace than the larger sizes.
Also, it is good for you that you have taken it to a BMW specialist, so you can trust that they know the cars.
I am sure that the garage would have done a 4 wheel alignment for you... if not then it would be wise to get it done when you get a new set of tyres fitted. It makes all the difference.
Here is mine taken last summer en route to Edinburgh
Please keep this thread updated as you use the car.... !!!
I am somewhat jealous of your 'new toy'...!! If I were to change my car, it would be to a 325 straight six.
As you did, I bought mine with about 69,000 miles on. It was a rust free well looked after car, and had never been out in the winter months before I found it. Also like you I had to 'recommission' mine....similar items as it happens.
I immediately did my first oil change....It had been so long since the last one....I could not actually get the filter element to part company with the housing....just due to lack of use by the previous owner ( the engine also had cowb webs all over it which may have been a hint I suppose !!)
Mine now has over 115,000 miles on it : it has always been my daily ( ie only !) car and that included a trip to Germany and a few laps of The Nurburgring, followed last year by an amazing trip to Verona and Modena.
They are superb cars, very good to drive and well built....some say the E46 era was the best for build quality and I would agree ( I have also had 2 E36s and the E46 is so much better IMHO.
And, I see yours has the standard alloys which I am assuming are the 16" ones...? If so, I would keep them . Mine came with the same 16" wheels, and the ride is so good on those size tyres. Mine handles very well on the Toyo Proxes that I fitted, and 16" tyres are a lot less expensive to replace than the larger sizes.
Also, it is good for you that you have taken it to a BMW specialist, so you can trust that they know the cars.
I am sure that the garage would have done a 4 wheel alignment for you... if not then it would be wise to get it done when you get a new set of tyres fitted. It makes all the difference.
Here is mine taken last summer en route to Edinburgh
Please keep this thread updated as you use the car.... !!!
Very nice. I've not given it much thought but an E46 Ci Coupe could be my favorite looking BMW, but they've done so many great looking cars, if I thought it it would possibly change. An E46 Estate may've appeared in my road parking where may be it shouldn't. I don't know if the E46 Ci Coupe in my road is on it's last owner before it departs this world. The son of someone in the road has an E46 M3 convertible with hard top in a metallic maroon sort of shade.
Doing 100 miles yesterday has given me a to-do list which I'll start checking off.
Stuff for the garage to look at - I shall take it in next week:
1. It judders a little bit at slow speeds, nothing major but maybe that's something to look at. Not going to complain to much as for A road and B road driving it was great
2. I disconnected and reconnected the battery in an attempt to sort out the cigarette lighter that isn't charging my phone...changing the fuse there didn't sort it. Doing that however then meant the roof wouldn't come up and there's a flashing red light on the button instead. I have read the manual and googled it but I suspect I'm missing something obvious. Anyway for now, I've put the hardtop back on and will ask someone who knows what they are doing to take a look
3. The EML light that came on a few weeks ago hasn't come back but worth looking at
4. These three points aside, mechanically it feels great. Going to get four new tyres put on now. Will have a look at the changing out wheels also following helpful suggestions on this thread but once I scrubbed up the ones I had I thought they were ok for now
Stuff for me to have a go at - my fettling skills are developing:
5. AV / tech - it's the OG pov spec radio with a tape deck and a 6-cd changer. Speakers are surprisingly good, FM/AM radio works fine. The car is completely stock inside and out and I like that a lot, don't want to start modding it out. I think the options are (1) replace out the 6-cd for a bluetooth input and then just use my phone in a good quality phone holder or (2) get the aliexpress carplay option that looks sort-of OEM but install it very carefully so I can put it back to 100% stock later if it turns out I prefer it like it is now. With option 2 it's double DIN so the HVAC moves down into what is now a blanking plate
6. Replace the number plates which are in a bit of a state
7. Come up with some way of storing the hardtop because it turns out just leaving it on the floor of the shed causes it to rust more quickly - need some sort of plastic sheeting or something for it to sit on
8. Figure out how to refresh the black plastic areas around the wing mirrors which have faded
9. I've washed and cleaned it throroughly on the outside and it looked way better for it. Need to do all that on the inside as well - it's ok for now but could be really good I think with a bit of effort
All in all a decent list, manageable I think. I was fearing a longer and costlier list than this when I got started. And the drive out I had yesterday was great. Need to get this list sorted and then get up to the Highlands!
Stuff for the garage to look at - I shall take it in next week:
1. It judders a little bit at slow speeds, nothing major but maybe that's something to look at. Not going to complain to much as for A road and B road driving it was great
2. I disconnected and reconnected the battery in an attempt to sort out the cigarette lighter that isn't charging my phone...changing the fuse there didn't sort it. Doing that however then meant the roof wouldn't come up and there's a flashing red light on the button instead. I have read the manual and googled it but I suspect I'm missing something obvious. Anyway for now, I've put the hardtop back on and will ask someone who knows what they are doing to take a look
3. The EML light that came on a few weeks ago hasn't come back but worth looking at
4. These three points aside, mechanically it feels great. Going to get four new tyres put on now. Will have a look at the changing out wheels also following helpful suggestions on this thread but once I scrubbed up the ones I had I thought they were ok for now
Stuff for me to have a go at - my fettling skills are developing:
5. AV / tech - it's the OG pov spec radio with a tape deck and a 6-cd changer. Speakers are surprisingly good, FM/AM radio works fine. The car is completely stock inside and out and I like that a lot, don't want to start modding it out. I think the options are (1) replace out the 6-cd for a bluetooth input and then just use my phone in a good quality phone holder or (2) get the aliexpress carplay option that looks sort-of OEM but install it very carefully so I can put it back to 100% stock later if it turns out I prefer it like it is now. With option 2 it's double DIN so the HVAC moves down into what is now a blanking plate
6. Replace the number plates which are in a bit of a state
7. Come up with some way of storing the hardtop because it turns out just leaving it on the floor of the shed causes it to rust more quickly - need some sort of plastic sheeting or something for it to sit on
8. Figure out how to refresh the black plastic areas around the wing mirrors which have faded
9. I've washed and cleaned it throroughly on the outside and it looked way better for it. Need to do all that on the inside as well - it's ok for now but could be really good I think with a bit of effort
All in all a decent list, manageable I think. I was fearing a longer and costlier list than this when I got started. And the drive out I had yesterday was great. Need to get this list sorted and then get up to the Highlands!
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