E46 as an investment

[aka_kerrly]

Don't panic, this is very much an ironic thread as I get a bit sick of all this "investment potential" rubbish.

Whilst browsing some 330CI & Clubsports recently I couldn't help but stumble across this feature on time warp E46 on BMW Car Magazine which references some examples from Hexagon under the heading "values sky rocketing"

https://bmwcarmagazine.com/time-warp-bmw-e46s-valu...

Odd then that this particular 330CI Clubsport which in October 2016 was being advertising at £23,995 is still on sale at the same dealer for £16,995 - one excellent investment opportunity

Just where do you draw the line as a dealer having a car sat around for years when it seems you perhaps got too greedy early on and there seems to be very little evidence that and non M3 has been sold for anywhere close to that kind of money.?

[aka_kerrly]

iSore said:

it would have to be a good spec - so no sub 3.0 toss or saloons, no silver grey or beige interiors or nasty greens/golds or SE's but 330Ci Sport Coupes and maybe Convertibles in a nice colour (black, silver, Imola red, Topaz blue) with black leather. Top of the range desirable-when-new, basically. Clubsports will fetch a significant premium with facelift Estoril blue manuals being the cream. Such a car is worth buying now if you can find one that doesn't immediately need a shedload of £££ throwing at it. A friend has a 40k from new 330Ci Sport Convertible in silver with (yuk) grey leather and it's absolutely box fresh. That's already a £5000+ car now.
.

This is pretty much my view to. My ideal E46 (non M) would be a manual 330sport coupe, in Imola red, estoril blue, velvet blue or with the alcantara sport interior, although I was close to buying a black 330ci that had a blackcurrant leather interior which actually looked really good... shame the rest of the car was a let down. Sadly my ideal specification probably equates to about 5% of E46s sold hence I've searched but yet to find the right one.

My uncle has a X reg (2000) 330ci SE auto cabriolet in topaz blue with beige leather that he has owned from new and although not 100% to my taste it is a superb specification (loads of options) & has aged very well. It's in great condition yet to many worth barely a few grand

[aka_kerrly]

Mr Tidy said:

I had a 52 plate E46 325ti Sport Manual in Imola Red with full black leather for a few years that I sold for less than £1,500 in February this year.

330ci (Great) - SE (No) - Auto (No) - Cab (No) - sadly I can't see an 18 year old cabriolet being worth much more than a grand.

I know , you sold it a week after I'd bought a Civic Type R after getting inpatient trying to find a facelift sport 325TI in Red or black

My point is exactly that, to most car enthusiasts who tend to be the ones who will pay more for the right car it is a bum spec but in terms of what the general public get told in dealerships about avoiding bright colours and going for safer colours & having leather plus auto box it's exactly what people want when actually it's the opposite which is now more desirable in the second hand market.

[aka_kerrly]

C70R said:

Your uncle's car is worth less than £3k, unless it's ridiculously low mileage. How much do you think a 20-year old, mass-market car should be worth?

i think we are in agreement regarding values!

my uncles is on sub 40k miles 1 owner full bmw service history and i wouldn't pay 2k for it but others most definitely would pay a bit more maybe 3k is around the right area even if i spent a weekend detailing it which represents about 10% of its original cost.

this is exactly why i think anything over 5k for a non m3 is staggering expensive as its still around 20-25% of the as new price yet there are some already being advertised for nearer 10k on the promise of investment value which on a mass market old car is ludicrous.

[aka_kerrly]

Toltec said:

Given people collect Marinas and Allegros I don't think being a mass market model has anything to do with it.

That's a fair point, people do collect them an they are upwards of 40years old.

im starting to wonder if a generation of people who think a Iphone 6 is old and an IPhone 3 is ancient when its barely a decade old are whats screwing things as they think a 10year old car is some kind of rare antique.