My 46000 mile E46 BMW 325i auto
Discussion
A little bit of background -
My daily drive for the last couple of years or so has been a manual transmission E90 BMW 325i. Despite it being a bit of a squeeze at times it's also our family transport – 2 adults and 2 young kids. It has transported us on numerous trips/holidays/weekends away up and down the UK, not missing a beat while doing so. Here it is back at the start of the summer hols in Cheddar Gorge -
The readers car thread is here - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...
The car has now done a little over 51,000 miles in its lifetime. Also in our driveway is a Peugeot 307 1.6 with the tiptronic transmission. This has been my wife's car for a couple of years now – she learnt to drive (and also passed her test) in it. It has also been totally reliable and my wife is quite attached to it. Being much frowned upon by the PH family, I will not post a pic of it, but it's a tidy enough car (MY2007, 61000 miles) and I actually don't mind it.
Alongside these two cars, I've been wanting to run something else, without really being sure what. My sensible head says something more practical like a people carrier or estate car. My less sensible side landed this on my driveway -
An Alfa GTV 2.0 twinspark with around 83,000 miles on the clock. This was actually a car local to me and obtained via ebay. The thread is here - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=16...
As much as I loved the idea of the car, it was impractical (try getting a pushchair in the boot) and rapidly emptied my bank account (new alternator being the main expense).
So it departed to its new home a good few months back (was running lovely by then) and my search for a 'spare' car commenced.
I must admit that despite the many hours trawling ebay, Autotrader and Gumtree, it was a rather unmotivated search with very few viewings. I actually test drove a very tidy Honda CRV auto a couple of weeks back but my heart wasn't really in it. On the subject of autos – I'm very much a manual transmission man, but my wife only has an auto licence so I was always leaning towards a second car she could also use.
The BMW 325i auto
A few days ago an ad popped up on Gumtree – the ad was one I might often scroll past – 3 rather poor photos of the car and text which was equally dodgy – 'For sale automatic BMW 225i MOT 46000 history to36000 reluctantly selling 1195ono'
Obviously I could see it was a 325 and it looked tidy enough. Being an auto was handy (pretty sure I would not have bothered had it been manual) and with a mileage of 46,000, what's not to like! Oh, and the car was about 3 miles from me. The number plate was visible in the ad so I could check a few bits and pieces and there was nothing worrying in the MOT history.
On Saturday I went to view it. The ad had been running a couple of days and the woman selling it told me she had people coming to see it on Sunday (hmmm<scratches chin>).
Anyway, I don't do a lot of car viewings but this was a strange one. I like to think I have a reasonable nose for a scam and my inner alarm bells rang a number of times but the more I looked at the car the more I really didn't want to walk away.
The seller was a slightly crazy 59 year old lady, living with her mother. She hadn't driven for a few years but her brother had found her the car 4 weeks ago (for £1400 – she knows she paid too much for it). She was then shocked that her best insurance quote was £1600 – strange as I'm paying just over £500 – fully comp, with my wife who's been driving less than 2 years as a named driver. The AA are kindly mirroring my no claims bonus which maybe helps a lot.
Anyway, the car was uninsured and had no tax (not SORN'd) so I didn't fancy the offer of a test drive but I looked over it the best I could, in between the constant conversation of this slightly crazy lady. Getting down to business, I enquired about the V5c document (this would have been the deal breaker and I was half expecting her not to) but she popped into the house and produced it for me...in the name of the previous owner. The only section not there was a slip where she had put her own details but it wasn't the correct one so I still have the green slip in my name. I've since sent the V5c off the DVLA for the change of keeper. Her explanation for not doing this – didn't see the point of adding another owner if she wasn't keeping it. Considering the tax expired in July I wonder whether the DVLA are chasing the previous owner though I guess that's his problem for not tidying the paperwork at his end. My online checks did not suggest it's reported stolen so I've just about stopped sweating now.
So this is what I now have parked on my driveway -
I've driven it on a few short journeys including my work commute last night and there has been nothing to concern me so far – the only warning light when I bought it was for washer fluid which is now topped up. The OBC is indicating an oil service in 1500 miles and the oil is indeed a brownish colour and on the low side of ok. I'm not a DIY mechanic – neither the time or the skills - so my trusted 'German car specialist' who services and MOTs both our cars will be having a look at it on Monday and servicing it accordingly.
It actually drives really smoothly – the engine runs as I would expect, the gear box behaves, the suspension is a bit soft and wafty (it is an SE, after all) but certainly no nasty knocking or bangs. It does pretty much behave as I'd expect a 46,000 mile car to.
A few more good points note – It has black leather interior which looks blooming marvellous! I wouldn't say it's unmarked but I'm struggling to see much wear, including on the seat bolsters. It also has 4 Goodyear Eagle tyres with decent tread. Need to check the date of manufacture but there's no nasty cracking associated with ageing so I assume they are relatively recent. The car had 4 advisories on the last MOT and the main ones – low pads/corroded disks were taken care of (receipt for this last December).
Everything that should be working is – aircon is cold, the heater and fan speeds all function well, the rear parking sensors work well, as does the stereo. The car comes with two keys plus a couple of extra non-remote keys.
A few less good points – poor service history – the service book is stamped up to 36,000 miles... which was in 2010! A bit of what I assume is just surface rust here and there – most notable when you open the boot lid and a bit on an unrepaired scrape on one of the sills. I've never really had a car with rust but I guess you can treat this and maybe touch up those areas.
The car has MOT until November 30th so that's a pending issue but I will see what my garage says on Monday. The car needs a little tidy up here and there – the front BMW badge is beyond faded and the rear number plate was also advised on the MOT. Shame as it seems to be on the original 16 year old BMW dealer plates (always a good sign). However, water has penetrated the rear number plate frame and faded the plate accordingly.
So there we have it. Time will tell what becomes of my little 325i family. The E90 will have been with us 3 years in February so I'm really due a change but such has been it's reliability I'm in two minds. The E46 feels sufficiently different to drive at present, that I'm happy running them side by side. I'm aware of the common criticisms of the 325s (should have got a 330, same running costs, better performance etc) and of the older auto cars (slower than their manual counterparts) but I'm not really fussed.
If you took the time to read even half of this then very well done! Here's a few more pics -
My daily drive for the last couple of years or so has been a manual transmission E90 BMW 325i. Despite it being a bit of a squeeze at times it's also our family transport – 2 adults and 2 young kids. It has transported us on numerous trips/holidays/weekends away up and down the UK, not missing a beat while doing so. Here it is back at the start of the summer hols in Cheddar Gorge -
The readers car thread is here - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...
The car has now done a little over 51,000 miles in its lifetime. Also in our driveway is a Peugeot 307 1.6 with the tiptronic transmission. This has been my wife's car for a couple of years now – she learnt to drive (and also passed her test) in it. It has also been totally reliable and my wife is quite attached to it. Being much frowned upon by the PH family, I will not post a pic of it, but it's a tidy enough car (MY2007, 61000 miles) and I actually don't mind it.
Alongside these two cars, I've been wanting to run something else, without really being sure what. My sensible head says something more practical like a people carrier or estate car. My less sensible side landed this on my driveway -
An Alfa GTV 2.0 twinspark with around 83,000 miles on the clock. This was actually a car local to me and obtained via ebay. The thread is here - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=16...
As much as I loved the idea of the car, it was impractical (try getting a pushchair in the boot) and rapidly emptied my bank account (new alternator being the main expense).
So it departed to its new home a good few months back (was running lovely by then) and my search for a 'spare' car commenced.
I must admit that despite the many hours trawling ebay, Autotrader and Gumtree, it was a rather unmotivated search with very few viewings. I actually test drove a very tidy Honda CRV auto a couple of weeks back but my heart wasn't really in it. On the subject of autos – I'm very much a manual transmission man, but my wife only has an auto licence so I was always leaning towards a second car she could also use.
The BMW 325i auto
A few days ago an ad popped up on Gumtree – the ad was one I might often scroll past – 3 rather poor photos of the car and text which was equally dodgy – 'For sale automatic BMW 225i MOT 46000 history to36000 reluctantly selling 1195ono'
Obviously I could see it was a 325 and it looked tidy enough. Being an auto was handy (pretty sure I would not have bothered had it been manual) and with a mileage of 46,000, what's not to like! Oh, and the car was about 3 miles from me. The number plate was visible in the ad so I could check a few bits and pieces and there was nothing worrying in the MOT history.
On Saturday I went to view it. The ad had been running a couple of days and the woman selling it told me she had people coming to see it on Sunday (hmmm<scratches chin>).
Anyway, I don't do a lot of car viewings but this was a strange one. I like to think I have a reasonable nose for a scam and my inner alarm bells rang a number of times but the more I looked at the car the more I really didn't want to walk away.
The seller was a slightly crazy 59 year old lady, living with her mother. She hadn't driven for a few years but her brother had found her the car 4 weeks ago (for £1400 – she knows she paid too much for it). She was then shocked that her best insurance quote was £1600 – strange as I'm paying just over £500 – fully comp, with my wife who's been driving less than 2 years as a named driver. The AA are kindly mirroring my no claims bonus which maybe helps a lot.
Anyway, the car was uninsured and had no tax (not SORN'd) so I didn't fancy the offer of a test drive but I looked over it the best I could, in between the constant conversation of this slightly crazy lady. Getting down to business, I enquired about the V5c document (this would have been the deal breaker and I was half expecting her not to) but she popped into the house and produced it for me...in the name of the previous owner. The only section not there was a slip where she had put her own details but it wasn't the correct one so I still have the green slip in my name. I've since sent the V5c off the DVLA for the change of keeper. Her explanation for not doing this – didn't see the point of adding another owner if she wasn't keeping it. Considering the tax expired in July I wonder whether the DVLA are chasing the previous owner though I guess that's his problem for not tidying the paperwork at his end. My online checks did not suggest it's reported stolen so I've just about stopped sweating now.
So this is what I now have parked on my driveway -
I've driven it on a few short journeys including my work commute last night and there has been nothing to concern me so far – the only warning light when I bought it was for washer fluid which is now topped up. The OBC is indicating an oil service in 1500 miles and the oil is indeed a brownish colour and on the low side of ok. I'm not a DIY mechanic – neither the time or the skills - so my trusted 'German car specialist' who services and MOTs both our cars will be having a look at it on Monday and servicing it accordingly.
It actually drives really smoothly – the engine runs as I would expect, the gear box behaves, the suspension is a bit soft and wafty (it is an SE, after all) but certainly no nasty knocking or bangs. It does pretty much behave as I'd expect a 46,000 mile car to.
A few more good points note – It has black leather interior which looks blooming marvellous! I wouldn't say it's unmarked but I'm struggling to see much wear, including on the seat bolsters. It also has 4 Goodyear Eagle tyres with decent tread. Need to check the date of manufacture but there's no nasty cracking associated with ageing so I assume they are relatively recent. The car had 4 advisories on the last MOT and the main ones – low pads/corroded disks were taken care of (receipt for this last December).
Everything that should be working is – aircon is cold, the heater and fan speeds all function well, the rear parking sensors work well, as does the stereo. The car comes with two keys plus a couple of extra non-remote keys.
A few less good points – poor service history – the service book is stamped up to 36,000 miles... which was in 2010! A bit of what I assume is just surface rust here and there – most notable when you open the boot lid and a bit on an unrepaired scrape on one of the sills. I've never really had a car with rust but I guess you can treat this and maybe touch up those areas.
The car has MOT until November 30th so that's a pending issue but I will see what my garage says on Monday. The car needs a little tidy up here and there – the front BMW badge is beyond faded and the rear number plate was also advised on the MOT. Shame as it seems to be on the original 16 year old BMW dealer plates (always a good sign). However, water has penetrated the rear number plate frame and faded the plate accordingly.
So there we have it. Time will tell what becomes of my little 325i family. The E90 will have been with us 3 years in February so I'm really due a change but such has been it's reliability I'm in two minds. The E46 feels sufficiently different to drive at present, that I'm happy running them side by side. I'm aware of the common criticisms of the 325s (should have got a 330, same running costs, better performance etc) and of the older auto cars (slower than their manual counterparts) but I'm not really fussed.
If you took the time to read even half of this then very well done! Here's a few more pics -
Wow!
OP, I'd say you got a bargain there! I paid nearly twice that for an E46 325ti Sport Compact on 80K miles almost 3 years ago. In a week or so mine will get to 100K but it still drives so well!
In you position I'd keep that E46 - what do you stand to lose?
As lovely as the N52 engine in your E90 is, it does have an electric water pump and the part alone costs around £300 if/when it dies (I found out the hard way with my Z4 Coupe).
But I would get that sill sorted before the rust really takes hold.
Enjoy!
OP, I'd say you got a bargain there! I paid nearly twice that for an E46 325ti Sport Compact on 80K miles almost 3 years ago. In a week or so mine will get to 100K but it still drives so well!
In you position I'd keep that E46 - what do you stand to lose?
As lovely as the N52 engine in your E90 is, it does have an electric water pump and the part alone costs around £300 if/when it dies (I found out the hard way with my Z4 Coupe).
But I would get that sill sorted before the rust really takes hold.
Enjoy!
That looks like a nice honest car OP, like you've found just keep on top of the rust and a the cooling system and it'll last you a very long time! I've had 4 E46's in the past and every single one of them has been a reliable and comfy daily, I've got a right soft spot for them. Hows it compare to the E90 driveability wise? I've got an E92 now and a lot of niggles have been addressed, but I find the drive a bit less involving.
Mr Tidy said:
Wow!
OP, I'd say you got a bargain there! I paid nearly twice that for an E46 325ti Sport Compact on 80K miles almost 3 years ago. In a week or so mine will get to 100K but it still drives so well!
To be fair, the compact will always likely command a bit of a premium over other 325s, particularly the saloon. For me the compact is pretty much a 'modern classic' while I'm not sure I'd say the same about something quite common like the E46 saloon.OP, I'd say you got a bargain there! I paid nearly twice that for an E46 325ti Sport Compact on 80K miles almost 3 years ago. In a week or so mine will get to 100K but it still drives so well!
CornedBeef said:
Hows it compare to the E90 driveability wise?
Early days. The E46 has not ventured onto any road where the limit has not been 30 or 40mph as yet.I'm a bit of a novice with auto boxes but I guess I need to explore the manual mode to extract a bit more performance from it. My Wife's Peugeot has the tiptronic box but flicking over to the manual side just seems pointless and hard work.
I don't mind how the E90 drives. It always feels a good solid performer and very comfortable covering mile after mile on a motorway journey. The times I do become a bit tired is when you throw a few roundabouts into the equation. I'm thinking about one of my regular journeys along the A11 back towards Norwich, particularly around Thetford where there's some fairly quick bits of carriageway interrupted by 4 roundabouts. My heart always sinks a little when these are imminent. I suppose the E90 325i is just a fairly heavy car with decent (but not great) performance.
LandyManSam said:
The MOT history is amazing... between 2009 and the present, it never missed an MOT but never did more than a few hundred miles a year!! Was someone trying to 'mothball' this car?
I did find the MOT history quite interesting. This year will see a huge spike in the mileage as it's gone from 38472 at its last MOT to around the 46300 mark at present. The chap who acquired it in December 2016 clearly did quite a few miles before selling it to the person I got it off.
This is the ownership history I have:
Ownership
No. Of Previous Keepers
3
Current Keeper Acquired Date
01 December 2016
Current Keeper Ownership Period
0 years 9 months
Previous Keeper Sold Date
01 December 2016
Previous Keeper Acquired Date
22 September 2006
Vehicle Age
16 years 6 months
Registration Date
01 March 2001
Nice buy. Check if the airbag recall has been done too. Just call your local BMW dealer and give them the last 7 digits of the VIN, and they can tell you.
The autobox does change the character of the car, but I do like it. The last slushbox that could lock up in top gear. Sport will lock out fifth too, so I'd not use it. I also think leaving it in 'D' helps to prolong the life of them.
Also the E46 came with 4 keys. Only the remote ones will do the boot and glovebox though. There's a valet one (the metal one) and a emergency one, to be kept in a wallet (the plastic one).
The autobox does change the character of the car, but I do like it. The last slushbox that could lock up in top gear. Sport will lock out fifth too, so I'd not use it. I also think leaving it in 'D' helps to prolong the life of them.
Also the E46 came with 4 keys. Only the remote ones will do the boot and glovebox though. There's a valet one (the metal one) and a emergency one, to be kept in a wallet (the plastic one).
Edited by JakeT on Wednesday 13th September 16:43
mholt1995 said:
What a good buy! Got my sights set on a 325i next, not sure on whether it'll be in e46 flavour or e90 flavour just yet. Would love to know if you're still thinking about selling your e90 in 9 months or so!
I do think the E90 325i is a bit of a bargain. It's probably one reason I've hung onto mine - whenever I've felt I might like a change over the last year or so I get a valuation off autotrader. Last time I looked, around £3.5k to trade in or maybe £4k for a private sale. It certainly seems good value for buyer at those kind of figures.Judging by your first picture (Cheddar Gorge?), was this local to you when you bought it?
Only recently turned off my search alerts for these and that would've been a tempting spec for me to go alongside my E39, so you may as well p*** me off and tell me it was local to you and therefore local to me!
Good luck though and well bought.
Only recently turned off my search alerts for these and that would've been a tempting spec for me to go alongside my E39, so you may as well p*** me off and tell me it was local to you and therefore local to me!
Good luck though and well bought.
A couple of little improvements today. The condition of the number plates (the rear one especially) were niggling me a bit. So a quick visit to Halfrauds (who were very efficient, to be fair).
Before -
During -
And after -
The postman also kindly delivered me a little package this morning so I have duly replaced its very tired and worn looking counterpart -
Before -
During -
And after -
The postman also kindly delivered me a little package this morning so I have duly replaced its very tired and worn looking counterpart -
Great purchase OP, I had a silver 325i sport which I paid £1150 for, the mileage was a tad higher than yours to be fair... 160k i sold it a year later for a grand so I can't grumble. There's plenty of life left in your one.
Regarding Gumtree, you can find a bargain on there among the dross, my current daily Audi TT, plus my previous low miles E36 and RX8 PZ were all bought from there.
i sold it a year later for a grand so I can't grumble. There's plenty of life left in your one.Regarding Gumtree, you can find a bargain on there among the dross, my current daily Audi TT, plus my previous low miles E36 and RX8 PZ were all bought from there.
Time for a little update which, all being well, will be the last for a good while as I have no other plans than to use the car as my daily.
Around 6 weeks ago it went in for a service - as hoped, it got a generally clean bill of health.
Main points being -
Rear break pads were really low and the discs not in great condition. Indeed, shortly after the service the orange warning light for this popped up so I've been driving conservatively and avoiding heavy use of the brakes for the last few weeks.
The brake pipes were also corroded but the mechanic rubbed these down and greased them up and says they are fine for now.
Finally, the engine had a good service, auxiliary belt(s) were not in great condition so these were replaced according to my mechanic.
Fast forward to yesterday and it went in for the brake work and it's MOT. They fail it due to the brakes (thanks for that!).
Anyway, brake discs and pads done, MOT passed (it now has the best part of 13 months MOT) so all is fine.
Advisories on the MOT for the brake pipes, undertrays and child car seat ( I knew they would but the seat is a rather smart swivel one from Gumtree which was a pain to fit so I thought I best leave it).
I guess I'm not very good at bangernomics as I've lavished a bit of cash on something I was hoping would just be a cheap second car. However, it just feels a little bit too good to neglect and I suppose with kids to transport I'm inclined not to gamble with it breaking down or worse.
Around 6 weeks ago it went in for a service - as hoped, it got a generally clean bill of health.
Main points being -
Rear break pads were really low and the discs not in great condition. Indeed, shortly after the service the orange warning light for this popped up so I've been driving conservatively and avoiding heavy use of the brakes for the last few weeks.
The brake pipes were also corroded but the mechanic rubbed these down and greased them up and says they are fine for now.
Finally, the engine had a good service, auxiliary belt(s) were not in great condition so these were replaced according to my mechanic.
Fast forward to yesterday and it went in for the brake work and it's MOT. They fail it due to the brakes (thanks for that!).
Anyway, brake discs and pads done, MOT passed (it now has the best part of 13 months MOT) so all is fine.
Advisories on the MOT for the brake pipes, undertrays and child car seat ( I knew they would but the seat is a rather smart swivel one from Gumtree which was a pain to fit so I thought I best leave it).
I guess I'm not very good at bangernomics as I've lavished a bit of cash on something I was hoping would just be a cheap second car. However, it just feels a little bit too good to neglect and I suppose with kids to transport I'm inclined not to gamble with it breaking down or worse.
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