School Me on E46

[Herr Faust Schinken]

what does SULEV stand for Super low emissions vehicle? isnt that what a prius or a volt is

[Wh33lhop]

Zhp!!!!!!

Awesome cars, but they have a few problems that the "normal" E46s do not. Because of the aggressive cams the Vanos tends to fail more frequently and rattle. It's likely it's not working in E46s anyway so not a huge deal. Also they sometimes have some weird idle and power loss issues that IIRC is software related, and the alcantara interior tends to deteriorate. Still, awesome cars.

what does SULEV stand for Super low emissions vehicle? isnt that what a prius or a volt is

Yes and probably. They had a crazy sealed fuel system that fails all the time and basically gives you no benefit.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

well that sucks my parents were looking into an E91 328i wagon and half them were SULEV cars and i read that the sulev cars had different cooling systems, different fuel systems and the parts and repairs for the SULEV cars were more expensive

[Wh33lhop]

I think they gave you a tax break or something if you bought them new. At this point they are just liabilities.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

yeah unfortunately my mom bought a Chrysler 300 which is not that great of a car

[Andrew325is]

My opinion:
They are a good car, much improved compared to the E36, but from an economic viewpoint they are a bad investment in the long term. Most are becoming worth less than E30's now. E90's are beginning to follow. They are therefore becoming prime candidates as E30 parts cars. :)

The electronics is actually what makes the E46 great, so don't be afraid of that. Start navigating through the WDS to familiarize yourself with the systems. http://wds.spaghetticoder.org/
And build yourself a DIS machine for diagnostics at home. No need to waste money at a shop for silly things. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1297683 Also, install TIS either separately under 32-bit windows or within DIS for factory correct maintenance procedures with proper torque values. Pick up an E46 Bentley manual too for something nice to read, but make sure you verify with TIS before you do anything in case what it says is wrong. Then you'll be ready to install your E46 engine and electronics into an E30 so you'll have the best of both worlds.