Thoughts on this e46?

[Vtec?lol]

With a manual tranny and sport package? No, you can't. I'm looking for a sporty coupe, needs to be clean, reliable and not a cop magnet. Not necessarily a BMW but what else is there, really?

Actually, E39's have the sportiest package of them all damn near. If you get a V8 you get the 6 spd manual. If you get the 530, you get an aluminum straight 6 and a 5spd manual.

[E30 Wagen]

Actually, E39's have the sportiest package of them all damn near. If you get a V8 you get the 6 spd manual. If you get the 530, you get an aluminum straight 6 and a 5spd manual.

yeah, for like $10k, if you can find one so equipped.

[Swanny]

Sporty coupe = cop magnet.

Thats a first run e46 so has a lot of electrical and cooling bugs that were ironed out after the first run, but that is a pretty high price for a 14 year old car.

Be patient, widen your search area, and eventually you'll find what you're looking for.

[E46Twist]

I have an E46. Get a ZHP or M or skip them. They like to have new parts often. That being said I do love the car.

Edit: A 323 will have potential sub frame problems.
"Fast is Sexy"

[fiveightandten]

When it comes to E46s, nice clean ones command a premium, and believe me, a well cared for E46 looks much nicer than a dogged one. The interior materials don't wear nicely, and the exterior trim and rubber seals don't either. All that stuff is stupid expensive to replace, and it's the kind of thing that will make the car look like crap, no matter how clean the rest of it is.

The E46 is a phenomenal daily driver, and I'd overpay a bit for a clean one. The 323 is actually a 2.5L, and it has plenty of power for a DD. It has decent torque and doesn't feel underpowered. Coming from an E30, it will feel fine. That being said, the 330ci has a lot more power, does even better on gas, comes with more standard features, and has better brakes. It's just a better car all around.

You can certainly get a 330ci for that amount of money. But you'll be searching for a clean one. I looked for about 3 months to find mine. Yes, I looked at *tons* of $5-7K cars. They were trashed, every single one of them. I happily paid $9K for mine (this was a few years ago, mind you). It's a 2003 Japanrot on black ZSP, ZPP. I have OE steelies for the winter and stock style 68s for the rest of the year. The E46 feels like a god damned space ship compared to my E30. And not in a bad way. It's an utterly fantastic daily driver, and IMO the best BMW out there for DD duty (cost vs what you get). It's reliable, efficient, comfortable, modern engineering/ safety/ creature comforts, and it still looks great.

The big drawbacks of this car are the open diff and the drive by wire. That car probably has a cable actuated throttle (early cars did). But you can't get a LSD in it for less than a few grand (or not easily). The handling on it is fantastic, until you hit the limit. Then it feels like garbage, due to the open diff. Great under-limit handling. But it looses composure and gets ragged when the rear tires break loose. It's fine for a DD that you don't plan on breaking traction with. Very good, actually.

And don't worry about the ZHP and M3 fanboys. The ZHP is great. But to say it's worlds ahead of a ZSP isn't true. And to say a ZSP isn't worth owning is ridiculous. I have a well sorted E30, a fantastic E36 M3 with $4K in suspension work, and I love my bone stock E46 330ci just as much. It a fantastic automobile.

Get that one, or wait for a clean 330ci if you want the better car. But you can't go wrong either way. Just make sure the floor pan is sound, and do the cooling system, CCV, and intake boots preventatively. Drive the tires off it. It's a great car.

[gtdragon980]

With a manual tranny and sport package? No, you can't. I'm looking for a sporty coupe, needs to be clean, reliable and not a cop magnet. Not necessarily a BMW but what else is there, really?

I would def stick with an e46 just because they are pretty damn reliable once you sort out all of the maintenance. The best option is to hold out for a 330i manual, but even the 325i is not bad. I have one and it is plenty luxurious and teh bitchez love it! Unless you aren't into that sort of thing :D

[Wanganstyle]

I wanted only a 325i 2500cc

The e46 has a cooling system made entirely out of plastic; even the expansion tank holding bracket is plastic and actually holds water pressure; it's got a blow off relief plastic screw on it.

The entire cooling system is plastic; all hoses have plastic clip on ends.

Buy a new complete system as soon as you take title of the e46; and replace it asap.

Thermostat is plastic and electronic controlled. Likes to fail every ~30k
Over flow tank and radiator are all plastic clip monsters

Weakest engine = least chance of cooling system explosion and engine melt down.

LSD was a must for me; budget 2k for it.

330zhp premium is simply not worth it to me; a clean face lift 325 is easily found in original manual for 5-6k.

For the extra 25hp and change its not worth paying 4k more.

If spending close to 10k for e46; buy a m3. It's great and costs alot to run...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[E30 Wagen]

Going to look at this tomorrow... http://holland.craigslist.org/cto/4407900612.html

Anything in particular I should look for? It's been sitting for a year.