4dr e46 as new daily?

[dnova89]

Hello r3v!

I'm set on having a 4dr e46 as my new daily once I sell my civic. I think my max budget is around 7g's but the cheaper I buy the car the more money I have left over for mods. It pretty much all depends how much I sell my civic for, I'm trying not to put anymore of my own money on top, but let's just say 7k for now.

My only requirements are that it be manual, 4door, black or white. I could consider a dark blue, red, or green color as long as it's 4dr and manual. Now I do not know much about the e46 generation, so I'm making this thread in hope that you guys could fill me in on stuff, I'm also going to be doing my own research but I like hearing from experienced people because sometimes you find out about little things you wouldn't otherwise find out from regular research.

Can you guys just fill me in on some of the main differences between the years? What is the cutoff year for the early/late models, any differences between the different years of early models? Late models? Reliability and gas mileage between the models? I plan to do all maintenance myself.

Is a 323i fun to drive? Or should I opt for at least a 325i? Do the 328 and 330 come in 4dr? I'm only looking for a 4dr. Any differences in suspension other than how stiff the springs are? My first two mods are going to be coilovers and then wheels in that order. I have no plans to track the car but who knows I may take it out one time for a simple day of fun at the track or other driving event. Then I will move on to exterior modifications once I get a taste of what's out there for the e46. I'm gonna start lurking e46 forums. What are a couple of the best e46 forums out there? I only know of e46fanatics.com

Anything you can tell me about the e46 will be appreciated and most likely helpful.

Thanks for your time!

PS: This does not by any means mean that I gave up on my e30... I've always had 2 cars so I just want to replace my 2nd one with an e46. The motor/tranny/subframe/suspension from my blue e30 should be separated from the body by this weekend once a few of my friends come over to help out. Then another weekend after that will be reserved for putting everything into the red e30. Can't wait!

[e30e]

7k e36's scare me, 7k e46's should really scare you.

[HarryPotter]

From what I've experienced the e46 isn't really all that its made out to be. My friend has one interior is that of any new car a pile of shit. Rear subframe issues with e46's are also common. I'd keep the civic.

[mar1t1me]

Sold mine....and I had a wagon with the Sport Package and a manual......nice car. Sort of. The cooling system is garbage. As is the oil separator. Creaks and rattles were abundant. I bought an E28 with 220K on the clock and it's been a better, more reliable car than the E46 ever was.

That said, if you just GOTTA have one, I'd go for a 02 or 03 325i or 330i. BMW had fixed the awful "Ultimate Parking Machine" steering in the '00-'01 cars by then, I think. Try to avoid Premium Package cars if you can. To much poorly sorted electronic weirdness.

The biggest problem is if you find cars that have been "dealer maintained" it really means they haven't had much maintenance. When I got mine at only 70K, no one had ever changed the gearbox oil! It had a slightly crunchy 2nd gear synchro as a result. Diff lube was original too, and the car had only had 3 oil changes. Three!

Good luck in your search. But I'd rather find a nice little used Acura TSX than drive an E46.

Oh and I couldn't get more than $7K for mine, and it was a pretty well sorted car. The entire suspension had been gone through and it had no other issues. Literally looked brand new.

[learningcurve86]

I have an 01 330i that I love... but its a pain in the ass. I bought it for $7k with 149k miles on it.

I consistantly get 28 mpg with mixed driving, so thats good..

I've had to replace the ABS sensors, Cranck Case Vent. Valve, pads, rotors, lights, blower motor resistor, valve cover gasket, vanos oil line, all of the suspension (I'm on coils and am using an m3 front sway bar), the coolant expansion tank, intake cam positioning sensor, a bunch of bushings, and my serpintine belt tensioner pulley decided last night that living was for the birds (damn pissed about that right now) and I'm about to replace my motor mounts and my oil filter housing gasket.

I love the car. Once I got the new suspension on it, it handled like a dream. However, before that it felt like it was going to fall over... and that was with sport suspension.

They're not too much harder to work on than e30s, except that the engine bay is INSANE! So over crowded.

You can get a 7k e46 that you'll love (or at least I did) but it will need work. Frequently, and parts can get expensive.

e46fanatics is a pretty good place to start though. Good luck man.

Also: people that say the 323 isn't worth getting... its still a 2.5L, it just has single VANOS. Its not like its a huge gain to go up to a 325.

There's a bunch of info on wikipedia as to when the car was updated. I.E. in 2001 the 330 got the bigger brakes, and in 2002 they did the facelift.

[N2MYE30]

I had a 99 328i 4dr, auto with 160K. I always felt like it was about to fail on me. That tranny was the worst but your looking for a 5spd...good! Coils went bad, tensioner bearings, rear bearing, WP, rear tail light wiring problems, sunroof visor off track/broken, c pillar fabric peeling off, PW motors were not happy and PO replaces 3 before me, and oil light malfuction off the top of my head. I was glad to get rid of it after 9 months.

I did like the way it drove though. Yeah, its bigger than the e30s and feels it but it had plenty of pep in it. Ergonomics were spot on. Looks good.

I bought the first batch of e46s cars so alot of the bugs have not been worked out by BMW. Even with all the above problems, I personally am thinking seriously about a ZHP for my next DD. Low mileage and 6spd.

[freeride53]

Dude, there are so many cheap e46's in socal. Why I was in tehrangles yesterday, and saw an XI on sale for $9.5. My dad's looking for a nice XI with a stick, but those are getting harder and harder to find with lower mileages. Check out ZHPs, they look fantastic and offer a lot in a great package.

[imsotyerred]

buy an e34 that is well sorted for 5k, spend extra 2k on hookers and blow

[freeride53]

^ - That could be smart as well. A fellow on R3V sold his m5 for $4000 iirc.

[Wh33lhop]

I want a ZHP too, but watch out, they have ZHP-specific issues.

[beenjamin]

buy an e34 that is well sorted for 5k, spend extra 2k on hookers and blow

+100

[dnova89]

Damn the current ZHP's on craig in my area are almost as much as an m3 rofl.

My neighbor might actually give me his mom's grandma condition e34 for cheap, so if he does then I'll go that route, but I have no idea if he intends to do so since it's been a couple months since he's mentioned it, I'll go ask him about it in a few days.

Damn it seems like an e46 is pretty fucking unreliable. I mean I can deal with a problem here and there but I don't want to be fixing shit every month. I really like the look of an e46 though. Before I decided on e46 I was trying to go for an s2k, but they're pretty much out of my price range.

I'm just looking for a good manual daily that's around 10 years old or newer that can be had for around 7-8k or less. I'm really tired of my automatic civic. Hmm I guess I'll just have to do some more thinking and searching around. It seems like everyone who's chipped in so far has had more problems than I'd like to have with my daily. My civic has been pretty much maintenance-free. My e30 is the one I want to be wrenching on every month, not my daily lol.

If you have any good suggestions for a sporty/luxury daily please go ahead! It only has to be 4dr if it's offered in 4dr, so my only real requirements are that it be manual, reliable, decent on gas, around 10 years old or newer.

[N2MYE30]

5spd EXL accord...done!

[XvillainousX]

My 2 cents, drive the civic until you finish your 4 door e30. Or you end up having 2 project cars and never finishing either in a reasonable time. Also since we're swapping your 5 speed over to your new 4 door autotragic.. get your flywheel lightened to 2.3 specs. if you want, I have a couple spare flywheels laying around..

[z31maniac]

Friend of mine has an '00 or '01 325i that he bought at the beginning of last year.

I think at this point, if you include the purchase price of the car + all the horrendous amounts of maintenance he's had to do (including jsut dropping thousands to convert the car to manual after the auto took a dump at 115k miles), he could have easily built a super clean S52 E30, and had another E36 318 (like what he had before he wrecked it) or another E30 as a nice DD.