I had my E46 for 4 years from 80k to 160k and never had a problem with it. I just kept up on the preventive maintenance like the cooling system and added the subframe reinfocing which only took a day to do. I'd still have it if it was not rear ended and toatled. It got 28MPG and up to 34MPG on road trips.
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"Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed."
John F. Kennedy
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Possibly but window regulators are only $60 and take less then 20 minutes to change. Mine came with a stack of maintenace records from the previous owner who took extremely good care of it.Comment
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love mine, had the subframe repaired under recall in march, other then lil annoyances like replacing the dust shields to have functioning ebrakes again (e30 did the SAME thing) and having to replace and paint the whole trunk handle to have working plate bulbs, its been an awesome car
i do miss my e30, but the e46 is a reliable daily that i can trust, so when i build my next e30 i wont be taking the bus to work/school hahaComment
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I've been talking with a lot of people in real life and online lately and I think I'm pretty set on a 4door e46. Yeah you guys sure do have a lot of bad things to say about it which kinda scares me, but I think I should be fine if I just keep up with my preventative maintenance. I treated my e30 pretty well in terms of maintenance and it never left me stranded due to a maintenance problem. (I know what you're thinking but flipping the car is not a maintenance problem! So it doesn't count to say it left me stranded that time haha)
The ZHP sounds really attractive, but they're so damn expensive! I've crossed the 323i off my list. Even the 325i doesn't sound so good. I think I'm gonna try my best to grab either a 328 or 330. If I get really, really lucky then a ZHP. I have a few friends with dealer licenses, maybe they can help me out.
Oh I'm definitely keeping the civic until we're done with the new e30 lol. I won't put my civic for sale until I can daily drive the e30, which I will do until it sells. Lightening the flywheel sounds good, I'll talk more about it with you when I see you.Comment
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The 325i has 8 hp less than the older 328i but after 03 got face lifted, who care's about 8 hp when the face lifted newer versions of the e46 are better quality.1985 BMW 325e
1997 BMW M3/4/5
2007 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab 5.3 v8Comment
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I'll look into the face lift. More info on this subframe recall stuff?
"The suit originated in 2006 and claimed that defects in E46 3-series models cause fractures in the rear-axle supports in the subframe."
What's the fix, and how can I check if the PO already had BMW take care of it?Comment
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