Discussion
Looking for the right 328ci at the moment. Got a budget of about £8.5k, is this realistic?
Also, how well do they take miles? I know "buy on condition" and so on, but when I see mileages of 70-80-90,000 it just begins to make me think there may be some big bills coming...
If anyone has one they want to sell, please let me know.
Cheers.
Also, how well do they take miles? I know "buy on condition" and so on, but when I see mileages of 70-80-90,000 it just begins to make me think there may be some big bills coming...
If anyone has one they want to sell, please let me know.
Cheers.
zoidberg said:
Looking for the right 328ci at the moment. Got a budget of about £8.5k, is this realistic?
Also, how well do they take miles? I know "buy on condition" and so on, but when I see mileages of 70-80-90,000 it just begins to make me think there may be some big bills coming...
If anyone has one they want to sell, please let me know.
Cheers.
Also, how well do they take miles? I know "buy on condition" and so on, but when I see mileages of 70-80-90,000 it just begins to make me think there may be some big bills coming...
If anyone has one they want to sell, please let me know.
Cheers.
Unless I'm mistaken and someone with better knowledge comes along, the 328 is the older engine, as fitted to the E36. The early ones can be known to have problems (VANOS?) and it's generally the 'poorer' of the six cylinder E46 coupes along with the 323ci.
IMO you're best off getting a 320, 325 or 330ci. 8.5k should get you a decent 320 or 325, a bit more for a 330.
Mileage isn't a problem engine and transmission-wise as long as it's been looked after properly. It's the little things that go on E46's - door locks, minor electrical stuff, suspension bushes, etc.
I chopped in my 2001 318ci SE about 2 weeks ago, it had just over 100,000 miles on it, I had owned it for 4 years and done over 60,000 in that time.
Without a shadow of a doubt THE best car i have owned so far (although my new BMW is very good aswell) I had it serviced regulary and kept an eye on the oil etc and generally kept it in good condition.
At over 100k the car was fine, i would have been more than happy to keep it if i wasn't in a position to change.
The only thing that went on mine was the water pump 2 days before i sold it, sods law aye!
I know its a smaller engine, but really dont worry about getting into a 50, 60, 70k car as long as its got all the stamps.
Without a shadow of a doubt THE best car i have owned so far (although my new BMW is very good aswell) I had it serviced regulary and kept an eye on the oil etc and generally kept it in good condition.
At over 100k the car was fine, i would have been more than happy to keep it if i wasn't in a position to change.
The only thing that went on mine was the water pump 2 days before i sold it, sods law aye!
I know its a smaller engine, but really dont worry about getting into a 50, 60, 70k car as long as its got all the stamps.
The M52 2.8 fitted to the E46 is an evolution of the E36 engine - nothing more than double Vanos (reliable) and Alusil bores (as opposed to Nikasil, which caused all the problems on E36). Utterly bomb proof, although some headgaskets can go past 120K.
The engine itself is heavily restricted to 193bhp. Oddly, though, the earlier single vanos engine is more characterful than the later one. I'd recommend driving both the 2.8 and the 3.0, but the generally accepted view is that the 2.8 feels gutless when compared with the 3.0
This isn't to say the 3.0 is better though - it's 30bhp better off, but the 2.8 can be modified to give more power without too much effort, and its still boringly linear in it's delivery.
The real difference is that by the time the 3.0 arrived, BMW had been fiddling with the formula, and the whole car feels different - not necessarily in a good way either.
As previously said, the E46 is generally well built, but does suffer from mild electrical gremlins - the Sat-Nav/TV on the Alpina sometimes cuts out, but is cured by pulling the fuse and putting it back in. Very Alfa-esque.
All BMWs chew bushes and top mounts, regardless of model or engine.
Weak points on the big sixes are limited to automatic transmissions which are not really up to repeated abuse - but they're fairly easy to check, and in the event of failure around £1200 to fix at a specialist.
Both cars will go to 200K+ without any major expense, but remember they're fairly stiffly spring, so the interior starts to rattle and feel it's age past 100K.
Buy on mileage, spec, colour, age.
Worth noting the 328ci was limited to SE spec, so you might find a better spec early 330 (which had Sport pack (suspension, body, seats) as a starting point rather than optional extra). That's not to say the 330ci Sport is any good though - I found it unbearably hard and skittish on typical British roads.
Essential spec (in order of importance) is leather, sports seats, sports suspension, Sat-Nav/TV,
Avoid the later Steptronic auto boxes - the shift mapping is bizarre and they still kick down when in manual mode (largely pointless basically). SSG is an oddity on the 330.
The engine itself is heavily restricted to 193bhp. Oddly, though, the earlier single vanos engine is more characterful than the later one. I'd recommend driving both the 2.8 and the 3.0, but the generally accepted view is that the 2.8 feels gutless when compared with the 3.0
This isn't to say the 3.0 is better though - it's 30bhp better off, but the 2.8 can be modified to give more power without too much effort, and its still boringly linear in it's delivery.
The real difference is that by the time the 3.0 arrived, BMW had been fiddling with the formula, and the whole car feels different - not necessarily in a good way either.
As previously said, the E46 is generally well built, but does suffer from mild electrical gremlins - the Sat-Nav/TV on the Alpina sometimes cuts out, but is cured by pulling the fuse and putting it back in. Very Alfa-esque.
All BMWs chew bushes and top mounts, regardless of model or engine.
Weak points on the big sixes are limited to automatic transmissions which are not really up to repeated abuse - but they're fairly easy to check, and in the event of failure around £1200 to fix at a specialist.
Both cars will go to 200K+ without any major expense, but remember they're fairly stiffly spring, so the interior starts to rattle and feel it's age past 100K.
Buy on mileage, spec, colour, age.
Worth noting the 328ci was limited to SE spec, so you might find a better spec early 330 (which had Sport pack (suspension, body, seats) as a starting point rather than optional extra). That's not to say the 330ci Sport is any good though - I found it unbearably hard and skittish on typical British roads.
Essential spec (in order of importance) is leather, sports seats, sports suspension, Sat-Nav/TV,
Avoid the later Steptronic auto boxes - the shift mapping is bizarre and they still kick down when in manual mode (largely pointless basically). SSG is an oddity on the 330.
How about making an offer on this no big bills for at least a year as a BMW AUC
Model:
325Ci Coupe
Price:
£10,888
Mileage:
60,201
Transmission:
Manual
Fuel:
Petrol
Exterior colour:
Titanium Silver
Interior:
Tanin Red Leather
Date of registration:
January 2001
Registration:
X137GEP
Dealer:
Stratstone Aylesbury
Buckingham Road
Aylesbury HP19 9QH
01296 610000
Model:
325Ci Coupe
Price:
£10,888
Mileage:
60,201
Transmission:
Manual
Fuel:
Petrol
Exterior colour:
Titanium Silver
Interior:
Tanin Red Leather
Date of registration:
January 2001
Registration:
X137GEP
Dealer:
Stratstone Aylesbury
Buckingham Road
Aylesbury HP19 9QH
01296 610000
Edited by olf on Wednesday 14th February 18:00
or this one.
Model:
323Ci Coupe
Price:
£10,995
Mileage:
61,166
Transmission:
Manual
Fuel:
Petrol
Exterior colour:
Titanium Silver
Interior:
Grey Leather
Date of registration:
September 2000
Registration:
X595RBT
Dealer:
Barons of Farnborough
116 Farnborough Road
Farnborough GU14 6TN
01252 518185
Model:
323Ci Coupe
Price:
£10,995
Mileage:
61,166
Transmission:
Manual
Fuel:
Petrol
Exterior colour:
Titanium Silver
Interior:
Grey Leather
Date of registration:
September 2000
Registration:
X595RBT
Dealer:
Barons of Farnborough
116 Farnborough Road
Farnborough GU14 6TN
01252 518185
As has been said youll totally get a low milege minter for that money.Ive ran a 328 ci now for nearly three years having bought the car with 80 thousand up and ive got 105 thousand up now.Great car and before buying i tryed the 323 and a 320 and found the 323 totally gutless,but the 320 very sweet if a little gutless.Ive looked to up grade to 330 and ive driven a few seemed a lot rortier but didnt seem a lot faster to warrant the extra cost at the time.But theres a few things you should look out for theres a few knowing faults like the rads have a habit of splitting at the lower outlet,and mine just had to have all new brake pipes for the mot and according to a friend who works for bmw there seeing a lot of the early e46s coming in for them,not a cheep job to get done even at a indie.I also had the one of the rear axle locations rip out from the chassis which according to the indie who repaired it they do lot of them.
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