Buying an E46 330d, what to look for?

[jcas]

Hi all,

Hoping to buy a 330d pretty soon, can anyone point out anything to look out for?

Cheers,
James

[BikealarmBlair]

the wife's big grin after driving it & getting out the car saying "that's the one were having it" great for haggling that.......

[mat205125]

BikealarmBlair said:

the wife's big grin after driving it & getting out the car saying "that's the one were having it" great for haggling that.......

Bet you managed a good discount after that comment didn't you

[djfish]

Apart from the usual things (signs of crash damage, service history etc) you might want to pay special attention to the oil level, condition of suspension components, clunks from the drivetrain on manual cars and signs of rust on the window surrounds.

Happy car hunting!

[baz1985]

Don't buy one without a proper BMW Warranty.

Turbo= £1500.
Sticking injectors= circa £500
Suspension components: Front ball-joints/wishbone bushes, Rear top-mounts/bushes, coil spring all-round.
Steering pump and rack.
Gearbox linkages/bushes

[NickXX]

Just for the record. I bought a 3 year old 330d (184bhp) in February last year - was just out of warranty. It had covered 97k when I bought it.

Since then I've done 21k miles and all it's needed was a set of new wishbone mounts which cost about £140 fitted from and Independant BMW specialist.

FBMWSH, still on its original turbo and injectors.

Has been on an Oulton Park track day and Donington track day and twice to the Ring - so not had an easy life either since I got it

Edit - it's also remapped

Edited by NickXX on Tuesday 24th April 19:29

[jamoor]

baz1985 said:

Don't buy one without a proper BMW Warranty.

Turbo= £1500.
Sticking injectors= circa £500
Suspension components: Front ball-joints/wishbone bushes, Rear top-mounts/bushes, coil spring all-round.
Steering pump and rack.
Gearbox linkages/bushes

£1500 is a bit excessive, usually you can get it done for <£900, some people have done the 530ds for around £650 by ordering a turbo from turbolader in germany.

[Mista_V]

Can I just say again...

CHECK THAT ****ING TURBO!

I bought a 02 plate 525d about 3 weeks ago and the turbo decided to let go last weekend, costing me a grand to fix so i'm not best pleased, worst still is that whilst contacting several BMW specialists the same message I was getting is that its a common fault and the turbos have been known to let go easily on these, apparently a £30 breather valve? gets clogged and can cause the turbo to lunch itself.

...fantastic

[The_Doc]

jcas said:

Hi all,

Hoping to buy a 330d pretty soon, can anyone point out anything to look out for?

Cheers,
James

go for a post-March 2003 one as it has 204bhp rather than 184bhp.

I bought at 37k 18months ago and now have 74k. Fuel sensor played up and was fixed under warranty. Everything else fine.

Best all-round car I've owned yet. Still makes me smile with grunt at 2000revs. Still will easily do 140 and happy to cruise all day at 100.

Get a chip+fresh exhaust and you can get 40-50bhp more for 1000notes.

[Dominic H]

I have a '53 330d sport touring auto, mines a standard car. I'd echo The Docs comments, I've had mine 8 months and it still makes me grin. I bought mine privately from a fastidious first keeper (if you check my profile, you'll see I've used the Autotrader shot by the first owner, he's a better snapper than me...), and extended the warranty with BMW UK and I've had no worries to date. Good luck with your search!

Edited by Dominic H on Saturday 28th April 08:44

[jcas]

Unfortunately my budget wouldn't stretch to the 204bhp model... but I ended up buying the car I went to see, black 2001 sport, pick it up on Wednesday, can't wait

James

[shell320]

Only problems I could tell you to look out for are erratic Idle on cold start where the car revs itself and then drops to a near stall. The other which you could check youself is the lower front bushes these are notorious for wear and unfortunately on the E46 the lower arm needs replacing with them as they generally fracture when trying to remove the bush. Will cost about £130 per side parts can be obtained from GSF which is where independants get stock.
Other than that no other problems that im aware of.

[BikealarmBlair]

jcas said:

Unfortunately my budget wouldn't stretch to the 204bhp model... but I ended up buying the car I went to see, black 2001 sport, pick it up on Wednesday, can't wait

James

I'm sure you'll love it M8

In the mean time I'm going to hi-jack your thread to show off our new one, had it about a week & I love it even if I'm only allowed near it to clean/fuel or add toys!




A few toys that I fitted

[paoloh]

Buy a sport model