e46 BMW 330D Sport - Opinions and/or advice ?

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Right, have been thinking about one of these for my next car or as my day to day car and keep rado for summer / nice days. Am looking for any advice, pro's con's, opinions - good or otherwise etc. They seem like a lot of car for the money and have seen 2001-2003 examples around 50-70k miles for £6k-£7.5k - don't forget that this was a £35k car new......

 

I would rather get one that avoids the tax increase bracket, but however the earlier models only got 185BHP as opposed to 204BHP in the later ones. Also, was seriously thining about the auto version just for smoothness, but I hear they can be prone to failure (£1500 for replacement inc fitting)? Also heard mutterings about overheating and turbo's going. The manuals are quite hard to come by and command more money too.

 

This said they come pretty well-specced, with most getting lots of options e.g. xenon HID's, decent hi-fi with Harmon-Kardon optional, poss, sat-nav and tv, most have elec leather and heated seats etc and can be remapped to 240-260BHP easily with 450+ft-lbs torque for £300. Still looking at 35MPG too which can't be bad.

 

Any thoughts peeps or does anyone actually own one / know someone that has one ?

[KipVR 1]

Do you do a lot of miles? If not then the 330 would be a better choice imo. Much smoother, quicker, and initially cheaper to buy. You have to do A LOT of miles for oil burners to become worth the extra cost at the pump. Even the 325 E46 is a nice drive.

[corozin 0]

I'm in a similar position to yourself and test drove a 330Ci Cabriolet 2 weeks ago. The car itself was comfy, very refined, quick enough to get into trouble (with 231bhp) and really got me thinking about moving on altogether. There are cheapy 330Ci coupe's everywhere on the market right now as they're common lease-car fodder but you should (in my view) try and hold out for one with the optional TV/SatNav system fitted. A hard top is available for the Cab model and quite a few on the market will have these available. My only reservation about them are the number of cars with the SSG gearbox, which I found to be a little slow on kickdown and is an unknown to me as far as reliability is concerned. I would probably track down one with the 6-speed manual instead personally.

 

The dilemma for me as I potentially move into new work in 2009 is whether to buy something like the 330Ci at less money and work out whether to run that with the Corrado, or alternatively dump the Corrado altogether in favour of running either an E46 M3 or E39 M5 - both of which are available at around the 10k-12k mark. I do love my Corrado, and have owned three of them during the past 11 years, but frankly with prices of M3/M5 now where they are I'm fighting the common sense option to switch and own something which clearly performs at the next level compared to a VR6. There's also the age, comfort, boot-space, luxury toys, build quality and a whole other bunch of reasons to finally move on.

 

But coming back to your original question I think you should try the 330i/Ci as these reportedly obtain 30mpg quite easily (even with the SSG box) and I don't think BMW diesels give quite the mpg benefit that you might at first think is there.

 

If you really do want a diesel though I would also suggest checking out the 5-series diesel models because with secondhand BMW's you can pretty much have the equivalent 3 series or 5 series for similar money right now, and in my view why would you want a 3 when you can have the more substantial 5 instead? If you want to keep it in thge VAG family then MkIV R32s and various Seat Leon (petrol & diesel) are also in your price range now. My "surprise" suggestion would be to look at a diesel Mercedes ML. You'd be surprised at the prices these ML's are going for in the trade right now and the 280CDi model can return almost 30mpg on a run (according to my brother who is now on this third one) and has more toys on it than you'd believe. It's worth investigating at least because they're great cars despite the "chelsea tractor" image problem.

 

HTH,

John

 

p.s. for what it's worth I wouldn't worry too much about the retrospective VED duty issue in future. I think it's probably safe to say that the Government are going to kick the idea of applying increases in VED restrospectively (for cars registered 2001-2007 ) well into the weeds now, although they are likely to retain it for new cars.

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Ok cheers mate, I was thinking about the 330D because they aree meant to be great build quality, fast, good on fuel and all the toys. Think a 5 series would be too big for me tbh though. Leon Cupra 225, S3 225, A3 3.2 (MK4 R32 in sheeps clothing) and MK4 R32 have all criossed my mind, but just don't know if they would feel special enough. Having myself moved into new work in last year which should be stable position with moving up etc. I should be able to finally move on and get something newer and dare I say it more reliable....

 

I have said to myself I will have an e46 M3 at some point this new year, they are amazing value, I have driven one already and it was a great all round performer. You can have an 02-03' with 40-50k for around £13-15k, no brainer really. I was also thinking about the BMW Z3 M Coupe, later ones have the early e46 M3 S54 engine and are rare, handle brilliantly apparently, love the quirky style and the interiors.

 

Anyways, does anyone else have any opinions or advice on the 330D's ?

 

Cheers

[Stan 24v 0]

Not a 330D but I have just bought a 330Ci Sport ;)

 

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=75786

 

Its nice. Quick when you want or a cruiser when you want too. Looks nice, fully loaded, decent MPG (for what it is), parts arent expensive either!

[Stan 24v 0]

http://www.e46zone.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3985

 

Might be a bargain!!!