BMW 330

[duggs]

Has anyone had any experiance of the BMW 330..circa Yr: 2000/2003

Quite fancy one as a second casual drive about ?

[serek]

petrol or diesel??

[duggs]

Petrol for me !  Personally I'd only ever have a diesel when petrol runs out...and even then, under protest !

[TheBoy]

330Ci, after Alpina had tweaked it.

Pretty rapid, not quite in M3 league, but better top end. Apparently .

Needs 98RON petrol, and the tyres were £300 a pop. Other than that, the only memory was "what a blast".

[serek]

those e46 330I are fast and fault less cars really
front suspension bushes are main problem,
noise from vanos but can buy repair kit from US for about £30 in UK market only complite vanos £700
other then that just normal things

[cem_devecioglu]

endless money pit..

one of my friends is a bmw mechanic.. and he earns good money from them..

no one buys them to drive like a granny..

[cem_devecioglu]

and plus if you will pay that much money for fuel,repairs,tax,insurance m3 or m5 will be at least worth it..

[duggs]

Oooooo !   In terms of "quick" but NOT fast....what should I look at ?

[Lazydocker]

Oooooo !   In terms of "quick" but NOT fast....what should I look at ?

Something small and light... MR2, MX5 etc... Much quicker than an Omega around the lanes

[duggs]

Thank you....will keep ebay searchin'.

[Del Boy]

They're good cars, E46's are built to last, 3.0 straight 6 will go on forever if the correct oil is used and changed, along with normal service items. The 3.0 sounds lovely, and goes really well, 231 BHP straight 6, lovely  . Handle like an absolute dream if you get an M Sport model  .

[Broomies Mate]

I dont understand why people profess that BMW's are expensive to own. Likely they have never owned a BMW.

Common sense...... if the car has been looked after, it will generally be a sound buy.

[cem_devecioglu]

cars are made up of consumables..  import car parts especially bmw are definitely expensive.. even if you diy..

and no one will give you a well looked low mileage bmw for some peanuts..

[cem_devecioglu]

but if you will drive for few months, go on..

[TheBoy]

I've found that BMW parts are often reasonable, although sometimes shocked by some quotes from the parts desk. Mind you, not dissimilar to GM

Some backstreet garages seem to bump up servicing costs with BMW. Not sure if this is because they feel the owners have more cash, or for the extra software/diags, eg to reset brake check inteval etc