Photo: BMW
As time goes by, certain models become more and more desirable and withstand the test of time while others fall into disgrace and people tend to forget about them.
The BMW E46 3 Series is part of the former category. As time goes by this particular model continues to show its strength both in styling and in viability. Slowly but surely, the myth that this was the best 3 Series ever made starts confirming itself.
In Europe, at the moment, such cars (and I’m going to stick to Coupes for now) are really affordable right now, ranging from EUR1,000 to up to EUR20,000 for really special, facelift 330Ci models. A pretty wide margin to look into.
So, being in the market for one myself, I started wondering what should I look for when buying one. Fortunately our friend Google provides a lot of answers. Therefore, I though it would be a good idea to share the information I gathered with you guys.
These 3ers are usually rock solid. Go for award-winning engines like the ones on the 320i pre-facelift and the LCI 318i and you’ll be set for over 500,000 km (300,000 miles) if you take good care of them. 3 liter engines (both pre and post LCI) are also quite enjoyable but the prices don’t really justify their increase in performance.
What you should look for then. Well, the cooling system will have to get a look over. One of the most common issues on these cars is the water pump that will fail at one point or another and will need replacing. The expansion tank usually explodes too therefore you’ll have to keep an eye out for the entire cooling system.
The window regulators also seem to have a bad habit of failing every once in a while therefore you should raise and lower the windows when buying such a car and listen for weird clicks and clanks.
On the facelift models, the tail lamp wiring harness has a defect due to poor build quality materials and tends to fail every once in a while bringing up annoying lights in your dashboard completely ruining your day. However, easy fixes are available as DIY guides online and it only takes a couple of minutes do resolve this problem. However, you should drive the price lower in case you stumble upon such errors on a car.
The biggest and most expensive usual issue with this model though concerns the subframe. Especially on pre-LCI models it will usually crack or show torn subframe mounting points over extensive usage. The most common models that seem to be affected by this problem are the 323i and 328i.
Facelift models seem to have a better subframe and this problem was seldom reported but on pre 2001 models, a check is absolutely mandatory as a fix (yes, you can fix it) will be extremely expensive and hard to do. To get an idea of just how many cars suffer from this issue, check out this thread. To see how it looks like, check this out.
Other issues include the front control arm bushings (that tend to fail rather quickly), ignition coils (symptoms include multiple ‘cylinder misfire’ codes) and VANOS seals that fail and are rather cheap and simple to replace (to check the VANOS system listen for mechanical clinks at around 2,000 RPM).
Of course, no car should be bought without proper service history and a proper ECU test to see what errors the computer returns. Other than that, miscellaneous things might show up but these are the biggest problems you could come by. Good luck!
In Europe, at the moment, such cars (and I’m going to stick to Coupes for now) are really affordable right now, ranging from EUR1,000 to up to EUR20,000 for really special, facelift 330Ci models. A pretty wide margin to look into.
So, being in the market for one myself, I started wondering what should I look for when buying one. Fortunately our friend Google provides a lot of answers. Therefore, I though it would be a good idea to share the information I gathered with you guys.
These 3ers are usually rock solid. Go for award-winning engines like the ones on the 320i pre-facelift and the LCI 318i and you’ll be set for over 500,000 km (300,000 miles) if you take good care of them. 3 liter engines (both pre and post LCI) are also quite enjoyable but the prices don’t really justify their increase in performance.
What you should look for then. Well, the cooling system will have to get a look over. One of the most common issues on these cars is the water pump that will fail at one point or another and will need replacing. The expansion tank usually explodes too therefore you’ll have to keep an eye out for the entire cooling system.
The window regulators also seem to have a bad habit of failing every once in a while therefore you should raise and lower the windows when buying such a car and listen for weird clicks and clanks.
On the facelift models, the tail lamp wiring harness has a defect due to poor build quality materials and tends to fail every once in a while bringing up annoying lights in your dashboard completely ruining your day. However, easy fixes are available as DIY guides online and it only takes a couple of minutes do resolve this problem. However, you should drive the price lower in case you stumble upon such errors on a car.
The biggest and most expensive usual issue with this model though concerns the subframe. Especially on pre-LCI models it will usually crack or show torn subframe mounting points over extensive usage. The most common models that seem to be affected by this problem are the 323i and 328i.
Facelift models seem to have a better subframe and this problem was seldom reported but on pre 2001 models, a check is absolutely mandatory as a fix (yes, you can fix it) will be extremely expensive and hard to do. To get an idea of just how many cars suffer from this issue, check out this thread. To see how it looks like, check this out.
Other issues include the front control arm bushings (that tend to fail rather quickly), ignition coils (symptoms include multiple ‘cylinder misfire’ codes) and VANOS seals that fail and are rather cheap and simple to replace (to check the VANOS system listen for mechanical clinks at around 2,000 RPM).
Of course, no car should be bought without proper service history and a proper ECU test to see what errors the computer returns. Other than that, miscellaneous things might show up but these are the biggest problems you could come by. Good luck!
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