BMW E46 - go for a 16v 318 or go bigger?

mortals

mortals

mortals

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17 Oct 2002
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I'm looking at getting a BMW E46 atm and I like the look of the 16v 318i's. Also the MPG seems ok at 38(combined).

Should I go for something a bit bigger or keep looking at the 318i?

I'm really not sure atm, but I need a new car for motorway driving as my Mk2 Golf GTI is a bit noisy and not that comfortable on long journeys :(
 
do not get a 4 pot bmw. end of story :p at very minimum get a 320i, but then you're onto the running costs of a 6 cylinder which, bar insurance, are nigh on identical. just get a 330i and be done with it!
 
Straight 6 BMW's are ALWAYS the 3 Series to go for if you can afford to and though the 318i isn't a bad car the 6 cylinder cars just do it better and will return similar consumption figures too in the real world.
 
Depends what the OP is looking for.
If you don't give a stuff about performance, then you still get the build quality and (some of the) interior on a 4 pot E46. So for someone with no hairy chested pretensions, the 318 is not quite such a bad idea.
 
I was looking at spending up to £6000 on the car, so I guess a bigger one is in budget.
The only thing I was looking at was running costs/economy etc.
 
mortals said:
The only thing I was looking at was running costs/economy etc.
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Well how much are you prepared to spend? The 6 cylinder models are better than the 4 pots, much better, but then they are marginally less economical as a tradeoff and tend to come with bigger wheels which take more expensive tyres and are about £50ish more expensive per service.
 
I might have a quick look at insurance etc for a 325 or something.
I guess the MPG difference isn't much and if the performance is that much different then it would be worth the extra money :)

I don't really want to spend loads on a 318 and then a few months after having it feel like it's underpowered.

I tried getting into a 318 compact today and there wasn't enough leg room :( tried a 320d tho and it had loads of leg room :)
 
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i didnt realise that the 2 cars were so different that one would lose loads of legroom in the footwell when the length difference seems to be from the lack of a bigger boot :p
 
Morba said:
i didnt realise that the 2 cars were so different that one would lose loads of legroom in the footwell when the length difference seems to be from the lack of a bigger boot :p
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That's what I thought.

At first I thought all 3series' would be the same but fortunately I looked at a normal sized 3series aswell.
 
I'm totally puzzled on this legroom thing in the 3-series because tom on here is 6ft 4 or so ? yet claims to fit in the e46 fine. I'm 6ft 8 and i've found the ones i've tried to get into absolutely appalling for legroom ? I've heard people say the front drivers seat goes right back practically onto the back seat so that theres no room to get in behind yet whenever i've seen one, theres always a MASSIVE gap so you could practically fit a 6ft'er in behind when the front seat is seemingly as far back as it can go.

I just don't get it! :confused:

Starting to think its all one big joke on me! :p
 
I've only ever seen a pic of the compact's dash, looks the same as a saloon or coupe e46. No idea about legroom as electric vs manual seats are exactly the same size/fitting but of course if they're electric they're likely to be sports seats too and the no sports seats are also of the same size as the sports ones so hmm, weird!
 
The seats on the compact didn't seem to go back as far as on the standard one.

I'm just looking at the 323/325 now :)

Finding it hard to find one with mileage under 80k tho. Altho should I be worried about getting a 323/325 that is over 100k?
 
Engine wise not really if it's been looked after but resale will be affected and the condition of the seats, trim and steering wheel will most likely be in need of a refurb!
 
mortals said:
Finding it hard to find one with mileage under 80k tho. Altho should I be worried about getting a 323/325 that is over 100k?
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not particularly

edit- seen a few 323/325s on pistonheads under 80k, are you looking hard enough? :p
 
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