What to look out for on an 2006 E46 320D MSport

ruffneck

ruffneck

ruffneck

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I've been reading about early turbo failures and swirl flap? issues, I know a lot of you guys are vastly clued up on BMW's. Would you be able to give me the low down on this engine.

The car I'm looking at has done 67k

Cheers
 
Look out for a 2003 one instead as it'll be the same car. A 2006 E46 is going to be the wrong side of £10k and thats just too much money to spend on a 4 cylinder E46 now. Infact how have you even found one, the E90 replaced the E46 in early 2005. Is it a Coupe or something? That'd be a 320Cd M Sport not a 320d M Sport..

And yes this engine is affected by the swirl flap issue and if unchecked could write the engine off. You can remove the flaps but its a big job.
 
Probably have to agree with fox, may as well get an older version of the same car for a lot less money - its an old design so may as well save some money?
 
PMKeates said:
You deserve an award for Motors common sense! :p
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well I do 70miles a day but when you think about it that's what 18000 miles a year? What does the 330i do, 30mpg? could you get 350miles from a full tank?

The 330i will be smoother and more importantly not a diesel, also cheaper to buy, faster. maintenance costs from what I can gather will be similar?

What are the chances these days of finding a good non molested 330ci with xenons/leather/manual for 8k-10k?
 
I drive on back roads in my 330i, approximately 60 miles per day at about 60mph (but a fair bit of speeding up and down). I get about 430 miles from a full tank, which works out at approximately 15p per mile in fuel.
 
SaBBz said:
I drive on back roads in my 330i, approximately 60 miles per day at about 60mph (but a fair bit of speeding up and down). I get about 430 miles from a full tank, which works out at approximately 15p per mile in fuel.
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That's great how big is the tank on them? £50-£60 fill up?
 
Why do people use petrol tanks as a measurement of fuel economy and not MPG which is easily displayed on the OBC. :D
 
ruffneck said:
well I do 70miles a day but when you think about it that's what 18000 miles a year? What does the 330i do, 30mpg? could you get 350miles from a full tank?

The 330i will be smoother and more importantly not a diesel, also cheaper to buy, faster. maintenance costs from what I can gather will be similar?

What are the chances these days of finding a good non molested 330ci with xenons/leather/manual for 8k-10k?
Click to expand...
Long term average in mine, which was mostly M25 commuting with some personal/town use thrown in, was 28.8 MPG. The M25 is traffic heavy and my driving not particularly light on fuel, so yeah, 30 MPG should be more than doable.

The tank is 63 litres, but even at absolute zero on the dials you still have about 3 litres left. A typical fill up is about £50-60 and can last over 350 miles.

If you do ~18k a year I'd budget fuel costs in the region of £250 per month. You'd probably save £1000 per year in an E46 320d vs. a 330i, so you have to weigh that up to the significantly different performance, the sound and the smooth operation of the straight six.
 
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