New used car time...

Frenzy

Frenzy

Frenzy

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Ok so I'm after a little advice on whether or not the car I'm after is a bad choice. I'd just like to know if there are any major cons.

After looking around for a relatively quick diesel that is pleasing to the eye I had settled upon thw BMW 320d e46.
After reading a few posts on here reccomending 6 cylinder instead (I'm still not entirely sure of the difference) I've decided to go for a 2004 e46 330cd. I prefer the coupe due to the looks and I haven't really heard of any major disadvantages. I am aware of the longer doors on this car.
Of course I will need to test drive the car to ensure this is what I want, I am aware of that.

Now my budget is around £6000, I have the money in cash. I understand that I will be looking at a 100k+ car. My mileage per year is around 9000. It will be for commuting and the occasional drive somewhere. I currently drive a Mk2 Rev3 Mr2 GTS Import.

Example of what I am after, this is a cat d so I don't think I will be going for it.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif.../radius/1500/postcode/cv36jl/page/1?logcode=p

Lastly... Fox, be gentle...
 
rk88 said:
Get a petrol
Click to expand...

Can you justify this please? I want to understand why you think I should get a petrol.

At present I am paying £50 every 8 days on the mr2. Thats for 28 miles a day. Are you saying that I won't see much difference with the diesel?
My thinking was that I would get slightly better mpg on my commute but I would also have the option for long journeys.
 
This is one of the things I was after when posting this thread. People that have experienced the 330cd and the petrol equivalent. Is there that much difference in the performance/drive?

There are some interesting views here http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f74/e46-330-petrol-diesel-t23087/ which don't totally rule out the diesel. Obviously I'll know for certain when I actually test drive one.
 
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Frenzy said:
Can you justify this please? I want to understand why you think I should get a petrol.

At present I am paying £50 every 8 days on the mr2. Thats for 28 miles a day. Are you saying that I won't see much difference with the diesel?
My thinking was that I would get slightly better mpg on my commute but I would also have the option for long journeys.
Click to expand...

That's pretty reasonable I would say - about what I got in my turbo anyway, though if that's a na car something isn't right as I could hit 35mpg in my mk2 and closer to 40 in my mk3. As a comparison for you I pay about £30 per week in diesel @ £1.40 to get me 220-240 miles - I don't have to sit in much traffic, if I was to do stop/start driving that would hit 40mpg pretty quickly.

Will take a lot of miles to justify a £6k car. What's wrong with the 2 that you know of? I loved every one I had and wouldn't have changed if it werent for impracticality reasons.

The 6 cylinder diesel is a great engine, different in character to any 4 cylinder derv you'll ever have driven and almost sounds nice.....unfortunately the 330ci is an absolute cracker and not all that bad on the juice either comparitively - better than what you're getting just now (slightly)
 
9000 miles at 38 MPG = £1539.69pa for diesel
9000 miles at 28 MPG = £1958.07 for Petrol

Now consider that a diesel car will probably cost you 1 to 1.5k more to buy, it will cost more to run and you will have to put up with a diesel engine.
 
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Ok thanks for the input, I want to hear foxs opinion too but I am now leaning towards the petrol.

Saying that I do plan to keep the car for 5-6 years so I would probably make back the extra I spend on it. The torque on the 330cd is supposed to be really good in comparison to the petrol according to other various other threads I have been reading. The newer gen diesel engine is supposed to be very quiet aswell, again I need to experience a test drive first.

The only issues I have with my mr2 is the fuel cost and wanting a change. Something newer, obviously being a 94 car it is getting on a bit.
 
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It can have the torque of a M5 but its still a diesel. Drive them both and you will feel the difference.

The only people that keep banging on about how fantastic diesel engines are because of all the "torques" under the bonnet are people that own a diesel engine.
 
Please Don't buy a Diesel BMW it is a Crime to Humanity & breaks my heart every single time I see a nice Beema go past me sounding like a Ford Tractor.

The relevant law is as follows;
If You cannot afford to run a Petrol BMW then Don't buy one.


No I am Not kidding. :p
 
You have £6000. You therefore have a clear choice if you want a 3 Series Coupe.

a) You can buy a totally ruined, ropey, horrible or written off 330Cd
b) You can spend £5000 on a 330Ci, bank £1k, and have a far better chance of getting a nice car.

There are two reasons why all the £5kish 330Cd's are crap.

a) The 330Cd was a very late addition to the range. It was only released in 2004. Therefore cars of this age have simply not generally depreciated into the £5k range yet. The same is pretty much true of 2004 330Ci as well, the benefit of the 330Ci is that they were produced for 4 years longer, therefore you can buy a mint, say, 2001 330Ci instead.

b) Everyone and his dog wants a diesel because all that matters is mpg, even when you do 5 miles a week and are buying a horrendously complicated car that will break all the time. This pushes price up versus the petrol examples.

I have covered thousands of miles in both a 530i and a 530d (Yes, different cars, but same engines therefore the views are very relevent). The 530d had 410nm of torque versus the 300nm of torque in the 530i yet the 530i was the faster car. Why? Because the torque figure as at the flywheel and must pass through the gearbox before going to the wheels. The petrol revs higher, therefore doesn't need as much flywheel torque to deliver the same power at the wheels.

You must also realise that absolutely nothing about buying a 7+ year old 3 litre BMW and then running it for 5 years is about saving money. These things dont save you money, they consume money. They eat rear tyres at £180 each. They sometimes go wrong with bills that are often annoying. IMHO the ownership experience is well worth this expense, but if your Priority 1 is saving a few quid on fuel then make sure you are going into this with your eyes open.

You will be taking an 8-11 year old car to 13-15 years old. More stuff goes wrong as cars get older, not less.

The differential in fuel costs between petrol and diesel will not be your biggest expense when buying and running one of these so you would be daft to focus on it.

Though as I said above I think its largely irrelevent anyway. If you want a Coupe then even if you did want a diesel IMHO your budget isnt big enough for one anyway.
 
Agree to the above post... my 2001 330ci has had a new thermostat, power steering pump and alternator in the past 2 months, and Dr Houses 28mpg is.. ambitious, i get 23mpg at most doing 25miles a day, 4miles B roads, 8 miles A road each way, and I'm forgiving with the throttle.
 
I sold my VGC E46 330i Sport for just under £5k with 82k miles on the clock.

imag0535s.jpg


Still miss it :(

Wonderful car, and a wonderful engine. Forget the diesel, once you've had a 6cyl 3.0 petrol, you'll understand why.
 
Thank you for the replies guys.

Fox, I think I understand what you are saying.

I realise now my budget isn't large enough for a decent 330cd and in any case due to the mileage I would be doing I won't save much if anything.
Reading other forums seem to echo what you say about the torque difference being negligible due to the way it is delivered.
I've decided to go for a petrol if I do get a 3 series BMW but I may have to think about this further. Like you say, I have to decide whether I want to take on the cost of owning a BMW. I may look around at other cars now though as my ideal vision of performance and efficiency of the 330cd have shattered :p

Question about the 330ci though, you mention going for a 2001ish 330ci. Looking at autotrader I've seen a 330ci 2004 with 49k on the clock for £5.5k. I have then seen various 330ci 100k 2001-2002 models which seem to be around £3.5k. Is it worth paying the extra for the lower mileage car?
 
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