Can I chime in with something other than a wall of spec?
Well seeing as I've just had it cleaned for the first time (I know, I'm terrible...), here's a three and a half month update with my E92 330i.
I purchased this 3 Series in early August of this year for £3.8k, and touch wood it's been very reliable thus far. I've covered roughly 2.5k miles, which were mostly commuting miles with a few longer trips thrown in (we traveled to the Lake District a couple of weeks ago), and it hasn't put (much of) a foot wrong.
Couple of facts about the car, it's an October 2006 petrol straight six, the N52 engine producing roughly 270bhp, and this one is on 95k miles, has FSH, many owners (!!), is the SE version but comes pretty well specified (heated and electric black leather seats, 6sp auto box, folding mirrors, 18" alloys (not sure on code), Conti 5's all round, and the all important Xenons). Edit: having checked my VIN online, I can see that is also has the following which I forgot to mention:
S226A Sports suspension settings
S481A Sports seat
S507A Park Distance Control (PDC), rear
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S544A Individual equipment (??)
I've recently bought a Carly OBD2 reader to code a few things and keep a check on the overall health of the vehicle since it's well out of any warranty, and the coding was notably for the folding mirrors on lock and unlock (before they were electrically manual via a button inside the car, pressing that button is for peasants as far as I'm concerned, I didn't buy an auto to do things like that. I jest - probably). Carly wasn't cheap, mind you - £70 for the reader, and £55 for the annual subscription. However, I was also able to code out the electronic belt givers since they don't grab the belt properly (looks like I am a peasant, after all), change the indicator one touch from three blinks to five (surprisingly useful), a digital speedo, and for all of the Welcome Home lights to be on full blast (before they were dim, when I open my car in the work car park I like to blind everyone).
Carly also allowed me to clear all of the codes and see what was left, which thankfully was only one thing (not bad considering it's age). Annoyingly it's not a very common problem, it's the rear sensor for the Xenons that's defective, so they don't do that little dance that they should when they come on, and presumably aren't necessarily pointing in the right direction when driving (they do seem to be pointing low a fair bit). Looking at getting this resolved this week.
Needed 1l of oil recently, otherwise fine. I couldn't find the dipstick either (I know, that normally means it's me), but from further reading I found I could read the oil from within the cabin via the dash. Not greatly fond of that as, without trying to sound like an old fart, I do enjoy a physical read out (both, preferably).
There's no iDrive. A bit annoying, but the cabin look
clean because of it. I'd have preferred it but I'm clutching to make myself feel better.
Mpg is 27mpg if it doesn't see a motorway, 33mpg (ish) if it does. Not fussed, that's decent for what's on offer. Always fill with Super Unleaded (sounds like I'm trying to sell it here, or throw in a humble brag, apologies either way).
Driving the thing is enjoyable. The steering is weighty and confidence building, and the ride is comfortable. It
feels like a heavy car, I'm sure that's because it is, but the ageing 6sp auto doesn't help in this regard, though putting it in sport mode helps no end (if anything it feels too eager at this point). I think the official 0-62 is 6.4s and it does feel every bit of it. No complaints, not for the money anyway. Haven't really chucked the back end out, it doesn't feel like it's got the right power and balance to enjoy that sort of fun, it's rather more a cruiser than a hooliganism machine. The tech inside is mostly sparse, I've got my iPhone linked up via 3.5mm aux and a kenu car holder on one of the vents, might look to get a bluetooth head unit at some point but I don't want to ruin the interior look.
The private plate is naff and worthless, as we've discussed on this forum previously. It's coming off soon, but due to the car having not been taxed at some point in the last five years, DVLA refuse to let me take it off online, so I've had to *gasp* mail them a letter asking them to take it off with an enclosed cheque. Archaic. Soon though I'll have the original back on it, or some random plate that the DVLA decide to provide me in its place. It's only slightly annoying when people tell me it looks great for a 16 year old car, 'Don't you know your bloody E46's from your E92's you imbeciles?!' I retort, 'It's very clearly only 13 years old at most!'
I do think she's pretty though, and the guy who just cleaned it remarked the same, 'Very beautiful', he told me. I'm sure he just wanted a tip.
What a tit, I left my visor down for the photo. Idiot.
but I like it. 
