BMW and M Power Owners

[TW]Fox;27591594 said:
That was quick, good job you decided to avoid problems by not rushing into things and buying the first one you saw :eek:
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I went to view a few over the past few days. A mate recommended me to get a 325i/330i. I originally wanted a ci, but with a baby on the way the saloon seemed the better buy. Due to having no vehicle and friends tied up with work, the numerous journeys of public transport got tiring for viewings.

The prices of these are all over the place, dealers wanting over £4k for high milage examples/part service history. Private sellers not supplying enough information about the car, what they've changed under ownership etc...A lot of the high mileage examples also seemed to have VANOS issues. Something which I would have thought would have been sorted around 75-90k.

I scoured Pistonheads/AT/Ebay, dare I say even Gumtree for a gem to pop up.

I was losing hope and I was going to settle to just buy something else. Until the one I bought popped up on the bay. Made my way to view it and went over it with a fine tooth comb.

I did my research to budgeted for cooling system overhaul, wishbones, balljoints, ccv overhaul and other niggles such as Window regulators etc..

I knew I wasn't going to get a perfect example, but a example with some of the work done above would be great.

I wanted a sport/msport under 100k miles with FSH a very hard find in itself. I was more interested in receipts too see what had been changed/hadn't so I could barter on price.

No pics yet as it's dirty after a 500 mile trip. It didn't miss a beat and performs much better then the others I viewed.

Specs are:

'02 330i
71k miles
Black Leather (non electric memory seats unfortunately, found them more common in the coupes)
BMW Business (no nav, but me retro fit one)
Heated seats (not so common in examples I viewed)
AC Schnitzer Alloys (originals)
...and it's on coilovers..(I did get the factory m sport suspension, but the ride on the coilovers is not harsh at all, a little softer then factory)
AC Shcnitzer wing mirrors.
HK Stereo

No rust.

I will be giving the CCV a overhaul this month as the pipes are looking brittle. Going to keep an eye out on the oil level as well.

Seller seemed a genuine guy, and was welcoming which is a first.

No rust!


mrk said:
I predict 6 days :D

Also pics/details needed.
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With my luck :D

rodenal said:
Details on the carefully considered 330i?
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Will Gill said:
:D :D

Time will tell, at least it's a cheap marque to fix and isn't capable of throwing up four figure bills.

oh wait :p
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Budgeted for it, I will also do the work myself. Yes it may take time and effort, but I'm willing to do it. I think I've been hit enough times now to learn from my mistakes.

Maccy said:
What's the worst that could happen?
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It could die!
 
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peige said:
Feeling the love for runflats here ;)

The advice seems to be change all four, so I'm looking at £500 + a mobility kit that seems to be £100. My fronts are fine atm but the rears are I think weeks away.

Real gamble as to which is going to cost me more in the long run, the reasons to change aren't really that compelling right now.
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Kit is sub £40 here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BP5E7KI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00 I don't think you need the OE BMW kit specifically unless you can score one for a decent price. Continental make one too, you can get them off ebay (but check the use by dates of the gunk) but when I was looking there were no decently priced ones.

I did the switch on an e89 Z4 recently and the difference is pretty big. It's a fat heavy car anyway so a little bit more roll wasn't going to hurt it, certainly makes the bad roads a lot less jarring. Not had to use the gunk but tried the pump a few times and seems to be pretty well made, pretty much the same as my Ring compressor.
 
rodenal said:
Not meaning to be too harsh but I hope it was cheap!

r.e CCV don't touch it unless you're actually having issues. It's a ball ache to do
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No issues. I have forgot to mention that the Mayo underneath the filler cap seemed common amongst every example I viewed. I was concerned by this but after a good run it's cleared up. Seller said he only drove 3 miles to work so that explains it.

Coolant expansion tank seemed ok, couldn't see any hairline cracks etc, same with the radiator didn't seem bent at all. Water pump was replaced 2 years ago too. Mileage every year for the past 4 years has been 6k a year.
 
Atari said:
As above.

See how the consumption is before changing it, it's a pig of a job but can be done in an hour and half once you've done it a few times :p
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If all bolts are good and like above you already know how to contort it / are used to working by feel rather than being able to see what you're doing - for someone not even familiar with the car it'd take far longer.

Wouldn't worry about the cooling system , it's all dead easy bolt on bolt off anyway. Mayo a non issue it's a large displacement engine kicking about in cold weather
 
rodenal said:
If all bolts are good and like above you already know how to contort it / are used to working by feel rather than being able to see what you're doing - for someone not even familiar with the car it'd take far longer.

Wouldn't worry about the cooling system , it's all dead easy bolt on bolt off anyway. Mayo a non issue it's a large displacement engine kicking about in cold weather
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To be honest, I was worried about the Mayo. Had a mate look at it, he knows BMW's inside out and he was happy with it.

I really wish I listened to him before I got the Honda. Kick in the teeth is that realisation.
 
PMKeates said:
You didn't realise BMWs were better than Hondas before you bought one? :p
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Reliability wise, I always thought Honda/Toyota was the best. I heard all these horror stories about german cars being unreliable. Friend said just buy a BMW and be done with it. He's owned many in the past as well as performance jap cars. Always rated the BMW's more then any other car he's owned.

The drive back was effortless, performance/mpg was great. They really do shift these things, and the growl from the engine is brilliant. I've never driven a BMW apart from a family members 1 series diesel and even that went great.
 
Think you're kidding yourself a bit.

Every japanese car i've had has needed far less work than any of the German's (Audi, BMW, VW). That's not to say i've had any sort of bad experience with any of them really, but you need to be realistic. You just seem to have a spectacular ability to pick a dodgy car...i'm not that convinced it's anything to do with it being a particular brand!

Despite different delivery I notice zero performance difference between the e46 and current FN2, below silly speeds at least. If anything the civic feels a bit quicker due to how smooth the BMW's big 6 is so I'm surprised you think there's a significant difference
 
Do not expect that 2002 330i to end up being reliable. I have a one owner FBMWSH 2004 model and it has needed bits and bobs doing fairly frequently (although i am absolutely hammering it with mileage to be fair to it).

Luckily if you can put up with it, the actual cost of running them is negligible. Personally i am not sure if i can be bothered with mine for much longer, though. My opinion is that these cars as a sensible prospect have sailed now :(
 
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