E46 running costs?

godinman · 29 Nov 2011 at 09:10

E46 328i

Hi All,

I am considering buying my parents car and have a few questions about it.

The car is a W reg (2000) BMW 328i 70k manual with leather, aircon, parking sensors but no nav (I assume that was an option anyway).

Firstly, what do you think it's worth? It's got a couple of spots of rust, one where the rear wing joins the boot, and one lower down near the light cluster. These would need fixing, and they don't look to be in the easiest places to work on, so is budgeting around £500 too little of too much?

I was thinking of offering around £2000, they've been offered something like 1.5k as part ex if that helps. Any thoughts?

Now for the next bit, running costs.

I know tyres will be fairly expensive, fuel will be better, or similar to the car I'm driving at the moment ('R' reg 1.6 Rover 25, 25-28mpg :-/). Servicing is done at a local indy, who seems pretty good and servicing costs have never seemed too bad.

I'll be doing around 8k miles a year.

Am I right in thinking that the engine in this is fairly reliable? It should be steel lined. I believe it has vanos, is this going to blow up on me? Anything else that could throw up a big bill?

Thanks for any help, I'm hoping it will turn out to be viable, as I'm sick of driving around in that horrible bloody rover. :-/

pepsilol · 29 Nov 2011 at 10:48

Suspension may need doing.

That mileage is approaching cooling overhaul time aswell.

Depends how meticulous you are over your car. Yes you can drive a car with knackered parking sensors and worn out bushes or you can get them sorted.

ChrisD. · 29 Nov 2011 at 10:54

I've been doing a lot of research into older E46's. There are some serious trap sheds around there with £1000 bills itching to bite. Worn out front suspension, radiator jamming coolant system explosion head gasket death, rusty front arches after new wings from crashing, climate control system packing up, autobox o' doom, excessive oil use on M54 engine (all 6 cyls from 2000 to 2005), PCV system clogging, oil separator jammed up, oil through the engine out the exhaust, vanos very unlikely, rear parking sensors get water in you'll never fix it ever.

godinman · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:23

I'll have a look through the receipts and see what's been done, they haven't undertaken any big work to my knowledge, and they've had it for about 5 years now, this means it's all either been done before they got it, or it's about to explode in a cloud of £20 notes.

I know the front springs have been replaced recently..

The engine seems fine as far as I can tell, climate seems to work fine and the parking sensors beep. The chuffing exhaust flap is jammed, but that doesn't sound expensive. What goes wrong with the cooling system?

I'm not adverse to doing some work on the car, as even if I spend the cost of the car in the first year or two, at least I'll be left with something that might last another 75k, and be half decent.

Also, any idea what the car is actually worth?

Cheers.

ChrisD. · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:57

That's just a collection of things I found. Someone like Fox would be better than me to advise, he is very clued up on Beemers.

godinman · 29 Nov 2011 at 12:02

Hockey dockey

-whistles-

[TW]Fox · 29 Nov 2011 at 12:10

Everything goes wrong with the cooling system, it is made of cheese. But to replace the whole lot inc radiator is only about 500 quid so its not the end of the world and once its done its done.

The car will be fitted with an M52B28TU engine which develops 193bhp. It has DUAL VANOS but other than dodgy oil seals in the VANOS there are few terminal issues with it, its nothing like as scary as the M Power VANOS systems.

PDC system is nothing to worry about, even if it does break the sensors are about 30 quid each from Ebay and you can buy PDC control units for about the same. It's not an expensive part of the car to fix if it goes wrong.

The M52 engine does not suffer from the oil consumption issues its replacement, the M54, does.

Will probably be due a suspension overhaul at some point as well.

If you can afford to keep a grand set aside for mishaps then it'll be a perfectly nice car. As for what its worth, how long is a peice of string, I'm really not sure how relevent 'book value' is on a car of this age and type given that a bad one can cost you its purchase price again and a good one can be a fantastic car.

Can't see it being better on fuel than a 1.6 Rover though.

godinman · 29 Nov 2011 at 12:47

Thanks Fox, what would motors do without you!?

I can indeed keep some money aside in case of failures. As for the suspension, I'll probably do it bit by bit, which will spread the cost at least and it'll mean that I can do some of the easier stuff myself, if I can be bothered. Regarding the cooling system, I guess I'll just have to wait and see, maybe have a look and see if anything obvious is looking worn out.

Fuel may not be better, but not appreciably worse, especially given my low mileage.

I was only asking about cost, as I'll obviously have to pay my parents for the car, and am unsure what to pay. I'll have a look around pistonheads or somewhere, or maybe just go £500 above the partx offer..

Thanks again.