Spec me a 6k BMW...

[TW]Fox;18502921 said:
I'm being anti becuase its pretty clear you are trying to do this on a tight budget, and this sort of car on a tight budget is a massive pain you'll quickly grow to resent.

Heck I love mine and even I am growing a bit bored of 'oh its time to pour more cash into the moneypit'.
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Fair enough mate I have 6k for the car, this is without costs of repairs servicing etc this will be dealt with seperate. So i'm really looking to get the best BMW for 6k. I'm fortunate in that I can get most parts at cost price and labour charges will be free as I will be doing it myself with help from a few mates.
 
MikeHunt79 said:
Am I right in saying that a 330i would be far easier to self service than a 530d?
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Servicing wise they'd be exactly the same, although the brake fluid change takes 10 minutes longer on a 530d as you need to remove the microfilter housing.

You'll never need to DIY an injector/turbocharger change on a 330i though :D
 
MOOGLEYS said:
Fair enough mate I have 6k for the car, this is without costs of repairs servicing etc this will be dealt with seperate. So i'm really looking to get the best BMW for 6k. I'm fortunate in that I can get most parts at cost price and labour charges will be free as I will be doing it myself with help from a few mates.
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Have a look at the cars I've linked in the post above. I think this is the best way to buy an E46 - if you go loads cheaper you just end up looking at the really old multi-owner stuff with random history.
 
[TW]Fox;18502966 said:
Servicing wise they'd be exactly the same, although the brake fluid change takes 10 minutes longer on a 530d as you need to remove the microfilter housing.

You'll never need to DIY an injector/turbocharger change on a 330i though :D
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I'm looking more towards a petrol tbh, as mentioned this is my runaround and would not be used a great deal so not much point going diesel as I have my Ford family wagon to cover them needs.. But if a diesel cam along at the right price I wouldn't say no..
 
You are best to ignore diesels, not only are they generally more expensive but you wont get the benefit out of them as you've already worked out and there are more expensive pitfalls with the diesel engines than the petrol engines. Infact the petrol engines themselves are pretty strong.
 
[TW]Fox;18502971 said:
Have a look at the cars I've linked in the post above. I think this is the best way to buy an E46 - if you go loads cheaper you just end up looking at the really old multi-owner stuff with random history.
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Some nice ones there the bottom one looked a good deal until it mentions the 495 warranty that needs to be included. I might give them a call on monday and see what that is all about...
 
Oh I actually forgot to mention the complete cooling system rebuild that E39s and E46 are very likely to need at the age and mileage in question too, as Saytan mentioned, even the good ones need that, it's just of those 'niggles' with BMWs from that era, they have poorly designed cooling systems that need replacing about every 5-6 years or so.

And as Fox said, that warranty wont be worth anything.
 
Moeks said:
Oh I actually forgot to mention the complete cooling system rebuild that E39s and E46 are very likely to need at the age and mileage in question too, as Saytan mentioned, even the good ones need that, it's just of those 'niggles' with BMWs from that era, they have poorly designed cooling systems that need replacing about every 5-6 years or so.

And as Fox said, that warranty wont be worth anything.
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Where do you get every 5-6 years from? I'm on my 4th E46 of around that age or older and none have suffered from any cooling system problems. I'm not saying its not common but I wouldn't say it's 'likely' to happen, it could possibly.

Just because something happened to Fox's car doesn't mean it will happen to every similar model. :p
 
Wicksta, it happened to me too. 66k miles, radiator went and stat stuck open.

With an E46, or a (mechanically very similar) E39 a grand in the bank is a very recommended optional extra.
 
Wicksta said:
Where do you get every 5-6 years from? I'm on my 4th E46 of around that age or older and none have suffered from any cooling system problems. I'm not saying its not common but I wouldn't say it's 'likely' to happen, it could possibly.

Just because something happened to Fox's car doesn't mean it will happen to every similar model. :p
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It didnt just happen to mine - remember when Pete, myself and Olly all had a 530i? Yup, it happened to each of us! It's such a big problem the Yanks just replace the whole system as if its a service item before it even goes.
 
Mine was replaced too, just before I had the car, infact the guy I bought it off had just replaced the radiator and header tank, he didn't do the thermostat and water pump but they were almost new anyway, could tell that by looking at them, very clean and shiny, so clearly they had been done within the last year also, and I bet that was the second time they were done too, although I can't verify that. The pusher fan is also a typical failure point, having said that mine worked ok and it didn't look brand new, but I imagine it was probably replaced at some point in the cars life too.

That was on my E39 540i.
 
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How did you get the age SO wrong?!
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I didn't the guy I have got a few cars from before did. He text me saying it was an 07 no big deal he deals in hundreds of cars so mistakes happen.

You obviously have no clue about cars (certainly not BMWs) and want to spend your full budget on ones that are extremely likely to throw up big bills...and a crashed one will hand you bills before you even get it on the road.
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I can get the parts at cost price or less, I know quite a bit about cars being a qualified mechanic just I have not dealt with BMW's in much depth hence why I want one. I have rebuilt quite a few crashed cars in varying states of repair so things like Air bags etc etc do not really cause me too many worries. I rebuilt a Lotus carlton from pretty much scrap and that was one hell of a challenge especially trying to get the parts in the end I actually bought a donor car and used that as some of the bits especially doing it with original parts were immpossible to source..

Cheers for all the advice its deffinately going to be a petrol I have a Diesel family wagon and this will be my run-around and will do minimal mileage.

Tell them to get lost with the warranty as it wont be worth the paper its written on anyway.
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I called that one today and its provisionally sold but will call back monday to confirm but something like that will be ideal.

If you want a car that works and won't lose you loads of money, get a Mondeo as Fox originally said.
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I have a Vectra I don't want a Mondeo, its not just about if it works its also about me dealing in something new and different.
 
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