[Efthreeoh]

So, the car Gods smiled upon me...

Just picked up a very nice 2005 E46 330Ci. Dark gray over black. 99,000 miles. 3-owner car. I personally know the previous owner from 49,000 to 99,000 miles. No accidents, interior and paint in great shape, top looks new. Garage kept at home and at work. Needs a fluids baseline, a little PDR work, and mirror glass replacement (common for an E46).

@ a CarMax trade-in price

[NinetyEight740]

Great car, I saw a 330ci zhp today and realized I’d still love to own one at some point.

[6Inarowmakesitgo!]

The E46 is a sharp looking ride man. What a score at under 100K too!

[CTinline-six]

Niiice! Pics?

I've had my eye on my neighbor's E46 for a few years now. It is a 330xi, but is dark green with 50k miles on it, always garaged. It looks brand new.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Niiice! Pics?

I've had my eye on my neighbor's E46 for a few years now. It is a 330xi, but is dark green with 50k miles on it, always garaged. It looks brand new.

Not many pics yet...

I've only experienced the M54 previously in my sister's X3 automatic. Paired to a manual ZF, man, what an nice motor. I like it almost as much as an M20. I have to check this car's exhaust, I sounds like it has BMW performance exhaust; it sounds great.

[CTinline-six]

Looks super clean! Convertible will be fun on nice days.

[Fritzer]

Nice pick-up! Going to get rid of all that chrome soon, I hope?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Fritzer

Nice pick-up! Going to get rid of all that chrome soon, I hope?

Thanks. It really came out of the blue. Not much chrome IMO I might get my fake CSL's refurbed and go +1 on the tires. It needs about $1,000 of parts to get it up to my standards; some of the tools in the kit are missing, and the interior mirror is $700 . The outside mirrors are about $100 ea. I'd go with a standard interior mirror, but it has rain sensing wipers and the key remote antenna is in the mirror housing because it is a convertible. Prior owner took decent care of it. He gave me most of the service records. Couldn't pass on the price. Safe buy. Have a good history on it and the Carfax from 10 years ago when he bought it. Typical modern BMW life... started as a 3-year lease, kept the miles low. Second owner bought it as CPO and drove it 2 years at maybe 5,000 miles a year. PO I bought it from still had warranty on it when he bought it. He drove it about 5,000 a year too. It drives great. It has a fresh battery and alternator . Brakes are relatively fresh as are the rear shocks. He wanted it to go "to a good home" rather than auctioned off. I said "there's no better home for a BMW than my place."

Will baseline all the fluids in the next few weeks. I'm about to throw it up on the lift to give it a good inspection.

[Fritzer]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

"there's no better home for a BMW than my place."

Haha, you should put that in your forum signature. Also, what's that Z3 roadster in the background?

[ttthai]

Gratz on the car, I've always loved the mtech2 wheels. I miss my e46, it was a great car but I don't think I'll ever have a chance at owning one again (no *******.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Fritzer

Haha, you should put that in your forum signature. Also, what's that Z3 roadster in the background?

My Wife's 22 year-old; had it since new. She'll not let it go. 189,000 miles. We took it out West in 2017 with 177,000 on the clock.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Niiice! Pics?

I've had my eye on my neighbor's E46 for a few years now. It is a 330xi, but is dark green with 50k miles on it, always garaged. It looks brand new.

There is a Commandment about that...

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

My Wife's 22 year[s]-old...

Nice ride too!

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Thanks. It really came out of the blue. Not much chrome IMO I might get my fake CSL's refurbed and go +1 on the tires. It needs about $1,000 of parts to get it up to my standards; some of the tools in the kit are missing, and the interior mirror is $700 . The outside mirrors are about $100 ea. I'd go with a standard interior mirror, but it has rain sensing wipers and the key remote antenna is in the mirror housing because it is a convertible. Prior owner took decent care of it. He gave me most of the service records. Couldn't pass on the price. Safe buy. Have a good history on it and the Carfax from 10 years ago when he bought it. Typical modern BMW life... started as a 3-year lease, kept the miles low. Second owner bought it as CPO and drove it 2 years at maybe 5,000 miles a year. PO I bought it from still had warranty on it when he bought it. He drove it about 5,000 a year too. It drives great. It has a fresh battery and alternator . Brakes are relatively fresh as are the rear shocks. He wanted it to go "to a good home" rather than auctioned off. I said "there's no better home for a BMW than my place."

Will baseline all the fluids in the next few weeks. I'm about to throw it up on the lift to give it a good inspection.

Use this guy for the mirror repair:
http://radar-mirror.com/Mirror_Repair.html
The nice part is the repair is known to be much better quality than a new OEM unit and 1/7th the cost. An EE guy on the west coast does them as a side gig. I did that with my E46 M when that mirror failed. Def do not waste the money on OEM.

if you send me 1/2 the money you saved i'll continue to consult for you on E46 savings :-)

Nice pick-up! Love these! I'm guessing since it's an east coast vert with that mileage it was a summer car and won't look like the titanic underneath, haha.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Use this guy for the mirror repair:
http://radar-mirror.com/Mirror_Repair.html
The nice part is the repair is known to be much better quality than a new OEM unit and 1/7th the cost. An EE guy on the west coast does them as a side gig. I did that with my E46 M when that mirror failed. Def do not waste the money on OEM.

if you send me 1/2 the money you saved i'll continue to consult for you on E46 savings :-)

Nice pick-up! Love these! I'm guessing since it's an east coast vert with that mileage it was a summer car and won't look like the titanic underneath, haha.

I'd really like to keep the mirror base and swap out the mirror head to a manual mirror. I had a friend already link me to radar-mirror and I've sent in a inquiry for a Frankenstein manual mirror.

Thanks! The car was initially a Massachusetts car for 4 years. I had it in the air yesterday and there are minor rust issues with fasteners and such. Body metal is very clean. It's a great car in really good shape with about half the average miles it should have on it.

[austin.tillison]

nice!

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'd really like to keep the mirror base and swap out the mirror head to a manual mirror. I had a friend already link me to radar-mirror and I've sent in a inquiry for a Frankenstein manual mirror.

Thanks! The car was initially a Massachusetts car for 4 years. I had it in the air yesterday and there are minor rust issues with fasteners and such. Body metal is very clean. It's a great car in really good shape with about half the average miles it should have on it.

you're on your way!

[Schmitz]

But what about the e90? How many miles?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Schmitz

But what about the e90? How many miles?

He's still around and will get driven quite a bit. No worries. 382K and change. Drove it today.

[Efthreeoh]

Bit of an update...

So the E46 Cabrio requires some serious tire air pressures. 39F and 46R. The PO was running 32F and 36R. The car was sloppy and imprecise. In the PO's defense, he drove the car in suburban Virginia, so I doubt one could tell. The high pressures tell you it may center-run the tires and have premature tire wear, which is maybe why he dropped pressures almost 10 PSI low. So this morning I decided to set the tires to factory pressures. Made a huge difference in the handling and steering. I'm really happy with this car. I have parts on order to refresh the mirrors and baseline the fluids and filters.

Moon/star-filled top-down motoring home tonight was quite enjoyable, I must say.

Car Gods... Indeed

[Wolf 335]

Were these also plagued by E46 rear frame cracking?

Make sure you look into that.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Were these also plagued by E46 rear frame cracking?

Make sure you look into that.

Thanks. I am aware of the subframe issue. My car is a 2005, which I think BMW addressed the issue by then. IIRC BMW modified the floorpan to prevent cracks forming. There is a repair kit for it as well. PO for the past 10 years was not an aggressive driver; could be problematic for me