Is the BMW E46 330d the perfect daily driver?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.พ. 2023
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I bought a new car! This is my 2003 BMW E46 330d, in 6 speed manual + sport spec. This cost me £2000, comes with an MOT until October, 131k miles and a full service history, which I think you'll agree is an absolute steal!
I am really looking forward to this replacing my civic, the level of luxury between the two is incredible (I know the civic was never built to be a higher end like the BMW). It's amazing that the civic cost £1500, while this cost me just £2000, making it quite possibly the most perfect daily driver at a budget.
There are however, a few catches with this one - high servicing or repair costs are to be expected if taken to a workshop, but that's not how we do things here at Keats Garag. Expect more content on the channel about E46's coming soon - I'm sure it wont take me long to find issues.
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Really happy with the feedback I've got from this video.
A small favour to ask, if you've found yourself on my channel before, or you want to see what I do next with my fleet of cheap motors, I would love it if you could subscribe.
Lovely motor. I’ve got a 2005 e46 330d touring as well. Big fan of the tourings 👌🏻
I really do prefer the touring over any other E46 body, I waited for months to find a 330d touring, with a manual. They don't come up very often!
Definitely a perfect daily! Comfy, plenty of room, more than enough power, perfect all rounder! Wish I’d never have got rid of mine!
£3750 I paid 7 years ago for 330D Msport touring 50k miles. Cracking car and torque is very good. Briefly had it tuned but it was too powerful 160mph was no problem and it would give anything a good run for its money. two years ago, I bought a caravan, fitted a towbar and it towed it a dream. In the last year, I replaced the rear disks, handbrake mech, pads, wheel bearings, dust shields, abs rings, diff bushes, centre bearing, and doughnut myself for £800 including buying all the tools to get the job done. Got a garage to change the engine mounts and its now tight asf. Mine being a sport is lowered and has blacked out windows so is a great looking car.
engine mounts aren't too hard to do one at a time
@@dylanp552 it's not something I wanted to get stuck on without a ramp. By all accounts they where buggered ( torn in half) and being a 6 pot the fan and all had to come out for the engine to be tilted up to gain access . I've changed engine mounts on a smaller car before that was fine had all the room but na not for me working with a jack on the ground.
Thats a lot of car for 2k, congrats!
An E46 is a very nice place to be, everything is well designed and quality inside, very sporty with that nice carbon cube trim and black headliner too.
Always tempted by a diesel straight 6 in a daily driver myself, you'll have to give us an update on real-world mpg when you're settled with it. On that thought, it being a manual might not only make it more engaging to drive, but more economical too with fewer transmission losses.
The only place it falls down is the rust, its a real shame they do that. Absolutely standard E46 rear arches those, there's silly rear bumper hooks inside the back of rear arches on a stud which always harbours rust. I removed them altogether on my E46 turns out they arent really necessary anyway (although some report bumper sag without them).
Are you planning to get it sorted or just prevent it from getting any worse and use the car?
Good to know about the bits under the rear bumper, I'm sure something else can be sorted out if it does sag!
My plan is to drive it as is for now, might eventually get it sorted as I don't think it'll take a lot to remove the rust. Got a knock from the rear and a thermostat to change currently, so only a small list so far!
It's a very nice place to be that's for sure, everything inside it feels of really high quality. I'm hoping for 40mpg real world once the thermostat has been sorted out - computer is saying 38 atm, but not sure how accurate that is 👍
Cant go wrong with this car, EVER!!!
Once these cars are 25 years old, you can legally import one in the US.
I wonder if they'll be worth anything to them 😆 might see a bump in value but most of the ones from the UK will be rusty sadly!
I've just bought a 325i touring m sport silver with the black heater leather, satnav etc. I'd of loved a 330d but the 325i came up at £1500 so I just got it on a spare of the moment thing last week. Don't forget they have cupholders in the rear arm rest too.
Nice, I would like heated seats on mine in the future! True, the rear armrest ones are almost close enough to use in the front, just a pain if you don't have a passenger to grab your drink for you!
I drive with e46 almost 10 years , and didnt have any problet at all.
That's what I love to hear! I don't plan on selling this one for a while
@@Keats.Garage I probably gonna buy new BMW and put e46 in garage , so i could 20 years later ride with it like a O.G and sell it for very expensive price
@@ivarskacansi was thinking of doing the same thing, i will get a 330d coupe in like a month or something, and its also a 6 speed manual, probably drive it abit and then put it aside for future
Some advise on things: Remove the swirl flaps with a delete kit (they fail and drop into the engine), do a manifold clean, check that turbo for any sings of badness BEFORE you do a stage 1 tune. Do not go stage 2 I would advise. Do oil every 8K miles, no more often as it is proper long life oil, use Castrol Edge LL Titanium 5W30. Replace the alternator brushes, trust me, if never replaced at this mileage this will get you stalled. And advise on that rust: put vaseline on / under the panels.
swirl flaps have gone (or I have a reciept for it atleast), had new calipers + discs/pads all round, flywheel + clutch, radiator and a few other bits in the past few years.
The Aux belts hake a squeak/bearing nosie atm so that's going to be my first area to investigate, and the thermostat as it doesn't warm up unless not moving anywhere - then I can start looking into a slight knock at the rear (which seems to have disappeared atm). and once it's all mechanically sound I will move onto the bodywork - but I've got an E30 waiting to see a welder so my money is probably heading that way first :P
It’s only the 184 with swirl flaps isn’t it? 🤔
I've got a receipt for swirlfrap removal, so either the 204 does, or a previous owner was scammed 😂
@@petel598184 manual no flaps, automatics have flaps. 204 all have flaps
Absolute beaut 👏 Civic track car build please 😄
Let's see if it passes it's MOT next month first 😬
I'm thinking Benji would be a great name mate 👍
Nice one mate! I personally don't get the touring hype. The most practical for absolutely sure but I don't think their the best looking, I think the coupe is definitely the best looking one! But that's preference, all these people can't be wrong eh :')
The coupe is my second choice tbh, but I need the load space for a dog, and the roof bars for easy mountain bike transportation 👍 got a 2 door E30 so my coupe itch is scratched with that 😂
Watch out rear axle corrosion. Sub frame bushes eventually deteriorate can sag on driver side at rear
Best BMW ever!
Nice looking car. Odd that it has no viscous fan? keep your eye on the temp, dirty diesels don't like it too hot, i have an 02, E39 530d auto as my daily driver, has more (visible) rust than my 1990 E30 320i manual Touring weekend car, am a fan of tourings, enjoy your vids.
Yeah I thought it was weird, I've read that manuals didn't come with the viscous fan - it runs cold due to a failed thermostat atm, so sorting that and then I get to see if it has an electric fan or not! 😂 I was very tempted by a E39 but it was so hard to find a half decent example
I had one of these too and absolutely loved it! Had problems and still loved it. Had to sell it stupid ulez BS. Miss it.
I think the ULEZ is why a few of these have come up cheap recently. It really is an absolute beast!
@@Keats.Garage I would get another if I could !
@@goldenthang I've heard that you are able to get the E46 perols ULEZ exempt if you ask BMW for a certain certificate and then send it to the DVLA, but I'm not 100% sure
You should had xenon headlights with the washers, please check with the Vin
I've checked it - doesn't mention xenons but it does mention headlight washers present - I'm happy not to have xenons with the problems they can see being this old now
Love a torquy 6 cylinder diesel
Good choice sir! Can't beat that era bmw. Plus a manual diesel touring sport. Ticks a lot of boxes. I've just picked up a new touring you might like to see, albeit an e39. Let me know what you think!
Just checked it out, man I love the E39 aswell, I was watching all the marketplaces for either an E46 touring 330d or 330i in manual, or an E39 530d saloon. Weirdly I much prefer the saloon E39, but I really do appreciate the extra space a wagon can give
@@Keats.Garage you can't really go wrong with any of them. All great cars in their own rights. I have an e39 540 manual saloon as well so have the best of both 🤣
nice, I was tempted by a 540, or even maybe a 740 of the same era, but I can't stomach the fuel costs just yet! I do have a 528i engine to fit in my E30 when I get around to it, so that should cover fun petrol aspect 😆
Bmw straight 6's are brilliant, had a 335d xdrive touring a few years back , swapped it for a skoda kodiaq ,big mistake bm all round better👍
I can't believe how smoth this thing is for a diesel! even more reason to get a I6 swapped into my E30 sooner rather than later!
Dude this looks like it came with an original M TECH II kit. You should look up your VIN to check if it is original.
all original, even the 18" alloys :)
Too bad we never had access to cars like these here in Brazil...
Or in the US. We only got the gasser inline-six in the US.
Hi mate. How many miles can you get out of a full tank in the 330d ?
I'm getting 520 or so atm, which I think works out as 42mpg(UK). It's running cold atm due to a stuck open thermostat, I'm hoping to get it up to 45mpg average 👍
@@Keats.Garage excellent thank you. Great car
Ofcourse...
TORQUE
lots of it! apparently they can achieve 500nm with a remap 🤔
@@Keats.Garage yes would be a huge difference. Already quick car . Mine was the older 184bhp 390nm mapped to around 235BHP and 440-450nm 🤷🏻♂️ it was ridiculous in gear embarrassed my work mate in his 231BHP Mazda RX-8 😂
Old banger paid a grand to much 😂
Says the guy who drives the most unreliable and expensive polished turd on the road. 🤡
I love my e46 Msport touring especially now with so many new BMWs around with big power…they may be fast the new ones but…oh my…they are are fookin ugly 😉