BMW E46 330ci Sport
I sold my Clio 182 last August and went back to driving my first car. A 51 plate Green 1.25 Fiesta Freestyle. After 3 months of driving the Green machine I couldn't take it anymore and needed a car I could be proud of. I've always had the e46 330 itch and browsing the classifieds day after day only made it worse.
I saw this car listed on autotrader on Saturday after getting home from the gym. Drove to Leicister from London to view it and it was sitting on my drive the next day. It has 107000 miles on it and engine still feels nice and tight.
It's a face lift 03 plate 330ci Sport Auto. My first auto and, whilst it can be a bit slow my pressing on, I am getting along with it so far. The ability to just leave it in D and cruise is something I'm enjoying thoroughly after only ever owning manuals. Options on the car include Harmon/Kardon sound upgrade, CD changer, Full memory seats, Bluetooth phone connection and Xenon's Would of loved heated seats but finding an example I liked with this option seemed impossible and I haven't missed having them yet.
The sound of the car is infectious and my MPG (18mpg average) is paying for it at the moment. My commute is all town roads and traffic though.
After having the car a few days I got a coolant warning light on. I checked the level which was indeed low so I topped it up. The next day after getting to work I looked back at the car and noticed steam coming out the front grill. Upon lifting the hood I was greeted with coolant bubbling out the expansion tank. I then did a bit of research and familiarized myself with the process of bleeding the coolant system. 48 hours after of filling, bleeding, driving, cooling and repeating the system seemed full and free of air. 3 weeks later and the level has remained constant.
Other things I have done so far:
I saw this car listed on autotrader on Saturday after getting home from the gym. Drove to Leicister from London to view it and it was sitting on my drive the next day. It has 107000 miles on it and engine still feels nice and tight.
It's a face lift 03 plate 330ci Sport Auto. My first auto and, whilst it can be a bit slow my pressing on, I am getting along with it so far. The ability to just leave it in D and cruise is something I'm enjoying thoroughly after only ever owning manuals. Options on the car include Harmon/Kardon sound upgrade, CD changer, Full memory seats, Bluetooth phone connection and Xenon's Would of loved heated seats but finding an example I liked with this option seemed impossible and I haven't missed having them yet.
The sound of the car is infectious and my MPG (18mpg average) is paying for it at the moment. My commute is all town roads and traffic though.
After having the car a few days I got a coolant warning light on. I checked the level which was indeed low so I topped it up. The next day after getting to work I looked back at the car and noticed steam coming out the front grill. Upon lifting the hood I was greeted with coolant bubbling out the expansion tank. I then did a bit of research and familiarized myself with the process of bleeding the coolant system. 48 hours after of filling, bleeding, driving, cooling and repeating the system seemed full and free of air. 3 weeks later and the level has remained constant.
Other things I have done so far:
- New discs and pads all round and brake bleed.
- Removed and capped off the headlight washer motor as the telescopic arms were leaking. I didn't fancy removing the headlights just yet. I might address this problem in the future. (£4 part from B&Q)
- Bought a new H/K amp off ebay (£25) and fitted as old one was hissing very badly.
- Bought a post 02 BMW Business headunit (£85) plus Fruity Cables Iphone cable lead (£20) off ebay and fitted. Cable plugs into back of headunit and activates AUX mode. Very simple way to get iPhone playing though car.
- Changed indicator stalk (£25) as old ones cancel bit wouldn't return into housing so I had a clicking every time I turned wheel back to center This involved removing airbag(poo inducing) and steering wheel. Bought spare off ebay.
- Cleaned the car thoroughly as best as I could (not a detailer) 3 times inside and out. Almost got rid of all the dog hair, dog sick and glitter glue from the inside.
- Replace interior carbon trim bits that are worn. Mainly the drivers door pull which is very scratched and worn and gear selector surround.
- Get boot storage net. Boot is very big and things like shopping move around alot.
- Replace rear parcel shelf H/K speaker covers as dog breath seems to have tarnished these.
- In the future look at the bits of the suspension that can wear such as bushes and arms as I get a noise at certain speeds. Noise occurs only below 30mph and gets worse after breaking and even worse turning at the same time. This isn't a major issue at the moment and will be doing lots of research before getting this job done.
- The alloys are quiet a mess with chips. Also suffering from quiet a bit of paint peeling on the inside of alloys. I think they can be refurbed. Have no experience of this though so I have no idea what this would cost.
- A small spot of rust/bobbled paint on the rear panel just below where the boot lid closes, near the rubber sill. Not of the rear bumper. This looks like its there from someone dropping something onto the car putting something into the boot.
- Other minor scratches in the paint but only small.
- New number plates.
- Cup and coin holder from ebay.
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