the first car...

bargaindoctor

haha sorry i mean the 3 series 1.6L Is this a rear wheel drive then? and it definitely needs a cam belt change? i will check...

I don't really like the look for the ford focus so much... would prefer something liek the Ford Street Ka or the Smart Roadster. My mates seem to say to stay away from them though something abou thow they aren't very popular and not very good with oil...

so i should avoid this BMW? How about the Audi A2?

tomstickland

I'm very biassed, but if you can pick up an E46 1.6/1.8/2.0 for £3-4K then I'd do it. Firstly since owning an old BMW I can vouch for their build. They are great cars for getting on with driving. Audis are OK, the new Fords are OK too. They all suffer from being overweight, as do all modern cars.

Oil leaks will be caused by a seal or gasket leaking. All the mating metal parts on the bottom of the engine have cork or rubber gaskets between then and it's quite common for something to start seeping at some stage. Fixing it is just a matter of finding where it's leaking from and replacing the item. Alternatively, if the rate of loss is low then just keep topping up the oil. My current car has a slow leak and I can't be bothered to do anything about it at the moment. The MOT is a safety check, so an oil leak won't affect it unless oil is leaking onto the brake discs.

My advice would be to go onto autotrader and keep looking for "totally boring" E46 316/318s. Ideally one that's not been chavved up in anyway, just owned by someone who cleaned it and drove it.

bargaindoctor

thansk tom for ur msg.. sorry for bieng so thick but is E46 an actual model? can't seem to find it on autotrader under BMW... do i look under 3series or something? lol ... is the model i talked about with the oil leak an E46? is the price about right for what i'm getting a 1997 model with 78000 miles? lol i will do some reading myself

bargaindoctor

i just had a look on gumtree and found a few e46s between the £3000-£6000 price range:

http://www.gumtree.com/london/18/9503618.html

http://www.gumtree.com/london/78/9681078.html

http://www.gumtree.com/london/82/9678282.html

http://www.gumtree.com/london/93/9561493.html

http://www.gumtree.com/london/20/8077220.html

Some of these just look too cheap to be true... any thoughts about these? Is gumtree best avoided to buy a car? Should I stick to autotrader?

bargaindoctor

saw a couple more, but aren't E46 still like the look of them and price range!

http://www.gumtree.com/london/83/9711983.html
http://www.gumtree.com/london/56/9707756.html

This one is a bit more expensive but does show the contrast between the prices to make me think if somethings' wrong with the others...

http://www.gumtree.com/london/22/9409922.html

FlameCloud

An E46 is a code for BMW's, i.e each new type of BMW will have another E number.

You REALLY need to decide what you want.

A small fiesta is a world away from a BMW in terms of everything- tyre wear, cost, insurance, fuel consumption, and servicving.

An A2 is an ok, very high parts costs mind because of the all aluminium body. Again though, it is an entirely different class of car to the BMW.

tomstickland

A small fiesta is a world away from a BMW in terms of everything- tyre wear, cost, insurance, fuel consumption, and servicving.

It's about the same as, say, a Vectra or Mondeo.
Cost - slightly more to buy, but they last well.
Fuel consumption - the 4 pots will manage 30-35mpg
Tyre wear - depends on driving style
Servicing - use an independant BMW specialist.
Parts - Eurocarparts and GSF have most of the parts at suprisingly cheap prices.

I'd agree that 1.1 Fiesta versus Mondeo/Vectra/Civic/Passat/Golf etc is quite a difference.

judderman

Just my 2pence worth, but look at road tax price 2.8 v6 will sting your pocket