Advice on a car around £2,000?

parking_question_chap

I must say the 330ci idea is quite appealing, I dont drive that many miles and could probably do with a change. Was considering a 3.0 S type but Im not convinced an old Jag is a good idea. I presume the 3 series is a fairly high milage non sport trim at that price? and a private sale?

Is there anything a potential new buyer should look for? Generally I like to see the previous buyer has owned it a few years and lots of receipts. But other than that I dont know what to look for on the car itself. The only thing that does concern is such a long list of previous cars. Either they are near the end of their life or you like to change often.

BeenThroughItAll

parking_question_chap wrote: »

I must say the 330ci idea is quite appealing, I dont drive that many miles and could probably do with a change. Was considering a 3.0 S type but Im not convinced an old Jag is a good idea. I presume the 3 series is a fairly high milage non sport trim at that price? and a private sale?

Is there anything a potential new buyer should look for? Generally I like to see the previous buyer has owned it a few years and lots of receipts. But other than that I dont know what to look for on the car itself. The only thing that does concern is such a long list of previous cars. Either they are near the end of their life or you like to change often.

Sorry this is a bit off topic, but OP seems not to have posted recently.

I bought it as a private sale with 118K on it. It's done 132K now, with no major issues to report. Could do with a transmission fluid change which is on the list for the spring time. It's an SE trim with a few extras from order; electric seats, CD changer, MV2 staggered wheels and lip spoiler. All the toys work. Everything. The leather is in excellent condition, there's not even any significant wear other than minor colour loss on the driver's bolster. Most importantly, it has no rust. Arches, boot lid, doors, all perfect - all the common E46 spots are rust free. Yeah, it's got a few marks here and there but nothing to cry about at that price.

If you're looking for any E46, rust is the main issue - they do go on the arches, rear of the sills, boot lids mainly; but I'm seeing increasing numbers with rusting door bottoms.

Buy any of the 6pots and they'll be excellent if not abused with irregular oil changes. Make sure the cooling system is in good order; a 6 pot should give warm air from the heater within a mile or so, and temperature gauge should be rock steady in the middle. The cooling systems are a bit marginal on these so it's worth checking.

Vanos seals go and reduce power, but a lot of people don't notice; if you don't have one with good seals and one without to compare back to back the difference isn't marked.

Only other really common thing is a shimmy or wobble through the steering when braking from higher speeds (50+). Most people assume its brakes, but it's more often than not the lower arm rear bushes going. Dead easy to change and only about £50 to buy updated poly bushings to fit.

And yeah, I have a long list of cars - and that's not even close to half of it, I'm well into three figures in the last 24 years. I've never had an unreliable car though... I just buy something, use it for a bit, fix all the things wrong with it (literally everything, even down to fitting new AC compressors and the like) and then when I have nothing more to do to it I get bored and sell it. Never really lose any money to speak of, but I never make any either (but then I don't set out to).

My day job involves a fair amount of stress at times, so for me working on the cars is catharsis; when I run out of things to do I need new projects.

The current 330Ci is a bit of an anomaly - had it approaching a year and there's nothing to do on it. I had it up for sale recently as I felt like I should want a change, but when it came to it I decided I didn't actually want to sell.

Will almost certainly be going in March though as I'll be thinking about more motorbikes for the summer then.

parking_question_chap

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

I bought it as a private sale with 118K on it. It's done 132K now, with no major issues to report. Could do with a transmission fluid change which is on the list for the spring time. It's an SE trim with a few extras from order; electric seats, CD changer, MV2 staggered wheels and lip spoiler. All the toys work. Everything. The leather is in excellent condition, there's not even any significant wear other than minor colour loss on the driver's bolster. Most importantly, it has no rust. Arches, boot lid, doors, all perfect - all the common E46 spots are rust free. Yeah, it's got a few marks here and there but nothing to cry about at that price.

If you're looking for any E46, rust is the main issue - they do go on the arches, rear of the sills, boot lids mainly; but I'm seeing increasing numbers with rusting door bottoms.

Buy any of the 6pots and they'll be excellent if not abused with irregular oil changes. Make sure the cooling system is in good order; a 6 pot should give warm air from the heater within a mile or so, and temperature gauge should be rock steady in the middle. The cooling systems are a bit marginal on these so it's worth checking.

Vanos seals go and reduce power, but a lot of people don't notice; if you don't have one with good seals and one without to compare back to back the difference isn't marked.

Only other really common thing is a shimmy or wobble through the steering when braking from higher speeds (50+). Most people assume its brakes, but it's more often than not the lower arm rear bushes going. Dead easy to change and only about £50 to buy updated poly bushings to fit.

And yeah, I have a long list of cars - and that's not even close to half of it, I'm well into three figures in the last 24 years. I've never had an unreliable car though... I just buy something, use it for a bit, fix all the things wrong with it (literally everything, even down to fitting new AC compressors and the like) and then when I have nothing more to do to it I get bored and sell it. Never really lose any money to speak of, but I never make any either (but then I don't set out to).

My day job involves a fair amount of stress at times, so for me working on the cars is catharsis; when I run out of things to do I need new projects.

The current 330Ci is a bit of an anomaly - had it approaching a year and there's nothing to do on it. I had it up for sale recently as I felt like I should want a change, but when it came to it I decided I didn't actually want to sell.

Will almost certainly be going in March though as I'll be thinking about more motorbikes for the summer then.

Thanks for the substantial info. Seriously considering getting one now, had a quick look at the 325 performance, seems a fair way below what the 330 delivers. Only thing is finding one which has not been abused.

Would you say its one of the better cars you have recently owned? How does i compare to the 528s in terms of driving experience? or the Saabs if they were the hot versions, though I am not overly keen to experience 200+bhp through the front wheels.

BeenThroughItAll

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Thanks for the substantial info. Seriously considering getting one now, had a quick look at the 325 performance, seems a fair way below what the 330 delivers. Only thing is finding one which has not been abused.

Would you say its one of the better cars you have recently owned? How does i compare to the 528s in terms of driving experience? or the Saabs if they were the hot versions, though I am not overly keen to experience 200+bhp through the front wheels.

They're plentiful enough and cheap because most people are put off by the fuel consumption. The 3 is a very different animal to the 5ers I have had before. Much more nimble and pointy in twisties, but of course less refined in general. However, it's still very comfortable and quiet for long trips, does genuinely do high 30s MPG on a long run if you use cruise control at 70MPH and the suspension is surprisingly good at soaking up bumps but stiff enough to make the car entertaining on bendier bits.

The Ci is certainly one of the cars I like most of those I've had in the last decade or so - but I've had other vehicles which have either been better equipped, faster, larger, more comfortable, more economical, more entertaining, more convertible, more practical or several of those 'mores' in one. There is something about it that made me hang onto it recently - can't quite put a finger on it but I suspect it's just that it is good enough at just about everything I want that the things that I dislike about it aren't enough to make me change it.

It's a world apart from the Saabs - although I've had 'proper' Saabs in the distant past which were much better, the GM900/9-3 and later SS I've had more recently (I've had a 2002 9-3 HOT Aero and a 2007 9-3 TID 150) were very much like driving a nicely equipped, and very comfortable 'standard' family car. The HOT particularly was very torque-steery.

Alias_Omega

£1400 will get a 2010 Cat C (repaired) 1.2 Grand Modus, with 50k miles. This leaves £600 for future repairs, if needed.

jimjames

tacpot12 wrote: »

I'd look at the Skoda Fabia as a good smaller altentative. The VRS version might be ideal. It has the very reliable PD130 Diesel engine that pulls like a train in my Octavia.

I'd go for another MK4 Golf but with the PD130 engine too. Great economy and very reliable. Obviously an old car now so some issues but parts are cheap and diesels seem easier to fix

JustAnotherSaver

jimjames wrote: »

I'd go for another MK4 Golf but with the PD130 engine too. Great economy and very reliable. Obviously an old car now so some issues but parts are cheap and diesels seem easier to fix

With the 130 engine being in a number of cars is there any reason you'd select the Golf version over another version?


Just a guess but it is because they're more common so therefore parts should be easier to obtain?

My wife always said she'd never have a bigger (Golf size) car as she didn't have the confidence with the parking but she's gotten used to it. I think the fairly flush rear end helps a lot with that. For example - i've had my MK4 Astra for 8 years now & if i'm reversing up to a wall i can get fairly close but not as close as i can with the Golf before i start thinking about getting out & checking.

jimjames

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

With the 130 engine being in a number of cars is there any reason you'd select the Golf version over another version?

No reason in particular except that you're familiar with them. Octavia may be too large as would Passat but Fabia or one of the Seats with that engine might be just as good

reeac

Tilt wrote: »

I've owned 15 over the years since 1978. I currently have a W plate Punto HGT (which I have owned since new) and a 65 plate 500x.

I can say with total confidence that the marque is far from being a nightmare in my experience.

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I don't have the full picture but if you've had the Punto for that long then you've changed your other car at around 4 years of age. My experience with new or nearly new small cars is that they are fine up to about that age but after that the problems emerge.I'm thinking in particular ot two Renault 5s that we owned each for around 10 years. My current 11 year old Honda seems to have avoided this syndrome.

Mercdriver

reeac wrote: »

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I don't have the full picture but if you've had the Punto for that long then you've changed your other car at around 4 years of age. My experience with new or nearly new small cars is that they are fine up to about that age but after that the problems emerge.I'm thinking in particular ot two Renault 5s that we owned each for around 10 years. My current 11 year old Honda seems to have avoided this syndrome.

So you're basing your advice on experience of cars that were last out 20 years ago? Quite a lot has changed since then.