Topic: Talk me out of making an emotional purchase -2005 BMW E46

[Dante]

We're about due for a fresh FGC Moan and Whine thread, so why not?   

I just bought my GTI (off lease) so I already have potential material for that thread 

[Arthur Dent]

The premium of say $1k is pretty small if that is the one you really want and the condition warrants it IMHO. A single repair on a lesser unit could easily blow that.

[2JDM]

How many KM are you going to put on it?

If its going to be a lightly driven car then I'd pay $6-7k. No more.

[OliverD]

OK .... I extended the search to Canada just to get a better picture on asking prices and what's available for sale.

Not too many 2005 E46 AWD for sale in Canada (no kidding...) but from the small sample available it looks like the bulk is in the $5K-$6K excluding outliers at each end and the one I'm looking at which tops them all.

Honestly, aside from the one I'm looking at, I'm not interested in any other unit currently for sale and would not buy them at any price...

Having said that, is it totally stupid to buy this car for $6K-$7K provided that I will still want the car after I see it in person, drive it, speak to the owner, go over the maintenance records in detail, etc....?!

Be the voice of the reason here and call me out on it....

'05 was the last year for the E46 sedan and wagon and I think the production numbers were fairly low, aside from all the 325i Executive Editions that are all grey, black, or silver.

I think $7k for that car is entirely reasonable.

[Dante]

How many KM are you going to put on it?

If its going to be a lightly driven car then I'd pay $6-7k. No more.

I don't do a lot of driving these days and I have the GTI as my primary vehicle, plus the Outlander which is driven by my wife most of the time. So technically I don't need or depend on this car.

It only caught my attention because I loved the whole package, the condition the car appears to be in, and if I could get it for a reasonable price why not?

It would double as a vehicle to teach my daughter to drive stick in 2 years time aside of course from satisfying my selfish craving of finally driving a manual/AWD/I6 car.....

[Dante]

I must have missed this thread.   

That car is identical to my 2003.   Colour, interior and manual transmission   But a 2005 has a six speed , mine did not.   And could have a Sirius receiver built in mine did not.

When I got mine that colour/interior combination was not supposed to be orderable so the sales guy just put it on the order form any way and it arrived.

Any first hand experience with the rear subframe cracking at the time? How was yours reliability wise? Any of the commonly reported issues occurred on yours during ownership? I know you don't usually keep your cars for the long run but just wondering how was yours.

[Ex-airbalancer]

How many KM are you going to put on it?

If its going to be a lightly driven car then I'd pay $6-7k. No more.

I don't do a lot of driving these days and I have the GTI as my primary vehicle, plus the Outlander which is driven by my wife most of the time. So technically I don't need or depend on this car.

It only caught my attention because I loved the whole package, the condition the car appears to be in, and if I could get it for a reasonable price why not?

It would double as a vehicle to teach my daughter to drive stick in 2 years time aside of course from satisfying my selfish craving of finally driving a manual/AWD/I6 car.....

I would loook for a ragout if you want a 3rd car

[HeliDriver]

I love the E46 as well, but if you're going to go pure Ultimate Driving Machine, then you should go for the purest Ultimate Driving Machine, and AWD is not it.

I'm not crazy about creaky, flexy ragtops, but AirB has a point. Maybe a RWD convertible with a stick and that delicious I6 would make a nice third car?

IMO a BMW with AWD is a concession to practicality, not something to try to justify as an unnecessary, emotional purchase.

[rrocket]

Buy it...

For real or you forgot to add the "sarcasm" emoji? I thought you of all people would talk me out of it as it would be a money pit to upkeep ....

Buy it...but know what you might be getting into.

You have to weigh whether you like the car enough for the potential pitfalls.

So buy it...

[2JDM]

How many KM are you going to put on it?

If its going to be a lightly driven car then I'd pay $6-7k. No more.

I don't do a lot of driving these days and I have the GTI as my primary vehicle, plus the Outlander which is driven by my wife most of the time. So technically I don't need or depend on this car.

It only caught my attention because I loved the whole package, the condition the car appears to be in, and if I could get it for a reasonable price why not?

It would double as a vehicle to teach my daughter to drive stick in 2 years time aside of course from satisfying my selfish craving of finally driving a manual/AWD/I6 car.....

It's fine to buy something this old if it's gonna be a weekend car of sorts. Helps preserve the car and keep costs down.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[tpl]

I must have missed this thread.   

That car is identical to my 2003.   Colour, interior and manual transmission   But a 2005 has a six speed , mine did not.   And could have a Sirius receiver built in mine did not.

When I got mine that colour/interior combination was not supposed to be orderable so the sales guy just put it on the order form any way and it arrived.

Any first hand experience with the rear subframe cracking at the time? How was yours reliability wise? Any of the commonly reported issues occurred on yours during ownership? I know you don't usually keep your cars for the long run but just wondering how was yours.

When I had mine I was commuting  so I was doing around 20,000 km a year  so it was just under 100K when I sold it. I would have bought another BMW but I was only two years into retirement  and I really did not like the dealership in Waterloo...they didn't want it as a trade in because it was an unpopular colour and was a manual!.  I don't remember anything going wrong...it had a couple of minor recalls.   The brakes lasted about 80k and I replaced all four corners.
Had no problems with the rear subframe, didn't even know it was a trouble spot.   People back then said that things like the plastic header tank on the radiators were weak spots.  Mine always used a little oil  perhaps 1/2 litre every 10,000 km  I ignored the oil change  interval and did it twice a year. .  I was in TO most of the time I owned it and there was a good indy once the warranty ran out.

I really liked the AWD system that 38:62 F/R just worked perfectly for me.  Better than my Q5 which was rear biased  but could change around and better than my A4 which most of the time was 50:50

[Dante]

After checking out the car tonight, it's a definitive no-go.

The ad is misleading as the current owner is not the original owner. The guy bought it from the  original owner few months back (Feb I think). The car is registered in NS currently (for insurance reasons apparently). I have my doubts it would pass safety as-is since the driver side mirror cannot be fully adjusted (does not travel far enough in either direction - you can hear the motor buzzing but the mirror doesn't move) and the brakes are fairly low (they have almost 80K km based on the records).
The steering may need to be looked at as it makes noises when turning the wheel in both directions at slow speed or stationary and has some vibration at highway speeds.

Then there is the rust - fairly big patches on all fenders and rocker panels.... Funny you cannot see them in the pictures but I guess the color/light/angle do a good job at hiding it. The guy claimed he got quotes for few hundreds buck to fix it but I doubt it would only cost that much unless it's a patch job.

My feeling is that the guy picked it up for cheap from the original owner which sold it as-is (leaking shocks and oil leaks from the filter housing were noted in the last service report from the original owner), put about $1000 to fix it and hopes to flip it for good profit.

I highly doubt he will be able to sell it for what he's asking or anywhere near that. IMO it's your average 16 years old car (car was first registered in Oct 2004) so perhaps not worth more than $4K-$5K at most. The UVIP said $4500 wholesale and $6000 average selling price.

The interior is in good condition though and clean, including the seats, the headliner, etc, and everything seems to be working. I would not have an issue with the interior for a car of this vintage. The wheels are in pretty good shape too - they haven't been used in winter.

All in all a bit disappointed but will keep looking. Too bad I really liked that color combination and the car had potential as a project car but at a much lower purchase price - perhaps what he bought it for would've made sense.

 

[aquadorhj]

that good that you found out in person. 

   that one doesn't sound like one asking 10k price.

[Hannibalsmith]

...and there’s that bucket of cold water...

[Brig]

...and there’s that bucket of cold water...

Yeah, it's a .   

I think you're making the right decision, carcrazy.

[2JDM]

Sounds like a curbsider.

[tortoise]

First Angry Chicken's Mini, and now this?  I am not sure this forum can handle any more disappointment.

[PJungnitsch]

Well, that was different then expected.

Looking back I guess the photos being 'staged' outside someone else's property was a bit of a giveaway.

Nicely written ad though

[Dante]

Well, that was different then expected.

Looking back I guess the photos being 'staged' outside someone else's property was a bit of a giveaway.

Nicely written ad though

I believe the current owner might have re-used the real original owner ad.

[Dante]

Well, this story is done but at least I  think I put to rest the idea that a 15+ years old car might be an option for what I want, despite my soft spot for the E46.

I will redirect my search to find a good 2011 E90 but will start a new thread on that. I have no rush so I can wait until the right car comes along....