hi im looking to buy a e46 sport and would like to here peoples opinions on these 3.0 diesels, ive had a 330i petrol in past and the car is still in family, owned by my father so i know there a nice refined car, but ive heard the diesels can be remap'd and go very well, but are these as reliable as the petrols? are theses worth the extra money over the petrols for that extra kick up the arse you get with more torque or should i just settle for a petrol, i only do around 8k miles a year. cheers

 

I have a 330D m sport on a 52 plate . I've had it nearly a year and not had any bother with it, 500 miles to a tank and don't go to bad either .

 

I keep looking at them as weve had our 1999 Octavia diesel family car for 4 years now, its super reliable and still low miles but fancy something with abit more grunt.

theres some proper cheap 330ds about aswell, no doubt some are just shit but look at this, cat c but only £2k

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-330-D-...item1c3425e9b3

if its genuine 108k miles and been repaired well that's a bargain imo.

 

had one for 110,000 miles now!

now at 150,000 on the clock. good cars lovely to drive!

only problems were fuel pump at 100K, pully wheel and front shocks 140K!
glow plugs at 130K

oh one of the reversing sensors failed at about 75K! that's it!

If you are updating the front bushes go for the proper lemforder m sport ones!

Put the best oil you you can get into them! my service interval was 18,600 last time according to the cars on-board computer. This is perhaps because I use redline 5w40 which is a fully synthetic polyol ester oil!

 

When I looked at these there seemed a lot that'd had new turbos and gearbox faults fixed at circa 100k.

 

Cheers for Replys, they sound a bit of a lottery to me and things like pump and turbos are a worry , I'm guessing that mileage ain't really a concern , really it's weather or not a particular car has had work done like pump and turbos, I've heard the clutch and dmf can go fast when remapped, Is this true? Cheers

 

My mates got a remapped one, hes on his 3rd propshaft donut bush. Seems to go pretty well. Seen a fair few turbos (mainly 2.0s) let go around 80k.

 

They are mega rare in Coupe which is what i was looking for but they are really expensive so saved a few grand and bought a petrol instead.

This is what i wanted but the price in comparison to other E46 is high

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-05-BM...item46106f22ac

 

That's a lovely car mate and the coupes 330 cd do hold there money , but 7.5 k is a lot for a e46 now when there's nice e90 saloons round for little more

 

I have heard the e90's abs system is more prone to fail and is over a £1K is the case?

 

This is mine, a 330d, remapped. 103k miles and touch wood no problems at all so far!
From about 40mph plus it's near as makes no difference as quick as my mates E46 M3.
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I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one!

 

Nice car, but I think your mate needs to learn to rev his m3

 

Right im going to see a 04 reg silver grey 330cd like one above tomorrow, what should i look for? The car has full history and 128 k on clock cheers