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Another car review thread
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Thought i might be able to pick a few brains about a car i'm looking at. Have checked around with regards to reviews and they seem pretty favourable but never owned this make before so would like some opinions on the model etc. if anyone's had one/driven one etc.
It's a BMW, 3 series, 318i SE 4d manual. 51 plates, 75k on the clock.
Very nice condition, tax is fairly cheap on it (more so than my old knacker), MPG is the same as my old knacker and the insurance is only 70 quid more expensive. But i needed really to know a bit more about how heavy on the purse these tend to be with regards to parts, reliability etc?
It's a BMW, 3 series, 318i SE 4d manual. 51 plates, 75k on the clock.
Very nice condition, tax is fairly cheap on it (more so than my old knacker), MPG is the same as my old knacker and the insurance is only 70 quid more expensive. But i needed really to know a bit more about how heavy on the purse these tend to be with regards to parts, reliability etc?
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Pretty good, I think.
http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/used/bmw/3-series-saloon/summary/23687-2
Of course in a 3 series you'd have to expect never to be let out of a side street ever again.
p.s thanks for the link. Looks promising since they rate the 318i and the SE version in petrol which is what i'd looked at.
Oh, and good luck getting up any hills in snow!
Yeah!!! I notice thats a major malfunction with BMW's in general.
Yeah that'll be the downside to that car. Most of the time the rear wheel drive will give you a better drive, but in the snow it can be a pain. Luckily we don't have all that much snow. If you're particularly bothered you can work around it with winter tyres or by weighting down the boot.
Skive - i don't mind dull, i've always driven dull :yes:
What to Watch Out For
Reports of a thermostat problem with 318i models; replacement parts were on back order as much as 7 weeks so cars were being run without thermostat cores which meant no climate control. Thermostat problems spread to 6 cylinder models, too.
Keep the drains for the vent plenum chamber in the bulkhead clear. If you don't and are running an automatic, water can overflow into the car, pouring over the transmission ECU and destroying it.
Heater fan resistors can fail leaving fan only running at full speed but BMW aware of this.
A/c computer fault can flatten battery if car left parked for 2 weeks after a/c settings have been changed several times on the preceding journey. BMW dealers have a cure.
Cheap fix for common climate control ECU problem costs just 29 pence at www.macadamizer.com/bmwfix.html
Many E46s suffer premature front suspension balljoint failure. Bushes in front suspension wishbones often need replacing after 3 - 4 years. Means new wishbones. Spate of snapping rear coil springs on 4 - 5 year olds increasingly common. 17" wheels easily damaged on inner rim. Clonks from the rear either mean a coil has snapped or the diff has torn away from its mounting. Can also mean that the rear suspension subframe has torn loose from the floorpan at its mounting points.
Make sure the electric engine radiator fan works. Even it it does, a previous failure could have resulted in head gasket failure so check for the usual signs of this such as emulsified oil under the oil filler cap.
The wiring loom for the airbag pressure sensor may be too short. As a result of this, when the seat is moved back it tugs on the wire switching on the warning light and in some cases actually disconnects the wiring. Weight sensitive seat sensors for the airbags may also fail.
MOT failure due to brake pipe corrosion is not unknown.
Reason for rear light cluster failures is all the lamps in each cluster – stop, tail, indicator, reversing and boot: earth through one pin on the connecting plug on the lamp housing. The pin is too small for the load and burns out after some time, also burning the connector sleeve on the connector plug. With the earth completely gone, the whole cluster does not work. New lamp housings are quite cheap at £20.86 each inc VAT and new sleeves can be fitted to the connector plugs. It's a smart move to install two extra earth leads on each cluster to take the load and prevent a recurrence.
General Warning about Automatic Transmissions: Many BMWs have "sealed for life" automatic transmissions. Regardless of whether you have a full BMW service history, the dealer will never change the auto fluid. Many of these boxes are failing around the 120-150k mark - often well outside of warranty and to a cost of £3.5k plus VAT. A good independent or automatic transmission specialist www.fedauto.co.ukcan and will change the fluid for you (and any good BMW independents will recommend this anyway). This is commonplace in the US and means the 'box should last the life of the car rather than being the cause of it being written off. General advice is ensure the fluid is flushed out every 60k or more preferably at each Inspection II.
A sudden loss of power from petrol engines accompanied by the emissions warning light may be due ti the failure of an ignition coll.
On BMW E46 318 (N42 engine 2002), if engine suddenly starts to rev erratically on tickover at 1200 to 1500 RPM in about 1 sec pulses, (foot off gas), it might be nothing more than a badly seated oil filler cap. Cleaning and refitting should solve it. Also on this engine if a fault code indicates a camshaft sensor failure what may really have happened is that the plastic timing chain tensioner has failed, the chain has slipped a tooth and the the camshaft timing is out. Costs about £650 to put right by a specialist.
Original fit batteries can completely fail without warning.
Fuel tank sender pumps can fail.
Drum-in-disc parking brakes can be very ineffective.
Just a few bits and bobs to maybe keep an eye out for. Don't let them put you off though!