I've got an 02 and love it for around town. It's a big heavy pig, but still a lot of fun (and makes a great highway car). There are a couple of issues you need to watch out for:

1. Early e46's up through 02 IIRC, had connecting rod cap issues. There was a recall, so most of those should have been replaced by now. Make sure if you buy an early one that it was done.

2. In the later e46's, people are finding a lot of loose vanos bolts that are starting to back out. It would not be good if they let go. There is an updated bolt kit I believe which cures this issue. This is on my winter to do list. Failed vanos units are also somewhat of an issue, IIRC a rebuilt unit is about $1500 in parts.

3. Cracked rear subframe mounting points (body). Usually this is only an issue if you are tracking the car and putting extra stress on the suspension, but there have been cases of the mounts ripping out of the body and the results aren't pretty. There was a class action law suit and BMW agreed to inspect and do a repair if they found the crack. The law suit was only for the passenger side IIRC, but a lot of dealers would repair both sides if they found a problem. IIRC you get one free inspection, and they will repair it from there. Subsequent inspections I believe are done out of pocket.

4. I would not touch an SMG, but that is just me. I have freinds who have never, low mileage M's that haven't had any issues....yet.

 

Stay away from e46fanatics, bunch of immature snotty grunts...depending on your age id steer clear of e46 and go sl55 route

 

while i do agree with your e46fanatics comment, i dont understand how you can compare an sl55 with an e46?

They are apples to oranges.. uncomparable.

OP, go to m3forum.net LOTS of knowledgeable people on there.

 

Great all around car. Its very balanced. Not TOO much or little of anything. Of course its left open for plenty of improvements with the surge of performance in recent years from other manufacturers but its a great base. As a daily driver, if you only need two doors, an easy choice. They are very affordable, I don't think it can be beat at its price point, unless you want a brand new car.

And as mentioned by others... unless you are in love with SMG, go with 6Speed. You will save yourself some headaches.

 

sorry i was on my droid and typing on it sucks, so i kept it short and sweet.

I drive an 04 Imola M, IMO the e46 is the new honda civic, with the prices being so cheap its the car for 18-25 year olds

 

Just because they are cheap doesnt make them comparable to civic's This just means you can get one the best drivers cars ever made for a great price. Nothing wrong with that. There are some great low mileage examples out there for sale.

 

biggest con to me is that its body style came out in 2001....thats 10 years old so thats why i wouldnt get one. its nice, dont get me wrong but i just would rather get something that wasnt so common and wasnt driven by '****s' lol

 

E46 M3 = lack of power.

 

power isn't all it's cracked up to be...

 

Uhm yes the e46 is 10 years old, but how old is that porsche? My dad had that body style when i was in the 5th grade.. lol juss saying..
And why do you care who's driving the car? All I see down here in are old geezers driving Porsches with their suits on going 15- the speed limit. That won't stop me from buying a 997 turbo..

sharkbite, you've probably never even driven one. But by the looks of your username, you probably have an s2k? And dumped a million dollars into the motor, so you can talk **** about cars that are "better" than yours.

Yes, better.

 

I picked up an '03 6MT coupe almost one year ago that had 35k miles on it and have been using it as a DD. I'm at 52k miles now and no issues. Definitely get it inspected for the usual suspects especially the potentially major ones like vanos and subframe even though they are very rare and can be rectified proactively nowadays. I would say there are more SMG problems than there are 6MT problems so take that for what it's worth.

Not a lot of low end torque, needs to spin up to 4-5k rpm for things to get really fun. Torque curve is pretty flat though and one member said that >90% of the torque is available past 2500rpm or something (262 lb/ft still isn't really a kick in the pants though). Lots of 18-22 yr olds own this car nowadays b/c it is getting cheaper to buy (I'm almost 40!). Bought the car because it is fairly reliable for a performance car, gets decent mileage, fun to drive, wanted something a little sportier/harsher, fairly easy to work on, relatively desirable so resale outlook is decent, lots of support from forums, lots of 3rd party mods available, seats 5, has a good trunk and fold down seats, and the car itself is pretty iconic. Took a 335 for a spin. Quick car but was little too soft and sedate in comparison but many like that in a daily driver.

 

Guess I'm showing my age. I'm not skinny anymore and rarely ever wear jeans, so I've never noticed that issue. My seats have the adjustable bolsters on the back and bottoms anyway so I can move them out, though I usually keep them snug, particularly the bottom seat as I don't like to scoot around in the twisties.

 

Thanks a lot again for the response guys, I never test drove the 335i but I figured it would be softer than the e46, I figured i would have to chip it.

 

That would make it quicker, but not less softer.

 

Agree that the E46 M3 would be a solid choice. The performance for the current market values is tough to beat. They don't have the low-to-mid range torque of the N54 twin turbo or N55 single turbo powered new Bimmers, but the top-end power makes up for it. Acceleration times are very similar between both, but the M3 is the way to go for enthusiastic driving. It's a far more sporting drive than the 335i and includes an LSD, yet is also very comfortable for DD. SMG is very jerky in auto mode compared to modern dual clutch systems, and as stated is expensive to repair. Stick with a manual for the most pure, less hassle driving experience.