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E46converted

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So i am a serial car changer having had many fairly nice cars but each only for a short time - resulting in being fairly poor.  I got my '04 330 sport convertible 3 years ago and have spent a small fortune fixing every little problem that arisen so it is now spot on mechanically and just needs a bit of cosmetic paint on the front, a wheel refurb and a good detail.

I have been thinking for a while about getting an old banger for the daily grind so that the old girl can go in ti semi retirement but everything that i have looked at has been absolute s**t.  Then i was offered a new job at work which involves 70 miles each way around the M25, so the BMW is out of the question.  So yesterday i test drove an 18 month old Corsa 1.2 Limited Edition, lovely car and real fun but nothing after 60 mph which i think would be a bit dangerous with the way the M25 goes.  So i went for the Astra GTC 1.4 Turbo, an ex Demo so full of extra kit.

So what's this got to do with an E45 forum and commitment?  As i said i'm not rich but the BMW is bought and paid for so she is officially retired from her daily duties.  I will keep her for ever, get everything done before next summer when we will enjoy the sunshine rediscover driving for pleasure.  I just wanted to share

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I've done the same, used to use the touring for my commute but then realised it was costing a fortune on petrol and the mileage was creeping up. So now the BMW sits on the drive all week and we drive to work in a 1997 Toyota Starlet! Proper proper basic car but it does the job. Best of all it's made me appreciate the BMW more as I only drive it on my days off :) 

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I am totally the same here, guys. I used to change my cars too much and was forever changing insurance and retaxing and MOT'ing my new cars... Until I got this car.

My 54 plate 330 sport convertible is so awesome I will keep it forever. I'm in the position that I can afford the ridiculous fuel cost and I spend far too much money on it but I'm well aware that I may need a daily driver at some point. 

Edited by Rich (BoxClever)
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Do e46s really cost that much to run as a daily? Surely that's exactly what they were intended for, and I'm not sure I could consider one to be 'special' enough to be tucked away as a weekender...

It's a relatively common car, and pretty cheap/easy to maintain. If you enjoy it so much, why restrict your use of it to weekends (and do the majority of your miles in something less enjoyable)?

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2 hours ago, Dave330 said:

Do e46s really cost that much to run as a daily? Surely that's exactly what they were intended for, and I'm not sure I could consider one to be 'special' enough to be tucked away as a weekender...

It's a relatively common car, and pretty cheap/easy to maintain. If you enjoy it so much, why restrict your use of it to weekends (and do the majority of your miles in something less enjoyable)?

I use my 330Ci as a daily and do between 12,000 and 15,000 miles a year.

 

Before my 330 I ran a 328 so it was basically the same cost to run. I find, providing you don't mind getting your hands dirty occasionally to fix the odd thing your self they are actually fairly cheap to run as a daily. Ok they drink a bit of petrol but that's to be expected with an engine that size and there's always the diesel versions if you want to save on the fuel costs. As much as it would be nice to put it away for the weekends, which would keep her in tip top condition I suppose, I think I would find my self jumping into the BM more often than the cheap little daily as I just love driving the 330.

 

If I had the funds I would use my 330Ci as the daily and purchase an E46 M3 to use at the weekends etc.. Now that would be good.

 

 

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Indeed. In all honesty, the incremental cost of buying, insuring, taxing and maintaining an additional 'daily' car probably negates any real cost-saving. And all the time you're saving that minute amount of money, you're spending your days driving around in a £200 banger...

I get the sentiment. But these cars aren't fragile, hand-built, Italian classics. They were designed to be durable and to provide enjoyable regular driving. It's never going to appreciate in value, so get out there and use it.

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I bought my 540 as a daily – more so I could really take my time in the jobs I had to do on my M3. It’s also a low mileage example and wanted to keep it that way.

I then went through the cycle with the 540… kept modding/pumping money into it, until I cared so much I was paranoid to take it out. Where is the logic in buying a car you love driving, but then improving it to the point where you cant (don’t want to) drive it?? It makes zero flipping sense! I am my own worst enemy.

I then bought a daily for my daily and am back to square one.

In my defence, I spent over £2k on paint work and it got hit on the first day. So whilst its winter, and to protect my investment, I bought a Mk4 Golf to rock around in. Sometimes it’s not about saving pennies – its about looking after what you’ve put a lot of effort into. It also saves a lot of stress having a car you don’t care about, especially in London

 

Edited by El Turko
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2K on paintwork and hit in the first day would make me not want to drive it too - harsh! Plus in London I can appreciate a second cheap car would make a lot of sense.

Fortunately I live in the south, but even so I hate laving my E46 anywhere, always park it as far away from people as I can in supermarkets, avoid pot holes like the plague, hedges, even muddy puddles occasionally, and when the council think its a good idea to cover perfectly good roads in that awful gravel stuff, I'm the slowest guy on the roads. This is one of the reasons I held back having a full respray on my previous 328 which was also my daily, I knew I would just worry about it too much and its just as well really as it was written off this September.

With my new Imola 330Ci, obviously I'm the same.... I want to keep it in as good condition as possible but driving it makes me smile, I enjoy it, I love the way she looks, the way she sounds, the build quality, the ease of DIY maintenance and that's why I have one, and that's why its just got to be my daily.

Driving a nasty cheap run-about would just make me miserable. 

Just have to be sensible with the modding etc.. as El Turko says - ending up with a car I'm afraid to drive anywhere make no sense.

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I'm not quite sure I fit with the crowd here, if I'm being honest. I bought my car to use, and to enjoy - where is the enjoyment in stressing out about where it's parked or what road surface it's driven on? My car gets parked on the street in Central London, and left among the 'hoi polloi' in the supermarket car park.

It's not some sort of coveted object of desire for me - I just can't get that excited about it. I can absolutely understand taking pride in your car and all that (mine gets a wash most weeks, irrespective of use), but I could never treat something as common as a non-M 3-series or a 5-series like a garage queen or some sort of hand-built exotica. Because it's simply not.

Horses for courses, I suppose.

Edited by Dave330
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I bought my clubsport specifically as a daily. They are good cars to use every day imo and don't cost that much to run really. I used to have two cars but just found I ended up using the boring one all the time which defeated the object of having a nice car at the end of the day it is a car and for me the most joy can be had from it by driving it.

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My facelift 330ci is my daily driver (with an LPG kit fitted).

 

I used to do the whole "second car"/"daily s**tter" etc. but eventually proved to myself that you don't really save much if anything. Makes more sense and is simpler to run one car and keep on top of maintenance/TLC as required. Plus the E46 can do mega-miles if you maintain it properly.

 

I do around 15,000 miles a year and generally pay about £5k for a car, run it for 3 years and then get shot, expecting it to be worth about £1,500 at that time. I bought my 330ci 3+ yrs ago on 80k and am now on 125k and have no urge to get rid. It's needed some money spending on maintenance but you have that no matter what and I'm happy to use it and get the use out of the maintenance I've paid for. I no longer see the point of spending 80% of your car money (purchase, maintenance, etc.) on a nice car you only spend 20% of your driving time actually using and then spend 20% of your resource on a turd that you spend 80% of your time in.

These aren't appreciating classics so my view is just use it and enjoy it :)

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1 hour ago, Jim27 said:

My facelift 330ci is my daily driver (with an LPG kit fitted).

 

I used to do the whole "second car"/"daily s**tter" etc. but eventually proved to myself that you don't really save much if anything. Makes more sense and is simpler to run one car and keep on top of maintenance/TLC as required. Plus the E46 can do mega-miles if you maintain it properly.

 

I do around 15,000 miles a year and generally pay about £5k for a car, run it for 3 years and then get shot, expecting it to be worth about £1,500 at that time. I bought my 330ci 3+ yrs ago on 80k and am now on 125k and have no urge to get rid. It's needed some money spending on maintenance but you have that no matter what and I'm happy to use it and get the use out of the maintenance I've paid for. I no longer see the point of spending 80% of your car money (purchase, maintenance, etc.) on a nice car you only spend 20% of your driving time actually using and then spend 20% of your resource on a turd that you spend 80% of your time in.

These aren't appreciating classics so my view is just use it and enjoy it :)

Couldn't agree more. No need to canonise a mass-produced motor. Parts (and replacement cars) are cheap and plentiful, and the E46 was designed to be driven daily. Get out and enjoy it. 

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When bought my E30 (beginning of '04) I had every intention of keeping it until I die.  I stopped counting how much I'd thrown at it when the calculation got to £12k and there were still loads of invoices not included.  That figure included a second-hand engine from a supposedly reputable seller at £1100 which lasted 20k miles, and then another £2k to rebuild it properly.  At the end of '09 it had a £2k+ respray but by early '13 it looked worse than it did before the respray.  That was when I decided enough was enough.  I broke the car and made just short of £3k.  The mechanical parts of the car would have done at least another 10 years, but the body let it down.

So now I have a 330d with a rusty arch and a worse wing, which I currently have no plans for other than to keep it on the road for (hopefully) another 2.5 years.  Then I'll think about replacing it with something newer that will hopefully last me 10 years, until I give-up driving at 75.  It's far more economical then the E30 and I've spent less on it maintaining it in 3 years than I did on the E30 in one year.

I'm done buying cars with the intention of keeping them long-term.  I've done it far too many times over the years and it's only when I end-up scrapping them that I lose what sentimentality I once had for them.

Edited by StuBeeDoo
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same,but other way round,im, using the bmw for a daily and bought a focus st-2 with plenty of oomph and a decent exhaust with downpipe and decat and ic,and 301 bhp,im averaging 25 mpg in the st so it aint as bad as i thought,pesky tax is hefty at £290 though,and an extra £200 on multicar insurance

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thanks for all of your thoughts. Im never gonna be able to have a thoroughbred italian sportscar but i have got a great car that i love and expect to still love in 10 years time when i hopefully will not be working as hard as i do now.  the decision was really forced when my commute has gone from 12 miles a day to 140 miles a day or about 35000 miles a year if my maths is correct (and i can only dream of 25 mpg).

i guess different people have view on what is special to them, mass produced or not

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12 hours ago, E46converted said:

thanks for all of your thoughts. Im never gonna be able to have a thoroughbred italian sportscar but i have got a great car that i love and expect to still love in 10 years time when i hopefully will not be working as hard as i do now.  the decision was really forced when my commute has gone from 12 miles a day to 140 miles a day or about 35000 miles a year if my maths is correct (and i can only dream of 25 mpg).

i guess different people have view on what is special to them, mass produced or not

Crikey! 140 miles a day is tortuous - I could never do that! Although, given the distance I would hope that a lot of that is motorway driving? I regularly see upwards of 30mpg on long motorway runs with cruise at 80-85mph, so perhaps worth considering a bit of fettling or a service?

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On ‎16‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎17‎:‎28‎:‎29, Dave330 said:

I'm not quite sure I fit with the crowd here, if I'm being honest. I bought my car to use, and to enjoy - where is the enjoyment in stressing out about where it's parked or what road surface it's driven on? My car gets parked on the street in Central London, and left among the 'hoi polloi' in the supermarket car park.

It's not some sort of coveted object of desire for me - I just can't get that excited about it. I can absolutely understand taking pride in your car and all that (mine gets a wash most weeks, irrespective of use), but I could never treat something as common as a non-M 3-series or a 5-series like a garage queen or some sort of hand-built exotica. Because it's simply not.

Horses for courses, I suppose.

This happened to me with the clubsport...I became to obsessive,too worried where to park it,wouldnt even go into a multi storey,didnt like to take it out at night and leave it parked up ect.....in the end it had to go....still miss the clubsport sometimes,but iv returned to the real world with the civic....it`s more of a fun car to be used anywhere,anytime ect....and its quicker than the clubbyB)

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I can't find any other car (Except another E46 but a 6pot) that I can afford that I prefer over my E46.

So I'll be keeping mine till it dies... or till I can afford something more desirable! :D

Saying that.. I don't get to drive mine as much as I'd like to. I drive a van to work daily, so the BMW sits on the drive most of the week anyway.. but this isn't out of choice, I don't think my 46 is special enough to be a 'weekend' car. It's only my weekend car because its my only car lol

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