joewatkiss Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 seems to be a lot of bad talk about the 4 pots. touch wood mines running sweet as a nut with 102k on it, not much and it has been properly looked after throughout its life.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny 5C Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 My m43 is OK too... I went for it for the MPG gains, but its not that economical. But, it does everything I need it to do, so im happy.. Me - "I have an E46 BMW" Anyone else - "Oh yeah, which one" Me - "Its just a 318 Saloon" The usual response... Jookface123 and Wash 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewatkiss Posted January 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 My m43 is OK too... I went for it for the MPG gains, but its not that economical. But, it does everything I need it to do, so im happy.. Me - "I have an E46 BMW" Anyone else - "Oh yeah, which one" Me - "Its just a 318 Saloon" The usual response... Exactly.. i went for the 318ti purely for insurance reasons, being only 20.. ive found round town for economy, its not that great, on long runs its better than my old corsa so go figure.. but then if i wanted efficiency i wouldn't have bought a 2L petrol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B0B Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Each to his own an all that, but if your talking fuel economy then there isn't that much difference between all of the petrol models. A friends of mine has always had 320 verts, last year he bought a 318 vert and he says its worse than any of the six cylinder models fuel wise, all auto's if that makes any difference. Sites like this don't help though as I have always been happy with my 2.5 petrols but since joining here I have found myself wanting a 3.0 on more than one occasion......but it's just peer pressure type b******s really and doesn't matter in the real world. joewatkiss 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewatkiss Posted January 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 ive heard a lot about them being inefficient too, i was on about the reliability issues too though, nobody seems to have a good word to say mind you some of the cars i looked out whilst on the market for one sounded rough as hell, i guess its down to keeping on top of maintenance.. i was trying to explain to my mate today, problems develops 99% of the time, and if you can see the symptoms then it can be rectified before it going seriously wrong, its rare to see a perfectly good engine just go bang.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Had0uken! Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Just my 2 cents: Had a 318 m43 coupe, bulletproof engine; never faltered, failed to start or anything! touch wood in the year that I had it never had to replace anything engine wise except a squealie water pump that was on its way out! Then I went to a 318 n42 convertible, lots of bad juju out there about this engine, was brilliant for the year I had it. Spent exactly £50 on it engine wise in the year I had it and that was just an oil change as it was due! other than that no issues at all.... I lie.. It stalled twice pulling upto traffic lights but it was just a split in the elbow of one of the air intake pipes just after the maf! put it back together with tape and all was good! Now have a 325 convertible m54, only had it for 4 months but nothing wrong so far! Out of the three I must say the m43 felt the most solid engine wise... It actually felt bulletproof! :s the n42 felt a bit more sensitive compared to the 'm43 but no more so than the m54! There just seems to be A LOT of hate out there for the 4 cylinders! Oh and fuel economy wise, everyone says there's not much difference! Doing exactly the same driving and routes in the 325 vert compared to the 318 2.0 vert I'm averaging 4-5mpg less! Both manual and a mix between town and motorway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B0B Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 The trouble is on the Internet you will always hear more horror stories than good ones about most things. Though I think they do suffer with cam chain tensioner problems and a few other things. But essentially you are right, stay on top of maintenance gives you the best chance. mit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
318max Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) my experience was very bad, head gasket went and I was just unfortunate... would I own another one? never... Some people have no problems with them, the 6 cylinders seem to be most common on this forum , yet the horror stories are most common from the 4 pots on the forums? Edited January 10, 2013 by 318max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc l Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 It's rare for the head gasket to got on the 1.9 m43 tho max! There are loads of horror stories about the n42. I've replaced the waterpump, DISA valve, ht leads and that's it in 2.5 years. I've also changed the radiation and expansion tank but that's on all e46's. I wonder how much faster the 2.0 n42 is compared to the 1.9 m43 in real life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
318max Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 It's rare for the head gasket to got on the 1.9 m43 tho max! There are loads of horror stories about the n42. I've replaced the waterpump, DISA valve, ht leads and that's it in 2.5 years. I've also changed the radiation and expansion tank but that's on all e46's. I wonder how much faster the 2.0 n42 is compared to the 1.9 m43 in real life yeah I understand my 318 was a dog, although if you do go to the general assistance section, if you see HG related questions, a lot of them are from the 4pots, but as I said im sure plenty of people have no problems with them, like yourself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Had0uken! Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I don't know if it's just me but the majority of e46's I see on the road are usually 318i's or 320d's (both 4 cylinders) opposed to the sixers! As with any car keep it maintained and it should see you right :-) all of mine were just hitting the 100k mile mark upon getting them and were taken upto around 110k yet still ran sweet as a nut so I wouldn't discount them on what you read alone! When I had the n42 after the m43 it didn't feel any different tbh, mind you the convertible with the n42 was heavier than the coupe m43 so the extra 20 or so horsepower wasn't noticeable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
318max Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 yeah the 4 pots are prob more common, but on this forum I would say the 6ers are abit more common? might just be me though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brixtoninmate Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 i have a 316i ,when i brought it i had untold idle problems but worked tho it didnt just throw money at any thing if you use your brain instead of lissoning to others getting the car to run properly isnt that bad . this site has been a grat help as a refrence to finding problems ,some people ask about rough idle ,etc see the first few coments and rush off down to local garage tell mechanic they know what is wrong the mechanic does as he is ask and fits the parts ,turns out to be wrong not there fault ,doing it this way is expencive . after 2 months of poking around chequing diffent things my rough idle turned out to small pipes on front of engine cost 2 pouinds to buy pip 10 mins to fix. yes i was surpised how bad the fuel consution is but get it onto motorway and the car does what its surpose to do 70 ,80 90 100 for hour after hour getting 30 plus to gallon ,wife 2 kids and s**t load of luggage, i had a e36 2 litre motorsports before this yes it was so much quicker around town but as you cant really go more than speed limit most of the time dew to traffic whats the point. i will be changing my 316i this year for another e46 model but as im not still in nappies i can do so as insurance wont kill me. all said and done the e46 i brought taught me alot about this model hasnt cost me a great deal its never broken down never not started so i for one have no complains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomis Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I understand why people go for the 4 pots, insurance really, but for me a BMW is only complete with a straight 6, v8, v10 or a v12. I can say that because i'm old (41) so insurance isn't an issue So in my mind if your going to have one of the 'proper' engines like above you may as well have the largest one available in the body style you require. If they had done the right thing and made an m3 touring then i wouldn't have been happy with anything less but they didn't so i have a 330i sport touring. A guy at work had a 320i 'vert which was doing exactly the same mpg as mine so why have the 2.2 or for that matter the 2.5 when the 3.0 is available and with no down sides and loads more power? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc l Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Because people (like myself) don't know there's a small difference in mpg til they've bought the car! If I used my car often, say 15k per year I'd have a facelift 320cd with a manual 6 speed box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
