Buying a BMW 320d E46 - Advice

kerryman87

Hi, I'm looking to buy a 2001 E46 BMW 320d. It's got 136,000 miles on the clock but the guy who's selling it says it was a UK import (mostly motorway miles up until about a year ago) and had a full BMW Sevice History up to 100,000 miles. Then it was brought over here to Ireland. According to the seller, it is mechanically perfect. I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on this. Would I be foolish to buy a car with such high mileage or do you think being a BMW with FBMWSH would be fairly reliable.

I am hoping to sell my own '99 Honda Civic as soon as possible and have it advertised. And I am going to look at and hopefully buy the BMW next weekend if all goes well. Just wondering if anyone has had one of these and are there any issues I should look out for when I go to view the car. The price seems fairly reasonable at €8500 but I am just concerned about the mileage.

Thanks in advance

Anan1

I'd be more concerned about the absence of history over the past 36,000 miles than the total mileage, TBH. Or does it have an up-to-date BMW SH here?

luder

With mileage like that i be checkin to see if the turbo's have been replaced. I know someone who baught a car with similar discription to yours and had to replace the turbo not so long after.

With the e46 beemer afaik the actual mileage of the car can be stored in the key, if you bring the key to the dealers they can read it and give you the data..ideal for catchin a clocked car.

Do you know what area of the UK the car was from...certain parts of the uk are notorious for salting the roads causing lots of corrosion underneath and on the brake systems, exhaust etc.

Area's further north in the uk typically salt the roads a lot more compared to the south.

JHMEG

The lack of a service history past 100k miles wouldn't bother me, but I reckon you would have no chance of selling it on when you're finished for any more than buttons.

Be prepared to take a big hit when the time comes, or be prepared to drive it into the ground.

kerryman87

I'm not sure what kind of servicing the car has been getting since it was brought over here. Will have to ask the seller about that. I would assume he would have just been taking it to his local mechanic rather than a BMW Service Centre which I assume is considerably more expensive.

Forgot to mention it is the 320d SE model with 136bhp

Anan1

JHMEG wrote: »

The lack of a service history past 100k miles wouldn't bother me,

On the contrary, i'd be very worried about buying a 136,000 mile car that hadn't been serviced in the past 36,000 miles. Who knows what problems may have accumulated over that time?

OP - I'd also verify that the car actually was serviced as stated in the book - forged service histories are quite common in the UK. The only way to be sure is to call the dealers who stamped the book. I did it on a UK car I was considering buying a fortnight ago - let's just say it was a worthwhile exercise.

luder

Also check to see what parts he is using to service the car with, servicing a BMW is expensive so people often cop out and buy cheap spurious parts.

A lot of these spurious mechanical parts e.g pulley's pumps dont last any time compared to genuine BMW parts

kerryman87

Didn't expect replies to my post so quickly. Thanks for the advice. Keep it coming I don't know what part of the UK the car was imported from. I'll see if I can find out. Thats interesting about corrosion damage from salting the roads. I hadn't heard about that. I'll look out for that when I go see the car.

I guess yer right about not having a hope of getting much for the car when I go to sell it. I don't have much to spend on a new car, €8500 - €9000 is about the limit of my budget. Hoping to use that mileage to haggle down the price a bit though. I think it has been advertised for a few months and the owner hasnt been able to sell it. He said he needs the money as well. I think I would be doing well if I could get it for €7000/€7500 or so?

Anan1

OP - My main concern would be that if you bought the car you'd have to spend a lot of money to get it right. If you are set on that particular car (and remember, it's a buyers market), then have it professionally checked out first. If you're in Dublin then AC car sales are a reputable BMW specialist.

JHMEG

Anan1 wrote: »

On the contrary, i'd be very worried about buying a 136,000 mile car that hadn't been serviced in the past 36,000 miles. Who knows what problems may have accumulated over that time?

That's where an inspection comes in...

luder

Oh ya corrosion is a big problem on a lot of uk cars. Thing is they wont usually be spotted unless you get under the car / go pulling at things.

Ideally if you could get under the car for a look it would be great, you can better check the condition of the exhaust system, brake lines, arches and pockets.

Check the conditions of the brake discs, if these are badly worn or corrorded they wil need replacing and there not cheap.

It might be worth your while bringing it to a local center like advance pitstop and asking nicely can you throw it on the lift. slip the mechanic €20...lol

Anan1

JHMEG wrote: »

That's where an inspection comes in...

Snap.:)

kerryman87

Just checked the ad again and it does say it has been serviced recently and got a new set of tyres etc. So it hasn't been neglected for the last 36,000 miles anyway. Thanks for your comments. I don't know a lot about what I should look out for when going to buy a car so all these tips are very helpful. My next cr will only be my third car. I've owned a Mk3 golf and a civic and have been very fortunate that both cars were very reliable and fairly troublefree. Just hoping that the BMW would be reliable as well because I really couldn't afford to go paying for a serious failure after I pay that kind of money for a car.

JHMEG

luder wrote: »

Oh ya corrosion is a big problem on a lot of uk cars.

Correction: corrosion can be a problem. It's confined to the bigger urban areas (roads are salted more fequently). If the car has been kept in a garage or a carport it really helps tho. I bought an 8 year old outside Bristol and was as clean as the day it left the factory.

HungryJoey

kerryman87 wrote: »

I really couldn't afford to go paying for a serious failure after I pay that kind of money for a car.

To be honest, if your budget can allow for it.. go for a lower millage 320D or one with a full service history. It could save you alot of headaches later on and if anything serious did go wrong it could be quite expensive to put right being a BMW. Even if it means going a year lower to fit into your budget it may be worth it.

luder

JHMEG wrote: »

Correction: corrosion can be a problem.

agreed, it can be a problem. not always a problem

luder

luder wrote: »

Oh ya corrosion is a big problem on a lot of uk cars. Thing is they wont usually be spotted unless you get under the car / go pulling at things.

Ideally if you could get under the car for a look it would be great, you can better check the condition of the exhaust system, brake lines, arches and pockets.

Check the conditions of the brake discs, if these are badly worn or corrorded they wil need replacing and there not cheap.

It might be worth your while bringing it to a local center like advance pitstop and asking nicely can you throw it on the lift. slip the mechanic €20...lol

last time I had a pair of fronts fitted to my beemer it was around €200 at the main dealer. Not too bad.

Eoin

That seems a very good price for a 01 320d, but the lack of service history is very off-putting, especially as this when the big bills can come up. I bought a 00 one 2 years ago and I got hit for some big bills. Off the top of my head:

New MAF
New clutch and flywheel (2K bill for this one)
Various coolant system parts

I would definitely get AC or someone to inspect the car. If it is in good condition, then it is well priced.

kerryman87

eoin_s wrote: »

That seems a very good price for a 01 320d, but the lack of service history is very off-putting, especially as this when the big bills can come up. I bought a 00 one 2 years ago and I got hit for some big bills. Off the top of my head:

New MAF
New clutch and flywheel (2K bill for this one)
Various coolant system parts

I would definitely get AC or someone to inspect the car. If it is in good condition, then it is well priced.

I will definitely get it checked out by someone when I go see it. It has got the full BMW Service History up until 100k miles and it has been serviced since then (but probably by a local mechanic as opposed to BMW dealer). I know one poster suggested I try to stretch my budget and go for a car with lower mileage. I've just had another look there and most 320d's for sale around my budget are all just over 100/100k miles anyway. What drew me to this particular car was the fact that it is a UK import and I would prefer a UK car with 130k miles than an Irish car with 100k miles. Also, I can use the high mileage to my advantage when haggling for a better price.

Was there much mileage up on your 320d when you started having problems? Any other problems I should look out for when I go to view the car?

milltown

I'd need to be convinced that the time-mileage relationship is roughly the same since the last dealer service. i.e. when was it last in the dealer network with 100k miles. Could be that there's been big miles put on it since the last dealer work and it's had a bit of a haircut since then. Just because it has over 100k on it now doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't covered 200k.

Eoin

kerryman87 wrote: »

Was there much mileage up on your 320d when you started having problems? Any other problems I should look out for when I go to view the car?

I bought it with 90K on the clock and traded it in with 115K last month. Had it for just over 2 years.

The problems I had were all things you may expect from a car with that mileage. In fact, buying a car with 130K on the clock can often mean that a lot of the big repair bills have already been paid - but you would want to see that documented.

While this car does seem to represent good value, remember that when things go wrong with a BMW, it means money. If you buy a lemon, you could easily cancel the savings you made from buying it cheap.

kerryman87

Just got a text today to say the car has been sold. Didn't even get a chance to look at it so I'm really disappointed. So i'm on the lookout again for another 320d. Might try and push the budget to say 9500 or so and try and go for a car with lower mileage. Most of the UK BMWs i'd be interested in are priced at around 7000 euro but i'm not sure what VRT i'd be looking at on this car.

I see that emissions are 152g per km which would mean i would be paying 20% VRT so I guess that mean I would be better off buying a 2000 reg car with lower mileage rater than a '01 or '02?

Eoin

kerryman87 wrote: »

Just got a text today to say the car has been sold. Didn't even get a chance to look at it so I'm really disappointed. So i'm on the lookout again for another 320d. Might try and push the budget to say 9500 or so and try and go for a car with lower mileage. Most of the UK BMWs i'd be interested in are priced at around 7000 euro but i'm not sure what VRT i'd be looking at on this car.

I see that emissions are 152g per km which would mean i would be paying 20% VRT so I guess that mean I would be better off buying a 2000 reg car with lower mileage rater than a '01 or '02?

Do you not have to sell your own car first? Private sales are taking a long time these days, so I think you could be putting the cart before the horse.

Mr.Diagnostic

I think that with a car this age it is better to buy the car than the service history. Buying a service history makes as much sense as buying based on the number of owners a car has had. Neither have any direct bearing on the actual quality or condition of the car.

In other words, get someone who really knows the model to inspect it.

Anan1

Inspection is always best, but a service history can be easily verified by the layman. SH also has an impact on the future saleability of the car. It's not the be all and end all, but it is an important factor - especially for those buyers who don't pay for an inspection.

Mr.Diagnostic

Anan1 wrote: »

Inspection is always best, but a service history can be easily verified by the layman. SH also has an impact on the future saleability of the car. It's not the be all and end all, but it is an important factor - especially for those buyers who don't pay for an inspection.

Spoken like a true car salesman............

I'm kidding.

Thats very true. SH does have a major effect on value but often has no effect on the actual condition of the car.

The older the car the less the SH is important.

Anan1

Hey, I haven't been a car salesman in ten years!:)

Mr.Diagnostic

Anan1 wrote: »

Hey, I haven't been a car salesman in ten years!:)

Time to stop thinking like one so


Dunno why I got the idea that you are a salesman.