320d or 330i

[Marcel83]

noted.

at this stage when we travel with baby, we always have to plan to see if we can borrow sister's car, instead of using one of ours, we DONT want to take the chance of visiting family or going to harties with the lil one and the car breaks down next to the road.

the wife is up for a promotion within the next year or so which should see another healthy jump I income which can then be used to settle on property.

but reliable transport at this stage is crucial/.

 

[individj]

hence me saying buy an e46 330i (there have been good ones for sale for good money..even on here) & finance a little R60k run around like a polo or something . thats just my 2 cents.

 

[Marcel83]

what you are saying is very sensible , so please don't take my response as a negative argument.

 

[individj]

no I'm easy..no you can get cheap mingers but you can also get a good 1. with petrol prices etc. you can pick up a decent E46 330i now for decent cash.

 

[GPGrobler]

no I'm easy..no you can get cheap mingers but you can also get a good 1. with petrol prices etc. you can pick up a decent E46 330i now for decent cash.

And best of all, the car is perceived to be heavy on fuel because of it's six-pot, but it is not heavy on fuel at all.

 

[Yuben]

The E46 330i would be a brilliant buy( bit bias in my opinion :rollsmile the best of both worlds and a good daily. Not heavy to maintain and reasonably priced. Mine is on 182000km and does not skip a heart beat.

And there are many reliable mechanics on the forum that can take good care of it for you
:chef:

 

[individj]

GP mine kills me with petrol lol I'm not going to lie!! but i never cruise. Mine has also been very reliable.

 

[Marcel83]

thought about it last night and your sensibility sank into me, and repayments on R150k might strangle the daily cashflow a bit - even though I would like nothing more than a E90...lol

so it makes sense to keep an eye out for a decent E46, or even a e90 323 / 325 for around R100k, the difference in monthly payments on that extra 50K does leave some lekke breathing room.

we would get rid of the wife's Fiat as well so we would have cash fund of +-R60 000, leaving us to finance about just R40 000.

we get along fine at the moment with 1 car cause the Coupe is always standing or waiting to be fixed or parts to arrive...lol

but I will still apply the principle of keep 10-15K aside from the sale of my Coupe for immediate maintenance on the next vehicle, the rest used as a deposit.

---

fuel usage is not really a concern as we don't travel much, 1200km a month max most of the times so i'm willing to fork out extra for fuel knowing that we have a awesome ride :rollsmile:

 

[individj]

keep that R15k for nice straight out preventative maintenance, decat & diff swap:=):

 

[Del-Bosc]

thought about it last night and your sensibility sank into me, and repayments on R150k might strangle the daily cashflow a bit - even though I would like nothing more than a E90...lol

so it makes sense to keep an eye out for a decent E46, or even a e90 323 / 325 for around R100k, the difference in monthly payments on that extra 50K does leave some lekke breathing room.

we would get rid of the wife's Fiat as well so we would have cash fund of +-R60 000, leaving us to finance about just R40 000.

we get along fine at the moment with 1 car cause the Coupe is always standing or waiting to be fixed or parts to arrive...lol

but I will still apply the principle of keep 10-15K aside from the sale of my Coupe for immediate maintenance on the next vehicle, the rest used as a deposit.

---

fuel usage is not really a concern as we don't travel much, 1200km a month max most of the times so i'm willing to fork out extra for fuel knowing that we have a awesome ride :rollsmile:

---

I read through the thread and agree with you, no matter what bmw you buy that's out of motorplan. You will need a small cash amount set aside for repairs. The E46 does suffer from cooling system issues and water pump failures if I remember correctly, also do your research on the common faults bud and remember not everyone will look after their cars like the guys on here. So inspect the car thoroughly before buying even get a trusted forum Mechanic to check the car with you before buying. E46's are getting on in age and will require preventative maintenance and bmw is not the cheapest of cars to fix. I am not scarring you, but merely informing you of the possible issues you may face and being without a car in JHB can be hectic.

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

can only buy problems with R60k.

got my Coupe for R55k and its cost me about R15k sofar.

---

a e46 is getting on in years, buying one will come with high mileage and anyway cost me few grand in maintenance or preventative maintenance.

wife's fiat is also giving fair share of problems, although less than my coupe - at this stage we need a decent family car more than we need to buy property.

---

I disagree, I bought a few cars in that price range. Yes was not beemers. I bought my Accent a little over a year ago for R60k. Had 74 400km on the clock, now on 92 000km. it has never set a foot wrong, I have only spend money on services thus far. not saying you must buy or do what I would, just sharing my opinion.

 

[Lizzard]

Why don't you drive the 3 versions, E46 330i, E90 320d and E90 330i and then make your decision based on that. Before you make the decision based on money (in a light sense I mean), you only going to buy this car not to get rid of it in a year's time meaning that you will need to drive it for a while.

Do believe you would get these cars for less than R130k. It is a good option to buy the car and have a cash flow hidden somewhere but no 2 cars are the same (maintenance except services)

 

[Marcel83]

Yes car will be in the garage for 3-5 years, so the car bought now should be RIGHT, cause the next car is for the wife, which will be a smaller run around.

I just don't want to buy cheaper now thinking i'm "saving" money and then months down the line maintenance issues comes up.

the thing that slightly worries me about a e46 is that it will likely be high mileage, and in the coming yrs will require more maintenance/preventative maintenance than a E90 range.

but i'm keeping the E46 in the decision bunch, and maybe dropping the E90 330i so that I can lower my budget to around R120k, from R120k I can still negotiate sale to about R105 000.....that way im financing quite a bit less leaving me with walk around money and less debt.

so after thought, the E46 330i / E90 323i / E90 325i is my probable choices - just to keep things financially sensible.

 

[GPGrobler]

E90 323i - good idea, will probably be my next BMW too :thumbs:

 

[Marcel83]

and the 323i you get in the R100k range with good mileage, with this being a buyers market we can take R10 000 off any selling price.

I do think the 323/325 will be heavier on juice than a 330 though.

im not stuck to a GP car, I'll take a coast car as well - there are some nice cabbies doing rounds in the KZN region on gumtree at the moment

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

No idea what a 330i's consumption is like.
I used to average in town 10l/100km in my 323i and 8.6 on the open road. My 320d I used to average 6l/100km in town and 5.4 on the open road.

---

There is a few in the R120k range

http://www.autotrader.co.za/used-ca...1/caryearrangeszar/2012/caryearrangeszar/2010

 

[Marcel83]

No idea what a 330i's consumption is like.
I used to average in town 10l/100km in my 323i and 8.6 on the open road. My 320d I used to average 6l/100km in town and 5.4 on the open road.

---

There is a few in the R120k range

http://www.autotrader.co.za/used-ca...1/caryearrangeszar/2012/caryearrangeszar/2010

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that is a very nice example.

this also looks nice, rims suits the car very well.
http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bak...mmaculate-condition/1001457632220910228056209

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

No idea what a 330i's consumption is like.
I used to average in town 10l/100km in my 323i and 8.6 on the open road. My 320d I used to average 6l/100km in town and 5.4 on the open road.

---

There is a few in the R120k range

http://www.autotrader.co.za/used-ca...1/caryearrangeszar/2012/caryearrangeszar/2010

---

that is a very nice example.

this also looks nice, rims suits the car very well.
http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bak...mmaculate-condition/1001457632220910228056209

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the color is hot, always wanted that color, but bought silver each time :biglol:

 

[Lizzard]

No idea what a 330i's consumption is like.
I used to average in town 10l/100km in my 323i and 8.6 on the open road. My 320d I used to average 6l/100km in town and 5.4 on the open road.

---

There is a few in the R120k range

http://www.autotrader.co.za/used-ca...1/caryearrangeszar/2012/caryearrangeszar/2010

---

My e90 pre-lci 330i average about 10l/100km in town and 7L/100km on the highway. Think it depends if you want to thumb your right foot through the floor or not. (when all hell breaks loose and I forget that I am driving a 6 pot then I average 13.6L/100km in town, but then the smile on my face cant be whipped off also :rollsmile: )

---

Just hearing those 6 pistons singing through the exhaust is more then enough for me to choose a 6pot above an asma pump.

Might have a point when choosing between the 323i, 325i and 330i, see they all have about the same body weight and then the motor is different, smaller 323i might pull harder then the 330i :tiptoe: , that's what I think anyway, but then again the price difference when I bought mine was like R10K. Which performance conversion on the smaller 323 or even 325 is going to give me the same power delivery as the 330i. R10k is too little and I also don't really like tampering with something that works.

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Yep I suffer from Heavyfootinitus. :rollsmile:
Used to get 400km from a full brim tank in my sentra on the open road.

You don't want to know what my Dodge's obd is saying after the drive to work this morning. Its worth it though. I firmly believe if you stressed about fuel consumption, get a 1300 Corolla