Newest edition to the family

[stiaan]

After a week or two of deciding, and having lots of different cars on her mind, from A class Merc, to Audi A3, I finally got my wife to decide on this:

Her criteria was a not to big car, a car that looks funky and girly (her current 1994 Uno doesnt look girlie, according to her:biglol

I tried to persuade her to get a E46 320d, but she told me it looks to much like a family car, and with a budget of max R55k, the choices was a bit limited

We're going to fetch it this afternoon, I'll post more pics once we have it

Im not sure if it has the N42 or N46 engine, I'll find out when we have it at home
I know I know, you guys are going to tell me what a crap engine that is, but yes, thats the only "girlie" looking BMW we could get for R55k, its a 2004 318ti Sportpack, and its much nicer than a 1994 Uno that rattles and shake so much, and with no aircon:roflol:

 

[MikeR]

:coolShake:

 

[STEVEN COOL]

:clapper:

 

[Solo Man]

Stiaan, these cars are very highly rated in the UK. It is surprising that we see so few of them in our country. Always wanted to try them out and now i hopefully will get an opportunity to do so. I think it comes with the valvetronic motor, so has a bit more power. Looks great though! Clean and white as they say! Enjoy the car. Much safer than a Uno.

 

[sash]

i think its a great buy, i like this shape for some unknown reason and i think the motor suits the body fine, but thats just me.:clapper::clapper:

 

[MaX]

I too like it alot! Congrats on a nice car for the Mrs!

 

[Hugo_za]

Nice ride bud. A buddy of mine had one and his only complain was the fuel economy. The N46 engine was only available on the 2003 and 2004 model years. Post the last 7 digits of the vin and I will check which it is and get you a full build sheet too

 

[stiaan]

Thanks guys, I feel much better now, I know that these engines are known for being problematic, but my wife is not one that drives a car hard, so I suppose it can last a few years for her.

What attracted me to this one, is the fact that I didnt even see a sportpack one ever, with this wheels and bumpers, I only saw the normal ones with the normal bumpers and wheels, I saw one red one advertised in Gauteng a while back, but didnt see the Sportpack one in the flesh ever.

This one has got just over 200k km on it, FSH at SMG Cape Town (I know that doesnt mean much:biglol, one owner since new, and a whole file with invoices that has been spent over the years, I know theres a new clutch fitted at SMG recently, I will check all the invoices tonight.

 

[Nikhil]

Nice ride :rollsmile:

 

[samman325]

Car looks awesome Stiaan. Congrats. Looking at the pictures i would never have guessed it has over 200k km's.

Looks great in white with the sports pack. Your Mrs made the right choice from all the other options she was considering (and i suspect that alot of that credit goes to you)

 

[China]

Enjoy the new Ti!!!

:clapper:

 

[ShirazA]

looks very nice

Congrats to you and the Mrs

 

[Mike-R]

Ive always also liked this shape BM.

But nonetheless, great buy, and safe miles for your misses..

 

[stiaan]

Car looks awesome Stiaan. Congrats. Looking at the pictures i would never have guessed it has over 200k km's.

Looks great in white with the sports pack. Your Mrs made the right choice from all the other options she was considering (and i suspect that alot of that credit goes to you)

Ja, between a 2001-2004 A Class (shit in my eyes), a Audi A3, a Hyundai Atos, Chev Spark and a few other cars, I kept on sending her the pic of the white TI while at work, and told her, any other car than a BMW, must stand outside, not in my garage:roflol:

 

[Mike-R]

Hahaha. Good one

 

[HitokiriZed]

Congrats Dude! Cool Cab!

 

[tivoli786]

:cartel:

 

[WyKiD]

Congrats on the new wheels, quite rare with msport kit, great buy....:coolShake:

 

[netercol]

always fantasized about taking one of these and slamming the 330d engine in it with a remap.. epic :rollsmile:

 

[stiaan]

Okay, so we went to fetch the car yesterday, I wasnt allowed to drive it the 180km back home, the body and interior are in really good condition, no resprays ever done on the car, really original.

215000km on the clock, the few "niggles" I hear and see when driving it last night, obviously I bought it "as is", so I understand Im not going to get a perfect one for that price.

The fuel guage faulty, showed 3/4 full last night and when filling up it took 39L of petrol.

The passenger side door doesnt want to open from the outside, opens from inside, but feels like a locked door when trying to open from outside.

The front tyres are about 60% thread, but so bloody noise, it sounds bad, first thought was wheelbearings, but saw on a invoice in the cars "file", that front wheelbearings was replaced 14000km ago.

When "flooring" it, it feels a bit if something is holding it back, like a dirty fuel filter, or a carburator car whos carburator are not 100%. The fuel filter was replaced 2000km ago.

And then, my BIGGEST concern, if anyone can perhaps give a idea here, this is a bit worrying to me, when driving, engine is very quite, but when taking foot off accelerator to deccelerate, I here a "hydraulic lifter" type of noise from the engine? You cant hear it when windows are closed, but when driving with open window, I hear that?

I see according to the vin, it is the N42 engine, it was built late 2003, and registered 2004

Any advice, as said, the body and interior of the car is in such good condition, I wont mind spending a bit to get it in tip top shape