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E46 330i non-sport - When doing front and rear brakes, do I need the brake disc allen head bolt, part number 34211161806? A few parts etailers list it under the rotors, so I'd like to make sure it's not I need to replace when doing the brakes. Also, does anyone have any tips or warnings about doing pads and rotors on an E46? I've done pads on a 2005 Mini Cooper, so I'm fairly sure I won't have any major problems. Sidenote: can anyone glean some knowledge about clutch replacements in E46s? What parts/special tools will I need for a standard clutch replacement, and how capable do I need to be to successfully complete one?
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# ? Aug 5, 2008 22:55 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 21:55 |
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Great thread so far, figured I'd post up our two cars. 02 M3, Tourmaline Violet Metallic 02 325iT
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# ? Aug 5, 2008 23:42 |
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gjh posted:Great thread so far, figured I'd post up our two cars. Well hello Tourmaline, any interest in letting this vehicle go?
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# ? Aug 5, 2008 23:52 |
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thealphabetsez posted:Well hello Tourmaline, any interest in letting this vehicle go? I've considered it, but the offer would have to be beyond perfect. This car is a passion of mine and I know if I did sell it, I would instantly regret it. However, I never say never. I know I won't see the money I've put into the car as far as mods go, but the car is worth more to me than book value and most people aren't interested at that point. April 02 build date ~35,000 miles Individual factory ordered paint (1 of only 3 in the US in this color that I've been able to verify) OEM CSL Trunk OEM ZCP wheels Eibach Pro-Kit springs Borla exhaust and mid-pipe Other minor miscellaneous tidbits. I'm always willing to listen to a credible offer, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sell it to you.
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 00:11 |
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CornHolio posted:Yes, I was turning it righty-tighty and it wouldnt come off. I tried a number of tricks, though not the chisel thing, wouldnt that potentially damage it? I didn't mean hit it with a chisel; hit the end of the 32mm wrench... although we've used air chisels with long shanks to pound off stubborn fans. It'll gently caress up the fan, but it doesn't matter if it's getting replaced. It's best if you have a purpose-made fan wrench. I use this at work: Mad Dragon fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Aug 6, 2008 |
# ? Aug 6, 2008 02:36 |
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CornHolio posted:I love seeing v12's shoehorned into 3 series cars. I don't remember where I found this picture, but it looks like a nice job:
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 05:20 |
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gjh posted:I've considered it, but the offer would have to be beyond perfect. This car is a passion of mine and I know if I did sell it, I would instantly regret it. Adnuo posted:Also, does anyone have any tips or warnings about doing pads and rotors on an E46? I've done pads on a 2005 Mini Cooper, so I'm fairly sure I won't have any major problems. I'd also recommend cleaning your caliper with some brake cleaner/lacquer thinner and doing a light spray of silver caliper paint. It really cleans up the look of the factory caliper without looking ricey or aftermarket. Example: Without With Nait Sirhc fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Aug 6, 2008 |
# ? Aug 6, 2008 05:31 |
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Nait Sirhc posted:That violet is absolutely stunning. I've never seen an M3 (or any e46 for that matter) in that color. How did you get it? Are there other "secret" factory colors like that? A little secret is that with some prodding, you can get your new BMW painted just about any color they ever made at the factory. http://m3.madrussian.net/indextcolors.shtml quote:Important Note Regarding the BMW Individual Program (courtesy of StoneWalk, the sage of RoadFly M3 Board):
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 05:50 |
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Pimpsolo posted:I love seeing v12's shoehorned into 3 series cars. I don't remember where I found this picture, but it looks like a nice job: V10s are the new V12 I bet that fucks up the weight distribution something fierce.
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 13:22 |
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Nait Sirhc posted:That violet is absolutely stunning. I've never seen an M3 (or any e46 for that matter) in that color. How did you get it? Are there other "secret" factory colors like that? Thanks. This particular color was offered standard on the 2002 E65/E66 7 in the US, but that was it for us that I know of. It was offered in Singapore and Australia as a standard color on non-M E46s. A few other models in Europe got it standard as well. In the majority of countries where BMWs are sold they offer the BMW Individual Program. The big exception is that it is not officially offered in the US. As mentioned, with the right sales person and manager, and enough handshakes and winks, you can get them to try and push one through the BMW NA system. Unfortunately, that's still not a guarantee as BMW AG will more often than not kick it back as an invalid order. But every now and then, one gets through and this is how my car came to be. I'm the third owner of the car. The original owner (who I don't know) was able to get my car ordered through BMW Of Manhattan. As with all Individual ordered cars, exterior paint runs an additional ~$2000 and interior changes the same. So over $4000 for both. My car was only exterior, I have standard gray leather. BMW NA has recently brought a scaled down version of the Individual program to the US, but you are limited on color choice and it's only available on the 7 series. In Europe and other countries, you can pretty much order your car in any available BMW exterior and full leather interior colors. It's my understanding (and I could be wrong) that it's this wide open choice that keeps BMW from allowing us to have this program in the US. Our consumer protection laws are such that we have an easier time backing out of a car deal. So if someone were to go into their local dealer, order up the worlds nastiest BMW color scheme and then back out of it, the dealer is holding the bag on a car that may only suit one or two peoples taste. This program leads to some pretty nice looking cars... and ugly ones as well, IMHO such as Phoenix Yellow (standard E46 M3 color) on Laguna Seca Blue (individual).
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 17:07 |
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gjh posted:Thanks. This particular color was offered standard on the 2002 E65/E66 7 in the US, but that was it for us that I know of. It was offered in Singapore and Australia as a standard color on non-M E46s. A few other models in Europe got it standard as well. The one way to guarantee a BMW is ugly (at least to me) is blue leather. That color combo just looks, off.
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 18:05 |
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Im trying to fill in the missing service history for my car, a 1997 328i. I know the car was originally sold at Sterling BMW in LA, and was serviced there from new to 30k miles. Then it was serviced at Creview BMW, also in LA, and then at Irvine BMW, who did some work up to 90k miles. From there it went to OH for about 40k miles, and then to me. Crevier BMW has been very helpful and is going to try to send me information since I sent them license and registration to prove I owned the car, but the other dealers told me the info was basically off limits. I thought BMW had a network where any dealer could look up work done at other dealers. Does anybody have experience with this? If anybody has access to that, the last 8 of my VIN (some places need 7, some need 8, whats up with that) are VAV20554.
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 18:18 |
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thealphabetsez posted:The one way to guarantee a BMW is ugly (at least to me) is blue leather. That color combo just looks, off. The blues for me can be OK in the right shade and how it's done. You can get two tone seats done through the Individual program and that really makes it look nice. For instance these two cars have the same individual blue interior (Estoril Blue)... the first one is overkill, the second is fantasic. But maybe it's just me. Silverstone Blue (individual) on Esotril Avus Blue (individual) on Estoril two tone
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 18:57 |
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gjh posted:The blues for me can be OK in the right shade and how it's done. You can get two tone seats done through the Individual program and that really makes it look nice. For instance these two cars have the same individual blue interior (Estoril Blue)... the first one is overkill, the second is fantasic. But maybe it's just me. And maybe it's just me, but blue like that doesn't belong in any car interior ever, especially a BMW. Both are absolutely vomit-inducing. Blech.
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 19:04 |
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Guinness posted:And maybe it's just me, but blue like that doesn't belong in any car interior ever, especially a BMW. Both are absolutely vomit-inducing. Blech. Same color interior options on the E39 M5 as well - I always thought it was hideous, but there are a lot of folks out there who love that combo. Especially over Avus or LeMans Blue exteriors. \/\/\/\/ I agree. Except for the totally awesome plaid interiors on early 911's \/\/\/\/ usurper fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Aug 6, 2008 |
# ? Aug 6, 2008 19:16 |
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I gotta say i'm not a fan of coloured interior at all execpt cream or brown, unless it's just small highlights. My old Citroen had a black interior with a little bit of green in the cloth and it looked quite nice. I hate the blue cloth BMW and MB used in the 80's and 90's.
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# ? Aug 6, 2008 19:16 |
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CornHolio posted:
Reactions seem to be mixed, particularly in regard to service records. I know most of the staff at my local BMW dealership, but when I floated them my VIN's all they could pull up was the original build sheet and all work done while under warranty (which, apparently, they're not even supposed to give out). When I called the original dealership for my car (to find anything post-warranty), it took several tries before I talked to someone who gave a gently caress and was willing to print and mail me the records (after I faxed him a copy of my title and license) they have on the car; everyone else was borderline rude about it, and I had a similar experience looking up records for my friend's car. I still have gaps in the records, but as my car is pretty hacked up (parts bin car) anyway, I kind of let it go. On the topic of interiors, I have no clue why they don't still use plaid/argyle in BMW/MINI interiors (seems like that'd really appeal to the mini crowd); the pure awesomeness of plaid is something I'd pay for way before I'd pay for leather. I miss cloth... snugglz fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Aug 6, 2008 |
# ? Aug 6, 2008 19:39 |
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What do you think my best option for snagging some old school recaro seats / 80's era BMW sport seats for the E28? E30 sport seats don't pop up too often, but it looks like some other cars around that era had similar seats - someone has a set of cloth recaros out of a VW on Craigslist that look identical. I'm not worried about fabbing up brackets to make it work.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 00:38 |
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Mr. Toast posted:What do you think my best option for snagging some old school recaro seats / 80's era BMW sport seats for the E28? Check local junk yards. They'll probably be in tatters, but you can have them recovered for less than it costs for good condition recaros. I know of at least two sets of E30 Recaros at the junkyard near me.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 00:45 |
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I drove a Z4 M Coupe today on a whim. Fantastic car, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It's a 2007 leftover, 98 miles on it. I'm in no real position to buy but I'm wondering what the going rate for a car like that is these days. I know there was a good deal of trunk money and it seems like there aren't enough people interested in them. They were basically tripping over themselves when they found out I was actually interested in it (mentioning the Cayman S helped ) and convinced me to test drive it. It's fully loaded with a bunch of crap I don't really want or need with an MSRP of 59k. I've read that they were going for 38-43k last year around this time. Is that what I could expect now or are the dealers more desperate than that to get rid of them?
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 00:51 |
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Pr0kjayhawk posted:I drove a Z4 M Coupe today on a whim. Fantastic car, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. When my friend bought his about 6-8 months ago he got $14k off MSRP.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 02:05 |
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havelock posted:When my friend bought his about 6-8 months ago he got $14k off MSRP. It's incredible! I test drove one last summer and without even asking they knocked off $10k instantly...
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 02:30 |
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two_beer_bishes posted:It's incredible! I test drove one last summer and without even asking they knocked off $10k instantly... It's killing me because I don't actually NEED new car but gently caress if that isn't some value for money. When they found out that I've been to the track recently they made sure to tell me the 4 year/50k mile warranty will cover that. I like to think I'm decently prepared to talk about a car, even when I don't set out that day to look at a particular car but that genuinely surprised me. The sales manager went as far as saying it's like having a pit crew, except free. I've had a love affair with the Cayman for over a year now but I'll be the first to admit I'm a cheap bastard and the price difference is staggering. I don't think it's a stretch to say I could walk out with a loaded 2007 M Coupe that's new for less than a "base" 2006 Cayman S with a few miles on it.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 03:30 |
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Pr0kjayhawk posted:It's killing me because I don't actually NEED new car but gently caress if that isn't some value for money. When they found out that I've been to the track recently they made sure to tell me the 4 year/50k mile warranty will cover that. I like to think I'm decently prepared to talk about a car, even when I don't set out that day to look at a particular car but that genuinely surprised me. The sales manager went as far as saying it's like having a pit crew, except free. The Z4M Coupe is all but dead. The few new ones that are left at the dealers is all there will be. If you have any inclination to get one, do it now. It's an awesome car and the current discounts that can be had make it even better.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 05:54 |
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gjh posted:The Z4M Coupe is all but dead.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 15:13 |
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gjh posted:The Z4M Coupe is all but dead. The few new ones that are left at the dealers is all there will be. If you have any inclination to get one, do it now. It's an awesome car and the current discounts that can be had make it even better. krysmopompas posted:Dead as we know it, but rising from the ashes with the M3's V8. Wait, what? They're discontinuing it? I couldn't find any info on this...
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 20:56 |
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snugglz posted:Wait, what? They're discontinuing it? I couldn't find any info on this... Ceasing production in Spartanburg, moving to Germany for the new model due out in 2010. It'll probably be a while before we see a coupe version though.
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# ? Aug 7, 2008 22:15 |
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My favorite BMW Individual color is Skarabaesgruen/Scarab Green. It's iridescent and crazy in person.
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# ? Aug 8, 2008 02:03 |
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About to kill myself. Just spent a lot of money having an overdue refresh on my E36 cooling system done because it had a leak and a perpetual "check coolant level" warning. The major components were replaced along with the minor original components, system tested at 30ps+, refilled, bled, etc... Drove it home 15 miles and the check coolant message came back on. Gonna wait for it to cool down and then see what's up. Yip!
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# ? Aug 8, 2008 20:57 |
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ynotony posted:About to kill myself. Just spent a lot of money having an overdue refresh on my E36 cooling system done because it had a leak and a perpetual "check coolant level" warning. The major components were replaced along with the minor original components, system tested at 30ps+, refilled, bled, etc... Drove it home 15 miles and the check coolant message came back on. Cracked rad side tanks, cracked overflow tank or a bad coolant level sensor maybe?
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# ? Aug 8, 2008 21:14 |
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Doctor Grape Ape posted:Cracked rad side tanks, cracked overflow tank or a bad coolant level sensor maybe? Overflow tank and coolant level sensor were replaced. Nothing was leaking for the five minutes I had my head under the car. I am just hoping it's working properly and all I really need to do is "check coolant level" and top it off with some distilled water. I just hope more air doesn't get trapped in the system. At least I have hot air at idle now - maybe that is where some coolant disappeared to and it took running the car with the heater on to trigger sensor.
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# ? Aug 8, 2008 22:16 |
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ynotony posted:Overflow tank and coolant level sensor were replaced. Nothing was leaking for the five minutes I had my head under the car. I am just hoping it's working properly and all I really need to do is "check coolant level" and top it off with some distilled water. I just hope more air doesn't get trapped in the system. At least I have hot air at idle now - maybe that is where some coolant disappeared to and it took running the car with the heater on to trigger sensor. Ah, that might be it then. Air can sometimes be a bitch on the E36, but I've found that squeezing the upper rad hose with the bleed screw open and the heater on will eliminate a lot of it. Edit: In related E36 cooling news I've been running my car with the fan delete mod in the hot as balls weather Florida has been having and the temperature has never gone beyond the 12 o clock position. Doctor Grape Ape fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Aug 8, 2008 |
# ? Aug 8, 2008 22:21 |
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On a happier note, the latest issue of Grassroots Motorsports compares the 4 generations of M3s. A summary of the article: - E30 M3 was the homologation for FIA Group A class, and went on to sell almost 18000 - E36 M3 was not as hardcore as the E30 M3, especially the US's detuned engine. BMW sold 71242 of these - E46 M3 was underappreciated by the hardcore enthusiasts, even with the new engine. Sold over 85000 copies, 1/3 of which were 'verts. - E92 M3 (it's new) In the holistic (including engine, shifting feel, steering, styling, fit and finish, dash controls, noise, and fun) subjective ratings, they scored: - 8 - 7.2 - 8.5 - 9.1 Avg lap times around the BMW Performance center: - 28.80 s - 27.35 - 26.75 - 26.3 GRM recommends the E92 if money is no object, but the E30 otherwise. My personal fave in terms of looks, cost, and bang-for-buck is the E36. Others' thoughts?
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# ? Aug 9, 2008 01:37 |
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Does anyone know how I can remove the factory radio from my '97 328i convertible? All the guides I've been able to find online mention these flaps on the front of the radio with screws behind them, but they are definitely not on my car. Is there any way to remove it without special tools, or should I suck it up and take it to an installer?
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# ? Aug 9, 2008 01:56 |
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Doctor Grape Ape posted:Edit: In related E36 cooling news I've been running my car with the fan delete mod in the hot as balls weather Florida has been having and the temperature has never gone beyond the 12 o clock position. Yea... I did that for a few months and it was reporting 12-oclock. I did it out of necessity because my fan exploded and I was 300miles away from my trusted shop. The general consensus is that it is fine to do in the sense that you won't blow a head gasket immediately, but the car was designed with the fan for a reason and the dummy temp gauge will report high-noon even if you are at the top of the acceptable operating temp. I replaced my engine mounts to stop my fan exploding and put it back in right away. The only exception to this is if you actually install a proper auxiliary fan that is on most of the time.
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# ? Aug 9, 2008 01:56 |
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rope kid posted:My favorite BMW Individual color is Skarabaesgruen/Scarab Green. It's iridescent and crazy in person. http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/106774-scarab-pearl-individual-beautiful.html Woah, I had no idea BMW offered such a color, even through the Individual program. It's like a TVR color.
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# ? Aug 10, 2008 01:38 |
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kimbo305 posted:My personal fave in terms of looks, cost, and bang-for-buck is the E36. Others' thoughts? Hard to argue with them now being such a cheap and well-known commodity. I've always had a crush on the E30s and their S14s, but right now the E36 has the right blend of price and practicality. It's the definition of a daily-driven track car, unlike any of the others. Between the E36 and E46, the E36 tends to have a better ride and more neutral at-the-limit handling, particularly the (now cheap) 1995 model, though far less giggle factor from the accelerator in stock form.
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# ? Aug 10, 2008 20:00 |
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Sterndotstern posted:Between the E36 and E46, the E36 tends to have a better ride and more neutral at-the-limit handling, particularly the (now cheap) 1995 model, though far less giggle factor from the accelerator in stock form. The later models had what, a 20 ftlb bump in torque? I tentatively asked a few sellers about their sales on ebay and autotrader, but no responses so far. A good '98 or '99 could probably be snapped south of 16k.
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# ? Aug 10, 2008 20:08 |
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kimbo305 posted:The later models had what, a 20 ftlb bump in torque? I tentatively asked a few sellers about their sales on ebay and autotrader, but no responses so far. A good '98 or '99 could probably be snapped south of 16k. Easily, but why? My preference is to pick up a well-used 150k '95 for $7k, drop $2500 of suspension, refreshed bushings, and Conforti intake/chip/injectors in it. That's some SERIOUS value for <$10k.
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# ? Aug 10, 2008 22:01 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 21:55 |
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I'm thinking about getting a used '06 330i or '07 328i. Are there any potential problems that I should be looking out for?
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# ? Aug 10, 2008 22:44 |