The E46 compact may be ugly, but it's a hoot to drive

Kinja'd!!! "I love you but I've chosen hooning!" (obrut-2002)
04/24/2017 at 04:39 • Filed to: None

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Full Disclosure: I wanted to write a lengthy article about the underappreciated E46 compact, but I seem to have caught the flu and now, writing something in a foreigny languagy is harder than it was before. Then again, I have to stay in bed and I’m bored - so I decided to write a very, very short article on this car.

In short, when I was offered to drive an E46 316i compact with a slush box over the weekend, I wasn’t very enthused - I thought “at least it will get me from A to B”. But honestly, this car is really, really fun to drive. With its four cylinder N45 engine, making around 116hp, it’s definitely no race-car - but I was surprised that it wasn’t slouching either. The automatic was ok up until the moment I found out how the Sports and Manual mode work, then it became “Not bad”. Plus it’s a Golf sized RWD car, it corners pretty darn well.

Being bound to bed and having fever dreams, I started skimming through used car sites and found that (relatively) low mileage 325i Compacts, with an inline six and 192hp, can be had for around 7k€. Will I buy one? Most certainly not. But I can keep the (fever) dream alive.


DISCUSSION (9)


Kinja'd!!! Nauraushaun > I love you but I've chosen hooning!
04/24/2017 at 04:46

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Americans hate these things! Dammit! I love them and I think they’re pretty. Particularly the nicer rims and bumper as pictured, though I thought they were only available on the 325i.

Truly a 1-series from 2 decades ago, who doesn’t love a stubby little RWD hatch with a straight-6? It’s a fucking dream come true.


Kinja'd!!! I love you but I've chosen hooning! > Nauraushaun
04/24/2017 at 04:59

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It’s not even 2 decades, the car I drove was barely 13 years old. The 325i with the M-Package (as pictured) does look better on the outside, but when it comes to the inside it’s among the best interiors BMW has ever offered.


Kinja'd!!! 404 - User No Longer Available > I love you but I've chosen hooning!
04/24/2017 at 06:19

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Kinja'd!!! 404 - User No Longer Available > Nauraushaun
04/24/2017 at 06:21

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Americans don’t hate these things, they don’t even have them. In US/Canada there’s only the E36 compact, never the E46.


Kinja'd!!! bhtooefr > 404 - User No Longer Available
04/24/2017 at 06:27

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And we only got the 4-cylinder 318ti E36 Compact, not any straight-6 models.


Kinja'd!!! Nauraushaun > bhtooefr
04/24/2017 at 19:04

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Oh I think that’s it. I’ve definitely seen some hate for the E36 compact.

Well don’t forget there are good ones in the world :) Wonder why Americans never got the bigger engine? Very strange. In the case of the 240SX I think they got the biggest engine offered in the car anywhere in the world. AFAIK it’s usually the case for America


Kinja'd!!! bhtooefr > Nauraushaun
04/24/2017 at 20:44

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Probably because the E36 Compact was seen as a way to lower the barrier to entry for the brand - so, the cheapest one was the only one you got, as they didn’t want to cannibalize sales for the E36 coupe.


Kinja'd!!! Nauraushaun > bhtooefr
04/25/2017 at 19:16

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That makes sense, but I think they really messed it up. It cheapens the whole brand and I’m sure it made it much harder to introduce the 1-series all those years later.


Kinja'd!!! HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > I love you but I've chosen hooning!
09/24/2018 at 08:13

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I’d galdy rock one. I actually kind of like they way it looks, although it looks more early 90s Toyota than early 2000s BMW