Things Jake Wants.

"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
07/20/2020 at 11:35 • Filed to: None

Stick 330i sedan. Going to be selling my IS soon, want something sharper-handling, stick shift, and more European to replace it. Always loved E46s and after helping fix a few I adore the way they’re engineered. Only problem is that 330is are freaking impossible to find (can’t walk five feet without tripping over a 325 though) and when I do find one people want $7k for it for some reason. when I was shopping for cars two years ago 330is were $3k throwaway cars. WTF happened?

DISCUSSION (38)

CB > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 11:44

Bring back the Murdersofa?

Tripper > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 11:45

Please get this. Also, yes prices on anything 15 years or older and pretty have really shot up. The good Bimmers especially so.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 11:48

3k cars are throwaway cars? Huh. I suddenly feel kind of bad.

wafflesnfalafel > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 11:54

W orked with a guy a number of years ago that had one in that kinda weird metallic seafoam green color. It was one of the very nicest driving cars I’ve ever had the opportunity to try. Steering was fabulous but even better was the supple but strongly damped suspension. One of those, “why can’t every automaker tune their cars like this,” cars.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 11:54

Very near peak BMW.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 11:56

I’ll sell you my e46 325 for about 2k if u want

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 11:56

I freakin want to. Hard to get a deal tho.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/20/2020 at 11:57

IMO they are peak. E46 M3 is “true peak” but the 330i is the one real people should buy.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/20/2020 at 12:01

Really want the 330 :( I’ve driven a few 325s and they’re okay but the extra 45hp is desperately needed, then add boltons and a tune on top of that and you’re really getting somewhere.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 12:01

Interesting that Honda/Acura and BMW peaked at around the same time (late 90s, early 00s).

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/20/2020 at 12:05

car design as a whole took a big ol poopoo around ‘05. Coincidentally that’s about when GM killed the Buick 3800.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 12:13

You said more European, not entirely European.

But, sarcasm aside, yeeeeeeeeeeeees. People have started to realize how good those were and price them accordingly.

Tripper > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 12:20

Yeah, it is. Dealers are worse than BaT with these things too. Ya almost have to find a reasonable private seller.

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/20/2020 at 12:58

Hey uh, where is it and a quick overview? ...asking for myself.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > wafflesnfalafel
07/20/2020 at 13:03

My grandpa in law has an E46 M3 as a winter beater. 40k miles but it looks like it’s done 300k hard miles. Drives absolutely amazing though.

Tripper > wafflesnfalafel
07/20/2020 at 13:08

“ It was one of the very nicest driving cars I’ve ever had the opportunity to try”

That very same feeling made me a convert. Pretty much every E Chassis 3 series brings out those emotions for those who know/care about driving. The E46 has the added benefit of being a timeless aesthetic design as well. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think the E46 coupe and sedan are the best looking and driving “text book” cars in existence.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 13:15

Southern Indiana, needs control arms replaced tho, its got a steering wobble. I'm planning to do it myself but just haven't had time....its got 200k miles on it, no underbody rust that I could see and bubbling on the arches.

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/20/2020 at 13:36

Just looked back at a few of your posts on it, is it a 3 peddler?

ranwhenparked > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 13:47

My younger brother had an E46 330 for years, bought it when it was about 3 or 4 years old and drove it reliably for a decade with nothing but tires and oil changes, then, the last few years he had it, everything started falling apart. Window regulators all went, the stere o and climate control failed, sunroof leaked, door panels dropped trim pieces randomly, headliner sagged, engine started throwing codes, etc. It was like every component hit some sort of expiration date.

He’s very lazy, cheap, not mechanically inclined, and refuses to do anything but the bare minimum of maintenance, so he went from driving a pretty clean and decent older BMW to driving a total heap in a couple of years, since he never fixed anything. Eventually traded it in on a couple year old Genesis R-Spec, which he ran into the ground fast and traded in on an Equus.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 13:50

Ooh ya, of course. I bought it coz the motor pulls quite hard, even with a vacuum leak lol

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/20/2020 at 14:37

Hm well I’m kinda interested if your really looking to get rid of it. What in your oppoprofessional op pinion does it need right away besides the control arms. Any codes, done a fuel pump?

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 14:45

Fuel pump is not done so it probably needs that, also probably needs the idle valve cleaned coz idle jumps around a bit sometimes and needs that vacuum leak fixed. It had an evap code and low fuel misfire code before I cleared them but they haven’t come back. If you are serious, I can pull inpa as well.

I do wanna sell it though, I bought it to be my daily, turn the Mini into a track car and Vette into an autox car. But the Vette is good enough (and not scary enough) to track it. So Mini will be my daily and I don't really have an use for the beemer.

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/20/2020 at 14:49

Haha yeah a corvette is surprisingly civil when you’d like it to be. Such an easy driving car. We’ll lemme see if I can scrounge up a place to put it, then I’ll let you know if I’m serious.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 14:50

Sure! Lmk

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 15:02

Ooh btw I put new meyle hd control arm bushings on it in an attempt to fix the vibration, it did not.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 16:41

Damn that’s a beautiful color. Do it!

Haven’t tracked the market much lately, good for me to hear prices are going up. I got my 330ci ZHP coupe 2 years ago for $4750! It’s had like 5 prior owners, was an east coast car, and has had a couple of fender benders but checked out clean in a PPI and haven’t had a single issue to date.

What kind of IS do you have? I was pretty seriously looking at IS300s too at the time, but they were impossible to find with a stick and clean ones were nearing $10k when E46s were much, much cheaper and way easier to find with a manual and not modded to death.

stuckMTB > Tripper
07/20/2020 at 17:41

Yeah, a lot of these are either owned by the flat-billed hat types that drive the crap out of them and do some ill-advised mods, but there are a few that are adult owned still out there. I found my 330Ci from a guy who was the second owner (1st owner was a BMW executive lease). It was pretty high mileage but very well cared for, and it had no rust somehow despite spending it’s entire life in Michigan. Keep your eyes peeled, they’re out there!

Vicente Esteve > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
07/20/2020 at 18:34

Honestly, its just gonna get harder to get a good deal. These are well known to be good buys, but you have to be on the lookout for someone who just see’s it as “an old BMW”.

Tripper > stuckMTB
07/20/2020 at 18:58

I’ll take high mileage with a low number of owners any day! I’m owner number 2 on my M3 going on 14 years and about to tick 92k miles. I’m hoping to eventually land a single/double owner E39M5 with a touch over 100k miles maybe more if it’s really nice.

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/21/2020 at 10:05

Where are you in Indiana? I have family in Sandborn. I have the “ok” from the Mrs. still working on a place to put another car. slash if you’d like to take this offline. trippere90 at yahoo is my burner and I’ll reply from my real deal from there.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/21/2020 at 10:09

About 2 hrs to the east, near Columbus. But before we go further, there is an odometer discrepancy. Title says 202,500 miles but car shows 197k, this was done at the time old guy who I bought the car from registered the car in Ohio. I think its a simple mistake (the little dot is not ‘ on' on the cluster which denotes odo issues)...I can send you the Carfax from when I pulled it before buying the car.

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/21/2020 at 10:19

I appreciate you being up front, but i f the title is clean and in your name I’m not worried about it.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/21/2020 at 10:21

Yup, title is clean and in my name.

Also, the interior is not the cleanest thing ever, you would probably wanna get it cleaned up.

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/21/2020 at 10:22

Can ya email me some pics when you have a few spare minutes?

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/21/2020 at 10:27

Sure, I can get pics today evening.
Whats your mail id and what a ll do you want? I may not be able to lift the car up since the V ette is in the garage with no water pump on it lol

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/21/2020 at 10:55

trippere90 at yahoo

Just general pics of the interior exterior and any trouble spots that you can see easily, rust etc... . I don’t need pics of the underside, you said you’ve been under there already to do the bushings etc... , that’s better than pics.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper
07/22/2020 at 07:55

Oops missied this message yesterday... I'll get you some pics possibly today, although I'll likely be working on tbe Vette so maybe not!

Tripper > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/22/2020 at 09:48

No rush man