My wife has found a car she likes.... 2001 330i, automatic trans with around 80k miles. Thoughts?

Pretty low mileage, but still a 10 year cold car. Is this a good idea? Anything in particular I should be looking out for if we decide to go test drive it?

1/20/2011 10:12:46 PM

Does it stay cold in the summer as well?

1/20/2011 10:53:26 PM

Low mileage could mean lots of city driving which is worse that more miles on the highway.. just sayin...

1/20/2011 10:54:16 PM

Quote :

"automatic trans"

deal breaker

1/20/2011 11:56:16 PM

does that car have one of the gm slushboxes? i wouldn't want it if it does.

1/21/2011 12:29:54 AM

Go do a PPI, check especially for:

Subframe, VANOs, does tranny slip and shift smoothly?

1/21/2011 12:39:15 AM

It is a good car.

^^the E46 with auto tranny problems was '99-00 323i. 330s are fine. 330xi use GM transmission, 330i use ZF if iirc. it also varied by year.

Few months ago I bought my dad '01 325xiT with 78k. Paid $9700. Use it as reference. I probably wouldn't give more than $9500 OTD for that car, depending what options it has.

1/21/2011 9:18:30 AM

Isn't the water pump and cooling system in general a notable failure point for those cars?

1/21/2011 10:46:46 AM

^ From my experience with a BMW, all BMWs have cooling issues. I have probably replaced my water pump 3 times, along with thermostat 3+ times, the aux fan 2 times, the main fan twice, the clutch once, the radiator once, all the hoses.

So, if I were you, you just need to accept cooling issues, and use a good mechanic, like Dietrick at Shade Tree Garage.

From my experience, BMW is a slow bleed. It will always ding you around oil time, but usually never enough to make you wish you had another car. I normally end up writing a $500 check a couple times a year for the Z3, that has a whopping 255k miles on it.

[Edited on January 21, 2011 at 10:59 AM. Reason : .]

1/21/2011 10:57:55 AM

if it hasn't already been said....watch out for GM slushbox lol

1/21/2011 11:41:59 AM

^^you had E36 engine in your Z3. those had issues with cooling. E46 does not have cooling issues, but yeah bimmers love to nickel and dime.

1/21/2011 11:59:31 AM

^ Just curious but how does the Z3 handle in the snow?

1/21/2011 6:45:14 PM

A month ago I helped change a coolant expansion tank (or whatever the proper term is), a water pump, and a tensioner on an E46. It was a 2000 model with 150k on it.

1/21/2011 6:57:38 PM

I dont know about z3 in particular, but BMWs were representin' on the side of the road during the snowstorm yesterday here in DC burbs. I want to say 3/4 out of all cars stuck or left on the side of the road were BMW

1/27/2011 8:07:46 AM

I wont even let my BMW see snow. It would threaten to do a 360 in place. Worst car in the world on snow.

1/27/2011 3:58:11 PM

snow tires on something with a limited slip isn't going to be terrible, but i'd still rather be in almost anything else fwd or awd.

but yeah, fuck a bmw in snow.

1/27/2011 4:19:41 PM