Cheap(ish) E46 anyone?

[wuvvum]

It's this thing.

 

 

 

 

It's a 1999 318i Manuel.  It's fairly boggo spec (cloth seats, keep fit rear windows), but it does have some fancy 17" Alpina alloys (albeit with missing centre caps), and a Sony MP3 CD player with a USB port in the front.

 

It drives nicely enough and is fairly nippy - obviously not as quick as the 6-pot versions, but the flip side is that it does mid-40s mpg on a run.  Mileage is around 140K. 

 

Bodywork is mostly quite tidy, if not immaculate.  There is a bit of a scrape on the nearside front wing in front of the arch, and the indicator lense has been repaired with tape - looks like someone caught it whilst turning into a driveway or something.  There's also a bit of surface rust starting to appear on the inner lip of the rear arches, but no rot that I've found.  The interior isn't in bad shape but could do with a bloody good valet.

 

There are a few faults that need mentioning:

 

-Aircon doesn't seem to do much

-Airbag light sometimes comes on (more often than not in fact)

-Stereo won't pick up radio stations - I haven't investigated, but suspect the aerial isn't plugged in

-There's a bit of a wheel bearing noise from the back at speed

-Some fecker has nicked the BMW badge off the bonnet.  I've not found this to be a problem - I simply make the cars in front of me aware of what make of car I am driving by sitting 3/8" from their rear bumper at all times.

 

Other than that it seems OK - no overheating or smoking or other misbehaviour.  It's tested until late August, but there's no tax.  I also only have the green section of the logbook - I did fill in the full logbook when I bought the car, but it seems to have got lost somewhere between the seller's house and the DVLA.  I could apply for a new one, but that would mean either paying 25 quid or sending off the green slip, which would mean I'd be completely stuck until the new V5 came back.

 

The car's in NE Norfolk.  Does 400 quid sound fair?

[dollywobbler]

Sounds a good price for what is arguably the last attractive BMW. (even the facelift of this model was pretty gopping).

[Cavcraft]

Airbag light is due the wire under the driver's seat. They all do it.

[Tayne]

It's an SE (don't get excited, that's either bottom of the range or one up from bottom) but I does have the centre armrest which would have been a £150 or so optional extra when it was new.

Plug the last 7 digits of the vIN in here to get a full build sheet.

 

http://www.bmwarchive.org/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html

[purplebargeken]

Oddly appealing but I must not buy any more cars.