The new news 24 thread

[Split_Pin]

9 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Mrs6C has a beautiful 330Ci Auto with just 61,000 miles she bought from its 1 owner, a former work college 19 years ago.

 

So is that!

I remember how nice these were when they were new. My pals was a Y reg silver 323ci with M Sport kit and MV2 wheels. Half alcantara seats and carbon fibre dash inserts. 

Equally handsome are the SE versions with tan and walnut like the above.

It's a shame the rest of the car didn't last as well as the M54BXX engines. Audis of the era are much more robust.

[Rust Collector]

It’s funny timing, but just last night I was looking at the last pic I took of my 328ci, and thinking how much I missed it… despite the fact that it was one of the neediest cars that I have ever owned.

In typical fashion, I spent ages fixing faults, and then sold it when it was running nicely rather than actually keeping the bloody thing.

Sold it locally, and still see it driving around the village that it lives in.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, Christine said:

He wasn't eldery when he bought it ..i bet he thrashed it in Europe 

Hopefully! I'd be very surprised if the new 22yr old bloke owning it doesn't. In fact I think he is probably is right now. 🤣

I said to check the coolant temperature as I noticed it not getting up to temperature on the test drive. And every car I buy needs a thermostat. 

Anyway it's 80c stationary and 60c on the motorway. So it's going to need a thermostat...

I've also advised the tank possibly too as I know they're a weak point. Especially if put up to temperature and pressure it might split.

57 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Mrs6C has a beautiful 330Ci Auto with just 61,000 miles she bought from its 1 owner, a former work college 19 years ago.

 

Looks lovely! I like autos but the manuals are rarer and the ZF 5HP is old school slushy making it quite a different character.

I really do appreciate cars with low mileage and so immaculate they're like brand new. 

[SiC]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

Check out this absolutely honey of a unicorn. 

A manual 325Ci with 51k miles on the clock with full service history. I'm not joking when saying the cliché that underneath is so clean you could eat off it. Not only no rust but not even mud! Absolutely mintola and the vegan (someone ticked electric memory seats but not leather!) interior doesn't have a single mark on it including the bolsters. I can't remember what a new BMW smells like of this era but this has a faint crayon like smell. 

How much? £1900!?!!!!?

Unfortunately not mine but it could have been...

One of our grads has been after a post uni car. Originally he wanted a E46 coupe but was struggling to find anything. Then realised he could get a newer, more powerful E92 for the same money. He kept looking for something and obviously I'm a bad influence so kept sending him different cars. 

Cut a long story short this came up yesterday on eBay and I suggested strongly that he should buy it. Thanks to Flexi time he caught an Uber from the centre of Bristol down to the car and, as I was working from home, I drove up. 

The story goes is that the seller bought this from an uncle/friend (this bit kept changing in the story) for his wife. Even apparently put a big bow on it. But she found it too powerful and big. He also had 2 weeks car insurance on it and hadn't transferred the V5 yet to his/her name. Anyway I presumed that was mostly bollocks and he got it cheap to punt on. Don't think he was a proper driveway trader as he didn't even know which bit of the V5 to give over...

Apparently it was an elderly gentlemans car and being in his late 80s, couldn't drive it anymore. Always garaged and did very few miles. I believe that bit as it is so mint (no foggy headlights is the giveaway for garaged imo) and the passenger seat had the tale tale position of it being maximum height for someone's old+small wife to get in it. 

I don't mind missing out on this car as this is ideal for my colleague and I don't exactly really need another car. I did tell him after that if he didn't buy it, that I would have done. I even lent him the money as Monzo said they needed a day in allowing him to get his cash out of savings to give him no excuse. 🤣

So technically it was mine for a bit ...

He's 22yrs old so actually younger than the car and makes me feel damn old... Told him that not only is it a unicorn but this is probably the last ever time you can get a low mileage FSH pristine E46 coupe (let alone 6cyl and manual) for under £2k. Hence I lent him the money as if we left a deposit, I wouldn't trust that he'd get gazumped. 

Honestly I could imagine this car being put up in a white room seller for £5k+. 

I'm jealous but also know it's gone off to someone who really will appreciate it. He's just a bit worried that he'll ruin it by using it. I just reminded him that it's a car to be used and just lap it up...

 

Original advert with more photos here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126903826427

To be honest, going by such a poor advert, I think the only reason I saw it was from my search of BMWs under £5k sorted by distance eBay search. 

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

my search of BMWs under £5k sorted by distance eBay search

We all have them Si

[SiC]

Just now, loserone said:

We all have them Si

Also on my saved search eBay list:

All Classic cars within 50miles

All Classic cars ending soon

Austin

Austin Mini

Austin Sprite

Morris

Rover

Triumph 

MG Midget under £5k

Cheap cars under £1k within 20miles

Renault's under £500 within 20miles

Z4 Coupé 

Trabant

Smart Roadster

 

There are also more but they're the ones I've checked in the last week...

[loserone]

6 minutes ago, SiC said:

Renault's under £500 within 20miles

I'm a sucker for this one.

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, loserone said:

I'm a sucker for this one.

Unfortunately doesn't yield much nowadays. Certainly not like 2012-2020 when there was tremendous amount of juicy Renault Mégane/Clio/Laguna/Scenic II in that budget max. They're all now dying out fast. The Mégane II is now pretty much in Mégane I 2010-era territory for rarity and the Mégane I is like Renault 18 rare now. 😐

Become true proper Autoshite.

[loserone]

5 minutes ago, SiC said:

Mégane I is like Renault 18 rare now. 😐

Don't say this!

[Split_Pin]

I regularly still see several different Megane Is trundling around my local area.

I'm a big fan of those cars, one of the best all-rounders I ever owned. Stupendously roomy and comfortable as well.

[Schaefft]

9 hours ago, SiC said:

Original advert with more photos here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126903826427

To be honest, going by such a poor advert, I think the only reason I saw it was from my search of BMWs under £5k sorted by distance eBay search. 

That's a crazy bargain, I'm surprised he'd even consider taking less than it was advertised for. Easily worth double the money, especially once you've put some decent seats in it 

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

That's a crazy bargain, I'm surprised he'd even consider taking less than it was advertised for. Easily worth double the money, especially once you've put some decent seats in it 

Those seats are selling it for me. Why would you replace these with some rank leather (or probably pleather). 

Still don't understand why people think leather is an upgrade. Most of them look and feel much worse than a good quality cloth, which these certainly look like. 

[Metal Guru]

On 28/01/2025 at 07:34, beko1987 said:

That looks like the world most expensive urine sample 😂

Pretty much what Adblue is.

[New POD]

Just now, Metal Guru said:

Pretty much what Adblue is.

There's a secret* involved in the manufacture of jet engine turbine blades which needs synthetic urea to make (stronger) the ceramics used as the mould/pattern for the cooling tracks inside the single crystal titantium alloy castings. 

(This is then removed and what is left is a hollow section which cold air is piped into) 

Apparently a Rolls Royce Plc owned company based in Trentham were raided by Environmental Protection officials and Defra after dead fish at Trentham Gardens had been traced back to used Urea being poured inadvertently into the storm drains which led to the river trent. 

It's not a defence to say "We bought the building with a set of plans which says the pipe we connected to is a soil pipe and we therefore thought it would lead to the sewerage works, but it seems the plans are wrong. No thats right, we are part a a multi-billion £ turnover company but we didnt bother to check. Sorry. " and they had a proper big fine. 

The environment agency were happy once they did connect to the sewage outflow. 

[JakeT]

47 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Those seats are selling it for me. Why would you replace these with some rank leather (or probably pleather). 

Still don't understand why people think leather is an upgrade. Most of them look and feel much worse than a good quality cloth, which these certainly look like. 

My 328ci was about my favourite car I’ve owned. I pulled it out of a field, recommissioned it, and took it from 102k to 138k before selling it. Rear subframe mounts failed, which is common on pre February 2000 cars. Cloth rocks, and mine was silver with green. Took it all round Europe and ie never let me down. I did replace a lot of parts. Full suspension, cooling system and got the AC working. Comfortable cruiser, and went round bends well. Some pics, with a very green cloth. I loved it, and sports seats were comfortable. It was always a shite one, but looked fine clean. I took it to clients and never had an issue with it .

 

[Split_Pin]

26 minutes ago, JakeT said:

My 328ci was about my favourite car I’ve owned. I pulled it out of a field, recommissioned it, and took it from 102k to 138k before selling it. Rear subframe mounts failed, which is common on pre February 2000 cars. Cloth rocks, and mine was silver with green. Took it all round Europe and ie never let me down. I did replace a lot of parts. Full suspension, cooling system and got the AC working. Comfortable cruiser, and went round bends well. Some pics, with a very green cloth. I loved it, and sports seats were comfortable. It was always a shite one, but looked fine clean. I took it to clients and never had an issue with it .

 

I was about to say cloth seats in a BMW look shite,  good only for inverted snobs. 

But those look ace.

[SiC]

Cloth seats are so much nicer in the summer than any leather (including perforated) seat. It's why I haven't changed them in my Z4 despite a leather seat upgrade being an incredibly cheap thing to do. 

[Schaefft]

Cloth seats can be nice, but grey cloth doesn't scream anything other than lowest cost spec available to me😄

[artdjones]

Nicest is Leather with cloth centre panels.

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Cloth seats can be nice, but grey cloth doesn't scream anything other than lowest cost spec available to me😄

This is why memory seats is a bit weird. Iirc not a standard option and someone must have paid extra to tick that box. Hence why to me it feels a bit like Vegan/Vegetarian spec.

My late grandfather was a life long Vegetarian. He always tried to get the highest spec but no leather. So often he'd go for a lower spec but tick all the boxes to make the same spec as top that only came with leather. Often this would end up with a vehicle more expensive than if he just chose top spec!

[Cookiesouwest]

7 hours ago, JakeT said:

My 328ci was about my favourite car I’ve owned. I pulled it out of a field, recommissioned it, and took it from 102k to 138k before selling it. Rear subframe mounts failed, which is common on pre February 2000 cars. Cloth rocks, and mine was silver with green. Took it all round Europe and ie never let me down. I did replace a lot of parts. Full suspension, cooling system and got the AC working. Comfortable cruiser, and went round bends well. Some pics, with a very green cloth. I loved it, and sports seats were comfortable. It was always a shite one, but looked fine clean. I took it to clients and never had an issue with it .

 

Those seats are bloody amazing

[Boycie]

22 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

It’s funny timing, but just last night I was looking at the last pic I took of my 328ci, and thinking how much I missed it… despite the fact that it was one of the neediest cars that I have ever owned.

In typical fashion, I spent ages fixing faults, and then sold it when it was running nicely rather than actually keeping the bloody thing.

Sold it locally, and still see it driving around the village that it lives in.

It's like the pretty but high maintenance girl u went out with when u were young , she was difficult ...she was a pain .....but .....

[Tayne]

I had my 330 for 6 years.

330 by Tayne, on Flickr

E46 by Tayne, on Flickr

Interior by Tayne, on Flickr

[dome]

Speaking of e46s @Split_Pin is your Rover 75 airbag light the same problem as those have? If so the resistor trick mentioned earlier works, you can even buy them plug and play online. 

They seem to be getting sold as airbag resistors for testing on eBay, have a look at the BMW ones and see if any use the same plug.

[Split_Pin]

Mine is just the connectors under the seat. It even changes over which side is going to play up from year to year as well! I'm going to try the 3 ohm resistor suggestion, has to be better that fiddling with the wires every 364 days or so 😂