2001 E46 325 CI coupe 33k miles what to do?

Hello,

My father in law bought this and had for 20 years, very meticulously maintained.
My 16 year old needs a cheap older car to get low insurance premiums.

Three questions:
1. Is this car likely to have lots of parts wear out just from age
2. Is this car somehow better sold to collectors for any reason, it’s really mint.
3. Are the safety ratings ok, he’s going to be driving an older car anyway for insurance purposes.

Thank you!

Your question was answered well in the General BMW Discussion thread that you started. I owned three E46s -- all purchased new -- back in the day and remember them fondly. But I think the advice that you have gotten to look for something newer for your son makes sense.

Get him a Civic. He's going to crash whatever car you get him. Don't get him a 33,000 mile 20 year old E46. It will be a waste of a great car on a driver that won't and can't appreciate it.

Sell the E46 to a real BMW enthusiast.

Another vote for selling it. The mileage will attract attention. Certain parts, like rubber coolant hoses, are going to break down simply from age and if/when they do, your son might not have the knowledge to know something's wrong with it(neither do many adults) and end up driving the car to its grave. Something that's cheap to fix and great gas mileage is what I'd go for, so yeah, Civic or the like as suggested above. Or hang onto it and give it to him once he's had a few years behind the wheel of a "learner".

Llarry wrote

Your question was answered well in the General BMW Discussion thread that you started. I owned three E46s -- all purchased new -- back in the day and remember them fondly. But I think the advice that you have gotten to look for something newer for your son makes sense.

Efthreeoh wrote

Get him a Civic. He's going to crash whatever car you get him. Don't get him a 33,000 mile 20 year old E46. It will be a waste of a great car on a driver that won't and can't appreciate it.

Sell the E46 to a real BMW enthusiast.

Dagstar wrote

Another vote for selling it. The mileage will attract attention. Certain parts, like rubber coolant hoses, are going to break down simply from age and if/when they do, your son might not have the knowledge to know something's wrong with it(neither do many adults) and end up driving the car to its grave. Something that's cheap to fix and great gas mileage is what I'd go for, so yeah, Civic or the like as suggested above. Or hang onto it and give it to him once he's had a few years behind the wheel of a "learner".

Speaking from experience, I agree with the above

You should sell that car on Bimmer Post to an enthusiast who will take proper care of it.

Use some of the proceeds to buy a used Civic for the kid.

My ex-girlfriend's son turned 16 and wanted a BMW (this was roughly ten years ago). Nothing else would do. He was a really good kid (still is from what I hear). I taught him to drive a manual (my E30). He was driving his dad's Explorer at the time and by all accounts was a responsible driver. I went out and found a clean E46 325Ci for him. Within a month he had a massive speeding ticket on I4 in Florida (he's lucky he didn't go to jail), three weeks later the car was in a junkyard. His next vehicle was a well used Nissan Frontier that he paid for; no more tickets, no more crashes. Take this story and do what you will with it.

Harvest the premium the e46 will offer. Teenagers should be driving well used vehicles because there is a high probability of it ending up in the scrap heap. But even if it doesn't, insurance won't be as high.

Or like other posters have said keep it for later use but get some other used vehicle for him.

You can probably use us to help you price it if you want to sell it. Older vehicles with very low miles are very, very rare though the 325i is nothing really special (vs say an M vehicle).

Rtheda123

Any update Brother? What'd you end up doing with the E46?

Civic or camry sounds like a great option. Just got a 2000 E46. Super clean but have to do some trans work. Its almost out tho! Excited to drive it

If your 16 year old is into cars to some degree, get a good, reliable, dependable car with a stick.

A 2001 E46 is still a 25 year old car that will have old car problems and when it is broken he will be frustrated that he doesn't have a car to get around. Otherwise he will have to make time to maintain it, and that's also not considering that the car is on its own timeline for when things will eventually break. That's just the way the cookie crumbles

Sell it on Cars&Bids or BaT

1) Yes. Rubber components (gaskets, vacuum hoses, seals, weatherstripping) don’t age well in E46s. If the car has been garaged the exterior stuff could be ok though. But I sold my E46 three years ago and a fair number of the vacuum hoses were disintegrating. They can be a pain to replace.

2) Yes, a very low mileage example like that is best sold to an enthusiast, rather than thrown out into the 4 season elements as a daily driver for a teenager.

3) The safety ratings were good 25 years ago. But it’s a small little 2 door coupe with frameless windows. Concentrating on low instance rates is less beneficial when the car gets 22 MPG, takes premium fuel, and BMW parts costs. If you’re paying a shop to maintain a BMW, bring your wallet. When they see the roundel on the hood, the costs start adding up fast.