e46 wagon

[BennyM]

Has anyone here owned an e46 wagon? I'm thinking about replacing my aging e34 with an 01 (pre bangle facelift) 325iT. I've only test driven one so far. It was a sport model with red on black seats and a manual trans. The ride was noticeably harsher than my e34 (even with bilstein HDs) but felt a lot more e34ish than the e39 wagon I test drove a month earlier. I would have purchased that E46 sport, but it had way too much rust. There are several other 325iTs that are popping up on craigslist and I'd like to test drive another, but it would be helpful to know what clues to look for. I've observed that the 3s tend to age faster than the 5s in some ways....or perhaps they're more prone to neglectful owners, but the e46 does seem like a logical upgrade from an e34....mainly because an E39 wagon feels way too big for me.

[shogun]

well, harsher riding is understandable, it is a 3 series and not a more comfortable 5 series. I have a 02/1998 E36 M3. Riding is of course also harsher, especially with the M sports setting.
But I like it, space enough, much less fuel consumption that my E32 750iL from 1988, easier maintenance = less cost. Actually a normal E36 would have been fine for me and my wife, here we have a speed limit of 100 kmh on the Highway, so no need for the M-power and the lower M sus settings, but I got the M3 as a bargain with only 32 k miles, that is why I bought it.

[Bill R.]

I have one, a 2000 323it. As far as the ride difference its quite a bit stiffer and harsher than the e34. But my e46 wagon has the sport suspension option with the sport wheels option and the sports seats as well which all tend to make the ride harsher. I have worked on a couple standard e46 wagons and the ride is much softer than mine.... Things that break on my years and the 2001 as well are . The zf transmission if its an auto has a known history, mine broke at less that 75k miles. The gm has similar problems. The manual trans should be fine. This engine is very sensitive to overheating and will blow the head gasket and pull the head bolt threads out of the block if you let it overheat. I would stay on top of it by changing the thermostat assy. and the water pump if you have any indications at all. The radiator expansion tanks crack as well. The window regulators break every few years just like all e46's but they are fairly cheap and easy to replace

The leather doesn't seem to be as good a quality as the e34's had and my much older 535 leather looks better on the drivers seat than my 2000 wagon.
Power steering hoses, reservoir and occasionally a pump fail somewhere in the 60 to 100k range. Pretty common. I've seen a number of the power steering pump shafts snap on the e46. Lower control arm bushings are a wear item just like the thrust arms on the e34. The crankcase ventilation valves fail along with every hose related to oil return and crankcase ventilation. Single and double vanos seals wear and aftermarket fixes are available. The cam position sensors intake and exhaust are fairly common failures. All in all there aren't too many problems with them. Just a slightly different set of things than the e34's

[BennyM]

Thanks, Bill R. That was very helpful. Do you have any experience with the xi models? There are a lot of them for sale here in MN, but I've been avoiding them because of the added body roll and mechanical complexity.

Shogun, I think it's hard for me to make use of a comparison between a 7 series and an M3. I'm trying to compare to models that are a bit more similar, but thanks for your input.

[Bill R.]

Thanks, Bill R. That was very helpful. Do you have any experience with the xi models? There are a lot of them for sale here in MN, but I've been avoiding them because of the added body roll and mechanical complexity.

Shogun, I think it's hard for me to make use of a comparison between a 7 series and an M3. I'm trying to compare to models that are a bit more similar, but thanks for your input.


Nope, no experience at all with the e46 xi's.... I work on a couple of 5 series xi wagons but they are too new to get any meaningful information on what breaks yet. Here in az i just don't see any 3 series xi's...