you don't have to worry about the engine. It would last you forever, but the other items such as control arms, bushings, thermostat, expansion tank, etc...will drain your wallet...

 

my advice to you is to stick with e46fanatics.com and read, read, read as much as you can about your ride. the knowledge base here on this forum and the helpful members are going to save you $$$$. i know it has for me.

 

BMW doesn't import diesel engined cars, yet. But, I've heard that the BMW diesel are, as a previous poster noted, very long-lived. And, as was noted above, all E46's share similar problems such as front lower control arm bushing problems.

Your best bet is to have either the dealership or a reputable indy mech go over the car to find problems. Also, have the dealership check the car's service and repair records. I believe all such records for BMW's are electronic and available to any dealer. :str8pimpi

 

The 330D -04 engine is a very good engine. I´ve seen 330D´s for sale here in Sweden and having over 300.000 km´s on them and they still seem to go strong.

Make sure you really test the turbo when cold AND hot (drive it sorta hard with lots of load), test the AC and drive the thing over some bumps and listen to the front suspension. If there are moderate "clonks" your going to need some swaybar supports. ~50***8364;a piece each here in Sweden, you need 2..

Other then that, the normal E46 stuff applies.

//amullo

 

Cool, it sounds like the 3.0d is yet another awesome BMW engine. My dad drives an '04 320d auto, and except for the turbo needing to be replaced at 60k km (a known problem with the 2.0d in South Africa, was replaced under warranty), the car has been going strong with no problems whatsoever, and it just passed the 110k km mark.

Your best bet is to have either the dealership or a reputable indy mech go over the car to find problems. Also, have the dealership check the car's service and repair records. I believe all such records for BMW's are electronic and available to any dealer.

Thanks, will do that. I know BMW South Africa offers a standard 100-point check that they will do on any BMW where they check for all of that, for a small fee of course.

Make sure you really test the turbo when cold AND hot (drive it sorta hard with lots of load), test the AC and drive the thing over some bumps and listen to the front suspension. If there are moderate "clonks" your going to need some swaybar supports. ~50***8364;a piece each here in Sweden, you need 2..

Thanks, will check for that.

I think in addition to the advice above I'll phone a reputable BMW dealer I know of tomorrow and get an opinion on the 330d from BMW as well. That dealer actually recommended buying an '05 318i (was an honest opinion from a technician - they didn't have one in stock), as the 318i has the least amount of problems of any E46, according to them.

Thanks again for the advice, will keep you posted if I decide to purchase the car!