Not a new car

[Nic325i 0]

For complex reasons I have this on loan for the next month or so.

2001 330i touring, ~80,000km, one careful lady owner. "Unfortunately" during the time I have it I need to get to the Coromandel a few times, which should be fun... Only driven round town so far, but seems to go pretty well

[drifty325i 0]

Nice one! I love bimmer wagons

[Guest Simon*]

For complex reasons I have this on loan for the next month or so

My life is pretty complex - can I have it next?

[mr E34 11]

For complex reasons I have this on loan for the next month or so.

2001 330i touring, ~80,000km, one careful lady owner. "Unfortunately" during the time I have it I need to get to the Coromandel a few times, which should be fun... Only driven round town so far, but seems to go pretty well

Must go well with that modern 3ltr engine, let everyone know your honest thoughts on the E46 after your travels.

[Cale 36]

You lucky man! Buy it.

[Nic325i 0]

Must go well with that modern 3ltr engine, let everyone know your honest thoughts on the E46 after your travels.

Well, done a couple of trips to the Coromandel now, Queen's Birthday didn't prove much except that auto is a nice way of surviving Auckland traffic. Last weekend was better...

E46 is pretty good. Engine is fantastic, loves to rev and piles on speed pretty quick. I know the Kopu-Hikuai road rather well, this car makes overtaking in all the usual spots rather straightforward.

Gearbox is OK for an auto, but not really a fan. Always feels on the verge of kicking down, plus I am a huge fan of engine braking, which an auto doesn't really help with. I've been using it mostly in tiptronic mode, which improves things, but it is hard to instinctively know which gear you are in compared to manual.

Steering pretty good, but I think the car needs an alignment. Grip is good, as it should be - four new Bridgestone Adrenalins went on the car less than a month ago.

Fuel consumption is hard to gauge - only filled up once so far, and I hadn't used the first part of that tank. Will have to fill again soon, but probably won't be a fair measure due to some spirited use on steep hills.

The other notable point is that the headlights (not HID) are really good - obviously much better (blasphemy!) than previous E30, but also significantly better than current Mazda 6.

[hybrid 1043]

Welcome to new car ownership.

It does amaze me when people change from a 20 year old car to a modern car and say .."its so much tighter"

Well yes, it has 20 years more technology on it.

Being an owner of both, the e46 is a much more confident vehicle to be in. But you loose that connected to the road feeling with stock suspension. When you modify this however .. it all changes .. and you start t get back to the e30 feeling.

[elmarco 56]

Engine is fantastic, loves to rev and piles on speed pretty quick. I know the Kopu-Hikuai road rather well, this car makes overtaking in all the usual spots rather straightforward.

The other notable point is that the headlights (not HID) are really good - obviously much better (blasphemy!) than previous E30, but also significantly better than current Mazda 6.

Oooohh yeah - I love my M54 . I hit (insert slightly illegal speed here ) one night without pushing it and it was so smooth and quiet.

The lighting in these is the best of any car that I have owned (admittedly I had to replace the blue H7 bulbs with std ones and all my other cars have been older). Amazing what even 5 years of development in the automotive world brings to the end user!

Glad you had some fun in it!