This next car comes as a seller submission from Arthur who writes: Sadly the time to part ways with my 330i is here… Working on acquiring a LS3 swapped Volvo wagon and need some loot. I love this car. It runs so good. I looked at almost half a dozen before I pulled the trigger […]
What do you get when you combine a tossable luxury sedan chassis with America’s favorite V8? If you answered “the family perfect sedan”, you might be correct. What you get from handling from an E46 3-series chassis will be augmented by the power from the 6 liter Chevy V8, and the only question is; “why […]
Let’s talk about the BMW 3-series market. E21 generation cars (1975-1981) are all but gone from the roads, E30 generation cars (1982-1990) have become classics and demand a premium, and E36 generation cars (1990-1999) are picking up in asking price as well…so what’s a cheap BMW lover to do. Go newest, my friend. Head up […]
The E46 generation of BMW’s M3 stands a top the podium of M3 goodness — the earlier generations have de-tuned US spec motors that are an embarrassment compared to the Euro good stuff and the later cars are over digitized things with roaring V8s and turbomulators — nobody needs that. An M3 should have an […]
BMW built their fast M3 version of the E46 3-series (1998-2006) in only two-door form…and the closest you could get to an M3 with 4 doors was the 330i ZHP. The ZHP (also available in coupe & vert) added 10 horsepower to the standard M54B30 inline-6, a 6-speed manual gearbox, stiffer suspension, and some fancy alcantara suede interior pieces (that flaked apart like mummy skin a few minutes after you left the dealer lot…according to most people). However, if you wanted a wagon, you had to settle for a basic 325i trim…so the seller of this next car swapped all of the ZHP goodies into a wagon body and the rest is family fun. Find this 2003 BMW 330iT ZHP swap offered for $13,000 in Fremont, CA via craigslist. Tip from Oakland Jeff.
I’m not one to go around making blanket statements like some kind of high horse ridin’ pundit…but here goes; the E46 M3 is the M3 you want to buy right now. Before we go any further, I want to state that this isn’t my car, although I have one that is very similar in spec/ color /condition /miles…give or take. Suffice to say, I know what I’m talking about when it comes to M3s and I know a little bit about the M3 market…more later. Find this 2003 BMW M3 E46 offered for $9,500 in Oldsmar, FL via eBay.
BMW’s E46 generation 3 series was sold from 1999 to 2005 and it was known for its well balanced chassis and smooth inline-6 engines. If you want a fast one, you can get the M3 version for less than the price of this next example…but it won’t have a 400+ horsepower V8 that’ll drink 87 […]
The E46 generation BMW 3-series was not that much different from the previous generation (E36) but it did take the same basic formula and just up the goodness factor. More power, more refined ride, and a better interior are only some of the benefits of the E46 generation, but one of the biggest changes was […]
If you’ve got $15k to spend on a small late model BMW sedan, you might be tempted to buy a 335i from the previous generation…which would be a good choice, but you might not be familiar with how cheap the E46 generation M3s have become. And while a newer 3-series might be similar on paper […]
People claim that something is -est all the time. The fastest. The meanest. The leanest. The beastiest. The cheesiest. The frostiest. The greenest. The chipotlest. The cleanest. The best. The sportiest. The raciest. But they are usually wrong — sometimes on purpose, sometimes through hyperbole, but I’m going to drop an EST on y’all that’ll be […]