Why do you buy E46?

[m3f_Mr. Wolfe]

I saw your phone thread. Cool that you got it. But passing it off as "I have a working phone that is just as good as a new iphone" isn't going to work. LOL. I know that youre not saying that and I know that you want it for the quirky/nostalgic look. But people here are acting as if the navi screen in the E46 isn't going to age and is going to be the bomb/comparable to what's brand new forever.



E36 isn't trying to compare to new. It is old.



Some E46 owners are acting as if their interiors are just going to continue to compare to newer interiors without aging.



And as far as aging - knowing it is old and being okay with it - I think the E36s minimalistic qualities are going to be a better bet. My opinion though....









What does that even mean?



And, we will see how well your interior holds up in 4-6 years or so.



Maybe it holds up just fine. Great.

I never EVER EVER chase the new stuff. I really don't even want compared to it. 2 totally different philosophies at this point. Give me an e30, e36, or e46 any day.



Mr. Wolfe

[Obioban]

You're crazy!!!! That's the BEST part of having older vehicles. It's those small time pieces that get me cray cray about a car. I just bought a BMW brick phone for my e30!


A fun thread regardless. I like the e36M, but it is just outclassed in just about every way compared to the e46 IMO. It's everything the e36 was, just a little better - aside from the hardcore-ness if you prefer a softer, more comfortable ride.


Mr. Wolfe

The nav screen is also just useful, even without navigation (especially with intravee). E.g. whatever song I'm listening to, the song name, artist name, and album name is displayed on the screen. I can change playlists or albums from there. I can set the E.Q. Settings. On track, I can display lateral G's and oil temps, as well as logging them to check out later. If I were to let someone drive the car (e.g. state inspection), I can check to see how it was driven in their car. I can set the car to vent the fans 15 min before I get out of work to cool the car. When I get a phone call, the caller ID pops up on there so I can quickly check out who's calling. The entire XX button E36 OBC is condensed to a menu screen on the Nav, which is easier to use and reduces button count.


It's just a super useful interface that enables a ton of functionality, without the downsides or ugliness of iDrive.


But, if people don't like it, the take rate on nav was crazy low-- something like 5%. So, should be easy to avoid.

(unlike the e39m, where it was standard, at least in the USA)


It's actually a better nav system than most as well-- the only reason I don't use it anymore is the police location notification in Waze is too valuable to me. Outside of that, I prefer the navigation aspect to any other nav system I've used. It bases when to give you directions on your speed, it (re)calculates instantly, the screen is exceedingly clear as to what you should be doing, and it talks the minimum amount required to convey the relevant information (most nav systems talk so much I end up ignoring them and missing turns).

[m3f_Paulo M]

Some E46 owners are acting as if their interiors are just going to continue to compare to newer interiors without aging.


And as far as aging - knowing it is old and being okay with it - I think the E36s minimalistic qualities are going to


And, we will see how well your interior holds up in 4-6 years or so.


Maybe it holds up just fine. Great.

It's already been 15yrs lol. How many more years do you need to say the style didn't age well?


Lol I'm comparing e46 m3 styling vs e36 m3 styling bcs someone said e46 m3 has terrible interior/exterior in terms of look/quality compared to their e36. Im just giving my .02cents on that

[Obioban]

E36 isn't trying to compare to new. It is old.

That's just in your head, you realize. The e46 is 10-15 years old, then e36 is 15-20 years old. Pretty inconsequentially different...

Some E46 owners are acting as if their interiors are just going to continue to compare to newer interiors without aging.

Eh, the e46 interior is nicer than the e9Xs-- both in layout (iDrive hump, aimed at the passenger instead of the driver) and quality of materials. It is worse than the F30, though.


Though, the e46 to e9X jump wasn't nearly as bad as the e39 to e60 jump-- e60 interiors, especially pre facelift, are some of BMW's worst ever!

And, we will see how well your interior holds up in 4-6 years or so.


Maybe it holds up just fine. Great.

I would imagine they'll hold up similarly to how they did for the previous 4-6 years...

[m3f_97_4dr_5spd_m3]

It's already been 15yrs lol. How many more years do you need to say the style didn't age well?



Lol I'm comparing e46 m3 styling vs e36 m3 styling bcs someone said e46 m3 has terrible interior/exterior in terms of look/quality compared to their e36. Im just giving my .02cents on that

Gotcha..you were being defensive.



It is just that people need to remember/realize that the E46 isn't a million dollars and is very attainable.



Sure some here may be at their max budget owning an E36, I am not in that boat just as many others here are not. I can certainly get out of my E36 and get into whatever model I want (maybe even get out of my DD as well and only have one car). I do not want to do that though. Like I said I like pretty much everything about my car at this point.



When some people "down" the E36 they act as if the E36 drivers are "stuck" with their car and have no other options. Lots of people here in this section actually like the E36 over the E46.



I admit that the E36 is the cheapest, and will probably always be the cheapest M3 available. That does not change the fact that it is the model that I want.

[m3f_kyrix1st]

Phone mics always accentuate some frequencies at the expense of others, but it doesn't sound that unusual? Have you had the VANOS rebuilt, specifically for the bearing axial play? I've done quite a few now and there's a lot of difference between cars of the same mileage/kms, some are really sloppy and some are reasonably tight.

Have you done the vanos rebuild by yourself? Mine does have a sound but I did not touch it for it has no performance effect for now.

[m3f_Kirbius]

Have you done the vanos rebuild by yourself? Mine does have a sound but I did not touch it for it has no performance effect for now.

Yep, one of those things you don't know is broken until you've fixed it


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[Obioban]

Yeah, I look at vanos rebuilds as 100,000 mile standard service. Did it on my S62, S54, S52, S50B32, and my mom's M54. Keeps it quiet and operating at 100%, and can be done (cheaply) in an afternoon.

[m3f_M_Parallel]

Rebuilt my Vanos last year (except rattle kit as it's not noisy). And upgraded E39 M5 solenoid seals.


Was pretty straightforward, except I told Beisan to change a few details in the instructions to make it easier. When I inserted the intake piston into the freshly inserted intake cylinder, you simply push the cylinder out with it. Put the cover on it and it doesn't happen and makes the cylinder sit in the exact position the first time.


Also make a "piston ring" tool to compress the exhaust center seal you have to expand to get on, then compress back. That one was a major pita. Beisan uses a hoseclamp. But the clamp is not 100% round where the screw is so the seal expends in this "hole". Also the clamps ring damaged the seal.


Got a new seal, then did this. Piece of PVC pipe, which happened to be the exact diameter of the middle thicker part of the piston. Slid it through in length. Then around the seal, then use a clamp to completely close the pvc pipe. Now you compress the seal evenly all around its circumference and since the pvc pipe is smooth, no damage to the seal can be made.

[m3f_kyrix1st]

Yep, one of those things you don't know is broken until you've fixed it



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True True, I heard some people even remove vanos because it has more bads than goods (just a rumor). By the way, what engine oil do you use? I heard many indys and dealerships say 10W-60, but I currently use motul 5w-40.

[m3f_M_Parallel]

True True, I heard some people even remove vanos because it has more bads than goods (just a rumor). By the way, what engine oil do you use? I heard many indys and dealerships say 10W-60, but I currently use motul 5w-40.

Can 'o worms this.



I personally use a fully synth ester based 5w40 (Fuchs Titan Pro S).



This engine was, and still is designed for 5w40. 10w60 is one of those famous internet myths because some one saw it listed for M models, but didn't look beyond that.



It won't blow up your car and you could use it for a dedicated trackcar, but otherwise.



The Vanos is another thing. Yes BMW (or Rolce Royce to be axact) used o-rings that



A. can't stand heat

B. can't stand pressure



Vanos works in...high heat and high pressure. Go figure.



It was a problem before the interwebs. If the Vanos unit died, you had to buy a whole new unit for muchos dineros.



Nowadays, you get a sealkit that can stand high temp and pressure, you can easily rebuilt it yourself and it will be fine for many many miles.



Same with the SMG1 crap. We know more today than dealers did back then. It was new tech. Not so now.

[m3f_Kirbius]

True True, I heard some people even remove vanos because it has more bads than goods (just a rumor). By the way, what engine oil do you use? I heard many indys and dealerships say 10W-60, but I currently use motul 5w-40.

More bad than good? Only reason you would honestly remove is for cams over 296, your aftermarket ecu can't handle it and/or your tuner isnt savvy enough to tune vanos tbh.


M1 0w40 as per LL01; temps, pressures@rpm and oil analysis all spot on. Now let the oil viscosity war begin again


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[m3f_Kirbius]

Here's an excerpt from the BMW TIS SBS 5.0, underneath is a very long list of approved synthetics that are approved to the required standards. It should be on the interwebs somewhere, if not i can look it up if you need


I tend to stay away from boutique brands (Redline, RP etc) as they tend not to technically meet the standards (sometimes do), instead they are labelled "designed to X" or that sort of thing instead of "meets X". Doesn't mean a lot to the majority, but i work on aircraft so am a bit anal about pretty much anything; cars you can pull over when it breaks down, jets not so much