Buying advice E46 320D Sport Tourer - or what else?

[Kemlo]

Afternoon all,

I'm currently planning to change my MG ZT-T Tourer (lovely Car but I've had it for a while and I'm bit bored of it) 02 plate with 85k on the clock, for an E46 320D Tourer. I'll have it remapped to release a few more torques and a few more horses.

Seen a few nice looking ones out there - I have about £8000 to play with.

Question is what should I look out for problems/niggles wise & what kind of age/mileage can expect to get for my money? I was thinking 54 with about 70k sound about right? I have seen some of the older E90's at this kind of price, but with starship mileage and not sport flavoured.

I only plan on having it for a few years until I can afford a previously enjoyed D3 Bi-Turbo.

Anyone else got any views on cars I could be looking at? Needs to be an estate, a bit sporty, return north of 40mpg and look and handle well.

Let the dicsussions begin...

[gatesy23]

Biggest problem with the facelift 320d was the dreaded swirl flaps in the inlet manifold which have a habit of breaking off and being sucked into a cylinder of its choice.

The crankcase breather filter will need to be changed to the later vortex type as the old ones are known to disintegrate and get sucked into the already less than reliable turbo and render it dead.

Front control arm ball joints arent a strong point (nor are any of the suspension components come to think of it) and will probably need replacing every couple of years, same story with the front control arm rear bushings.

Other than that a great car, personally prefer the tourers in Imola Red

[djk]

Think the only alternatives are a benz C-class of similar vintage, or maybe a Scooby Legacy??? I know sod all about either. How many miles are you doing? Coz you need to be doing a lot to make it worth paying the premium for a used oil-burner, less than 15k a year and you're probably better off with a small petrol IMO. From what I've seen, dervs hold their money really well, but for no good reason, and a 6 year old car is a liability whichever way you look at it - I wouldn't want the added complexity that comes with a modern turnipweasel, manifesting itself in grenading motors and big mainteance bills.

[e301988325i]

I saw an E39 540i v8 touring sport on lpg for £6k on ebay 3 days ago

[bss325i]

Biggest problem with the facelift 320d was the dreaded swirl flaps in the inlet manifold which have a habit of breaking off and being sucked into a cylinder of its choice.

Not all M47B20 engines have swirl flaps, even in facelift cars.

Same for the 6 cylinder M57B30 engines in 330d/530d/730d's.

[gatesy23]

I'm pretty certain they where in all M47TUD20 engines (post 2001 150bhp) which were fitted to facelift E46s.

The M57TUD30 where all affected (2002 onwards) as where the M57TUD24 (post 2004).

From what i can gather the issue was sorted out in 2005 when the valves themselves where made more robust.

[bss325i]

I'm pretty certain they where in all M47TUD20 engines (post 2001 150bhp) which were fitted to facelift E46s.

The M57TUD30 where all affected (2002 onwards) as where the M57TUD24 (post 2004).

From what i can gather the issue was sorted out in 2005 when the valves themselves where made more robust.

Incorrect.

Not all are equiped with swirl flaps.

[gatesy23]

Either way i doubt he's going to take the inlet manifold off to check when he goes to view the car

http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/swirl_flaps.pdf

[bss325i]

No need to remove the inlet to check.

Look/feel at the back of the inlet manifold for the vacume control, if it doesnt have swirl flaps, it wont have it.

I believe its to do with Euro 4 emitions that determins weather they have flaps or not.

[djk]

No need to remove the inlet to check.

Look/feel at the back of the inlet manifold for the vacume control, if it doesnt have swirl flaps, it wont have it.

I believe its to do with Euro 4 emitions that determins weather they have flaps or not.

Yup, that rings a bell, I used to do fleet leasing when these were new and they could be specified and ordered as euro 4 compliant or not depending on use/rental cost etc as it affected company car tax. So it would make sense of why some seem to have them and some not after they were first fitted. Be intersting to know if this is true, because then you might be able to tell a swirl flap equipped motor just from an order or build sheet.

AFAIK it's not all that difficult/expensive to remove them anyway, or is it?

[bss325i]

No its not hard to remove them and replace with blank plates.

Its not that hard to see if it has them or not.

[kieran325]

Will my 2004 320d have the swirl flaps ??

[bss325i]

Will my 2004 320d have the swirl flaps ??

Maybe. Maybe not.

[shimsheemer]

I had a 2005 55 plate E46 320cd Sport and it annihilated it's own turbo to the 3 months out of warranty tune of £2000. Luckily Westerly saw my reasoning that 35,000 miles (she was 4 years old at the time) was not far on a BMW and that if I wanted to spend that kind of cash on maintenance then I wouldn't have paid the premium for a BMW.

Needless to say, there was a lot of this going on, plus the swirl flaps issue with that engine when I delved into various forums. Back to E30's for me then...!

Tread carefully my friend, and good luck.

[bss325i]

Generally, even if a BMW is out of the waranty period as long as its got FSH and not done to many miles, alot of repairs are carried out with good will payments made by BMW, sometimes the full amount, sometimes just the parts or labour.

One thing i will say though is that with the current range of BMW's, extending the waranty of taking out a comprehensive aftermarket waranty is a must otherwise alot of people will be getting some hefty repair bills when things go wrong!

[shimsheemer]

Yeah, that was the 'luckily' part! I must say that although I was disappointed to have the issue with the car Westerly did everything they could for me and have left me with a positive feeling overall, such that should I want a newer car again in the future then I wouldn't hesitate in going back. I suppose that is why the loyal customer base exists for BMW...

[Kemlo]

Swirl flaps noted - anyone able to post a icture of the vacum control so I can check that?

I'll have a look at warranties - I heard warranty direct are to be avoided - anyone have experience?

I'd like to stick with BMW if at all possible - why drive a hamburger or some such nonesense.

I looked at some earlier E90 329D SEs - is that a safer bet? it won't have all the M Sport Kit at the kind of money I am talking.

I even saw E60 520D's in the ball park, both E60 & 90 have higher than avg mileage, but come with history.

Thanks for opinions and suggestons so far. Stil undecided.

[Royalratch]

Biggest problem with the facelift 320d was the dreaded swirl flaps in the inlet manifold which have a habit of breaking off and being sucked into a cylinder of its choice.

The crankcase breather filter will need to be changed to the later vortex type as the old ones are known to disintegrate and get sucked into the already less than reliable turbo and render it dead.

Front control arm ball joints arent a strong point (nor are any of the suspension components come to think of it) and will probably need replacing every couple of years, same story with the front control arm rear bushings.

Other than that a great car, personally prefer the tourers in Imola Red

Last year E46 330d Sport. As for Swirl Flaps, they did not have a habit of, just that horror stories are loudest. The general rules is 04/05 plates have a modified 'flap jacket.' Also, it is an easy mod to remove the flaps, they are not needed.

[gatesy23]

Sorry i spoke.

[accesspecialist]

I removed mine the other week. They were in very good condition and seemed very sturdy the only reason that I removed them was because the inlet manifold was comming off so I could clean it. The reason for that was that I took the egr valve off and was shocked how much hard and soft gooey crud (about an inch all over) had accumulated in the last 130K. It made a huge diffrence to performance, cleaning and installing an egr bypass + peace of mind. I'm about to install a decat and full stainless system. Hoping for around 200 bhp as it was last dyno'ed at 178 bhp 4 years ago after a remap. Might be being optimistic but we will see, I have 2 power runs booked for the 3rd of sept.

Back on the swirl flaps again, the indipendant bmw specialist that I use say that the 2003 and 2004 cars have the most problems and are the only ones that they have seen with this issue and they have seen a few.

I cant recomend the 320d enough. I have the touring and it does everthing you need from a car very well apart from trackdays. Average 45 mpg which has just incressed with modification's.

[Royalratch]

My 320d has an Schnitzer Remap Box and the EGR Bypass and it is decent once warm and over 3K revs.

The fuel economy in the city is total shit tho. Useless for short trips or commutes in town.

I'd go 330d or even 325i next time.

[accesspecialist]

I get 45 mpg easy on along run and 31 when driving round town. With the same driving my 325i got 28 and 17 mpg. No contest.

[Royalratch]

Yeh but 31 in town is lame. And if you do real world calcs, not OBC reading you'll find it's way lower.

[Andyboy]

Also consider the old shape (pre 2008) Mondeo ST TDCi Estate - a very good car that is well built, drives well and it both quick and good on fuel. They're a lot less money as well and seem to be generally reliable.

I'm 99.9% certain all 320d facelift 150 bhp cars have the flaps, as do the X3's, 520d's etc. Manual 525d and 530d cars don't have them, the original 184 bhp 530d's don't, and neither do the X5's. BMW don't list a non swirl flap inlet manifold for the post 2001 150 bhp engine. The later cars with the particulate filter just have a slightly different manifold, with the flaps. Later ones from around 2005 have the reinforced flaps with a clear plastic surround to damp the closing action. They're also supposedly slightly bigger and won't go into the inlet port.

Could be worse, you could always buy a Valvetronic 318i. When those buggers go wrong, they do it in style.

[accesspecialist]

That is real brim to brim. my obc say 54 average.

[accesspecialist]

not as lame as 17 for very similar performance.