Help finding a new car E46 330D

[si-]

Basically the missus wants a newer car than her E36 ive still got my 2 e30's they arent going anywhere

im looking for a 2003> 330d sport, as many toys/extras as possible, leather, harmann kardon upgrade, etc etc ive got up to a max of £6500

as low miles as possible, but understand that generally they've got around 100k on them FSH is a must, as is a manual gearbox being the later version it'll be a 6 speed

the only other thing is i dont want a bloody silver one, ive been looking in all the usual places, autotrader, ebay, PH, general google searches, but am having trouble finding the right car, every one i find has something wrong with it, to many miles, no leather, one that looked perfect in the midlands until at the end of the ad it said, 'slight rust bubbles on front wings'

just wondering if anyone has seen/knows of some local car sales places to them or are in the trade that might be able to point me to the right car, im willing to travel for the it aswell

any help would be great, im due to drive to switzerland/italy in it in about 4 weeks hence the post
cheers
Si.

[m8782538]

Use a personal care shopper, i have used one in the past, he gets the car you want, brings it to you and you say yes or no.

Also have you tried Fords of Winsford yet? They sometimes get them in,very very good, best used car supermarket there is. Service is fantastic, i know someone who has used them for there last 3 cars and are still going back to them.

[si-]

just looked on their site and its all to new/expensive for me, cheers though

anyone else? anyone know someone who might have access to part-ex's from a BMW main dealer?

[m8782538]

Speak to your local dealer directly, tell them what you are after, give them your number and ask them to give you a call if they get one in, they will then call you, say how much they want for it and give you the option to say yes or no. Gets them money at the end of the day, they normally just sell them on to used car places, so they will get more from you than a trader, and you save over a forcourt price.

you can pickup some bargains like that. I picked up a an old H reg rover 216sli a few years ago for £76 incl 3 months road tax and MOT doing that, sold it on straight on, same day for £300.

[si-]

yeh ive bought cars like that aswell, might have to give that a go again

[sideshowbob]

I had one of these a few years ago, ran it up to 150k with no problems at all. I modified the swirl flap system, which involves removing and blanking them them off. The only other problem was a blocked crankcase breather which is like a valve situated at the rear of the cylinder head under the plastic covers on the engine. Mine was blocked which resulted in the engine pressurising the oil, symptoms are plenty of black smoke out of the exhaust at idle and oil coming out of dipstick.
Other than that car was totally reliable, mine had the auto gearbox with a manual shift, wouldn't consider a manual now it was brilliant.
Don't worry too much about mileage check service history, I changed the oil on mine every 10k and then mayor services according to the service indicator.

[si-]

ive been doing my checking up and know about the swirl flaps and crankcase breather ill be sorting both as soon as i get it

i just dont like auto's prefer having a clutch pedal, ive even found out that by connecting 2 wires you can fit the steering wheel off the M3 and have a manual paddle shift on any bmw auto box..... which is quite cool but just prefer proper manual's

ive found a couple just got to wait til tomorrow so the missus can come and view them with me

cheers for the reply though dude