Ownership Verified: e46 330xd Touring

Boobo-oobo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
737
Location
Croatia, Zagreb
Car(s)
e46 330xd Touring
Hewwo.

Bought a family car, project car and a daily driver, all in one :D Its a 2004. e46 330xd. It came recommend through a friend, it was previously owned by his boss, who owns a repair shop. So my friend worked on the car regularly, and knows much of the history of the car and what has been done to it.


IMG_6330 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

It has ~174000km, full service history and some things that need to be fixed, mostly cosmetic stuff. It has new brake rotors, pads, rear springs and the guy who owned it kept it in a very good mechanical condition. Cosmetically, it needs some work.


IMG_6325 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6324 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6322 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6327 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

The interior is in great condition.


IMG_6301 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6302 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6310 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

The drivers side does show some signs of wear, but minimal. Will sort that in due time.


IMG_6309 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6304 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

And some of the issues . . . The windshield has 4-5 rock chips, rear bumper sticks out on both sides, front hood has some chips, couple of scratches on the car, but nothing too bad. Rear defroster is bad, LCD screen has dead pixels . . . All of that i plan to take care of.


IMG_6293 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6295 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6297 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6298 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6328 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


IMG_6314 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

The motor runs strong, no noises, rattles or anything. Really fun to drive.


IMG_6316 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr
 
Well, well, look who's back :p

Congrats on the car! ;) One more BMW on the forums.

I guess now we'll have to organize a meet, obviously. :)

Thanks :)

Yeah, we should do something. Perfect weather is just around the corner too.

Also, I need to get a second wheel set for my summer tyres. Any suggestions? I really like the style 44 :

MDlCKio.jpg


Those are also stock wheels from the VIN decoder for the car.
 
E46 - approved
touring - approved
6 cylinders - approved
Diesel - weeellll...
Automatic - WTF is this shit? :p

It seems to be pretty well equipped: Xenon headlights, steering wheel with buttons, satnav, but no M-package. There are good aftermarket M-package front bumpers out there, I had one on my previous E46 touring and it fitted without any problems. On my black touring the rear M-package bumper doesn't look that different to a standard bumper, but on your grey one the difference would be pretty obvious so maybe going for an aftermarket rear bumper as well?

My armrest looks much better at 203k, maybe the previous owner leaned on it heavily so it wore worse. Either you rejuvenate it with some product or change the lid altogether, I'd do that.
 
If someone had told me to order a brand new E46 with an unlimited budget, this is exactly what I would have ended up with. :thumbsup:

I noticed that the Steptronic transmission has the manual gate reversed compared to the E39. Usually (meaning all tip/step/geartronic cars I've owned and driven) you push the lever forwards to change up.

This is the sporty way to do it, though, and the most natural. I wonder if safety's the reason why everyone does it the other way around.
 
E46 - approved
touring - approved
6 cylinders - approved
Diesel - weeellll...
Automatic - WTF is this shit? :p

It seems to be pretty well equipped: Xenon headlights, steering wheel with buttons, satnav, but no M-package. There are good aftermarket M-package front bumpers out there, I had one on my previous E46 touring and it fitted without any problems. On my black touring the rear M-package bumper doesn't look that different to a standard bumper, but on your grey one the difference would be pretty obvious so maybe going for an aftermarket rear bumper as well?

My armrest looks much better at 203k, maybe the previous owner leaned on it heavily so it wore worse. Either you rejuvenate it with some product or change the lid altogether, I'd do that.

709f538d833ee61787193df6989b9a71.jpg


It has a lot of toys. Sadly no heated seats.

I love the look of the rear bumper, how the PDC is mounted, I think it looks great. Front one on the other hand, i dont really like so much, i'll look into some aftermarket ones.
The armrest and the right side of the drivers seat are going to be repaired in due time. I also lean on the armrest a lot, so its going to get only worse if i dont fix it on time.

Vin decoder :

210 Dynamic Stability Control (dsc)
290 Lt/aly Wheels Star Spoke 44
411 Window Lifts, Electric
473 Armrest, Front
520 Foglights
548 Speedometer With Kilometer Reading
550 On-board Computer
832 Battery In Luggage Compartment
1CA Selection Cop Relevant Vehicles
203 All-wheel-drive System
205 Automatic Transmission
249 Multi-function For Steering Wheel
255 Sports Leather Steering Wheel
302 Alarm System
313 Exterior Mirror Package
320 Model Designation, Deletion
403 Glas Roof, Electric
423 Floor Mats, Velour
431 Interior Rr Vw Mirror W Aut Anti-d
438 Wood Trim
441 Smokers Package
459 Seat Adjustm., Electr. W. Memory
502 Headlight Washer System
508 Park Distance Control (pdc)
521 Rain Sensor
522 Xenon Light
534 Automatic Air Conditioning
609 Navigation System Professional
644 Prep. For. Mob. Ph. Bluet. Interf.
650 Cd Player
692 Cd Changer I-bus Preparation
760 Individual High-gloss Satin Chrome
775 Individual Roof-lining Anthracite
785 White Direction Indicator Lights
8SP Cop Control
855 Language Version Italian
863 Europe/dealer Directory
877 Deletion Cross-over Operation
884 Italian / On-board Documentation
915 No Outer Skin Protection
928 Tyre Control


If someone had told me to order a brand new E46 with an unlimited budget, this is exactly what I would have ended up with. :thumbsup:

I noticed that the Steptronic transmission has the manual gate reversed compared to the E39. Usually (meaning all tip/step/geartronic cars I've owned and driven) you push the lever forwards to change up.

This is the sporty way to do it, though, and the most natural. I wonder if safety's the reason why everyone does it the other way around.

:thumbsup:

My Merc had the Tiptronic side to side, I got used to that. Used it a lot cause the Merc gearbox is lazy and doesnt always shift up when it can, so I always gave it a nudge to shift up. But the e46 is much more smoother and predictive. It shifts when I want it too.
 
Bring it to Ringmeet, but FFS fit a sports cat then get it remapped.

:sealofapproval.jpg:
 
Bring it to Ringmeet, but FFS fit a sports cat then get it remapped.

:sealofapproval.jpg:

Ringmeet is a no-go, I'm gonna be a dad right around that time :)

Performance mods, maybe in the long run, but for now it needs to be reliable :D
 
Awesome car! I was looking for a E46 330D Facelift with a Manual for myself for a while - I was unsuccessful though :( Great choice! And that interior is awesome! :D

Performance mods, maybe in the long run, but for now it needs to be reliable :D

Engine is fine with the performance mods, that auto gearbox is not, sadly. They tend to get a bit explodey :(
 
Hey, I used to have one, minus two driveshafts and a transfercase. Wonderful machines, the M57B30 is a great engine, too bad the gearbox can't really keep up. In normal mode it allows a bit too much slip but at least shifts smooth, albeit too slow. In sport it has absolute disregard for every mechanical bit in the transmission, but the shifts are nice and crisp. The box is also slightly dimwitted and cannot cope with changing driving styles too well, especially when you mix laid-back cruising and B-road blasting. I've never really touched manual mode, except sometimes in traffic when the box would shift up too early. Like Joe already said, these boxes have a tendency to explode, but regular oil changes can at least prolong their lifetime.
As for wheels, I can heartily recommend Style 73, see my E46 thread for pictures.

A couple top tips: The car has bluetooth, but the system is too old, as it advertises a feature that isn't fully implemented. This makes it so that modern phones decide that the system is broken and promptly disconnect. If you do care about bluetooth, a Grom system is cheap, and I've found them to work quite well over the year I've had mine.
Another thing is the rear center combined head / armrest. If you car about rear visibility, keep it folded down so you can see a bit more.
 
Gratz! A 330d with less than 200k kms... they exist?! :lol:
 
Awesome car! I was looking for a E46 330D Facelift with a Manual for myself for a while - I was unsuccessful though :( Great choice! And that interior is awesome! :D
Thanks :) I really like the interior too. Was planning to get a manual, but I don't mind this combination.

Originally I wanted to buy a Skoda Fabia Combi mk1 and after looking for months I couldn't find a good one. All beat up, used and abused, shady seller trying to rip you off . . . Then a friend recommended this, at a higher price than I was meaning to spend, but I did get a better car overall.

Engine is fine with the performance mods, that auto gearbox is not, sadly. They tend to get a bit explodey :(
Didnt know that. Should I be worried? Or does this apply to when you start doing mods and adding more power? I drive economically most of the time, but I do like to floor it when overtaking and when I have space to play around.

:mrgreen:
Brother from another mother. :p

Hey, I used to have one, minus two driveshafts and a transfercase. Wonderful machines, the M57B30 is a great engine, too bad the gearbox can't really keep up. In normal mode it allows a bit too much slip but at least shifts smooth, albeit too slow. In sport it has absolute disregard for every mechanical bit in the transmission, but the shifts are nice and crisp. The box is also slightly dimwitted and cannot cope with changing driving styles too well, especially when you mix laid-back cruising and B-road blasting. I've never really touched manual mode, except sometimes in traffic when the box would shift up too early. Like Joe already said, these boxes have a tendency to explode, but regular oil changes can at least prolong their lifetime.
As for wheels, I can heartily recommend Style 73, see my E46 thread for pictures.
Comparing it to the w210 gearbox, its an awesome improvement. I wont use it in sport mode then :D Like i said, I drive economically most of the time, but I like to open it up a bit on good roads. Whats the oil change interval for the gearbox?

Not a fan of style 73 tbh. Style 44's look better to me.

A couple top tips: The car has bluetooth, but the system is too old, as it advertises a feature that isn't fully implemented. This makes it so that modern phones decide that the system is broken and promptly disconnect. If you do care about bluetooth, a Grom system is cheap, and I've found them to work quite well over the year I've had mine.
Another thing is the rear center combined head / armrest. If you car about rear visibility, keep it folded down so you can see a bit more.

The Bluetooth story, I didn't know it had it when I bought it. I stumbled upon the BT code when looking through the papers later that evening, made me so happy that I went to try it out that night. And then every attempt to connect failed. So disappointing. Then i went too Google and found that it doesn't really work like you said.
The Grom, does it work with my navi screen infotainment? Do the steering controls work? It replaces the stock BT, or it connects to AUX or something else? I really want to have BT just for calls, dont need it for anything else. Already looked into aftermarket radios to add BT, but I would love to keep everything as stock as possible.

And a great tip for back visibility! Also to keep my backpack from sliding in the back seat :D

Gratz! A 330d with less than 200k kms... they exist?! :lol:

Tnx. Only in Croatia. And lots of them :D

http://www.njuskalo.hr/auti/bmw-serija-3-330d-oglas-21585797

http://www.njuskalo.hr/auti/bmw-serija-3-330d-automatik-oglas-21296488

http://www.njuskalo.hr/auti/bmw-330d-m-paket-oglas-21692002

http://www.njuskalo.hr/auti/bmw-ser...tplata-kartice-zamjena-dostava-oglas-13334557
 
I noticed that the Steptronic transmission has the manual gate reversed compared to the E39. Usually (meaning all tip/step/geartronic cars I've owned and driven) you push the lever forwards to change up.

The gate was reversed in the facelift at least in e46. Mine had it the other way round (+ forward, - back).
 
The Bluetooth story, I didn't know it had it when I bought it. I stumbled upon the BT code when looking through the papers later that evening, made me so happy that I went to try it out that night. And then every attempt to connect failed. So disappointing. Then i went too Google and found that it doesn't really work like you said.
The Grom, does it work with my navi screen infotainment? Do the steering controls work? It replaces the stock BT, or it connects to AUX or something else? I really want to have BT just for calls, dont need it for anything else. Already looked into aftermarket radios to add BT, but I would love to keep everything as stock as possible
The Grom taps into the bus, so it takes over from the factory bluetooth system when it's connected, and as such, all the steering wheel buttons work.
According to the Grom website, they should work fine with your nav, the only thing is that you need to mount it in the trunk, which necessitates running a mic cable from the trunk to the front of the car for the phone.
 
Didnt know that. Should I be worried? Or does this apply to when you start doing mods and adding more power? I drive economically most of the time, but I do like to floor it when overtaking and when I have space to play around.

I wouldn't worry, just make sure oil change is done every 100tkm or so, probably best just to get it done or do it yourself now. The issue is largely due to the strength of them, they limit torque in 1st and 2nd gear in order to make sure they don't explode - Hence why adding more power can cause issues.

Best advice, don't worry too much - It's not made of glass :) Just be weary if modding
 
The Grom taps into the bus, so it takes over from the factory bluetooth system when it's connected, and as such, all the steering wheel buttons work.
According to the Grom website, they should work fine with your nav, the only thing is that you need to mount it in the trunk, which necessitates running a mic cable from the trunk to the front of the car for the phone.
Thats awesome! So it would work like the factory unit. Just one more thing, cause I cant find it online, for instance, when you listen to FM radio and you get a call, you only have to answer it, not change the mode to CD/AUX? It will ring on the car speakers?

I wouldn't worry, just make sure oil change is done every 100tkm or so, probably best just to get it done or do it yourself now. The issue is largely due to the strength of them, they limit torque in 1st and 2nd gear in order to make sure they don't explode - Hence why adding more power can cause issues.

Best advice, don't worry too much - It's not made of glass :) Just be weary if modding

Thanks for the info.
 
Thats awesome! So it would work like the factory unit. Just one more thing, cause I cant find it online, for instance, when you listen to FM radio and you get a call, you only have to answer it, not change the mode to CD/AUX? It will ring on the car speakers?

Yeah, it completely taps into the car's handsfree system. You can answer and make a call with the buttons on the wheel, and the radio automatically mutes and everything.
 
Yeah, it completely taps into the car's handsfree system. You can answer and make a call with the buttons on the wheel, and the radio automatically mutes and everything.

Great! I'll get this GROM system installed ASAP. Thank you! :)
 
First job on the car, fixing the sunroof shade. The shade was closed stuck, wouldn't budge or anything. The sunroof window did work ok, opened and closed fine, but the shade was moving with the window. Used this tutorial:


Forced the shade open, and removed the window.


20170304_090426 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

Luckily nothing broke, all the rails were fine. Only misaligned. Also found some broken parts inside the gap, looks like this was fixed before, just not well.


20170304_091334 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


20170304_091354 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr


20170304_091405 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

Gave everything a good clean, lubed the rails and put everything back.


20170304_103926 by Marko Hre??an, on Flickr

Shade works perfectly now.
 
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