I am looking at buying a daily driver just to get to work and back. I am trying to buy something with a little pep to liven up the drive and older BMWs seem to fit the bill. What kind of maintenance should i be looking to do ASAP? Any E46 specific issues I should look at before buying? I currently have my eye on a 5speed 325i, but have seen a couple 330s that looked solid as well.
The M54 has two major potential issues: overheating and oil consumption. The former is easy: change the whole cooling system every 100k miles. The latter is a bit more complicated, as there are several potential causes: CCV failure, ring failure, and valve seal failure. The whole CCV system will be junk at 200k miles, so just overhaul it. The other two are not so easy, but there is a proven work-around mod that involves adding vacuum to the crankcase to equalize pressure between the cylinders and the crankcase under high vacuum conditions.
Aside from those and some common non-critical things like oil leaks, you're basically dealing with what you'd see in any car at that mileage: worn suspension, interior issues, etc. They're generally pretty solid cars, and 200k miles is easily attainable, but if you can get maintenance records you'll save yourself surprises down the road.
I dailied a 200k mile E36 for a while.
It nickle and dimed me to death. I tried to make it perfect and it was like playing whack a mole. I can't recommend it but if you can tolerate things bring wrong or don't mind chasing little issues around it might be alright for you.
We just sold a 2001 330ci 5-speed with 238k. It still looked good and ran great. We had it long enough to do the cooling system twice and it never left us stranded. We bought it with 74k and it always burned oil, but never smoked or had a CEL. The oil level sensor was very reliable and wifey would bring home oil when the light came on. The original clutch lasted 237.5k miles. We picked her up a newer car and I had to put a clutch in the 330 so I could sell it for a song. It's still rolling around. A young couple with bologna budget and steak taste bought it. I included a binder about 3/4" thick with all the maintenance records. It's no Toyota in terms of just adding gas and driving, but the looks, driving dynamics, and general joy of driving weren't Toyota-like either.
I currently have a '94 E36 325 is 5 speed with 216,000 and a '05 X3 3.01 auto with 198,000. The one tool you need to buy, or have access to is a smoke machine, to find and fix the vacuum leaks.
I change the oil every 7500 miles, or every other year. One car is a DD and the other is not. Only 5-40 full synthetic and premium oil filters. They both break down the oil and after three quarts to top them off it is time to change to fresh. They run best on 91 octane, but I would only run premium.
They are both the definition of "mission creep" once you start to fix them. Embrace it, or buy a Toyota.
I d want a more reliable car to get me to work personally
At 200k it has had all the major issues dealt with at some point, if it's still on the road and not a fluid hemorrhaging wreck. You'll have to deal with them if you own it for any length of time, of course, but I wouldn't be worried about it as much as if it were a 70k car and still had the factory coolant tank and oil filter housing O-ring and other common maladies. (Like the PCV system, which usually needs a complete overhaul every 60k or so. It's not that bad once you are used to doing it)
Well, the oil pan gasket probably will leak, but they all do and nobody ever gets that repaired. I have "fixed" it on a 330xi by cleaning very well and hitting the front passenger side corner with a hefty dose of spray-on silicone sealant, as an experiment on an understanding client's car. That's where they all leak, and AWD adds an extra dimension of pain to the repair. It worked.
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