When we reviewed the then-new E46 BMW | #TBT

Story by Tim Suddard and J.G. Pasterjak

Here’s an interesting predicament: How do you fix something that’s not broken? Case in point: The most recent BMW 3 Series, designated the E36 chassis, has to be the most successful car ever produced by the popular German manufacturer. It is far from broken.

The E36 BMW is still thoroughly modern and has …

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And now there’s a 21-year-old E46 sitting in my garage....

It's amazing how time changes one's perspective on a car.

David S. Wallens said:

And now there’s a 21-year-old E46 sitting in my garage....

Ditto. Except it's the side yard. And it's broken. And it's not mine.

Mine’s not broken, fortunately. I need to take it out soon just because. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

23 year old E46 in my garage.  My daily.

2004 e46 330i ZHP with 265,000 miles  um, yes, I like it. Replaced the clutch at 225,000.

I should clean mine, once every 5 years is not cutting it. 

 

Just sharing:

I loved my E46, even thought it was "only" a 325i sedan. The ZSP sport package and 5 speed stick made it an ideal daily.

The E46 really is a perfect size–and I said that before I owned one. It’s roomy yet has a small-ish footprint. My parents had two of them.

A 2000 323i was my first car, and some of the parts were eventually assimilated into the wagon I still have: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/19494/

In reply to SaveTheSticks :

I had one of those too.  Not that many miles though. Nice car, no real issues ever popped up...whew. But, that was 3 cars ago.  

Isn't it funny, looking back, that they offered all of those "different" six cylinder engine options, and they were all basically the same engine? I think at one point, you could have the 323, the 325 (same exact displacement), or the 330; and the difference in power between the 323 and the 330 was, what... 45 hp?

In reply to confuZion3 :

While they were the same basic block, I don't think they were all the same displacement.  I thought that was the end of the era where the first digit was the chassis size and the last 2 digits were displacement in liters:

323i = 2.3
328i = 2.8

Then with the 2003 refresh they both got bumped up by 0.2 liters to make the 325i and 330i.

I could be wrong but that's my understanding.

In reply to Duke :

The one in my yard is a 2001 325xi.  2.5L 184hp 5-speed manual. I don't know if that helps or hurts your theory.

In reply to llysgennad :

Sorry, my mistake - 2003 was the second E46 update - slight facelift and changes to suspension tuning and steering rack.

1998-2000 was the 323i with a 2.5l M52.  The 328i was a 2.8 M52.

2001-2006 was the 325i with a 2.5l M54.  The 330i was a 3.0l M54.

So I was mostly right but not entirely.

I'm a big fan of the e46, my 2001 325it 5 speed has served me well for 330000 miles

My story back then was they called the E46 323i what they did because it actually had less power than the recently departed E36 325i, so it made sense to make it sound as though it had a smaller displacement. There had been an E36 323i with a 2.5 as well that was lesser than the E36 325i so it sort of made sense as a way to distinguish the lesser 2.5 from the greater 2.5 powered cars.
 

Even back then BMW did a few funky things with the numbers, but nothing like now!

Caperix that wagon is gorgeous!

CyberEric said:

My story back then was they called the E46 323i what they did because it actually had less power than the recently departed E36 325i, so it made sense to make it sound as though it had a smaller displacement. There had been an E36 323i with a 2.5 as well that was lesser than the E36 325i so it sort of made sense as a way to distinguish the lesser 2.5 from the greater 2.5 powered cars.
 

Even back then BMW did a few funky things with the numbers, but nothing like now!

Caperix that wagon is gorgeous!

Later E36s had the same numbering, 323 / 328.  I think it was partly to distinguish them from the earlier 325i and also because, as you said, the 2.5 liter M52 in the late E36 323i made less power than the 2.5 liter M50 in the earlier E36 325i.  Plus 325 and 328 might have sounded too close together. 

In general though, I agree with the others here, the E46 and other BMWs of its era are just generally very likable cars. 

"The E36 BMW is still thoroughly modern"

I feel like I broke a hip just reading that.

For real, though, it's interesting to read about our impressions of decades old BMWs and they're basically the same as our impressions of modern BMWs: Sporty sedans that ooze competence and driver-centrism but not necessarily thrills. I could copy/paste a lot of those driving impressions onto the F32 435i as well, just adjusting for performance inflation (remember when an 8-second 0-60 was pretty good?).

My DD is a 2001 E46. Makes grocery runs a lot more fun than the family truckster van.

It also has GRM providence:

In reply to slefain :

Noice!