Inspection 2 cost me £320. Which was a "good price"...bascially undercut the dealer by £50 and still got the stamp in the book as the guy was an independant BMW specialist. Ive got the "oil service" coming up very soon. Basically an oil and filter change.....£120........
it's the main thing that is holding me back (that and the corolla). it's the same old thing, you can buy a rolls royce for 5k but the brakes are £2k to replace etc. i can stretch to the car i want (prefacelift 330 ci sport convertable) but i have heard about people dropping the e46 m3 in for a service and coming out with a bill for £1500+. i would be on the verge of suicide at that prospect.
Where did you go for yours ted as I'm in the same area, Cotswold get abit expensive thou the BMW four club discount helps a little.
seems one of the annoying things the retains the value of your bmw. always has with bmws. full bmw service history is worth its weight.
I go to a guy called Rob Jones. He's just on the outskirts of town and is a sound guy. Just him and some other lad ex BMW/MERC tech's. They deal with all the top end cars around this way. http://www.robjoneshereford.com/bmw_pricing.html The reason I stick with proper BMW tech's and get the stamp, purely from what i've seen in the BMW world. Having your "inspections" up to date goes along way with resale value. And I bought mine up to date so would of felt bad ruining it. Even if it does cost a small fortune
Weighing up what you'd pay at BMW over, say, 3 services compared to non-BMW history, think it really makes you that much more money back? I guess because I worked at a Honda main dealer for 6 years I know that nothing special happens behind the showrooms to justify main dealer service costs, far from it in fact - your better off going to a guy who relies on looking after other people's cars to pay his mortgage.
agree, guy just qualifies level 3 from local garage who charge £30ph, gets job at BMW, day 1 works on your car at £100ph with no specific bmw knowledge whatsoever.
I agree with those comments also. However intervals on my engine at least are roughly 15,000 miles. (it's worked out on fuel used rather than mileage). I dont plan on keeping my BMW for 30-40k So for me at least I think it will be beneficial Also the Garage I use is an independant guy and is like you describe, looks after his customers. Plus gives a slight discount to squaddies which is always nice
Another good one in roughly your area is Gloucester BMW Specialists, I've taken my car there a couple of times and have always paid less than I expected to.
Seems like as good a place to put these of me in the CSL. And the video... [ame=http://vimeo.com/7713574]BMW E46 M3 CSL vs. E92 M3 Edition - Free in the city of London on Vimeo[/ame] One of the best drivers cars I've ever driven, and I've driven lots.
I'm going to see a silver Facelift 330D Touring on Saturday (if it doesn't sell first like every other one I've booked to go see!). Its not the colour I want and its got the standard SE bumpers but if the M sport bumpers swap on easily enough I may do it that way.
one of my customers just came into work with his e46 facelift tourer. Ive always been a fan of m sport tourers, but his is an SE with an alpina splitter and it looks insanely good. So SE bumpers arn't the end of the world as they can still look awesome:]
Awesome cars! I’ve had my e46 323ci now since march and have had no problems with it other than a worn suspension bush, which was just down to general wear and tear. Usually I’m a complete jinx with cars, they just seem to break when I even as much as look at them, but apart from the suspension bush it has been faultless. Before I bought my e46 I was actually looking at 200sx’s but I couldn’t find any that were in decent condition, and my dad suggested trying out a bmw and as soon as I did I knew they were for me and eventually settled on my 323ci. It really is an amazing car; it handles so well out of the box as well as being a comfortable cruiser. Can’t comment on the estates having never driven one but I can’t imagine they would be that much different. If you’re thinking of buying one I would go for it, I haven’t driven anything since buying mine that compares to it, it just does everything so well. My inspection 2 was due last month so I went into my local bmw garage to get a price and to find out what was involved, and as has been said it costs between about £320-£350. The guy behind the service desk was sound and gave me a copy of the check sheet that the technicians actually use when carrying out an inspection 2. Basically, all that's involved is: Oil and filter change Air filter change Changing spark plugs Checking other fluids and topping them up if necessary (brake fluid, PAS fluid etc) Checking brake pads and discs Checking bushes and suspension components And generally checking over the car to see if there are any parts that need replaced. That’s everything I can think of from the top of my head, if anyone wants I can find the sheet and let you know exactly what’s involved. I didn’t go ahead with it as it’s a lot of money for not a lot of work; I decided to just service it myself, and bought all the stuff I needed, including extra things such as diff oil, gearbox oil, brake fluid etc and the total cost was only about £80 which is pretty good value. I also borrowed a diagnostic computer to reset the cars service interval (apparently you can just short 2 connections in the OBC port, or alternatively, do some trick which involves turing the key and pressing buttons in a specific order). Much better value for me as I know exactly what’s been done to my car, and as has been said the technicians don’t do anything ‘special’. Cheers Craig
couple things i have noticed lots on MV1 alloys seem to get refurbished. is that becuase the paint falls off? or clumsy fuckers curb them? seems strange that of the few i have seen a large proportion have been refurbed while most other cars people don't care? also ruined drivers boulsters on 2 dr cars with sports leather. not just warn, fucked. had a nose at a dealer and even last of the line ones are already showing heavy wear. saloons don't suffer as you would hit the door pillar, before you could slide over the boulster. generally the colour on the leather wears easily on the armrests etc. the cube trim (pretend carbon) gets fucked by women with nails and rings. you can't easily retro fit the TV. it requires a load of loom bits too. individuals seem to have been orderd by blind footballers as they have disgusting colour schemes. all the convertables are in essex.
Thought I would add my two pence I worked I BMW main dealers for years and worked on all areas including m cars I must say the 330d is probably one of the best diesel engines for the e46 and probably e39 and e60 and as James mentioned earlier I have drove many chipped version live mapped and downloaded mapped and the 330 loves them all torque properly puts you bk i'n the seat and my friends get over 50 mpg and that is not driving conservatively . As for servicing BMW dealers charge the earth for inspection 2 you should not feel you have to go to dealers for service you won't get a better service just a bigger bill than using a good quality specialist you can trust. If anyone wants good quality BMW servicing by a trained tech pm me .
it sure is! E46 touring FTW! BMWPortal.nl - Online BMW Community • Toon onderwerp - Wanders e46 touring // Ganz Gelber below is mine btw Have it for 2 months now and allready drove 6000 km's with it. My S13 was more fun on the road, but this car is so multifunctional and drives very good. wheels can use a set of spacers though...
whats wheel fitment like on 46s? I got 10j et12 18 for the rear and 8.5j et7 for the front, not tried them on yet.
