| My boss has a 2003 325 that he bought on my recommendation.
His coils failed under warrantee.
His rear end came from the factory badly out of camber and it chewed the original tires off in about 10k miles.
His sunroof has failed three times and been repaired each time under warrantee.
His original brake rotors wore out very quickly and were replaced under warrantee.
He loves the car.
I just bought a 2004 330 for my wife. Electric red, automatic, sport suspension, M3 wheels. It replaced her red 1997 328.
We have two '97 328s, and they are better cars than the 2004 in many ways. Part of the problem is the sport suspension on the 2004. It uses low profile tires that ride rough, transmit road noise like a 4WD pickup, cost a fortune, and don't last very long. My boss has a sport suspension and I should have known from his experience not to buy one. I can put a set of Michelins on a '97 for $500 and drive for 50k miles+ in quiet comfort. The tires for the e46 sport suspension cost twice as much and last half as long.
Our two '97s are going to our two daughters who are in college, replacing two old Volvo 240s. One 328 has 125k miles and the other has 225k miles. We use the stick shift for all our highway trips because it gets significantly better mileage. They have both been extremely reliable and inexpensive to maintain so far. We love them.
The e46 with a 5sp automatic appears so far to get mileage somewhere between our e36 automatic (25 mpg) and our e36 stick (30 mpg). The fifth gear in the e46 is very tall, 2400 RPM at 70 mph, so it should get good mileage. The downside is that it tends to hunt between 4th and 5th on uphill grades.
On the e46, the steering is too heavy and the brakes are too boosted. The only things I like better about the e46 are the steering wheel and the seats with fully adjustable lumbar support. The seats in the '97s are a little hard on long trips.
Driving the same bumpy curves with the 2004 sport suspension and the '97 standard suspension, I would say that the sport suspension does not hold the road any better, it just punishes you more as you push it to its limits.
My advice:
1) If you can buy a pristine low miles e36, grab it.
2) If you buy an e46, do not buy one with sport suspension.
Keep in mind that I am 55 years old, so your priorities are much different from mine!!!!!  | 
06-18-2007, 01:21 PM
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