BMW 3-Series Coupe (1999 - 2006) 325 Ci Sport 2d Auto (03) Owner Review

Great car, avoid 4 cyl petrol engines (316, 318)

320, 323, 325, 328, 330 and the diesels are dreams.

Cooling system is brittle and prone to cracking, keep an eye on if yours needs replacing.

Owned 3 E46s (4th gen, 3 series) over the years. A 316i, 320i and a 325Ci. 6 cyl engines definitely the bread and butter, 316 cost 2x to maintain over 1 year than the 325Ci needed over 2 years.

316 was mainly vanos and misfiring issues. 325 has just been consumables (brakes, tyres) mainly.

Proper drivers vehicle, beautiful to handle, 6 cylinders screams through all 6500rpm available, hydraulic steering (which BMW steered away from after the E9x generation of 3 series).

Just a little bit boaty and drinky on fuel as an N/A Petrol in todays world of turbocharged everythings.

Also a known defective problem on the M54 engines, whilst being virtually bulletproof (only overheating and thus warping the block will kill these bad boys) they do consume a wee bit of oil.

If you can DIY and pull the part of an older engine (M52TU) it can be stopped, if not you'll just have to be dilligent on oil usage. Car comes with an oil level sensor as well as dipstick, sensor displays lights on dash in certain time intervals to relay messages.

I.E. When ignition off -> Yellow Oil light on for 10 seconds means ~1 quart of oil low