Got this off ebay a few weeks ago for £2600 (€2860, $4280). I'm very pleased with it. Any opinions?









Myself and it:

Nice car for a really good price. My congratulations.
Yesterday, at the Opel-dealer, they really want to have 6890 € for a 1997 Calibra with 150 000 km. Incredible and impudent.


I like the landscape in the background, too. We really love Scotland. Next year we want to come again.


P.S. Please don't put oriental carpets on the floor and don't mount a wooden steering wheel. If yes, a Galatarasay Istanbul-shawl under the back window would fit, too.

Was there anything wrong with it? how on Earth did you get it that cheap? :S it definetly is a great purchase.

Thanks. I'm really enjoying it.



That's insane about the Opel Calibra. Here in the UK you'd struggle to find one of them for more than £1000. Mostly they go for around £500.

Glad you like the Scottish scenery. It's lovely here on the rare occasions when we get good weather, particularly with the Autumn colours.



Everything works great and it runs beautifully. The price could be attributed to there being no service history and that it's done 149k miles. There's also some small vandalism to the paintwork on the driver's side where someone has scratched along it with a key by the look of things, but it's only noticeable up close. However, it runs very smooth and the interior is extremely clean. I drove it 400 miles on the first day after picking it up from just outside London and have taken it on several subsequent expeditions around Scotland.

Congratulations, seems to be a great deal indeed! I always thought this pre-facelift E46 coupé was the most shapely bimmer from the late 80s until now (without the rear spoiler, of course... ). Have fun with it!

Beautiful car, beautiful scenery! Your fourth picture could have fooled me as a brochure if it had some official-looking text on it.

Gorgeous machine (though I’m partial to BMW anyway ) Never drove a coupe E46, but did try out a sedan E46 (on loan from Schaeffer BMW) while my then 328i E36 was having scheduled maintenance done.

Steering was loose and playful at low speeds while being solid and responsive at higher speeds. Very fun to drive. Loved the sound of the inline six engine. The Germans build a mean inline six (no matter its size)

I also liked that BMW restyled the interior to resemble the 5 and 7 Series, giving the car a truly upscale interior. The only thing I didn’t like was the oddness of the door mounted side airbags. Less effective at protecting the occupant and made the door panel rather tacky (at least on the E36, BMW seemed to do a bit better on the E46)

Nice Beemer. What year is it?

Nice car & pictures, though that I still prefer the E36

First registered in November 1999.



This is my old car which I've bought this to replace. It's been really good over the past 2 and a half years, but there's been too many problems lately - only small niggles but I decided to replace it because with the amount of money I would be spending on it I knew I could get something better. Still sitting up my driveway here, not sure what I'm going to do with it. I'd ideally like to take it on one of those charity "rallies" to Mongolia or somewhere, and then someone there could make good use of it for years to come.

Please don't do to the new one what you did to that one

Do what?

Tuning

I didn't do a great deal to the previous one. The chrome arches for example were there when I bought it. I did add the bumper facade though, as the original bumper was cracked and the paint chipped, so it helped cover that. I also added the fiberglass side skirts which helped cover up the rusty sills, and the clear indicators were my work too.

Here's what it looked like when I bought it:


Seems like a lifetime ago now, it was so exciting getting my first car :p. It's always started up and ran fine and has gone some huge distances, but there's been lots of little niggles which can generally be attributed to the age of the car.

Like what for instance? I'm used to driving older cars (though I've been "moving up" lately) so there's almost nothing that can bug me too much Does it just have little trim and cosmetic issues (i.e. a window won't go down, or a rattle in the dashboard) or does it have serious mechanical problems as well?

Nice new car! I wouldn't own a BMW though, reapiar and parts in Austrlia are much to high. Maybe you could mofify it like Death Race?!

Very nice! I see 3-series prices are different in Europe, you're old car is probably worth what you paid for the new one here.

I know car fans tend to get attached to their vehicles, so I have to say; if you're ever feeling bad about doing this, don't. I should have bolted from my old car several months ago.

My mechanical knowledge is practically zero so I'm not sure of all, but the main problems on the old car are:

Loud grinding sound from the brakes. Needs new brake pads?
Loud ticking sound from under the bonnet/hood, timing belt going?
Bonnet/hood cable is broken and therefore it won't close properly. There's a safety catch so there's no chance of it flying open when driving, but it will jiggle around and jump up and down at speed, which is distracting and doesn't look so good.
Rear exhaust had a small chrome clip when I bought it (just for cosmetic purposes). Recently I noticed that had disappeared along with half the exhaust pipe, which had rusted off. Technically it's not an issue but again it doesn't look too good with a broken exhaust pipe.

All the electrics still work, including the windows. The drivers seat is worn down but still comfortable. It starts and runs every time and has never let me down on that level. The mileage reads about 176k but it's had a reconditioned engine at some point so it's not known how much it's done on it, but that engine still runs very nicely and has many miles left on it yet I'm sure.

Very beautiful car.

The one problem, at least on the continent, is that BMW drivers generally have the worst attitude on the road. They like to push you forward and out of the way.

When I drove a black BMW a while ago I immediately felt the result of this behaviour because it was more difficult to cut into traffic, whereas people usually wave me in...

So for that reason I'd hesitate to buy one, although they're great cars. And I do love old BMW's particularly.

There is that reputation here also, though it's more of a stereotype than reality. I admit that I lack patience sometimes, particularly when driving on country roads and getting stuck behind slow moving traffic. However, I'd like to consider myself as a courteous driver, as I will always let other drivers out and give them space, as I know how frustrating it is to be in that position myself. I've encountered a lot of assholes who won't let me out, particularly when driving in London a few weeks ago.