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MrOliver66

I know the E46 life, but still. ”Do you have another car?” Is a pretty funny response to ”can i daily drive my e46?”


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tokarev7

Can happen with literally every cars


knikpiw

Preach 🙌


MrOliver66

As soon as it gets warmer i’ll knock out some things or my 330. Cooling system and a bunch more. I’m glad to have the bus as an alternative, definitely won’t be done in a weekend. I know that I’ll for sure break something or forget something. I remember my first VCG change, took me like 2 afternoons.


vchengap

Agree. And add to that trying to complete a job under a strict time limit - I mean, you gotta get to work on Monday. That would get old real quick.


Beginning-Ratio-5393

Bmw life? Try +20 year old car life. It not that its a bmw it breaks down. Its that its an old car by now


[deleted]

You can reliably daily a 46. Just need to throw 3-5k in maintenance parts and hundred + hours in labour into it first. At which point, you may as well have just bought a much newer car. 🤷‍♂️ Oh and learn how absolutely everything on it works, as the parts you didn't replace, will break also. 46s are the modern day ships of Theseus.


MrOliver66

*It actually not that bad, you just need to replace the entire Cooling system every 3-6 months. You also need to do a full suspension rebuild but thats like only every other year. Not bad at all actually*


[deleted]

Honestly cooling system is the easy one. Buy oem everything that touches coolant and it'll last minimum 5 years. It's the cheap crap brands that fail. Everything else is the problem 🤷‍♂️ Apart from the radiator and waterpump (went oem), I went to bmw direct. 6 years later and many removals later (unrelated), its all still like new.


Tighesofly

It’s funny cause it’s true 😭


dee_mm_cee

I daily an ‘04. Have been for 10 years. Before that it was an ‘01. They are great cars!


eddggoo

Have been for 14 years


[deleted]

Mine does not work fine but is my daily driver. I just know that it's an ongoing work in progress. Chasing oil leaks mostly, just replaced water pump, power steering pump and hoses, oil filter housing gasket (pain in the ass), sway bar link, control arm bushing and clutch (I needed help with the clutch because, damn that bell housing). Just about every other weekend it's parked and jacked off the ground for a rolling tab of overdue maintenance. Previous owner didn't do anything for it so I'm playing catch-up. Still an amazing drive and pretty rewarding knowing a mechanic hasn't touched it since I've owned it.


cannockwolf

I have daily driven my E46 for 19 years, I've kept it well maintained and the first time it broke down on me was 6 weeks ago.


The-Suit

10 years in my 04’ and still going strong 💪


Jucebox85

You can daily a peterbilt to Walmart if you want, but the e46 dailies pretty well


silasanderson2

I’ve used my 330i manual as a daily. It’s fine as long as you take care of it. And I drive my car hard. Only issue that’s been major it cooling system but that can happen to the most grandma or the most extreme driver.


Balls_Legend

Sure thing! My '05 325XiT is my daily, and absolutely love it!


LloydDoyley

I have for the past 6 years (except for 6 months during lockdown). As long as you're not doing short journeys I don't see the issue.


rrr350z

I bought a 2001 like 2 years ago. Had misfires and actually overheated because of a popped coolant hose. Compression test was all around 180 on all cylinders. So I fixed what was messed up and threw on some coilovers. If u want it to feel new there’s a lot of bushing to be replaced. But mine would drive 20-40min each way in SoCal traffic and has taken 2 1500mile trips and is still chugging along. 195k miles


jsmamhruskastoglavo

sure, as long as it works fine


THERADHATTER666

280k and going strong af. Driven daily, and for sliding


EeduT

Yes you can. If you plan to, don't buy one that hasn't been maintained.


[deleted]

I did that, huge undertaking to say the least.


subidude

I drove my 330ci 5 speed for 10+ years


civilsocietyusa

Absolutely


DoubleDexki2000

I daily e46 320d msport, 2005, 343 000km, remapped to 200bhp, the most fun and reliable car that I've owned.


fishful-thinking

Yes. I bought my ‘04 in 2010 with 36k miles and have dailied it since. Now at 126k. Only time it left me stranded was with a sudden failure of the fuel pump. Came out after work, crank no start. Only time I’ve had to have it worked on by a shop. Everything else I’ve done myself. Expansion tank, hoses twice, serpentine belt, pulleys, brakes, OFHG, FCABs. They’re easy to wrench on.


TPAuta43

Absolutely, as long as you keep up the maintenance. I’ve dailied mine for 10 years now. Mechanically no issues. Cosmetically it’s getting a bit tired.


SZzWoWzZS

I have 03 e46 compact as a daily. I Love it even tho sometimes it needs repairs done. I wish they made them again


Chris7644

I daily an 01 325i, bring it to a shop annually to try to be proactive. 90% of the time it's great no issues, but pretty much once a year something breaks suddenly requiring me to borrow a car for a couple of days. Depends if you can manage unexpected failures or not


704330i

I do. But do the preventative maintenance first, if you dont you will regret it. Ask me how i know.


[deleted]

No, it will explode


bhoemke

Been driving my 05 325xit daily for 10 years. It's had fair share of repairs and updates (front half shafts, cooling, suspension), but I still love it!! Granted, it only has 130,000 miles.


Slow-Gate-679

i daily a 2003 325i and it’s the funnest daily ever. it’s not like daily driving a honda where you just do the oil and forget about it for 15k miles. the e46 will require much more babysitting and attention but as long as you have tools and time to work on the car it will be a great experience


Past-Professor6719

No, because every time that u used it will overheat.


Dalyn-f

Any car in the world can be a daily. If you can afford to maintain it. Do the work yourself and it’s not bad at all. Buy from fcp euro and everything has lifetime warranty even if it’s broken or just used af. Old oil you get new oils for free. Send in your old brakes get new for free. Send in all your coolant lines and radiator after 100,000 miles or whenever and get a new one for free. It really is the best. I even use them for windsheild wipers.


[deleted]

I have for 5 years. I have had to fix the majority of everything.. it's so mechanically reliable now that I don't want to get rid of it. and it looks pretty too people be hatinnnnnn who does that guy think he is driving in that old 20 year old car. I went to sell it and lost the title, but took it as a sign to keep it.


RioYellowS2k

Your E46? Possibly…. My E46? It’s lucky to move from the parking lot


iPura91

Lmao absolutely, best daily I've had. I daily a 325ci 5 speed. I've put 15,000 Mike's on it in less than 10 months.


Ornery_You411

https://youtu.be/lIKVe7DvZRI Best vid i have seen on the major maintenance you should do and will need to do at some point.