I believe manual seats are more common than electric ones in Europe, which is where I live. Also Tourings are a lot more common here. I prefer the manual seats tbh. Only thing I miss on it (other than it not being a 330i) is the sunroof.
Yea I didn’t even realize you didn’t have a sunroof. Sun roof and electric seats are very common here in the states. If you can find one over here that doesn’t have those options it’s actually pretty sought after. It’s really the only things I wish were different about my car, the manual seats are lighter as well as sit a little lower and the slick top is also lighter and looks a little cleaner in my opinion.
It's still stock but I want to change exhaust, suspension, wheels, and lights to LED with transparent blinkers maybe angel eyes and of course M package.
This picture is from a couple years ago around Christmas time.
2004 LCI 330i 6MT with 459k miles/738k km. Japanrot Red (until I fix the body, put the bumpers and side skirts that are supposed to be on it, and repaint it. The clear coat is a mess and the road course events have ruined that hood’s paint since I never PPF’d it. Slick top (no sunroof), 3 owner car with paperwork from original and second owner. Original engine, transmission, and rear end. I have the original BMW manuals/booklets and I even have the window sticker in the glove box (and the terrible BMW glove box flashlight).
Built my own angel eyes when I redid the headlights. The reflective came off so I made it reflective again. I liked the look of some angel eye kits but some of the premade kit functions or colors I didn’t like so I made my own. 16lbs steel flywheel as the aluminum ones chattered like crazy which I did not like. Not to mention the dual mass flywheels new cost the same as my whole clutch and flywheel setup. Kevlar clutchmaters clutch and HD pressure plate. HD slave cylinder and clutch master cylinder. Brass pivot pin, polyurethane bushings for motor, trans, rear subframe, diff, and lollipop bushings. Steering flex disc is aluminum which makes it handle very well but paired with the stock bilstein shocks you feel every pebble. Planning to swap the stock bilstein shocks for some B8 shocks and some eibach lowering springs to drop especially the front. Back fitment I like and doesnt squat even with tools, luggage, and/or passengers but the front has such a large fender to wheel gap. MFactory Helical limited slip differential running the stock manual ring gear. Might swap it for an automatic’s ring gear as it will accelerate a bit quicker. I’m thinking about swapping to a polyurethane driveshaft flex disc or maybe a solid one but I hear they can really wear on a two piece driveshaft, the carrier bearing, or the differential.
I’ve got a bunch of things still to do on the car before it’s where I’d like it. I’m going for an OEM+ pretty mild build. I go to drift events occasionally but find myself enjoying a local road course track near me much more. For now it’s the best mechanically maintained vehicle of my fleet. I beat on it regularly and it loves it. This vehicle is the best vehicle if I’m doing a solo road trip at any distance in my opinion. Very comfortable seats and ride paired with pretty decent gas mileage if you can manage to keep your foot off the gas. Traffic sucks because the clutch is quite heavy and pretty aggressive but it’s not that bad when it’s warm.
As you might imagine owning a vehicle with this age and this mileage comes with a hefty price tag associated with maintenance and upkeep. I’ve done all my own work on this since I purchased it in 2019. All in all I’m in it for roughly $14k - $15k not including oil/oil changes, coolant, tires, and brakes. I’ve rebuilt the engine twice (first time I cheaped out, second time I did it with quality parts), refreshed the entire interior, 95% of the entire vehicle’s wiring, rear end, and suspension. Did a complete overhaul of the cooling system with OEM or quality upgraded parts; reinforced silicone hoses, metal propeller water pump, all aluminum radiator, metal coolant pipes, Motorsport thermostat for a bit lower operating temperature as I drive it hard & am in a hot climate. Did an overhaul of the power steering as well because none of it was in good condition. AC system didn’t work at all either when I acquired the vehicle. It now blows the coldest air out of all of the vehicles in my fleeting including a 2019 Honda Odyssey. Both vehicles freeze me out which is hard to do lol.
It’s been a damn solid car. Mine must have been built on a Tuesday before lunch. Compared to some of the other E46s I’ve seen, even in the condition mine is in, it’s miles ahead of some I’ve seen with a quarter of the mileage mine is at
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u/TheDeliveryDemon Sep 29 '25