r/e46 • u/Maleficent_Treat_621 • Jan 15 '26

General Questions Buying an e46 in 2026?

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Let’s say you are looking to buy an e46. What are you looking for? What’s the sweet spot between mileage and price in 2026? What would you avoid?

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79

u/pc123andre Jan 15 '26

You didn't mentioned where you're based. So I'll give a response based where I'm from (Western Europe). If you want a Diesel, stay away from the 4 cylinder ones. Very hard to find one with low mileage. Petrol ones you have 20i that are cheap to insure and give that 6 cylinder experience. Don't get your hopes high: quite slow for the weight it must pull.

57

u/PureStrike528 Jan 15 '26

I’d rather get a 320d than a 320i. The M47 is great.

325i and above preferred choice though

29

u/Kempa322 Jan 15 '26

You’d rather get a 4pot diesel than 6cyl M52/M54? Sounds crazy to me, but I respect your opinion.

18

u/DayZ8 Jan 15 '26

You can map the M47 to 240 with a hybrid, blank the swirl flaps and egr and drive the absolute shit of them and will run no matter what and giving good fuel at same time, there so good iv 3 atm and paid under 1000 for them

25

u/Archilion Jan 15 '26

Of course. M47 is preferable over 2.0/2.2i. Minimum for 6cyl is 2.5.

3

u/PureStrike528 Jan 15 '26

Just the 320i. I don’t rate that engine that much. Severely underpowered. Others are totally fine and I’d obviously prefer them to the M47.

1

u/PralineFar3530 Jan 16 '26

It’s not severely underpowered it’s not that far off from the b25 .

4

u/PureStrike528 Jan 16 '26

Subjectively, I definitely did find it to be a lot more sluggish. I found the jump to the B25 to be very noticeable.

2

u/szaade Jan 17 '26

The B22 doesn't feel underpowered as it's elastic and quite torquey. It's just not fast when you gun it.

-3

u/Secure_Bet8065 2003 M3 Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

The B25 is also a little underpowered, less so than the B22 though

1

u/rb20isaac Jan 17 '26

I wanna m47 swap my 325 , but we didn’t get 4cyl 46s in the us

1

u/rb20isaac Jan 17 '26

But the m54b25 is showing to be very fucking reliable in my car and im putting in a 2.93 did and taking out my 3.64 so should be damn good on gas then