I Drove An E46 BMW 330ci, And I Think You Should Too

You don’t need me to tell you how legendary the E46 BMW M3 is. We’ve all seen Clarkson review a CSL on Top Gear, watched countless videos of the M3 GTRs sensational gearbox whine on YouTube or lusted after it from Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

There was a time when the M3 was an absolute bargain. Yet, as time passes, few examples exist, and nostalgia hits people with money – a good E46 M3 is entering the realm of unobtanium.

The ones you want – a manual coupe – will be tricky to find on the right side of £25,000. And quite frankly, an auto or a convertible just isn’t going to hit the same.

No surprise that the rest of the E46 line-up is rising in price, too. A thought I keep in mind while getting behind the wheel of this utterly mint example you see here.

Granted, this one is probably the nicest 330ci still left in existence. A 2005 car that has covered a little shy of 90,000 miles, it’s had a few mod-cons we’ll get to in a bit – but crucially, it’s stock underneath. Bar an OEM BMW performance parts exhaust, and a suspiciously low suspension setup.

That means its 3.0-litre, straight-six M54 engine is pretty much as it left the factory. When new, that would’ve meant around 220bhp sent to the rear wheels through a manual gearbox. No LSD, unlike the M3, but look at the price differentials, and you can gloss over that.

This one cost £10 shy of £9000, but you can pick ratty examples in need of some TLC for as little as £1500. The sweet spot seems to be about three times that amount.

Before getting into the 330ci, I must confess, I’d never driven an E46. In fact, the only non-recent BMW I had was the M1 supercar – so not exactly comparable experience. My prejudices leaned towards everything I’d consumed about the car from elsewhere, admittedly expecting to feel a little underwhelmed about a car I thought would be overhyped. Delightfully, I was wrong to assume.

Perhaps it’s because straight-sixes these days are induction-heavy monsters, but there’s something truly refreshing about having to rev out something as silky smooth as the naturally-aspirated M54. No, it’s not a quick thing by 2025 standards, but it feels and sounds it. It helps power delivery is so smooth and effortless, too, coupled with a remarkably sweet six-speed manual.

It doesn’t handle quite like a proper sports car – there is a hint of vagueness to the steering that perhaps time has induced – but body control is sweet, and its ride leans on a side of plush I wouldn’t expect of any M-lite car these days.

Oh, and how well has that interior aged? Plenty of buttons without looking ancient, leather upholstery that has held up well over the years and a proper driver-oriented layout.
You can have all the modern bits too, as this one proves. This particular 330ci has been put together by eBay to include an Android Auto head unit, a stick-on head-up display, a reversing camera, plus aftermarket blind-spot detection. I didn’t even know that was a thing you could install yourself, to be honest.

It’s no M3, but then the 330ci isn’t anywhere near M3 money, at least not right now. While it isn’t, I’d be seriously tempted to pick one up before it's too late – and throw a new head unit in while I’m at it. Go on, go tempt yourself in the classifieds.