I’ve been driving a 90,000-mile, 21-year-old BMW 330Ci (E46) for several weeks thanks to online auction website eBay, which owns it.
The company paid just under £9000 for it and spent a few grand giving it a few modifications to bring it more up-to-date inside – and now I’ve given it a few more.
I wanted to give it a suspension refresh and stiffen the body without turning it into a harsh road racer. I buy quite a lot of parts from eBay already, and I’m not just saying this because this car belongs to the company.
I’ve got a couple of old cars and a motorbike stored in the ‘My Garage’ section of its website, which is near-essential because it limits searches to parts that will fit a specific vehicle from an otherwise overwhelming number of results.
So I added the 330Ci to my garage too. It’s also useful because you know parts will fit and you can send them back for a refund if they don’t.
I opted for a bush rebuild kit (£140) for the rear suspension and new bushes for the front (which all seemingly included control arms – £292), plus a brace for the rear struts (£103) that will sit across the boot, and one for the front struts (E81).
I haven’t felt a massive problem with the BMW’s traction but I do like a limited-slip differential so opted for one (£649) and thought/hoped that lot combined would tighten the handling without spoiling the ride.
The car has at some point had a decent exhaust put on it, which is a little boomy, so I thought a big air filter kit (£206) might add some induction noise to balance it. And then I opted for a new steering wheel (Alcantara-finished-£319).
Seven parts, then, for £1790, and to fit them I booked an appointment with a delightful man called Derek Drinkwater, an American-car specialist whose garage does a lot of telly work and who recently recreated Cadillac’s ‘Le Monstre’ Le Mans racer and then toured around the US in it, pulling a tiny caravan. Also: very serious garage envy.
