Background

The E46 replaced the hugely popular E36 three series in 1998 for left hand drive or 1999 for right hand drive markets. Initially only the saloon was available, as is now the established pattern the coupe, touring and cabriolet followed a year or two later. The three door Compact model was never sold in north America, sales of the e36 Compact had been disappointing in the USA - mainly due to a the attitude of the dealer network to this cheaper model.

It followed the design of the E36 in most areas. Styling now had an element of Mr Bangle's "flame surfacing" and the headlights were of a more organic design. It was still meant to look muscular and energetic from all angles but the design divided enthusiast's opinion. Many people, myself included, felt that the car didn't look enough like a BMW and wasn't different enough from many cheaper cars on the market. This is even more the case since many south east asian companies have copied elements of it's design. Personally I think the coupe looks much better than the saloon in this regard.

The compact was basically a three door version with the same mechanicals as the other models. In the previous E36 the compact had the older E30 suspension and cheaper interior components. Other than the tailgate the major styling difference was the headlights and front of the bonnet. These were frankly hideous and did the car no favours. The tail lights incorporated a central round section and did the car no favours at al. The compact was only slightly lighter than the saloon and not that much shorter. It is likely that the creation of the 1 series spells the demise of future three series compacts.

The interior of the e46 departed considerably from older models. The centre console was flatter and no longer angled towards the driver. There seemed to be more of a minimalist approach to the design. Materials were better than the e36 but the design just looked bland to many drivers. Sadly this seems to be a trend followed by subsequent models, especially the Z4 which has a horrid dashboard layout.

There was a facelift in 2002. The main changes were the design of the headlights, bumpers and chassis refinements. The convertible and coupe were revised in 2004.

Early road tests commented than the new model wasn't as fun to drive as the car it replaced. They said it felt remote from the road and a bit soft, for the first time a Mercedes C class bet BMW in the handling category of some road tests! A very sad state of affairs which could not be allowed to continue. In September 98 and again in September 2001 changes were succesfully made to the steering and suspension.

Late model 330Ci with sports pack.	2003 cabriolet with 18" MV wheels.
320d Touring, 2001 model with 16" alloys.	330i saloon with optional style alloys.
320td Compact, different headlights to other E46s.	M3 CSL, note air intake below headlight.

Models & Engines.

BMW's engines have always been it's strong point and the e46 was no exception. The range featured some ground breaking and highly innovative designs,

The e36 had been available with 4 and 6 cylinder turbo diesel engines (M41 and M51), but for the e46 BMW made two marvelous new units - the M47 and M57. Initially a 2.0 and 3.0 were offered with a 1.8 being added much later. These superb engines accounted for a very high proportion of UK and european sales but were never available in North America due to the inferior nature of US diesel and it's marketing image there. These new engines combined power with exceptional torque and economy. After market chipping can give even more power and it widely available.

Initially the 320, 323 and 328 had the old M52TU engine. It was replaced by the M54 in 2.2 (for the 320i), 2.5 and 3.0 variants. The M52 had been deliberately strangled by it's inlet manifold and designed for mid-range torque instead (fitting the older M50 manifold can give 30bhp gains!). The M54 had no such nonsense, the 3.0 made 231 bhp - 38 more than the M52TU 2.8.

Early four cylinder cars had the 8 valve M43 engine. But when the 316ti Compact was released it came with a ground breaking Valvetronic N42, soon Valvetronic engines replaced all the four cylinder M43s in the line up. Valvetronic did away with the conventional throttle butterfly and accelerator cable (although even in 1989 the M30 with traction control had a "fly by wire" throttle). Instead an electric motor and idler shaft were used to adjust valve lift. This gave a much less restrictive intake path which resulted in more power, better throttle response and improved economy. The technology has since spread to all BMW engine sizes, but for the E46 it was limited to the four cylinder cars (none of which were sold in the USA, their base model was the 323i and later 325i). Valvetronic was a huge achievement for BMW.

In 2003 a 330i Performance Package / Club Sport was announced. This added bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, new body pack, interior changes and lots of other small enhancements. The result was a car more at home on twisties or track days. No doubt these rare cars will become quite collectible.

The arrival of the new M3 is always eagerly awaited and happens many years after a new series is launched. The E46 M3 was not to disappoint the faithful. The S52 engine had gained 200cc and been reborn as the S54, it now made 343bhp (22 more). In the USA the E36M3 had been sold with a 3.0 version of the M52, a single throttle body engine. Although a superb unit (I saw on on a euro delivery car here in Scotland) it wasn't the full //M design. The E46 //M3 rectified this and was sold with the S54 in all markets. Critics praised it in all departments, in particular it handled much better than the e36. The E36 M3 was criticised for it's lack of road feel, although the Evo version rectified much of this.

BMW introduced a special lightweight M3 CSL with 360bhp and almost 200kg weight saving. The car had larger front brakes, improved suspension and extensive use of carbon fibre. It was only available with the SMG gearbox, the normal M3 had an SMG or six speed manual. Although the SMG made the car faster in track use it's a shame a manual wasn't also available. The CSL was sold with specially made tyres which were really only designed for use in the dry. Buyers had to sign a disclaimer saying they understood this shortcoming.

BMW made a variety of transmissions available for the e46. Smaller engined cars came with a five speed manual, a six speed was available for more powerful models. In addition to the five speed automatic gearbox a Steptronic option was available. Steptronic gave the auto gearstick a +/- up/down shifting option designed to replicate formula one style shifting and the operation of the SMG gearbox. But basically this was just an electronic interface to the gearbox and changes were much slower than with an SMG.

BMW had introduced SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox) on the E36 M3. It was OK for track use but less so for road and particularly town work. It had an "automatic" mode but in practice didn't work well unless driven as a manual with the driver selecting the gears, as the engineers had no doubt intended! For the E46 M3 a much improved SMG box was designed. The driver could select the speed (or violence!) of the gearchange depending on conditions. A "launch mode" was even available for racing starts.

SMG boxes were available as options on non //M cars for the first time. But they used a totally different gearbox and didn't receive such a good press.

Four wheel drive models were available in europe and north amermica, but sadly not in the UK.

See the engine details page for power figures. Where several body styles exist or the engine was changed during the model's life the figures above are for late model saloons.

Known Problems

Overheating in traffic may be a sign of a broken cooling fan clutch.

Much more to be added soon!

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