So I love my car but...Would you drop up to 4k into it?

Originally Posted by bimminge46

Pay the car off. You should of paid cash to begin with.

we don't all have your cash

wtf - 4 or 5 years left to pay for it? i take it u just got it and paid about $10k?


dont waste your $ IMO

I agree on paying off the car, but you won't be able to resist modding so do it moderately. In my case, I've already dumped a lot of money into my car just for maintenance and upkeeping so by default, it's gonna be a long long long term keeper, which is therefore, worth spending more time and money on. =]

An E46 is timeless.

I did this last year. I have about 86K on my '01, so it got a new cooling system, shocks/springs, brakes, tune up and filters, BSW speakers and ipod dock, bluetooth interface, and more. Plus, I replaced all those OEM parts that were worn out. I've always kept my rides in good tune to last many years, although I know the cost is high. Even though I know the costs would never be recovered, I choose mods that'll make my ride more enjoyable, or to keep the car in good running shape. I've always logged maintenance actions, so I know what has been done, and when. Bottom line--I still have a blast driving this thing, I haven't gotten the itch to but new, and no reason to buy used since I know what I have now. My other daily driver has 240K, and I expect this car to surpass that.

Sounds like he put 2 grand down maybe less. 4-5 years left whaaattt!

dont do it.

Pay off the car before buying ONE SINGLE MOD. Much smarter that way. Plus, when your cooling system / tranny / window regulators / suspension dies and you need an emergency replacement, it will lessen the financial pain.

Pay it off first.

I've spent well over 5k in the last two years just in repairs as things have started going wrong with my '02 330i, and that's with having done some of the easier repairs myself. Like most others have said in this thread, focus on paying your car off and taking care of important maintenance needs first, then doing the mods will be like icing on the cake. It's not going to be much fun having to make those monthly payments on a heavily modded car that's sitting in your garage because you can't afford to get it running.

My vote is a NO Mod. You might as well sell it and get an m3 if you want more... or pay it off and get a bike

Originally Posted by DonovanM3

My vote is a NO Mod. You might as well sell it and get an m3 if you want more... or pay it off and get a bike

This is why there should be no easy loans available

It is so easy to buy something and then - bam you are a used bimmer owner.
Then you want the mods and cool stuff but payments need to be made.

If you bought it in cash, you wouldn't buy mods cause you wouldn't have money left, you would have to save up some more again, but why if there is credit available and you can get it now and worry later.

Credit cards and loans give you this falls feeling that you can get whatever you want and maybe this is true but it cost you stability and piece of mind because in case something unexpected happens in your life, you loose your cash flow and you are going down.

I just recently paid of a lot of $$$$$$$$$ of for my credit cards and personal loans that I had cause I wanted cool stuff and didn't want to wait to save up first.

I also did the same with my bimmer but 5 years? No, 4 years seemed to be a lot to me but I decided to go with 4 to lower the monthly payment (now I have 3 left).

Thank god this is the only loan I have left cause my life was wrapped around credit cards and loan payments for about 2 years and it is no fun at all.

Now, I'm on my way to pay this one off as well, maybe 8-12 months and I'm done. Also, I swore to myself - never, ever get loans for used cars - not worth it and stay away from credit cards (especially if you want to spend more that $500 at the time).

My 5 cents.

Originally Posted by 2004bmw330ci

Ok so I love my E46 330ci Stick but, I still have about 4-5more years left to pay it off and will probably wind up being upside down if I continue to pay minimum payments... Like I said I love my E46 and the mileage isn't that High it's only at I think 80k.
But the question that has been running through my mind is well I want to mod it more but with all the mods I want to do to it will end up being about 4k! Ya! It is an expensive hobby which I understand but I'm trying to think

Would you drop 4k into a car that well is only worth 8-9k in this market?
As well if you would what would you do first...I figure I can pay it off within a year if I don't do anything to it mod wise...Or I can just well get rid of it and upgrade...to an E92 or well maybe one of those nice 135's...

I guess what I'm really thinking is will my E46 last me for another 8 years?

Thanks for you input guys!

Top priority is payoff. Don't "trade it in" or "upgrade" until it is paid for.

Don't mod a car you owe money on. Ask me why if you need some more insight.

Sorry to throw a wet blanket on you about this, but I'm just speaking from experience.

Originally Posted by Lestat_

we don't all have your cash

Save up money and you will.

Originally Posted by 330CiJohn

Top priority is payoff. Don't "trade it in" or "upgrade" until it is paid for.

Don't mod a car you owe money on. Ask me why if you need some more insight.

Sorry to throw a wet blanket on you about this, but I'm just speaking from experience.

Share please. I've learned a lot on my own mistakes and that made me listen to people stories as well. It is like a gold mine of paths to avoid or follow.

I shared mine above and in the other tread so maybe someone can benefit from it, but if you don't mind I would like to know what was your story

I'm in a VERY similar situation to you and this is what I've decided.

First off, my cars and 04 330i currently with 77k miles on it that I bought used about 2 years ago. Right now I have about 11 grand left to pay it off and I'm paying 289 a month for it right now. I've already sunk in over to 10 grand with down payment, some maintenance, and monthly payments in the last 2 years.

I keep wanting to mod. I've calculated that in order to get my car halfway to what I want it to be (suspension, sport seats, wheels, headers) I'd need at least 2 to 3 grand. Ultimately I also want a NAV/stereo, LCD, AA supercharger kit, headwork, DSSR... that's like another 10 grand at least. Absolutely NO way I can afford that, even little by little.

I've also realized that I can't sell or trade the car in because I'll only get back for it what I owe and end up with absolutely nothing. All the money I've paid for it will have gone to even more waste than it already has. I have no choice BUT to keep the car.

I've concluded that my "mods" will only consist of maintaining the car with better than OEM parts whenever applicable. I just finally replaced my FCABS and balljoints with Meyle, I've done the Vanos seals, cleaned the IAC valve, and still have a TON of things to do to. This weekend I'll be doing brakes.

When the cars all paid for then I can begin to think about extra's....

Sure thing man... I had a 2004 Honda Civic while I was in college (bought it in 2005 - the newer bodystyle was just a concept then). I put $3,500 down on it and took a $14,500 loan while making $10/hr working at a bank as a teller.

Before this, I was told "I needed credit" so I got a credit card. When I bought the Civic, I had nothing to put on it since I was single so what did I put on it? Mods. Wheels, basic suspension, Magnaflow catback, tint job, etc. About $2,000 total (Civic mods are cheaper mind you). I owned the car for 2.5-3 years and put 80k miles on it. During this time I was getting the itch to buy a sports car, because I had "worked hard", graduated college, and was making a salary now!

So fast forward to 2008 and I traded in my Civic which I had $700 equity on and STILL owed $7,000 on for this:



Notice I didn't make a cent back of the mods I put into the car, and luckily, gas was $4.50/gal at this time in KY so I had the current economic climate on my side...or so I thought at the time. This car was $25,000 (used!!!!) after the extended warranty and options. I was paying $450/month and at 23 my insurance was $200/month. So $650/month to own this vehicle. Wow. Car broke necks like a mf'er though.

Well eventually I started listening to Dave Ramsey and realized that I was leveraging A LOT on the fact I get a steady paycheck and one speedbump and it could be deep trouble. Also, I was getting bored with the car. I spent about $650 on exhaust and was planning on a tune + other goodies which held my interest for awhile, but I bought my 91 Civic in January 2009 (First car I ever paid cash for - $700) and drove it everywhere, I just quit driving the my sports car.

In June of 2009 I decided it was time to sell the car, so I checked my loan balance...which was about $20,000 after I got my extended warranty refunded (biggest waste of money with a 5yr/100k mile powertrain warranty). It would have been around $22,000 otherwise. I checked KBB for the value of my car. Ready for this? Got the loan for $25k in 2008 and after about 10k miles on the car (41,000) it was worth: $16,500.

I had to put $4,000 of my own cash down on the car just to get the balance low enough to sell it. That alone is enough for me never to borrow money again for a car.


The OP hopefully won't do it, because I was fortunate enough to own a Honda that was extremely reliable so I never had a problem when I put 80k miles on it other than a battery, but based on what others here have said about their E46s, he is asking for disaster IMO.

thats a lot of money. dont think I would do it

Thanks John and I agree with you that OP should not be putting any mods on the car. At least nothing major. Maybe clears around and small updates, but nothing that cost 4k$.

I knew I would be paying much more for my bimmer maintenance. I have also owned Honda for couple years and the only thing it needed was $1000 tune up right after the purchase and couple of break pads later on even though it had 120k miles on it.

With my E46 I dropped $1200 for tune up right after the purchase and just recently another $1200 for expansion tank, fan clutch, FCAB's, and power steering fluid flush and reservoir.

Now in line VCG and oil housing gasket (already got the parts). Ohh and btw, the biggest mistake I made today. I was planning on getting new rims and tires (since my tires in the rear were bald) but didn't have enough for the set. I just needed like 2, 3 more months to have those 2k$ for that, but my tires in the rear were so bad that I decided to go with a used ones until I get my new rims+tires set (2 years ago, I would probably already buy them using my credit card - ha ha).

So I got the used tires installed today, balanced + alignment and guess what - I've learned on another mistake (never buy used tires, no matter how good they may look).

After installation my car sounded like a ****ing semi (whobble whobble) so i ended up buying 2 new tires and paying again for the installation. Total waste of $ - 200$ + extra 530$ for 2 new tires and installation.

Today everyone is allowed to call me a stubborn retard (that's cause people have worned me not to get used tires - even here on the forum) but I knew better, as always.

Hey man... Just got to live and learn. That is part of life.