E46 330d cooling possible head gasket shower of sssss

Hi everyone!

i have owned alot of bmw's but the recent two i have the pleasure of owning have been a pile of crap..... anyway i need some advise perhaps.

The car is a 330d 2004 touring auto, the problem started with overheating, needle just shot up out of the blue (forgive the pun).... now i have had this car for 2 months and in that it has been fine until now.

anyway took to garage who flushed it and then it took forever and a day to heat up but never over heated.

Then after a 1 1/2 hour drive, no heat from heaters unless driven high revs and then it overheated.

back to garage who did a check and head gasket gone and losing water... i thought these cars were bullet proof, and a 330D head gasket is rare to go or am i wrong?.

they also said its possible craked cylinder head but wont know untill tested??

its never said low coolant though, if i google and search on here for the symptoms it points to egr thermostat.

*nb i always switched the car off before it reached 3/4*

i am tempted to hire a skip and drive both the mini i own and the 330d into it

any help appreciated as im looking at a £1200 raping.