Which one of these 2 cars would potentially be most reliable and joypous to own /drive overall!Both 2 litreBoth around the 2002------ 2005 era.
doug207,
Jun 17, 8:24pm
Will assume you're talking about the E46 3 series and a non-turbo B4! It depends on how you drive. The B4 is a less "involving" drive, compared to a nice spec E46. The E46 2.0 are not very brilliant as far as value for money goes, you could get an E46 328i for the money you pay for most smaller engined BMWs and they're fantastic cars and the running costs are similar. The 2.0 E46 of that era was a 4cyl, BMW 4cyls are the motors that gave them a bad reputation.
The Subaru will cost a little more in maintenance, parts are fairly cheap for both cars.
Both cars have their common issues and searching the net could help you a lot with your decision. If you put your budget up, that may help.
budgel,
Jun 17, 8:28pm
The 2litre engine is a bit small for anything but the three series BMWs in my opinion as they are relatively heavy cars. Beemers are certainly drivers cars, but you need plenty of engine to fully enjoy them.
fiatracer,
Jun 17, 9:24pm
regarding the 3 series BMW [assuming it's an E46]. It may be the 4 cylinder 'valvetronic' engine. Having driven a valvetronic M-Sport 3 series I can confirm that they go very well indeed, even in auto form.
[and I'm aBMW owner who can directly compare with the seven 6 and 8 cylinder BMWs I've owned]
vtecnet,
Jun 18, 1:53am
Non turbo B4 isn't that exciting, 150hp ish. E46 BMW 320i isn't either, but its RWD and has 170hp, (2.2Litre Straight 6 in the 320i model around the year 2000-2002 etc, i've owned many BMW's but ended up going back to the E30 80's 325i model, I don't care about safety, only fun
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