Used Car of the Day: 2002 BMW 330i

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Remember when the BMW 3-Series was considered the almost perfect sports sedan? Pepperidge Farm remembers. And so do I. This E46 2002 BMW 330i is also a reminder.


It has just over 130K miles on it, and the seller is asking for $15,250. It's a manual and the seller has owned it for 10 years and is now looking to off-load it due to "life changes." We've all been there, I think.

The owner added the turbo a few years ago and says its E85 compatible. He or she has all the maintenance documents available. Same for the documentation of the turbo build.

It's a California car. Go check it out here.

[Images: The seller]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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3 of 21 comments
  • Astigmatism Astigmatism on Jan 25, 2023

    Boy, what a rolling disaster this thing likely is.


    Which is a pity. I had a 2002 330ci when it was new, black sapphire metallic over tan leather, and it is by far my favorite car that I've ever owned to this day.

  • El scotto El scotto on Jan 25, 2023

    For the next three weeks: Price is firm! Three weeks after that: Price lowered! and 28 more pictures. Three weeks after that: Price on a for sale sign and a note: trades considered. Three weeks after that: Must Sell $ 6000.00 OBO. Three weeks after that: Jr's dad pays 4k cash. New driver dings and scrapes? Doesn't matter a whit. Any repair over $800? It goes to the junkyard. Jr will be the last but very proud owner of this BMW.

  • Teddyc73 Oh look dull grey with black wheels. How original.
  • Teddyc73 "Matte paint looks good on this car." No it doesn't. It doesn't look good on any car. From the Nissan Versa I rented all the up to this monstrosity. This paint trend needs to die before out roads are awash with grey vehicles with black wheels. Why are people such lemmings lacking in individuality? Come on people, embrace color.
  • Flashindapan Will I miss the Malibu, no. Will I miss one less midsize sedan that’s comfortable, reliable and reasonably priced, yes.
  • Theflyersfan I used to love the 7-series. One of those aspirational luxury cars. And then I parked right next to one of the new ones just over the weekend. And that love went away. Honestly, if this is what the Chinese market thinks is luxury, let them have it. Because, and I'll be reserved here, this is one butt-ugly, mutha f'n, unholy trainwreck of a design. There has to be an excellent car under all of the grotesque and overdone bodywork. What were they thinking? Luxury is a feeling. It's the soft leather seats. It's the solid door thunk. It's groundbreaking engineering (that hopefully holds up.) It's a presence that oozes "I have arrived," not screaming "LOOK AT ME EVERYONE!!!" The latter is the yahoo who just won $1,000,000 off of a scratch-off and blows it on extra chrome and a dozen light bars on a new F150. It isn't six feet of screens, a dozen suspension settings that don't feel right, and no steering feel. It also isn't a design that is going to be so dated looking in five years that no one is going to want to touch it. Didn't BMW learn anything from the Bangle-butt backlash of 2002?
  • Theflyersfan Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and Kia still don't seem to have a problem moving sedans off of the lot. I also see more than a few new 3-series, C-classes and A4s as well showing the Germans can sell the expensive ones. Sales might be down compared to 10-15 years ago, but hundreds of thousands of sales in the US alone isn't anything to sneeze at. What we've had is the thinning of the herd. The crap sedans have exited stage left. And GM has let the Malibu sit and rot on the vine for so long that this was bound to happen. And it bears repeating - auto trends go in cycles. Many times the cars purchased by the next generation aren't the ones their parents and grandparents bought. Who's to say that in 10 years, CUVs are going to be seen at that generation's minivans and no one wants to touch them? The Japanese and Koreans will welcome those buyers back to their full lineups while GM, Ford, and whatever remains of what was Chrysler/Dodge will be back in front of Congress pleading poverty.
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