BMW 325ti Compact (E46) | Shed of the Week

Not quite a Shed debutant this week but not far off it in the unmistakably stumpy shape of the BMW E46 325ti Compact. These chaps came along in 1993 as entry-level BMWs that were affordable for cash buyers with not enough cash for a real 3 Series and aspirational for company car types who were keen to have a premium German badge on their keyfob. 

While we’re on that BMW badge, many think that the image represents a stylised propeller, a story which harks back to a 1929 BMW ad featuring a plane powered by an engine that BMW was building under licence from Pratt & Whitney. In fact the quartered-up design was just that, a design, patriotically incorporating the blue and white colours of the Bavarian state flag. The propeller idea did go on to gain traction on its own, a trend that BMW encouraged, or at least didn’t discourage. 

Back to the Compact. It was distinguished from the regular 3 Series at the front by its hooded headlamps, and at the back by not having a back. The ‘ti’ in the name was a reminder of the ‘Neue Klasse’ small BMWs of the ’60s and the later 02 models that peaked with the injected 2002tii, a car which now commands up to £45k on the classic market. Then there’s the 2002 Obrut, or Turbo as you saw it when it steamed menacingly up into your rear-view mirror. They’re now between £80k and £125k, so the Compact ti is almost certainly the cheapest way to get into that historic badge. 

The contemporary press sniffed at the Compact somewhat but it turned out to have surprisingly deft steering, sprightly rear-drive handling and, with straight-six engines like the M54 2.5, more than useful performance. Big-engined Compacts with manual gearboxes quickly became firm favourites of the drifting fraternity. Does anybody still do that, by the way? The only drifting in Shed’s life these days is the gentle movement of his undercarriage towards his socks. Whatever, the 325ti put out 192hp at 6,000rpm and 181lb ft at 3,500rpm, enough in the 1,480kg manual to give it a 0-62mph time of 7.1 seconds and a top whack of 146mph. The contemporary Mk4 Golf GTI 1.8 was quite a bit lighter than the BMW but its 7.9-second 0-62 time and 138mph top end meant it was comprehensively left behind at the drag strip. 

The only other Compact to appear in SOTW in the last decade and change was a very late (Dec ’04) 325ti M Sport in Mystic Blue that came on here in February 2019. By that point, it had done 116,000 miles, but when the MOT testers looked at it 15,000 miles later at the end of 2020, they noticed creeping corrosion on the underside, outer bodywork and coil springs. It wasn’t taken for any more tests after that so Shed assumes it’s gone to the great scrapyard in the sky, or more likely a real one on a dirty patch of ground. We’re passing on this info not to imply that there might be similar problems looming for this week’s Shed (an earlier 325ti first registered in September 2001) but more as a general comment that these are old cars now. They were BMW’s cheapest cars at the time too so might not have received quite the same level of rust protection. 

It looks like the last garage service on this car was done in 2018, the current owner clearly being confident and knowledgeable enough to handle more than just routine servicing in the seven years he’s owned it. Oil leaks were fairly common on these so it’s not that great a shock to see them being mentioned on the MOT report at the 100,000 mile mark in 2015. Again, the current custodian seems to have had some success in staunching the flow although it did pop up again as an advisory in this February’s test.  Just about all of the other notes in the MOT history have been for consumable chassis items like brakes, suspension and tyres. 

What’s it worth, then? Well, the owner reckons £2,000. After a quick recce Shed unearthed just three other 325ti Compacts for sale in the UK, ranging from £1,999 for a 124,000-mile 2003 car to a hefty £4.5k for an ’01 example with 110,000 miles and a 330 engine conversion. Between those two, he found a late (’04) car at £2,450, a hopeful sounding price for a 176,000 miler. They were all Sport Compacts. Despite its sporty seats our well-maintained 143,000-mile Shed is registered as an SE. The refreshingly honest ad tells us about the flaws, the main ones being lacquer peel on the bonnet and worn rear tyres. The vehicle duty will cost you £430 a year and it will drink petrol at an average rate of 31mpg, though the owner assures us that better figures are achievable. 

All things considered, £2,000 seems a reasonable starting point for what is, as the ad says, quite a rare thing with just over 200 325ti Compacts on the road today and just under 300 SORNed off it. That ratio has been swinging significantly in favour of stored cars in recent years. Read into that what you will. Shed won’t be buying a Compact while he’s messing about with the postmistress, as there’s not enough room on the bootlid for her hands.