Subaru BRZ vs BMW e46 325i? Which one as an everyday fun car?

You are looking for a fun rear-wheel drive car that won't kill your bank account? Here are two very good options. As always these are just my opinions and experiences!

Note: The BRZ was bought used also, with well under 100,000km. Prices stated are in Canadian dollars.

[drewwilliams]

E46 owners unite over broken window regulators😂😂

[Chitownmud]

literally died when he said "if the window regulator wasn't broken" lol mine just broke and it is terrible

[Thesuice]

I think the key line here is "If you are ready maintain one of these cars, then get one because they are fantastic". Only buy an older BMW if you are capable of doing basic / intermediate repairs and maintenance yourself. 'cause there is a fuckton of it. Gasket here, bushing there, oh the power steering pump fell out, and so on. And if all that happens at a shop/dealership, it will get really expensive, really soon.

But on the other hand, if you do the small stuff meticulously, it generally keeps the big stuff from happening.

[rulerss]

bmw because it has 6 cylinder engine for the long run. m54 is one of the best bmw engines. 325i and 330i e46.

[TheGbizaille]

got my 325i 03 with a slight damage on the front passenger side for a 1000 bucks. put 2 new headlight for 140, fixed the damages for 500 bucks, got 17inches wheels for 130 bucks. the car is a blast to drive. i love it. i have two good friends who are Mechanic. i change the brakes and did the fluids myself, plan on doing more preventive maintenance as I don't really know what the previous owner did. but so far, it's a huge satisfaction for the money

[timmyzhou]

Mate, you guys are so spoiled by big engines in North America. Many people in EU drives 316i. Lol. 325 is the upper class at that period.

[brendanjones]

Honestly man, this is an amazing review and comparison. I NEVER subscribe to someone based off of a random video I decided to watch because of a generic search, until now. Keep it up dude

[alex]

I watched a few videos on E46s cause I just got an 04 330i ZHP, and YT throws me ALL of Thomas' old E46 content. Legend.

[MrDanielsahne]

The M50/52/54 engines are beasts when supercharged or turbocharged. A lot of tuning potential. My e46 330ci makes 390hp with the ASA supercharger from the older Alpina B7/B8 on stock engine. KW V2, H&R Anti rollbar Kit, PU bearings, Federal RS-R tires and it drives fucking great.

[PrinceRocky]

Lmaoo, That window regulator joke. laughed my ass off, three of mines just suddenly went bad. one of the e46's flawed things. But I still love my 325 lol

[gyorgischwartz]

5, 000 dollar car vs 20, 000 dollar car? Ill take the 325.

[jking]

Just found this channel, love it! I bought a e46 330I for $4500 in February, it's a super fun, clean car with only 65, 000 miles. Best part about it is the sub frame is perfect lol, being 16 years old I wouldn't be able to fix it due to making minimum wage and spending almost all my money on the car and gas. Great video and keep it up!

[benmackey]

Haha, I was shopping between a 325 and a BRZ. Never thought I'd come across a comparison of then two

[lukaplagia]

I have the exact same BMW 325i model and It is fantastic.

[konagang]

I love my E46 320i and it feels soo to drive it but everybody says ''new cars are better, fuck your hoopty''...

I mean wtf!!!!

[DavidEAdams-pjuu]

E46 for life bud. And I'll still smash with my 325i.

[scottmckinstry]

Wrong, E46s are not that bad to fix. Won't cost you $1000 every time it breaks down. And after owning an E46 myself, I can tell you, working on the car is super easy. Engineered with the tech in mind, and that's a rare thing.

For about $600 I've done my front lower control arms with bushings, intake cam sensor, exhaust cam sensor, crank sensor, alternator, all the lights, led headlight conversion. The clutch kit from Bavarian Autosports can be picked up for $499. That includes the flywheel (single mass, but same mass and diameter), new crank bolts for flywheel, pressure plate, clutch (not auto-adjusting), and throw out bearing. And for an extra $119 you can get the pivot pin, pilot bearing, exhaust gaskets, tranny gaskets, rear main seal, and rear main carrier gasket.

You get a lot of bang for your buck with the e46 platform, considering it is more than 10 years old now. Try getting all of that for the same price for your BRZ/FR-S...glwt

TL;DR = BMW e46 is cheaper to fix/maintain than any BRZ/FR-S and I love my e46 to death! Look at the comments here and see how all the e46 owners love their cars. Its for a damn good reason; peace!

[FROSCKO]

He isn't lying when he says save money in order to fix repairs and maintenance, there fun to drive but a headache when something goes wrong . Thanks for the review I'm currently in the process of getting and frs

[rockawaydatasystems]

2 years later, and this video was a huge help in deciding between a 4yr old BRZ or 10yr old 128i... The way you explained their driving-dynamic differences in such detail was terrific, and I like how you skipped on all the :)

[duncanidaho]

Hi there. First I want to say you did a very good review.

Myself I own a 325 i MT E90 (2006) since 4 years and I have had the following parts replaced for a total cost of 3000 CAD ; Waterpump, starter, battery and a coolant cover. I test drove the Subaru BRZ and what I can say is that it is not a car I would drive every day. First off, the ride is not comfortable enough and the quality of the materials inside felt a lot cheaper than the german one. Also, it does not feel as solid or as smooth as the E90. On the reliability score I tend to think that the BRZ will score higher.

Cheers !