Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Had a lend of my mates e46 330cd over the weekend. 330ish bhp, a shedload of torque (not stock obviously).

Needless to say, it’s somewhat invigorated my desire to upgrade the 320d.

Arguments for/against the e46/e91 330d? Just keen for something with a manual m57 in it.
E46 is cooler but older, and age adds problems. Is £5k a reasonable budget for a non shagged 330d Manual touring?

I have experienced a rear tyre blow out at 80mph in the fast lane of the M6 in my old Rover 620Ti. 11pm, rainy. My mate was driving, superb skill and reactions from him to get us to the hard shoulder in one piece. When we took the wheel off, the entire tread of the tyre was detached.

Brown trousers! As I said - shit happens.

I'm assuming that an XUD9 is fitted transversely, so do you mean behind the sump when looking at what is actually the front of the engine or do you mean behind the sump when looking from the front of the car?

If the former, I'd suggest rear main seal because behind the sump is the gearbox and the rear main seal keeps oil in the rear of the engine (hence the name.)

If the latter, it looks like the exhaust side is the back of the engine bay, so it could be rocker/cam cover gasket is leaking and oil is dripping down the engine all the way - you should be able to see evidence of that. Or as the turbo is also in that location which is most likely oil cooled, the turbo oil pipework could be leaking.

I had a Peugeot 309 as a first car and was told that they all leak oil, just keep topping it up when needed!

You can get a nice 325D E91 Touring for way less. I just got a nice manual 6 Speed SE with LCI update + msport bits with around 250bp.

Test drove the C63, did like, will buy.

Nice! Any closer to making a call on the wheels?

Nice. Big fan.

Did you ever go see the Volvo?

How much did you pay? How many miles on the clock?

I’m going to get all four refurbished by Lepsons, cheapest option first. If they crack again then I’ll take a view on it then.

No, he doesn’t have a lift and the guy who I’d want to check it over wasn’t keen on axle stands and a jack

177k, less than 2.5k, M57 engine

Some thoughts on the C63, just in case anyone is interested.

First, context - I’ve had a 2006 C55 and a 2015 E63 previously, the C55 turned into a huge money pit (and I say that as someone who has made a neglected 996 era 911 drive better than they did fresh from the factory), the E63 less so but still sprang some painful surprises. I ran the C55 from 75,000 miles to just under 100k, and the E63 from 42k to 53k IIRC.

The C55 was (and I expect still is) a fantastic, very analogue car- 5.5 litre naturally aspirated V8 with a surprisingly cammy feel to it which rewarded revving it out. It was strong at low revs but that didn’t prepare you for the fury at higher engine speeds - it sounded very NASCAR when you pushed it, which was fun. But the gearbox sucked - it was from the previous generation of cars as none of the (then current) generation of automatics was strong enough to cope with the engines torque. Upshifts were ok, but slow, downshifts were both slow and made you wince - big clunk, no rev-match. Old school in a bad way.

Steering was great though - it felt barely assisted, just enough to make turning the wheel an enjoyable effort, rather than the E63 which with it’s electronic power steering sucked almost all the feel out.

The E63 had tremendous power and torque- almost all of the torque available from idle, which I don’t think actually suits a performance car. My van - yes, absolutely, but a performance car should reward revving it out I think, should make it clear that whilst there is laugh out loud power available you have to deliberately unlock it. The C55 engine gave away 200 horsepower to the E63, but was more fun.

The C63 has the gearbox from the E63, the steering from the C55, and a naturally aspirated V8 with power approaching that of the twin turbo E63.

So far (and I’ve only driven it once, and at that briefly) it’s combined my favourite parts from both previous AMG estates.

Sound pretty good with those first impressions. Will you be fitting new tyres? If so, epic burnout send off for the old tyres?

Hah, well - the C63 has an LSD, neither the C55 nor the E63 did, and I’d like to take the car to a skid pan which I imagine the tyres won’t enjoy.

No need for an expensive skid pan, simply improvise with a wet, twisty country B road.

Afraid they can & do, punctures are allowed to be repaired in the centre two thirds of the tyre, nearer the edges they don't get repaired and it is an MOT fail if they are.
This is because of the potential damage to the reinforcement beading construction of the tyre of steel & rayon cords, the extra stress the edges of the tyre go through in cornering and acceleration/braking etc can cause cords adjacent to any damaged cords also breaking due to extra stress and eventually the rubber just blowing out through the damaged cords.

Checked back in for potentially interesting update on that Volvo. Gets e63 chat. Am out. Nothing to contribute.

Reckon that Volvo would have been equal pain much more fun.

I think a wise man once said “stick to one project car at a time”.

thank you for your help. i am thinking big end seal, it leaks when not in use and, although the oil has got everywhere, now that it has been sat for a while it definitely seems to be coming from somewhere lower the the rocker gasket or the head as the amount of oil is so much greater lower down. turbo oil pipe work would be quite easy to get fixed, again too high up. I have been reading that a big end seal redo is a major job. if it is this is the car going to catastrophically fail as long as i keep it topped up? how much would it cost to get done or does anyone want to give us a hand doing it? I read this https://www.205gtidrivers.com/forums/topic/175147-turbo-diesel-big-end-seal-leak/
which is for a similar engine to mine.

RMS means gearbox off, may as well replace the clutch whilst you’re in there. IDK what it would cost but I’d hand wave around £1,500

This is the talk of a man who has grown used to running posh German cars.

I had the clutch changed in my 205 recently. Was going to do it myself until the garage quoted 3 hours @ £60 plus £70 for the clutch. It took them 2.5 in the end so was a bit over £200 all in.

Oil leaks are tough to find if you’re not used to spotting the signs. Get it to a good garage for diagnosis before panicking @tmevans, often a teeny weep high up from something simple like a dizzy shaft seal manifests and lots of gunk at the bottom of the motor.

Thanks very much!!!

This is the talk of a man who has grown used to running posh German cars.

Well, they do drop the whole engine out to change the clutch.