BMW’s best kept secret

BMW’s best

kept secret Words/Photos – Tony Ruane

I’ve always had a soft spot for BMW’s often unloved model, the Compact. I thought I’d hit the jackpot many years ago when I was given a company car and chose an E36 Compact, only to be thwarted at the last minute. Fast forward twenty six years and I still had a Compact itch that needed to be scratched. I searched high and low for the perfect car. The search wasn’t going to be easy, as I had a particular model and colour in mind, and I wasn’t about to compromise

Back in 1995 I started a new job working for a medium sized meat processing company as a Technical Manager. The owner of the company decided he wanted me to visit two more sites in Scotland on a regular basis and very quickly appointed me as the Group Technical Manager. My new role meant I had to regularly hire a car and one Monday morning the owner of the company called me into his office. He said, ‘Tony, it’s costing us far too much money in car hire for you to visit the other sites, I think we have justified the case for you to have a company car.’ I asked what make and model of car I could choose, as I was well aware that there wasn’t a company car list. The reply was, ‘don’t take the p**s and remember you have to pay tax on the value of your choice. Otherwise, you can have whatever you want.’

It was with this in mind that I did my research and chose a BMW E36 Compact. Imagine my horror when the very next week the company accountant called me into his office to tell me that he had been out and bought me my company car, a diesel Ford Mondeo in hearing aid beige. My dream car had just slipped away from me and I was absolutely gutted.

Fast track 26 years and we are in the winter of 2021. I decided that this itch still needed to be scratched, I needed to buy a BMW Compact. Not just any BMW Compact, but an E46 325ti Sport Compact in Imola Red. The search began.

In December I found such a car in Ireland and began speaking to the owner who was a very nice guy. He even sent me an original hardback sales brochure for my E31 840Ci, for which I was very grateful. We arranged for me to view the car whilst over in Northern Ireland to watch the Sheffield Steelers take on the Belfast Giants at Ice Hockey. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, this was cancelled and so was the trip to Northern Ireland and the deal never

Tony’s search for his perfect Compact ended in March 2022 when he found this Imola Red beauty

got off the ground.

Many months went by with no luck in my search and, to be honest, I nearly took the plunge with a different spec car. I’m really glad I didn’t. Here we are in March 2022 and a car to my specification comes up for sale on eBay near Heathrow, which is nearly 180 miles away. I decided to go and view the car, so I made arrangements to drive down on Sunday morning from Rotherham in South Yorkshire. I arrived at 10.30am, the dealer selling the car wasn’t in as I was early, but this gave me the opportunity to inspect the car for half an hour without any pressure. Although the car hadn’t been prepared in any way I couldn’t believe my eyes, other than the odd stone chip, the paintwork was perfect. There was no rust and the car seemed to be a very genuine motor that hadn’t been messed around with.

Sonny, the dealer, arrived and handed me the keys so I could inspect the interior, under the bonnet and in the boot. This was like Christmas and the present that kept on giving. I decided I was having the car, so we negotiated on the price and the deal was done. I would pick it up a week later when on my return home from a trip already planned to London.

The day came when I was due to pick up the car and I was nervous as I had travelled from London to Heathrow but couldn’t get hold of Sonny. I was hoping

the car was still available and he hadn’t sold it to someone else. Just as my train was pulling into the train station Sonny called me to say he was waiting to pick me up. With my pockets full of cash, I was now in his car heading to his house to complete the deal.

Deal done, I was back on the road to Rotherham in the Compact, a journey that would normally take three-and-a-half to four hours. Seven hours later I arrived home due to the M1 being closed in both directions. A lorry had caught fire, damaging the motorway. Seven hours is a long test drive to get to know a car. Four hours into the drive and a red warning light, along with an amber light, lit up on the dashboard suggesting that the DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) had failed. All I could think was ‘I’ve bought a right pup.’ I looked in the hand book, which suggested the car was still safe to drive but the car needed to be taken to a BMW dealer for inspection as soon as possible, which I did. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing more than the brake fluid needed topping up. I could now breathe again. Other than this small drama, the car drove faultlessly.

A bit about the car. It is an E46 325ti Sport Compact in near perfect condition, finished in Imola Red with an Alcantara interior and has 53,000 miles on the clock. There have been three previous owners and it has 12 services stamped in the service book, plus every MOT since new is present which verifies the mileage. The original bill of sale is also with the car, showing a price of £24,145. The original PDI inspection document is also present and the car was originally supplied with Supagard paint protection.

I obviously attended to the brake fluid issue and I have replaced the under bonnet sound proofing which was grubby and falling off. I also replaced the fuel filler flap release button, all of which cost me the grand total of £154. Next on the list was to ceramic coat the paintwork so the Imola red paint now pops in the sunlight.

I now have a gorgeous looking car that is as perfect as you can imagine and one that I will be attending car shows with this summer.

BMW launched the first Compact in 1993. It was based on the E36 3 Series and was on sale through to 2000, when the redesigned car was launched using the E46 platform up until 2004. The E46 variant had several design features different to the rest of the E46 3 Series range, notably both the head and tail lights. Mechanically, the Compact shared many elements with the rest of the E46 line up, however the steering rack has a faster ratio. Couple the faster steering with rear-wheel drive, a straight-six engine, a six-speed manual gearbox and you have a car that goes from 0 to 60mph in 7.4 seconds. Not exactly blisteringly quick by today’s standards but with 192hp under your foot and weighing in at 1480kgs, the 325ti is no slouch. And to top things off, I have the melodious M54 straight six engine to listen to.

Most people don’t even know what a BMW Compact is, I recently got asked ‘is this a new model?’ BMW’s Compact models are true Marmite cars, you either like them or you don’t. I can tell you it is one of BMW’s best kept secrets.

I would welcome your comments on the car, good, bad or indifferent. Please email me at tonyruane@mac.com