New Aussie Ti owner here

[Hawkeye]

hey guys, Just found this site and thought it was worth signing up, really didnt think there would be a 318ti forum (i have seen two other ones in sydney since i got mine a month back) but im happy there is! As for the car well its a 2002 318ti in Pistachio (im really considering a respray to black or dark green), fully optioned inside (reason i got it), with 17 or 18" BMW rims (not sure on size havent checked yet...) and its only done 54 000km. I have next to no idea about most cars and even less about Euro cars (im in Australia so most drive jap) so i might need some help from time to time with it. I picked it up for $26k from a merc dealership. I was in the market for a Jap car of some sort and just kinda walked into the merc dealership on a whim and found her, had signed everything and paid for it within three days of seeing her, 6k over budget but it doesnt worry me, also its my first car and my folks wouldnt let me have the Supra i wanted and on our provisional license here we cant drive turbos or supercharged cars or V8's and bigger, which sucks big time but what am i gonna do? (wait three years sell this and by a twin turbo 1997 supra prob..lol). So ive had her for about a month now and she is great (except i need the ABS tubes replaced but the dealer is doing it for me under warranty), sticks to the road like no other car ive ever driven, has better brakes and handling than my mates Silvia which is racing modded and it goes when i want it to. The only thing im thinking about doing at the moment is a respray ( the colour is a little weird and i get crap for it from some people and i think the 318ti looks better in black anyway), other than this im not sure what to do or more exactly what i can do to it (cosmetic only at this point, unless someone knows how to super charge this thing and ill look into it). As ive said i have only seen about three of these in sydney in the last month or so, which means its already pretty special. Ok so i know you all want to see her, so here she is: (my car and the love of my life...lol, my girlfriend made me take this one and its the only good pic of the front of the car.) ] So if youve got any hints or tips or advice on what to do with her, please help. other than that i guess ill be around here for the next little bit...cheers

[tiFreak]

FYI, your rims are 16", they're the same rims my mom has on her 02 323ci, good looking ti though, we don't see to many E46's on here so I can't really help you with any ideas, welcome to the forum

[lazoh]

Welcome MATE! Not too many e46 compacts in the states.......actually none but we are happy that you joined our ti community. I will make sure to look you up next time I visit Sydney.

[thesk8nmidget]

beautiful! more pictures please!

[elchicano]

Welcome to the forum. I don't mean to jack your thread but i started to think about what you guys said about not having an e46 Ti's in the states. Was there any sent to mexico? If there was i think it would easier to import one from there right?

[thesk8nmidget]

the problem is you cant get it registered here. not until the car is 15 years old.

you could import it to canada though.

you could import it and put a e46 coupe title on it..
may be illegal but its a way

[StealthBimmer]

Welcome to the site! We need more E46 ti here on this site. You need to take more pics and show us your ti. How about some interior pics? Why not keep the color? It's different and not much people will have it.

[elchicano]

Well i know for sure that the vehicle has to be 10 years old if you want to register it in mexico. I thought it was sooner if you wanted to register it here. well i guess we wont see some here for a couple years then.

[Hawkeye]

ok just mentioning that i didnt get the car in Mexico so all is good.
Im cleaning the inside right now and after i do that i will take some happy snaps of it for all of you.
As for the rims, well shows u how much i know....
Also on that point, what makes this an E46 and not something else? is it just the year or something like that? and how come they never made the states?
and after having a look at a couple of different places prices for respraying i might give it a miss for a while....
ok back to cleaning then pics

[Will'sBimmer]

Welcome to the site! I will give you some ideas for mods when you pose some pics of the interior. As for the color. I kinda like it but you are right that BMW's look better in black. I couldn't agree more.

[Hawkeye]

ok as requested some pics of inside and some more outside ones:





inside is black leather, with a really dark brown wood trim, the dash has inbuilt gps, tv 6 stacker in the boot...

[thesk8nmidget]

very nice ti!

i also say keep her this color!

and e46 is just the year and series.
like it is a 3 series and was made from 2000-2005 so its a e46

our body style is e36 because it was made from 92-99 and is a 3 series

[lazoh]

Beutiful interior! I wish we had access to the e46 ti here in the states.

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

and how come they never made the states?

lack of interest, most americans aren't interested in a 4-cyl. Euro-hatchback

now, for the love of god, clean your rims!!!

[thesk8nmidget]

also because the original ti was a failure with the people in the states! the sales were terrible and they expected a repeat with the e46 ti