Hi

In the frame of mind of buying a 02 325Ci coupe, can any tell me how i can find out the horsepower?

Cheers

off the top of my head i think it's 193bhp 2.5ltr I6 24valve M54 engine..."Wikipedia" would give you a break down and history of the different e46 motors or any other for that matter.

i don't have any experience with the 325, i drive the 320i 170bhp 2.2ltr M54 engine, the M54 block burns a bit of oil but it's not too bad, the 320 is a great car i'd would image the 325 is alot torquer....plenty of people here would be able to give you a better idea of the cars pros and cons.

Cheers Barry

I'll check out wiki and see whats on there!! Thought it might be pushing just over the 200 mark. I have been looking at the 320's as well but i cant seem to find one with the right sort of spec, there always seems to be something missing!! No disrespect to them or anyone owning one btw!!!!!!!!

The later e90 3 series 325i has 215bhp but the e46 325's all had 193.  Although power output was the same as the earlier m52 dual vanos 2.8 engine in the e46 328i, etc. it had a little less torque.  Link to Wiki below.  At the bottom of the link you can find a link to an M52 entry that has comparable figures for the m52 engine. 

Just for info, on the M52 engines, although the single and dual Vanos engines had similar power and torque figures, the peak torque figures on the dual vanos engines (from 09/98 on e39 and on all e46) occurred at lower revs and should therefore be a bit more flexible and feel a bit gruntier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M54 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M54

I know what you mean Paddy, i bought it purely for the 2.2 m54 engine, for irish driving i think it's perfect, affordable and plenty there if needed. i'm missing a bit of spec alright but might look into getting some of the gadgets fitted although i'd prob be better off trading for another...could look at it as a little project....

If i was buying again (might be something for you to consider) is the alacantara interior, i have the m-sport saloon model as far as i'm aware all coupes have sports suspension while the saloons have to be of a certain spec. The alacantara sports seats are great, mate of mine has the full leather interior, tend to slide around a bit in them.

The black headlining, have to say is a must, makes some difference to the interior. only thing i find strange and maybe someone could give us an answer is that even though mine is August '01 with the M54 engine it isn't a facelift model, i've seen '02 320i's that aren't either, can't understand why, unless they threw the new engine into the last of the non facelift bodies, 320 only...hehe

Happy hunting....

The 2.2 M54 engine was installed in the e46 from about Sept '00, '01 model year.  The facelift saloon appeared around Sept '01 for the '02 model year but if there was any stock of pre-facelift cars then they may have overlapped with the facelift cars in terms of registrations.

The facelift at that point was to the saloon only, the coupe and conv facelifts didn't appear until early '03.  I'm not sure why it didn't quite correspond with the swapover to the '03 model year (i.e. from Sept '02) but it doesn't seem to have as there are a lot of non-facelift '03 coupe's around in the UK also.

Thanks for the input guys, I have been looking at some 320's now and noticed a good few with the alcantara interiors, but a lot have some lumber suport tears, nature of the material I guess!

I noticed a lot have like wallnut trim, not my cup of tea really. But the quest continues!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Paddy