02-22-2012, 04:26 PM
SlimKlim Wrote:[
:lol: Ok, I'll fight you on that one. Having put 20k miles on an E46 and something like 30k on the E36, the E46 interior is completely and utterly bombproof. The only issue with the E46 is the soft touch rubberized coating crap they put on the sunglass holder and center console peels and flakes. A nice afternoon, a six pack and a can of spray paint corrects that for the rest of time. Otherwise it's rock solid. Door panels stay on, dash doesn't rattle, center console doesn't fall apart, etc, etc.
Fucking everything inside the E36 falls apart. Everything. Door panels fall off, door cards bubble, center console disintegrates and rattles, shift surround doesn't stay on right once the brittle tabs snap, glove box sags, dash warps around the center vent, seats get loose in their adjustment tracks, trim breaks etc etc etc etc. I've fixed or learned to live with all of the stuff I listed, never seen an E46 with anything like that.
Exactly the same experience I've had. Many of the things about the maintenance are the same (bushings, cooling system, etc) between the two but the E46 cars are just nicer to live with and drive every day and still look great - E36's are starting to look very dated. My $.02.