Help please E46 M3

[MarlonM]

Hi there guys

I have a Mitsubishi Evo 8, which I use for everyday driving.

Having looked throught the classifieds/autotrader etc, I really fancy an E46 M3, it was always a car I would like to buy to run everyday. I am looking to sell the Evo.

My mileage will be circa 8-9k per year, the bulk of that on the motorway, and I would like the SMG gearbox.

My budget is circa £15k, and would be looking at a 2002 or 2003 car. I am quite new to M3s and have a few questions:

1. What should I look for when buying one of these cars?
2. What kind of mpg can you expect on a motorway run being driven quite gently at circa 70mph?
3. What are the servicing costs for an oil change and Inspection 1 and 2?
4. Is circa £15k a realistic budget for a nice private sale, will I be buying a shed?
5. Just HOW important is the 1200 mile oil change service? I guess it invalidates he warranty if not completed, but on a 2002 car without a BMW warranty, is this a problem?
6. I quite like the cabrio, but does it suffer badly from flex/scuttle shake?

Many thanks for any advice!

[dan101smith]

Do a quick search, all of these topics have been covered in great detail a number of times.

[Chessers]

Cabs are not to bad on the flex front but you do get rattle now and again.

Oil change from an Indy circa £90, Inspection services depends what it needs but generally between £175 - £350 in my experience.

Make sure the 1,200 mile service has been completed or you'll have a mare selling it on.

MPG's well it depends, mine doesn't generally get above 24 or so but if you toddle along at 70 you should get at least in the high 20's maybe early 30's.

I have an SMG Cab and love it, great fun.

As the previous post said - do a search, loads of info on here.

[The Restorer]

Mileage wise on a long run I got over 30 and thats with a a passnger and lots of luggage. I think there was a fuel pump issue early on so make sure thats been completed. It is also possible to buy a private car that still has BMW AUC or some owners renew their BMW warranty every year, although once the cars done 60k then this goes from about £700 to £2k a year.

[Huliganov]

MarlonM said:

Hi there guys

I have a Mitsubishi Evo 8, which I use for everyday driving.

Having looked throught the classifieds/autotrader etc, I really fancy an E46 M3, it was always a car I would like to buy to run everyday. I am looking to sell the Evo.

My mileage will be circa 8-9k per year, the bulk of that on the motorway, and I would like the SMG gearbox.

My budget is circa £15k, and would be looking at a 2002 or 2003 car. I am quite new to M3s and have a few questions:

1. What should I look for when buying one of these cars?
2. What kind of mpg can you expect on a motorway run being driven quite gently at circa 70mph?
3. What are the servicing costs for an oil change and Inspection 1 and 2?
4. Is circa £15k a realistic budget for a nice private sale, will I be buying a shed?
5. Just HOW important is the 1200 mile oil change service? I guess it invalidates he warranty if not completed, but on a 2002 car without a BMW warranty, is this a problem?
6. I quite like the cabrio, but does it suffer badly from flex/scuttle shake?

Many thanks for any advice!

1) History, condition and maintenance. These cars cost £40,000 new, they will still have £40,000 car running costs.

2) Depends on lots a factors; tyre pressures, aerodynamic effeciency, luggage, passengers, air con (on or off). The most you'll get out of it is 34mpg and that's will all those factors in your favour. Realistically between 28-30mpg. Remember it has sportscar pace.

3) Oil change depends, 6 litres of 10w60 is not cheap but the oil change itself is simple. Oil filter is no more than £8.50, and oil change is just a question of removing sump plug, draining old oil, fitting new oil filter and adding new oil. No more than a 10 minute job. Labour will cost £30 maximum (indy route of course, dealer close to £100. Materials vary. I'm lucky that I work in the trade and can get things at rock bottom (cost price) but joe public would pay alot more.

Inspection One from memory is around £400, Inspection

4) At the moment £15,000 will still get you quite a leggy motor. Wait maybe till the end of the year and you'll be able to find some cracking deals. It's a saturated market that's becoming more and more saturated by the day. Prices are dropping around £100-150 per week on these cars (newer models more so) so be patient, there's a big market out there and you will find a car that will tick all your boxes.

5) 1200 mile service is important but just because your car doesnt have one doesn't mean it's a ticking time bomb. It just means that someone either forgot/wasn't aware/bothered etc. Personally I wouldn't buy one without, I like to know that my potential new car will have been cared for by previous owners. Anything otherwise - to me anyway - suggests neglect thus walk away. Plenty more fish in the sea.

6) Cabrio is still a focused car, it's an M3 so engineers will have worked on it to ensure it is. It's stiffer than a normal 3-series but less than an M3 coupe. The extra weight will blunt performance but still be significantly quicker than 95% of other cars out there. To be they are pose mobiles personally. Some scuttle shake but still a stiffly sprung car. Not an issue at all. Only the image bothers me.

[jezrider]

1200 mile service is essential, its called a running in service because the car comes out of the showroom with a different grade of oil for this process. At 1200 miles it needs to be changed to the correct weight for every day running of the car. If this has not been done then it could cause premature engine wear.

[soprano]

Huliganov said:

4) At the moment £15,000 will still get you quite a leggy motor. Wait maybe till the end of the year and you'll be able to find some cracking deals. It's a saturated market that's becoming more and more saturated by the day. Prices are dropping around £100-150 per week on these cars (newer models more so) so be patient, there's a big market out there and you will find a car that will tick all your boxes.

There is no way thats cars in the £20,000 - £22,000 bracket are dropping between £5000 - £8000 per year surely?

[Huliganov]

soprano said:

Huliganov said:

4) At the moment £15,000 will still get you quite a leggy motor. Wait maybe till the end of the year and you'll be able to find some cracking deals. It's a saturated market that's becoming more and more saturated by the day. Prices are dropping around £100-150 per week on these cars (newer models more so) so be patient, there's a big market out there and you will find a car that will tick all your boxes.

There is no way thats cars in the £20,000 - £22,000 bracket are dropping between £5000 - £8000 per year surely?

They can drop at 'that' level and then tail off, ie stagnate and level out. In other words they can lose upto £150 per week - which in terms of trends is close to £8000 - but then level off after 3-6 months.

The higher priced E46 M3's, ie later 2005/06 models will be losing hand over fist at the moment. The market will start to come within line on all cars of this calbire this year.

[matth76]

If you're looking for a pre-2004 model then make sure it has a full warranty (ideally over two years even if you have to pay extra) and the engine bearing service action has been carried out. A definite must. Earlier E46 M3's pre-2004 all suffered from the engine failure issue caused by the bearings. Service action / recall is required to rectify it - although, reading some forums many owners have had this done and the engine still failed and it was a big hassle getting BM to pay for a new engine and some dealers refused. Hence the need for a warranty to cover yourself. If it was me I would try and look for a 2004 or later model which can be had for just under 20k with average miles, excellent condition, but importantly the engine has been sorted. Good luck with it all. Have you test driven any E46 M3's yet? How does it compare in performance to your Evo? Probably feels very different as the power is more gradual in the M3 as it is normally aspirated.