Price for a high mileage E46 M3!?

[PaperCut]

Please stop. All of you. You are dangerously talking me into this! I know it's such a good example and it's just a number. I'm keen to get right into those receipts and see how much has been spent over its lifetime. He's never totalled it up - too scared probably - but i bet it's in the tens of thousands. It's been all over Europe and has had a regular mix of motorway and 'hoonage' mileage...

He's sitting by my desk like the devil trying to persuade me to buy it! Although he's just announced it does need new tyres all round - they're legal but need changing asap - how much will that be for 4 ...£1k?

[Fox-]

About 1k yes. Fit proper ones as its a proper car.

[Luke.]

100% go for it. Life's simply too short to think about this any further.

Oh and post pics when you get it.

[falkster]

PaperCut said:

Please stop. All of you. You are dangerously talking me into this! I know it's such a good example and it's just a number. I'm keen to get right into those receipts and see how much has been spent over its lifetime. He's never totalled it up - too scared probably - but i bet it's in the tens of thousands. It's been all over Europe and has had a regular mix of motorway and 'hoonage' mileage...

He's sitting by my desk like the devil trying to persuade me to buy it! Although he's just announced it does need new tyres all round - they're legal but need changing asap - how much will that be for 4 ...£1k?

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

[RZ1]

PaperCut said:

Please stop. All of you. You are dangerously talking me into this! I know it's such a good example and it's just a number. I'm keen to get right into those receipts and see how much has been spent over its lifetime. He's never totalled it up - too scared probably - but i bet it's in the tens of thousands. It's been all over Europe and has had a regular mix of motorway and 'hoonage' mileage...

He's sitting by my desk like the devil trying to persuade me to buy it! Although he's just announced it does need new tyres all round - they're legal but need changing asap - how much will that be for 4 ...£1k?

BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

If not can i buy it? I have no need for a fifth car but i need another car (that makes sense in my head)

[Steffan]

kayzee said:

I bought my first Renaultsport Clio on 46k and it started to fall apart around me! It was only 3 years old but cost me thousands in repairs.

A few years on now and I thought I'd give another one a go, it's on 110k and is absolutely spot on! Mileage means nothing.

With modern production engines, modern lubricants and regular servicing it is common to see 250,000 miles plus on cars.

I had an Audi A4 which achieved 550,000 miles plus and a Volvo S40 achieved 258,000 miles both on the original engines gearboxes etc etc.

Clutches, alternators, brake bits and servicing were the ONLY repairs. Not a spot of rust on either and everything worked on both cars including the A/C on both cars.

I would buy the car. I think the OP will have great fun.

[Fox-]

falkster said:

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

500 quid for 19 inch wheels AND tyres for an M3? Just no

[PaperCut]

Ok, he has, rather kindly i'll add, given me the rest of the week and the weekend to think it over and let me do various things like insurance quotes and calculate some 'man-maths'. I would say i'm 40/60 ATM, that's 60% to not buy it, although no doubt that will change on a daily basis...oh, dear...


PS, if i don't go through with it i'd be more than happy to let someone on here make an offer to him. He's not actually advertised it yet, so could be a PH bargain for someone!

[Munich]

Assuming insurance will not ruin you, I would buy it. Offer no more than 3,500 GBP and factor 500 GBP for new tyres. Depreciation will be next to nothing and even if something was to go wrong that is too expensive for you to fix, you should still be able to sell it as a non-runner for 1,5k GBP.

[Luke.]

PaperCut said:

Ok, he has, rather kindly i'll add, given me the rest of the week and the weekend to think it over and let me do various things like insurance quotes and calculate some 'man-maths'. I would say i'm 40/60 ATM, that's 60% to not buy it, although no doubt that will change on a daily basis...oh, dear...


PS, if i don't go through with it i'd be more than happy to let someone on here make an offer to him. He's not actually advertised it yet, so could be a PH bargain for someone!

Any pics your mate can stick up?

[Nedzilla]

What is he prepared to take for it?If he has been offered £3k for trade in and he is keen to get shut I would expect he would except anything above that which would be a bargain!

You should get a good set of new tyres for around £600. I recently paid £700 for a set of vredesteins for my M3 on 19s and they are superb and I prefer them to the more expensive michellin's I ran before.

Also if you are not wanting to spend much on it have a look at the brakes and see which and when the next service is due as the inspections can be quite pricey even at indys.Also ask him what has been done with the suspension as at that mileage it should of all been overhauled at least once by now as things like this can prove very costly come MOT time.

Having said that,if it was me and i was getting it for that price I wouldn't be to bothered about sticking to the service shedule and would probably just give it an oil change and maintainance as and when it needs it.

[Dracoro]

falkster said:

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

Why? It's widely recognised that the M3 rides and handles better on 18s. Additionally, replacement tyres are likely to be cheaper.

[falkster]

Dracoro said:

falkster said:

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

Why? It's widely recognised that the M3 rides and handles better on 18s. Additionally, replacement tyres are likely to be cheaper.

Because the 18s look terrible so if hes replacing them he might aswell replace them with a better looking wheel.

[Froomee]

Buy it for £4k - the cost of tyres.

1 less potential cost, assuming you get 1 year out of it you will probably be able to part it for at least £2-£3k so maximum £1-£2k loss and a bit of hassle.

I'd be inclined to buy it and run it until something £££££ breaks, if it doesn't you are quids in if it does M3 parts are £££££ an you have a whole car of them minus a few bits.

Could potentially be the cheapest way into an E46 at worst I reckon you would end up no worse than any other person who purchases one of these except you won't have the same amount of capital tied up.

I'm sure someone will come along offering to buy it within day's if you don't surely that is telling you something.

Just my 2p

[falkster]

Fox- said:

falkster said:

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

500 quid for 19 inch wheels AND tyres for an M3? Just no

Other than 'just no' what is your reason?

I have done this several times before and never had an issue. I bought a set of Boxster alloys for my wife's car with almost new Pilot sports for a fraction of the price of a pair of rears.

I bought a set of ML AMG alloys with almost new tyres for less than a pair of rear.

Both have serve well and made money back by selling the existing. Hes on a budget so if he can save £500 by doing it this way then I'd encourage him.

[CampDavid]

One went up for £5000 with "oh my god" miles a few months ago, advert vanished after 2 days.

There are enough people out there who'll want an M3 but have lemonade money - I'd put it at £5500-£6000 and some one will bite

[Dracoro]

falkster said:

Dracoro said:

falkster said:

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

Why? It's widely recognised that the M3 rides and handles better on 18s. Additionally, replacement tyres are likely to be cheaper.

Because the 18s look terrible so if hes replacing them he might aswell replace them with a better looking wheel.

So, style (and cost) over substance then.

Leaving aside the fact that the 18s do NOT look terrible (granted, the 19s probably look better but that's another discussion), we're talking about a £3k 188k car and you think he should be spending loads on style-over-substance "mods/upgrades".....

[cragswinter]

Without trying to push you into anything you don't want to do, I'd say get it bought-as someone said offer him 4 grand minus the cost of a set of good tyres.

Things to remember costs wise:

Oil service 200
Insp 1 700
Insp 2. 800
Brakes full set 1000
Clutch. 1000

All prices +or- & not at franchised dealers

Other than that everything else is just like any other old car, yes things will need replacing but its a bloody M3, & technically it's only one series out of date

[falkster]

Dracoro said:

falkster said:

Dracoro said:

falkster said:

Not if theyre the 18s??

Give him £3500 and £500 should see you a set of replacement wheels/tyres in 19 off ebay.

Why? It's widely recognised that the M3 rides and handles better on 18s. Additionally, replacement tyres are likely to be cheaper.

Because the 18s look terrible so if hes replacing them he might aswell replace them with a better looking wheel.

So, style (and cost) over substance then.

Leaving aside the fact that the 18s do NOT look terrible (granted, the 19s probably look better but that's another discussion), we're talking about a £3k 188k car and you think he should be spending loads on style-over-substance "mods/upgrades".....

We know he needs tyres if he buys the car. If he can do what I have done over recent years he could buy a set of 19s (if he wanted to) with very good tread and sell his to make it even cheaper.If he wanted to keep the 18s, then he could either get reemed a grand but, as you say, its only a 3k car so spending 1/3 of its value on tyres doesn't make sense or do the same as I suggested with the 19s.

Yours have 18s I presume?

[PaperCut]

Nedzilla said:

What is he prepared to take for it?If he has been offered £3k for trade in and he is keen to get shut I would expect he would except anything above that which would be a bargain!

You should get a good set of new tyres for around £600. I recently paid £700 for a set of vredesteins for my M3 on 19s and they are superb and I prefer them to the more expensive michellin's I ran before.

Also if you are not wanting to spend much on it have a look at the brakes and see which and when the next service is due as the inspections can be quite pricey even at indys.Also ask him what has been done with the suspension as at that mileage it should of all been overhauled at least once by now as things like this can prove very costly come MOT time.

Having said that,if it was me and i was getting it for that price I wouldn't be to bothered about sticking to the service shedule and would probably just give it an oil change and maintainance as and when it needs it.

Thanks for that post. I'm trying not to be blinded by the temptingly low price (which is a firm £4k by the way - he wants more than trade money for it) and i'm trying to think about the real cost of ownership - such as the brakes and suspension that you mention, plus the tyres! As said i've not had a real wade through the service history, but i've been guaranteed there are no surprises and he's been very honest with me.

He is not desperate to sell. It was simply by chance he saw a local Audi S4 for sale and enquired about it and was actually quite shocked at the trade-in price (really, he was) and has since 'come to terms' with it shall we say The car he's ultimately going to buy is a nearly new M3 or one of the last current Audi RS4s and start over again putting the mileage on.

Insurance is a reasonable (for me..i'm 25!) £890 p.a! Surpising considering my 320i was £650 last year!

Hmmm...