RE: PH buying guide: BMW M3 (E46)

[anonymous-user]

anything fast said:

MikeM3Power said:

Will definately be my next car, well still battling it out between CLK500/55, CL500, M3 and 645CI but I think it will win

Had a E36 evo SMG and loved it when it worked but unfortunately spent over 80% of its life with me not working due to the SMG faults.
Always always wanted the E46 M3.

So keeping a close eye on it and hope to be getting one very early next year.

@ Anything fast. Why avoid Luton, Birmingham or anywhere in Middx like, harrow, wembley etc?

The rest makes sense and i never buy any car that has had additional work done on it, like sometimes even a blackened grill is a turn off for me.

Reason to avoid such areas is that have helped 3 friends by M3's over the last few years and in total I have looked at around 15 cars, 12 of which were rubbish, cat c and cat d repaired, some owned by blatant drug dealers, other thrashed and stty examples (all were in areas mentioned above) other cars we called I just put the phone down when I found out they were in Luton etc... waste of time

My advice is when looking at car, look long and hard at the owner before your decide on the car....

take your time, the examples we got in the end were all private sales, all 100 % honest cars bought from mature owners, and all three cars are going still going strong..

Good post. Couldn't agree more.

[MikeM3Power]

anything fast said:

Reason to avoid such areas is that have helped 3 friends by M3's over the last few years and in total I have looked at around 15 cars, 12 of which were rubbish, cat c and cat d repaired, some owned by blatant drug dealers, other thrashed and stty examples (all were in areas mentioned above) other cars we called I just put the phone down when I found out they were in Luton etc... waste of time

My advice is when looking at car, look long and hard at the owner before your decide on the car....

take your time, the examples we got in the end were all private sales, all 100 % honest cars bought from mature owners, and all three cars are going still going strong..

Thanks mate.
Really have to go the the mature owners private sale route!
Would you not go to a trader?
I guess that way you can not get to gauge the previous owner I suppose!

[anything fast]

MikeM3Power said:

anything fast said:

Reason to avoid such areas is that have helped 3 friends by M3's over the last few years and in total I have looked at around 15 cars, 12 of which were rubbish, cat c and cat d repaired, some owned by blatant drug dealers, other thrashed and stty examples (all were in areas mentioned above) other cars we called I just put the phone down when I found out they were in Luton etc... waste of time

My advice is when looking at car, look long and hard at the owner before your decide on the car....

take your time, the examples we got in the end were all private sales, all 100 % honest cars bought from mature owners, and all three cars are going still going strong..

Thanks mate.
Really have to go the the mature owners private sale route!
Would you not go to a trader?
I guess that way you can not get to gauge the previous owner I suppose!

No problem with a trader as long as its a proper trader with full facilties and the car has very good history. Good thing about the private cars is the seller should be able to tell you in detail what work they have done, also one thing i noted was if someone is driving around on bald tyres 2 things, 1 they dont care or have the money to replace them.. or 2 they hammer the car...

[Stingercut]

I followed similar logic when I purchased mine from a mature prof in Harley st . Suffice to say the car has never been abused, slammed or tastelessly modded but came with the complete set of Classic FM CD's in the multi changer

Edited by Stingercut on Tuesday 3rd July 16:12

[0836whimper]

Stingercut said:

I followed similar logic when I purchased mine from a mature prof in Harley st . Suffice to say the car has never been abused, slammed or tastelessly modded but came with the complete set of Classic FM CD's in the multi changer

Edited by Stingercut on Tuesday 3rd July 16:12

Oldest trick in the book, he'd have removed his Napalm Death albums just before you came round for a look.

[Miguel]

0836whimper said:

Oldest trick in the book, he'd have removed his Napalm Death albums just before you came round for a look.

[philis]

Thought id balance out this thread with some E46 M3 ownership annoyances that rarely, if ever get mentioned on any enthusiasts websites for fear of being labeled a woofter.

1. Rear seats can rattle, annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
2. Elbows catch on the seat bolsters when cornering, annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
3. Seats force you to sit like a fat guy annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
4. Radio reception - terrible, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
5. Your mates will think your dealing drugs and will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
6. If its wet, stay the hell away from the accelerator, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
7. If your brakes are standard, they WILL fail at the end of a long straight, and yep that's right, this will most definitely annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.


Other than that, there spot on, spot on i say.

[carinaman]

Why are the boot floors cracking?

With CAD working out all the stresses and weak points you'd think such things wouldn't happen. The material used wasn't up to spec.?

I take it other E46s don't suffer from cracked floors?

Someone has said it was cheaper to insure their 911s. E39 M5s are cheaper to insure?

[philis]

carinaman said:

Why are the boot floors cracking?

Because they get ragged to within and inch of their lives and some thing has to cry enough.
Drive sensibly any you will be OK

[gaz1234]

philis said:

Thought id balance out this thread with some E46 M3 ownership annoyances that rarely, if ever get mentioned on any enthusiasts websites for fear of being labeled a woofter.

1. Rear seats can rattle, annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
2. Elbows catch on the seat bolsters when cornering, annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
3. Seats force you to sit like a fat guy annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
4. Radio reception - terrible, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
5. Your mates will think your dealing drugs and will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
6. If its wet, stay the hell away from the accelerator, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
7. If your brakes are standard, they WILL fail at the end of a long straight, and yep that's right, this will most definitely annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.


Other than that, there spot on, spot on i say.

Agree with 1 and 6.

[carinaman]

philis said:

carinaman said:

Why are the boot floors cracking?

Because they get ragged to within and inch of their lives and some thing has to cry enough.
Drive sensibly any you will be OK

Thank you. So walk away from away with split boot floors.

[MikeM3Power]

We'll have to do a stay away from list:

So far we have
.Stay away from private sellers from Luton, B'ham, Harrow and general middlx area
.Crack boot floors
.Any kind of untasteful mods like fully tints etc

Anymore?

Since this is a topic on buyers guide article maybe we can include some things that are favoursome to look for when purchasing the E46 M3.
.Like equipment you should expect.
.Colour, hardtop, convertible
.Bother to search for individual model
.The important 1200m running in service.
.LED rear lights?
.Best years to get SMG II (not a SMG v Manual debate though)
.High mileage v low mileage
etc
Just a suggestion though.

Actually question, as standard does the E46 come with auto lights and auto wipers?
And on a manual is the illuminated gearknob standard or an after market fitment?

Thanks

[Stingercut]

0836whimper said:

Oldest trick in the book, he'd have removed his Napalm Death albums just before you came round for a look.

Oh yea of little faith ! They have been sensitively re-homed you will be relieved to know

[leeson660]

philis said:

Thought id balance out this thread with some E46 M3 ownership annoyances that rarely, if ever get mentioned on any enthusiasts websites for fear of being labeled a woofter.

1. Rear seats can rattle, annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
2. Elbows catch on the seat bolsters when cornering, annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
3. Seats force you to sit like a fat guy annoying the hell out of you on a long journey.
4. Radio reception - terrible, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
5. Your mates will think your dealing drugs and will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
6. If its wet, stay the hell away from the accelerator, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.
7. If your brakes are standard, they WILL fail at the end of a long straight, and yep that's right, this will most definitely annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.


Other than that, there spot on, spot on i say.

Are you serious? Not having a go just completely different to my own experiences. If it was a joke just ignore my post I'm also a peasant from cornwall which may also explain things

Maybe my car is a one off but...

How can you not get comfortable in the m3 seats you can adjust pretty much every aspect of the seating position?

If the seat rattles which mine doesnt then find the problem and sort it?

Stay away from the accelerator in the wet? Buy some decent tires and the car is absolutely fine in the wet in fact its very rewarding to drive and very capable. I ran in the wet at VMax (very slippery) and it was amazing off the line and out of the bottom corner. If you put cheap tires on a 340bhp RWD car (assume that is the problem) then what do you expect, no fault of the car.

Brakes will fail at end of long straight? Not sure how much better the CS brakes are than standard (most ppl say not much) but again at VMax slowing down from 160mph+ was no problem despite what a lot of people said prior to the event. I think I did 8 runs throughout the day and the brakes didn't miss a beat. I doubt your going to hit those speeds on a long journey so the brakes should be fine.

That said I am a prolific drug dealer so can't really argue with point 5.

I appreciate there are a lot of bad cars out there but just take your time and buy from someone who has cherished the car. I always think tires are a good indicator. If the owner has put cheap tires on which in my opinion are the most important investments in a performance car then its possible that they won't have spent the money on maintaining / caring for the car to the highest standard.

All above just my opinion based on my limited exp of m3s.

Cheers james

Edited by leeson660 on Wednesday 4th July 08:09

Edited by leeson660 on Wednesday 4th July 09:42

[matfitzpatrick]

Had a manual, silver grey coupe for 3 years and absolutely loved it! It sounded great when you were giving it some and when you drove it carefully (mainly when the kids were in it) I could get 32 MPG out of it!

I deliberately chose one without TV/Nav as it was old tech back in 2000 when it first appeared, when I bought mine in 2007 it was really naff! Although I did get one with Harmonn Kardon which is very worthwhile, and of course the 19s which look great as well.

Running costs were pretty high and I would suggest higher than an equivalent AMG, although I cannot confirm as I have never owned an AMG vehicle. I always got the sense the M3 engine was very highly strung whereas AMG tend to go with the theory 'theres no replacement for displacement'. I have driven a C63 and although it felt very different in the way it drove to the M3 I also felt the engine could probably withstand a bit more punishment, as it has that 'unstressed' V8 feel about it.....

Anyway, although I stuck to the maintenance schedule religiously, I never felt entirely comfortable when the warranty ran out as I knew that engine related repairs would be pricey. That being said it had 1 fault in 3 years and that was a failed module that put the boot into 'valet' mode stopping it from opening and the module was replaced under warranty.

Oil services were ok and inspection 1 was around £450 IIRC, inspection 2 was around a grand which stung. The rear springs were prone to cracking both sides as well, although I didnt suffer this (as far as I know anyway!) and brakes were very expensive if you used the main dealer (I didnt!), also the calipers could stick quite readily as well, the rubber seal keeping grit and water out of the piston was not very good! Mine was a daily runner so never got the chance to stick...

All in all a great car.... would I have another? Absolutely! I also think it has more 'M' about it than the E90, its a little more 'raw' in certain places and in my opinion the soundtrack a little better. The dashboard is far better in the E46 as well...

[matfitzpatrick]

Actually question, as standard does the E46 come with auto lights and auto wipers?
And on a manual is the illuminated gearknob standard or an after market fitment?


These are standard items (lights are Xenons as standard as well), at least they were on mine which was a '55' plate. I am sure even pre-04 cars wouild have had these as well. Main difference post-04 was LED rear lights and so I have been told a mod to the engine which improved its longevity? Hence why I looked for a later model.

[NickXX]

I reel this quote out every time (can't remember where it came from now):

Mar-01
• E46 Introduced to the UK
• Brushed Titanium replaced by Titan Shadow
• Business Radio with MD added (Europe)

Jun-01
• SMG-II Option Added (Europe)
• 19” Wheels Made Available (Europe)

Jul-01
• 19” Wheels made available (UK)

September 2001 (Model Year 2002)
• SMG-II Option Added (UK Only)
• Seat Width Adjustment Made Standard (UK Spec)
• SatNav Screen replaced with Wide Screen Model
• Auto-On Lights Added as Standard (UK)
• Individual Options permitted (UK)
• Standard Xenon lights upgraded to Bi-Xenon
• Black Gloss Interior trim discontinued (Replaced by Titanium shadow)
• Minidisc Option Added (UK)

Oct-01
• SMG Paddles Changed (Size & Colour of + and -)

Jan-02
• Minidisc / CD option combined with Nav/TV made possible.

February 2002 Changes
• M Racing Strut added to Coupe & Cab

March 2002 Changes
• Brushed Aluminium Interior Trim Added.
• M Rear Wing Spoiler option added (As on 330Ci Clubsport)

September 02 (Model year 2003)
• Cab Central Brake light made clear
• SatNav Control unit upgraded to DVD player.
• Bluetooth Phone Kit added.
• Interior buttons changed from printed to embossing.
• AUX Connections added to TV Unit

April 2003 Changes
• New LED Rear Lights Added
• Silver Grey Paint Added
• Mystic Blue Paint Added
• Steel Grey Discontinued
• Topaz Blue Discontinued
• SMG Logo removed
• Cabs now get "convenience opening"
• Climate Control Buttons changed
• Brushed Aluminium Interior trim added (UK)
• Boot lid handle changed

September 2003 (Model year 2004)
• SatNav CD replaced with DVD including TMC
• Le Mans blue added to Individual range of colours (UK)

September 2004 (Model year 2005)
• TV Module upgraded to digital
• Business CD Head Unit upgraded to play MP3

September 2004 (Model year 2005)
• M3 CS Model Added (Europe)
• Interlagos Blue Paint Added

April 2005 Changes
• Phoenix Yellow dropped
• Laguna Seca Blue dropped
• M3 CS model introduced (UK)
• Interlagos Blue Paint Added (UK)
• 3rd Point seat belt and headrest added

September 2005 (Model year 2006)
• CD Changer upgraded to play MP3

[NickXX]

Oh, another super geeky point,not sure if it's been spotted yet - the CSL in the article is Steel Grey (production models were Silver Grey and Sapphire Black).

[MikeM3Power]

So you really want a late 2003 model?

What is convenience open on convertibles?

[bennyboysvuk]

philis said:

6. If its wet, stay the hell away from the accelerator, will annoy the hell out of you on a long journey.

What? This is where the car excels! You have to ensure that the DSC is switched off though to avoid it cutting in all the time, it's way too sensitive.