RE: BMW M3 Evolution (E36): PH Carpool

[scrappycoco1]

Neil_M said:

Love it, cool colour

You are correct, according to the reg doc it is a 328i I sport.

Will be selling mine in around 3 weeks time of anyone is interested, will be placing an advert in the f/s section!

Edited by scrappycoco1 on Tuesday 7th January 08:52

[Neil_M]

jbaddeley said:

Mine below with acs rear spoiler.

Love this car. I had found a thread on your car, prior to mine... It's a target for most of us to aim for .

aka_kerrly said:

A friend of mine had a early 3.0 m3 which had been in his family for a good number of years and to be honest I had far more problems with my 318I. He had the back arches repainted as they were showing signs of age but mechanically as far as I know it only ever had service items and being a early one does that make it a simpler engine?? less Vanos issues as far as i'm aware.

It's single vanos, so less of an issue I believe than the dual/twin vanos.

melvster said:

One of my fave cars on PH, absolutely stunning condition and it is a Saloon. Perfect.

Thank you as always sir .

MGR said:

OP - Great car. Love the 4 door, but went for the coupe myself. The clean look of the rear without the spoiler is really nice.

Its the sharp lines of the car, the lack of the spoiler gives it a nicely raked appearance.

2thumbs said:

I love the e36. Have owned a number of them over the years and now have this evo.

It took me a while to fall in love with the way the m3 drives but I love it now and could never part with it. I have just had new tyres fitted costing a small fortune, and It is due a suspension refresh this year as the front shocks are feeling a bit tired to say the least. The steering rack also needs replacing as it has some play in it, so I plan to upgrade it with an e46 item as I believe they improve the feel.
I am one of the 'buy it but can't afford to run it' brigade so I just put it away for a while & save up if it throws me a bill. I do my own spannering so this saves me a small fortune.

Very very tidy car... I try to do as much as I can myself too. But I do have an specialist 15mins down the road from me.

161BMW said:

Lovely looking M3 OP.
I remember seeing these brand new in 1997-1999 in Loughton, Essex.
I really got a soft spot for E36 M3 Evolutions now esp the Imola Edition GT2.

Best buy and find decent well cared for E36 M3 Evolutions now before there are none left in 5 years time

Thank you . I do agree too!

jimbop1 said:

Where would be the best place to find one of these? There isn't many on PH classifieds.
Really should not have looked at this thread, I want one now as a keeper. Would use it solely for weekend blasts and to practice my polishing on.

Good question. I'd say owners forums, M3Cutters, E36 Coupe etc. Otherwise you can luck out in the local or national classifieds.

VinceFox said:

I bought my estoril coupe four years ago for 3500. I had no idea they're such strong money now.

Hopefully they get even stronger money .

RedBull said:

I have a cabrio E36 M3. I was supposed to sell it when I bought my Corvette but just couldn't bring myself to part with it. It's in near mint condition and just clocked up 43K miles. It's also a rare colour, violet blue, which is a love it or hate it colour, naturally I love it
I just know that if I had sold it I would really struggle to find such a nice low mileage example again. I accept that most prefer the coupe but for me the convertible adds an extra level of enjoyment when the sun is out.

Lovely car. I guess you get to hear the car that bit better too.

Leins said:

Lovely E36 OP, like that a lot! The Contours are such a good wheel on these too

Thank you, I love them too... Can't wait to get them refurbed, new M stickers and new centre caps...

Ag51bye said:

I have had me Daytona violet 3.0 for 5 months now.

Other than having the worst private plate I have ever seen (my anal) it hasn't put a foot wrong.
For the money I can't think if anything that comes close.
The previous owner had it 16 years, in that time it never gave them a large bill. Can't see myself being so lucky!

Fingers crossed, sounds like a well maintained car. Keep that up and you should do well... Spend a few quid on preventative maintenance and you should be onto a winner!

[blade7]

rossi1 said:

blade7 said:

rossi1 said:

blade7 said:

rossi1 said:

While we are on the e36 subject here is my 328i sport (With spoiler )
Love the E36 !

Great cars, I loved my E36 328 Coupe. The uprated inlet manifold I fitted made it a 200+ bhp car too.

I have one in the shed with a mapped ECU to match so hopefully that will be on for the summer

I had a Simota carbon fibre induction kit fitted too, the engine revved so much better with those parts fitted. 220 bhp was more like it

I'm already running the Simota, sounds superb, believe or not I'm running over 200bhp. Told I have a strong one runs a map already but unsure who it was by as was before I had it.




Not sure if I will ever sell, these are rear now days, most end up in the hands of the drift scene.

It's sitting on coil overs, unsure of the drop but I have given it a little bit of rake, I think it suits the e36.

Mine only had 60k on it's replacement linered engine. I almost replaced it with a mint 40k miles Evo but although the M3 was obviously a better car I didn't think it was worth 4 times as much.

[jimbop1]

scrappycoco1 said:

You are correct, according to the reg doc it is a 328i I sport.

Will be selling mine in around 3 weeks time of anyone is interested, will be placing an advert in the f/s section!

Edited by scrappycoco1 on Tuesday 7th January 08:52

I have sent you an email.

[EssexAl]

Could be tempted to sell mine if the money was right:

Atlantis Blue Metallic MANUAL Evo (The Beast)

[GS88]

E36 looks better than the F80.

[Neil_M]

GS88 said:

E36 looks better than the F80.

I haven't seen one in the flesh to say either way.

[VinceFox]

Have to add, the first time i test drove an evo i was pretty underwhelmed, there's a few things i've learnt.

1. Theyre rubbish cold. Below 70-80 degrees oil temp you should keep them under 4k and book an appointment to change gear. This changes drastically once warm tho.

2. Day to day normal use, there's very little advantage over the 328i, just bimbling around doesn't show the difference. The first real differences i noticed were the handling and grip, but certainly not the speed.

3. Once warmed up they are torquey to 4k then pull properly hard right to the top. Keeping long changes and holding it through the gears is what gives them the real speed. The evo particularly only really announces itself towards the very top of the revs.

4. It never, ever feels as fast as it actually is. I had a 200sx a few years back (s14a) and from memory, it felt quicker. Had a go against one in my evo not long after i got it and the difference was night and day. Despite feeling more relaxed and smoother, the evo had its dinner money off it and pushed it in a puddle without breaking a sweat.

Very, very capable cars, subtle, strong, surprisingly economical and starting to become distinctively unusual to see on the roads.

[Stinkfoot]

This was my last E36 M3 before I moved on to the E39 M5. I have owned all 3 versions and for me the coupe is the best of 3 although if I had another then it will be an Estoril saloon.
My first BMW was a 1996 M3 Evo saloon in Carbon Black but unfortunately I did take any pics of it. It was a superb car that was only sold to finance the start of my business.

[VinceFox]

Stinkfoot said:

This was my last E36 M3 before I moved on to the E39 M5. I have owned all 3 versions and for me the coupe is the best of 3 although if I had another then it will be an Estoril saloon.
My first BMW was a 1996 M3 Evo saloon in Carbon Black but unfortunately I did take any pics of it. It was a superb car that was only sold to finance the start of my business.

Very straight. Would you say from memory it was fast still?

[Stinkfoot]

VinceFox said:

Stinkfoot said:

This was my last E36 M3 before I moved on to the E39 M5. I have owned all 3 versions and for me the coupe is the best of 3 although if I had another then it will be an Estoril saloon.
My first BMW was a 1996 M3 Evo saloon in Carbon Black but unfortunately I did take any pics of it. It was a superb car that was only sold to finance the start of my business.

Very straight. Would you say from memory it was fast still?

Oh absolutely. Quicker than any other car I had driven at that point. Only my 440bhp M5 is quicker and theres not that much in it believe me. The E36 M3 is the complete all round performance car.

Edited by Stinkfoot on Thursday 9th January 21:25

[Gretchen]

RedBull said:

I have a cabrio E36 M3. I was supposed to sell it when I bought my Corvette but just couldn't bring myself to part with it. It's in near mint condition and just clocked up 43K miles. It's also a rare colour, violet blue, which is a love it or hate it colour, naturally I love it
I just know that if I had sold it I would really struggle to find such a nice low mileage example again. I accept that most prefer the coupe but for me the convertible adds an extra level of enjoyment when the sun is out.

I saw an E36 M3 saloon in Violet blue just a few days ago and commented to my companion how pretty the colour was. It had a nasty dent on the OS but other than that looked nice.

I was discussing mine just tonight and how I'm selling it and buying something small and fun in June...then I read this thread. God damn you all.

[garypotter]

I currently have 95 3.0 avus blue coupe with boot spoiler! with 1/2 alcantara fat lady airport lounge cloth seats. Had 5 years it is now on 164,000 miles, I have done 95,000 daily hard miles. Regular oil changes every 6 months!! or when the oil is blacker than my wife's toast, not had the main service as this was more than the car was worth!

A couple of things I personally have noted during ownership:
There is a massive amount of Love for any M BMW in the UK mainly by people that have never owned or driven one, maybe due to the race history of the great E30 M3.

Alot of talk about performance on forums, personally i have found the performance not that impressive, the car is far too heavy, yes i appreciate the car is 19 year old technology but perhaps as previously mentioned you does not always fell how fast you are travelling, I have always wanted to strip out 200 kilo's to see how this would compare.

Parts and main dealer prices are stupid but many an independent specialist out there so speak to existing customers if you can and chose wisely.

My old smoker has lasted alot longer than I thought so do not be afraid to thrash the car, it has a couple of rattles, rusted rear arches, warped discs, blow in the exhaust, battered every panel ( thanks school mums) but it still looks bloody good IMHO, I have always loved the look of the e36 M3 and glad I have owned one but time to move on, I have someone who wants to strip it for parts but I have noticed that earlier thsi year a scruffy M3 was £1500 now they seem to be £2500!! and holding super strong money for clean garage queens.

(Ps this is not an advert to sell my smoker.)

[TEKNOPUG]

"Great Brakes"

[alfa aficionado]

one of the ones that got away...think I ended up with a Saab 9-5 instead (although modified with Abbott Stage 1 kit!)

I'm never sure with these older cars whether it's worth going back or are you just going to be disappointed coming from newer machinery - my biggest regret is getting rid of my 156 GTA Sportwagon although again I'm not sure whether I'd get another at this stage (after 6yrs have elapsed)

[Neil_M]

alfa aficionado said:

one of the ones that got away...think I ended up with a Saab 9-5 instead (although modified with Abbott Stage 1 kit!)

I'm never sure with these older cars whether it's worth going back or are you just going to be disappointed coming from newer machinery - my biggest regret is getting rid of my 156 GTA Sportwagon although again I'm not sure whether I'd get another at this stage (after 6yrs have elapsed)

I know exactly where you are coming from. Never meet your heroes and all that?

The M3 still impresses me any time I start or drive it. It doesn't feel old to me, it just has a character and rawness many more modern cars don't have. Arguably the same for many older cars. However I still find the M3 drives very well.

I've driven a few heroes and found them awful too...