RE: BMW M3 (E90): Spotted

[Debaser]

Rob_R said:

Not having driven a non-EDC car, I can't really compare the difference. All I can say is that it certainly gives me flexibility when I need it. The ride is pretty good for a car of this sort in Normal mode.

What to look out for? It can depend actually and some faults are well concealed until they actually manifest. Check the car has a consistent and thorough history. If you can find a car that has a good amount of receipts and the current owner can demonstrate to an extent that they have looked after the car then this is big plus in my book. You cannot skimp on maintenance with this car in my opinion. I personally don't take my car to the main dealer to get stuff done as I've been very unimpressed with them in the past. I use a local specialist in Bristol that has a good reputation and they have been great so far.

Apparently heated seats and Logic-7 hi-fi are desirable as options but I've not felt the need for either in my car.

Now, if you dig around you'll read a lot about throttle actuators and rod bearings failing. And yes, both can potentially fail. If your actuators fail then Rebuild.org.uk can replace them for you for £600 with a lifetime warranty on the gears. These often fail around the 50k mile mark. If they have been replaced by the standard BMW units then they will fail again. This is something to bear in mind.

Bearings. There is lots of info on the net about these but the opinions are often conflicting or contradictory with lots of armchair mechanics chiming in saying BMW should have done this way or that way and you should use this type of oil instead blah blah blah. What I would say as a guide is you can get the bearings replaced for around £1k. If the car is approaching 70k miles then factor in your budget to have this done soon.

Saloons are rarer than coupes so you may have to shop around for a little while before you find the right car but persevere because really good 'uns are out there. Good luck!

Thanks Rob r, and yonex. Good info there!

How much do you spend on maintenance? And is the DCT known for having any weaknesses/failures?

[martin mrt]

TheAngryDog said:

Definitely prefer the e90 over the e92.

Would love a go in one to see how it compares to my e39 m5.

I've driven an E39 M5 back to back with an E90 M3

Sorry to say it for the E39 lovers but the E90 was leagues ahead dynamically imo, as it is with the E46!

My E90 never felt heavy. Drove it back to back with a 997.1 C4s again the M3 was imo a better steer

[cerb4.5lee]

martin mrt said:

My E90 never felt heavy.

A few others have said how it does feel heavy at times especially at low speeds and I agree, however when you push on it seems to hide it's weight really well and feels like a different car.

[s3 akr]

I had a '08 plate for about 2 years and 20k miles as the family car when fuel was in the £1.30 per litre range, but it just got so damned expensive @ 21mpg eveywhere. It was a fantastic car, never felt heavy and was brutal on the performance front. It always felt special to get in, fire it up and drive. My only regret was never getting it to a track day to really take it to the limit, which is something simply not feasible on public roads around where I live (ahem.....or anywhere!).

Great cars - enjoy them.

[anonymous-user]

Debaser said:

Thanks Rob r, and yonex. Good info there!

How much do you spend on maintenance? And is the DCT known for having any weaknesses/failures?

Check my old thread out. This is what you dont want to see



The manual box is quite clunky, it irritated me more than the 130i, i should have changed the oil but it's not a great thing to stir. DCT looks good but check the software etc. I averaged around 24 on rural days, as high as 28 on the motorway and 17 or so when using it properly on the road. No matter how you babysit them I doubt you'll see more than 23-25 average. Rear tyres lasted 10-12K and were £650 to replace. The brakes are barely adequate, even on the road, change the pads to RS29's but better a BBK. New discs set me back £600 and the pads roughly the same. It used about 3L of oil over 12K. Brake service was £200 from an Indy, battery plus coding (get used to that) £200 odd. Short journeys (<20m miles) kill the battery apparently, budget for a new one every 2-3 years under those conditions. The left actuator failed, luckily I had warranty. The right actuator was on its way out, no way to tell and I was just waiting for it to go at the end. I lost £4K over 15 months, mainly as I bought from a dealer. They can throw up huge bills, I mean seriously huge bills so you take your chances without warranty. Find a decent independent and things like the actuators aren't too bad. The rebuild services are ok but the OEM hardware is only £400, it's the BMW labour that whacks the price up.

Lastly, if and when you get one relocate the OBD and fit a proper alarm and tracker. Mine was taken off of the drive, luckily they got spooked and I found it 100 yds down the road! BMW security is absolutely shocking.

[crimbo]

Last N/A M3, definitely a future classic!

[Coker]

cerb4.5lee said:

martin mrt said:

My E90 never felt heavy.

A few others have said how it does feel heavy at times especially at low speeds and I agree, however when you push on it seems to hide it's weight really well and feels like a different car.

Yeah, I meant particularly during low speed manoeuvring etc. But then my point of reference is the other car I drive regularly, the missus' Fiesta, which you can twizzle round on a sixpence. The M3 is probably no heavier feeling than any other car of comparable type in all fairness.

[SR06]

martin mrt said:

I bought one in 2013 and absolutely loved my 7 months with it. Sold it as I separated from my fiancée at the time.

Personally much prefer the look of the E90 over the E92 from the side and rear, the higher waistline and the flared rear arches on the E90 IMO gave it a far more muscular stance.

I still miss mine, it was a complete one off spec wise, I have the email from BMW somewhere confirming it to be the only Melbourne red with platinum leather saloon produced. I'd have it back tomorrow if I could.

DCT vs Manual has been done to the death, I bought my DCT car without even driving one, having driven a manual coupe I I knew then I didn't want a manual or a coupe so DCT saloon it was

Sadly I sold it in 2013 for fear that it would lose much of its value when the F80 was released the following year. I sold it for the same price as the car in the OP with only 17000 miles, Service package and BMW warranty. I knew I should have kept it

Edited by martin mrt on Thursday 19th January 21:41

Edited by martin mrt on Thursday 19th January 21:44

Edited by martin mrt on Thursday 19th January 23:07

Nice to see my old e90 M3 popping up again. Hope you're well Martin?

I did try and find a similar spec car but nothing in the UK.

[Coker]

SR06 said:

Nice to see my old e90 M3 popping up again. Hope you're well Martin?

Any more pics of this one chaps?

Very unusual to see a red one (only ever seen foreign ones before).

[pSyCoSiS]

That is a nice car, but would prefer champagne nappa leather instead of black.

They will become classics in the future, but their time isn't yet.

At the moment, it's the E39 M5 that's enjoying appreciating values. Even the E36 M3 is increasing in price.

[cerb4.5lee]

Coker said:

cerb4.5lee said:

martin mrt said:

My E90 never felt heavy.

A few others have said how it does feel heavy at times especially at low speeds and I agree, however when you push on it seems to hide it's weight really well and feels like a different car.

Yeah, I meant particularly during low speed manoeuvring etc. But then my point of reference is the other car I drive regularly, the missus' Fiesta, which you can twizzle round on a sixpence. The M3 is probably no heavier feeling than any other car of comparable type in all fairness.

I agree in terms of weight it is comparable to its rivals, but the fact the brakes wilt in road use tell me it's a heavy car(or the brakes are just crap).

[anonymous-user]

cerb4.5lee said:

I agree in terms of weight it is comparable to its rivals, but the fact the brakes wilt in road use tell me it's a heavy car(or the brakes are just crap).

I's say it's a case of typical BMW brakes. They seem to have finally got them sorted on the F Series!

[Rob_R]

Debaser said:

Thanks Rob r, and yonex. Good info there!

How much do you spend on maintenance? And is the DCT known for having any weaknesses/failures?

As yonex has stated, unscheduled maintenance can be pricey. I'm coming up to a year of ownership now and two things have failed and they were the actuators which were replaced by the crowd I mentioned earlier Which cost £720 all-in and fan belt snapped unexpectedly costing me about £200. So call it just shy of £1k in unscheduled maintenance for the year. Having said this, actuators won't fail again and if they do I'm covered. Fan belt failure is very rare apparently so unlikely to happen again as well.

If you can get a good price on a warranty then it's definitely worth it for piece of mind. My local BMW dealer just couldn't offer me a good price on a year's warranty so I decided not to. I haven't regretted this decision so far! Beware though, as I've heard stories of some dealerships refusing to cover actuator failure in the warranty to make sure of this if you're going ahead with warranty.

A minor service at a specialist will set you back around £195 without the micro filter service. My local dealer wanted £395 for the exact same thing.

The major service which should be done every 30k miles will set you back around £700.

Brake discs can be expensive and I had to replace mine this year. A set of discs from BMW will be about £900! You can get identical ATE discs from Euro Car Parts for around £320. So if you're looking at a car and the front discs look knackered then certainly negotiate down accordingly.

I'm not too sure on DCT weaknesses as I set out from the start to go for manual. I'm sure the others can be much more helpful here.

My opinion on maintenance on this car is go in with your eyes wide open. A good 'un may be had for around £22-£25k nowadays be they are still £60k cars to run. Don't be put off by this though as if you keep up with maintenance and develope a good relationship with a reputable specialist then they gently remind you when things are coming up and consumable parts can be sourced inexpensively from certain suppliers that can take the sting out a bit.

[Patrick Bateman]

Don't think DCT gearboxes have much in the way of known issues, certainly nothing like the SMG has.

[cerb4.5lee]

yonex said:

cerb4.5lee said:

I agree in terms of weight it is comparable to its rivals, but the fact the brakes wilt in road use tell me it's a heavy car(or the brakes are just crap).

I's say it's a case of typical BMW brakes. They seem to have finally got them sorted on the F Series!

Completely agree and I've never rated BMW's brakes, it is positive that at last they've started fitting brakes up to the task on the F series.

[Coker]

Agreed with the above WRT brakes. I'll upgrade when the time comes.

[Avus Blue]

The E90's do look menacing from around the rear 3/4 but I think being 4 door they're much more subtle than the coupe, much more Q car. The only thing that I don't like is the fact that they don't come with a carbon roof. Personally I prefer the coupe over the saloon, but with the F8x versions it's the other way around.

They're not cheap cars to run as others have said, but they're not ruinous either. Just had a battery from BMW for 160 quid and got it coded elsewhere for 40. New 285/30/19 yokohamas done yesterday for £431 through blackcircles

[RossP]

Rob_R said:

Brake discs can be expensive and I had to replace mine this year. A set of discs from BMW will be about £900! You can get identical ATE discs from Euro Car Parts for around £320.

A set of ATE brake discs currently £900 on Euro car parts. Are you sure you've seen them that cheap?

[anonymous-user]

RossP said:

A set of ATE brake discs currently £900 on Euro car parts. Are you sure you've seen them that cheap?

With discount I think mine were £600. With standard pads you're looking at a grand or so.

[Rob_R]

RossP said:

A set of ATE brake discs currently £900 on Euro car parts. Are you sure you've seen them that cheap?

Yup. Look: http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/brake-discs

Often there will be a discount code to get even more off if you check.