BMW M3 E46 Convertible

BMW M3 E46 Convertible

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NateWM

Original Poster:

1,684 posts

179 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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Ireland...A fantastic place. I moved here from the UK and instantly fell in love, thanks to the friendly people, amazing scenery, culture and much more. It really has something to please everyone...except us petrolheads.

The government here does not like cars, especially performance ones. For context, car tax...In the UK, my Accord or the GS300 would both be around 400ish pounds to tax for the year for the both. In Ireland however, you have to pay 2400 euros. Yes you read that correct!

So naturally, man maths prevailed and a car that just alones costs 2000e a year to tax has been added to the fleet.

Introducing, our BMW M3 E46 'vert, individual spec. Apologies for the poor pictures, it was only collected last night.











Now I'm not a BMW man so I wouldn't know the ins and outs or be able to tell you the interior trim code from 50 yards, but what I do know is that it's a Velvet Blue Individual model with a rather fetching beige interior. It's an SMG model with full BMWSH, and seems to have been fully loaded when new. It's done 100k miles and has been very looked after by the previous owner, with receipts for everything and the car sitting on four premium tyres. The condition is near mint, with no rust thankfully, and it literally has just two dings and a few minor scratches.

Overall we are thrilled with it. As for the plans? Well...

1. First things first a full checkover and deep clean, wheels off etc.

2. Once it's clean and A1, next will be to tackle the cosmetics. So any painting will be done, then a full detail and paint correction.

3. Mods! Nothing too crazy as these are hide to find in original condition. Just simple things that can be reverted if need be, like a CSL airbox, Carbon fog surrounds as the current ones are missing etc.

Other than that, it will just be keeping it well looked after and enjoying it.

Thanks for reading. Will update this thread often.

coopedup

3,741 posts

139 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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Lovely looking beast you have there OP, could well be the next step for me from a 330ci convertable

NateWM

Original Poster:

1,684 posts

179 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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coopedup said:
Lovely looking beast you have there OP, could well be the next step for me from a 330ci convertable
It's a worthy upgrade and apart from tyres, not that much more exspensive to run so I've heard. These are surprisingly good on fuel when driving easy.

Remagel2507

1,456 posts

192 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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Really liking the wood/beige interior, don't often see M3s specced like that

NateWM

Original Poster:

1,684 posts

179 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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Remagel2507 said:
Really liking the wood/beige interior, don't often see M3s specced like that
The beige is what drawn me to it, as it goes well with the blue and looks much better than the sea of grey or black imo. I'm unsure on the wood at the moment and may change it for carbon fibre, however "individual spec" M3's are rare especially specced like this, so I may just leave it well alone. We'll see.

zainster

441 posts

176 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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Congrats OP on the new purchase. Really lovely car with a great colour combo!

I almost bought the same colour combo and very similar spec E46 M3 Cab about 10 years ago. Still catches my eye today. Very good choice!

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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That "beige" is champagne I think. A nice combo with velvet blue. Enjoy the car- you have to when you've paid that tax rate!

Remagel2507

1,456 posts

192 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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NateWM said:
The beige is what drawn me to it, as it goes well with the blue and looks much better than the sea of grey or black imo. I'm unsure on the wood at the moment and may change it for carbon fibre, however "individual spec" M3's are rare especially specced like this, so I may just leave it well alone. We'll see.
If you do change I would buy another set just so I could revert back to the wood easily

NateWM

Original Poster:

1,684 posts

179 months

Thursday 2nd April 2015
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Remagel2507 said:
If you do change I would buy another set just so I could revert back to the wood easily
Well the few mods I'll be doing will be easily reverted like you say. It'll mainly be a few bits of carbon here and there and a CSL airbox, other than that I'll be keeping it mostly stock as these are getting hard to find and it's very easy to go over board and make these looks chavvy.

Thanks for the comments all. I've just ordered a new gearknob and bootlights as the current ones were worn/faded, next job is to replace the windscreen tray and either replace or retrim the steering wheel.

Captainawesome

1,817 posts

163 months

Thursday 2nd April 2015
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NateWM said:
Remagel2507 said:
If you do change I would buy another set just so I could revert back to the wood easily
Well the few mods I'll be doing will be easily reverted like you say. It'll mainly be a few bits of carbon here and there and a CSL airbox, other than that I'll be keeping it mostly stock as these are getting hard to find and it's very easy to go over board and make these looks chavvy.

Thanks for the comments all. I've just ordered a new gearknob and bootlights as the current ones were worn/faded, next job is to replace the windscreen tray and either replace or retrim the steering wheel.
Beautiful car. May I suggest storm motorworks for replacement gear know and smg paddles. Expensive but really lift the interior and you wouldn't believe the difference in feel when shifting. Evolve also do a beautiful carbon box which is a bit cheaper than an oem csl box and adds about 30bhp and THE noise.

Messerchmitt

42 posts

72 months

Monday 2nd April 2018
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Nice investment

NateWM

Original Poster:

1,684 posts

179 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2018
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Messerchmitt said:
Nice investment
Thanks! Unfortunately we ended up selling this....it gave us no end of trouble and it soon got tiring. It was a weekend car, only everytime we wanted to use the bloody thing, it broke down! ABS rings, calipers seizing, coilpacks failing, wiring issues, gearbox playing up.

Glad to see the back of it to be honest. I won't be rushing to get another one anytime soon.

Messerchmitt

42 posts

72 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2018
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That's a shame mate but yeah different experiences for everyone I suppose