My Velvet Blue ///M3
Discussion
Well, after wanting one for the past 8 years (since I had my Z3M) and going through 2 x 328i Sports, 2 x 330ci Sports and a 320d Sport over the years, I finally bit the bullet and found myself the perfect e46 M3. Still fancy an e36 M3 at some point, but with the miles I do (2k a month easily), the more modern, easier to drive e46 is simply a better proposition at the moment.
Having driven a friend’s e36 M3 the other day, the e46 really is quite smooth for day to day, with the ability to make the hairs on the back of your next stand up if required. The e36, by comparison, is like driving a rocket powered truck, which isn’t a bad thing, but slightly tiring before/after a 10 hour day at work.
As with all things M, the search took a little while longer as I expected, not only as I wanted a bargain, but because it had to be an individual (i wanted something a little different to the usual silver, grey or black) and a blue based colour (as its my favourite), which basically meant either Estoril (like my friends that i lusted over at uni for 2 years), Avus (like my 328i Sport), Silverstone, Atlantis, or Velvet blue. Now estoril is fairly popular, but attracts ‘estoril blue’ tax, & the others, well it’s easier to find rocking horse s
t. To make matters worse, I wanted black leather.
After much scouring, I found an Avus one in July, which whilst stunning from a distance, had rust in places where it shouldn’t, & a rather large (40k) hole in the service history. It also drive like a bag of spanners, & almost made me question whether I really even wanted an M3, it didn’t feel quick, at all!!! Doh. So I bought another 330ci Sport just before going on holiday for 3 weeks, but didn’t put my private plate on it …
Fast forward 2 months, & the search has continued, on a daily basis, since I got back from Thailand. Then, just like an old skool cossie with 30psi of boost - nothing, nothing, nothing, BANG! Then on Saturday 10th September, oh hello there, something looked promising, & fairly local as well … Went to look, good BMW/Specialist history, recent Insp2, new discs/pads all round, ’03 facelift, running in check done, bearing recall done, MK4 satnav, black nappa leather, heated seats, oh, & one of the rarest colours of them all - Velvet Blue. Needed a few cosmetic bits & bobs, but that was factored into the price & gives something for me to do over the coming months!
So on Monday 12th September I collected it. The wait was worthwhile. That rasp. Oh dear lord.
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that all was not well (after 4 days FFS), with a sound not dissimilar to ‘marbles being rattled in a can’ coming from the engine whilst under load at between 2.5k-3.5k rpm. Bit of research on M3Cutters (http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8868) suggested that it was the headgasket, so a quick compression test was done, which it failed miserably. The following weekend it went back to the supplying dealer & it was agreed that it would be fixed under ‘warranty’, whilst I did my 90 mile daily commute in my Clio Trophy (complete with roll cage, buckets seats & ruddy loud exhaust), nice lol.
4 weeks later I picked it up - Saturday just gone in fact. Was shown all the old bits & bobs, along with the boxes for all the genuine BMW parts used in the rebuild as well, which was nice. Headgasket had a chunk missing between the end two cylinders as can be seen below - not as bad as some others I’ve seen on the web, so not really affecting the drive, but still broken:
Then subsequently ‘pootled’ down to Cardiff for the weekend, saw 29mpg sat at 85-90 leptons all the way, which i was happy enough with – although my gf’s not quite so happy as she pays for half the petrol on such trips (going to see her brother) and its quite a difference from the 48mpg in the 320d. Ha ha.
For those that dont know, Cardiff Bay has a tunnel, of quite decent length ... and in all seriousness, even if the M3 was slow, i wouldn’t care. The noise it makes as it climbs towards the redline is simply sublime, spine tingling in fact.
Straight six, throttle bodies, nearly 8 thousand rpm
Happy as a pig in st 
Having driven a friend’s e36 M3 the other day, the e46 really is quite smooth for day to day, with the ability to make the hairs on the back of your next stand up if required. The e36, by comparison, is like driving a rocket powered truck, which isn’t a bad thing, but slightly tiring before/after a 10 hour day at work.
As with all things M, the search took a little while longer as I expected, not only as I wanted a bargain, but because it had to be an individual (i wanted something a little different to the usual silver, grey or black) and a blue based colour (as its my favourite), which basically meant either Estoril (like my friends that i lusted over at uni for 2 years), Avus (like my 328i Sport), Silverstone, Atlantis, or Velvet blue. Now estoril is fairly popular, but attracts ‘estoril blue’ tax, & the others, well it’s easier to find rocking horse s
t. To make matters worse, I wanted black leather.After much scouring, I found an Avus one in July, which whilst stunning from a distance, had rust in places where it shouldn’t, & a rather large (40k) hole in the service history. It also drive like a bag of spanners, & almost made me question whether I really even wanted an M3, it didn’t feel quick, at all!!! Doh. So I bought another 330ci Sport just before going on holiday for 3 weeks, but didn’t put my private plate on it …
Fast forward 2 months, & the search has continued, on a daily basis, since I got back from Thailand. Then, just like an old skool cossie with 30psi of boost - nothing, nothing, nothing, BANG! Then on Saturday 10th September, oh hello there, something looked promising, & fairly local as well … Went to look, good BMW/Specialist history, recent Insp2, new discs/pads all round, ’03 facelift, running in check done, bearing recall done, MK4 satnav, black nappa leather, heated seats, oh, & one of the rarest colours of them all - Velvet Blue. Needed a few cosmetic bits & bobs, but that was factored into the price & gives something for me to do over the coming months!
So on Monday 12th September I collected it. The wait was worthwhile. That rasp. Oh dear lord.
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that all was not well (after 4 days FFS), with a sound not dissimilar to ‘marbles being rattled in a can’ coming from the engine whilst under load at between 2.5k-3.5k rpm. Bit of research on M3Cutters (http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8868) suggested that it was the headgasket, so a quick compression test was done, which it failed miserably. The following weekend it went back to the supplying dealer & it was agreed that it would be fixed under ‘warranty’, whilst I did my 90 mile daily commute in my Clio Trophy (complete with roll cage, buckets seats & ruddy loud exhaust), nice lol.
4 weeks later I picked it up - Saturday just gone in fact. Was shown all the old bits & bobs, along with the boxes for all the genuine BMW parts used in the rebuild as well, which was nice. Headgasket had a chunk missing between the end two cylinders as can be seen below - not as bad as some others I’ve seen on the web, so not really affecting the drive, but still broken:
Then subsequently ‘pootled’ down to Cardiff for the weekend, saw 29mpg sat at 85-90 leptons all the way, which i was happy enough with – although my gf’s not quite so happy as she pays for half the petrol on such trips (going to see her brother) and its quite a difference from the 48mpg in the 320d. Ha ha.
For those that dont know, Cardiff Bay has a tunnel, of quite decent length ... and in all seriousness, even if the M3 was slow, i wouldn’t care. The noise it makes as it climbs towards the redline is simply sublime, spine tingling in fact.
Straight six, throttle bodies, nearly 8 thousand rpm
Happy as a pig in s
t 
Hmm,
I've never really liked the E46 M3, mainly due to the people that often buy them, what people often do to them and also what they sound like from outside the cabin. Yours really does look stunning though and you can't deny their performance and how they drive (so I hear!).
Maybe I should drive one though, sounds like the fuel economy could be better than my E39 540i and I've been looking at 330i/130i's and these should be priced somewhere between the two?
I've never really liked the E46 M3, mainly due to the people that often buy them, what people often do to them and also what they sound like from outside the cabin. Yours really does look stunning though and you can't deny their performance and how they drive (so I hear!).
Maybe I should drive one though, sounds like the fuel economy could be better than my E39 540i and I've been looking at 330i/130i's and these should be priced somewhere between the two?
philmots said:
Looks great.. :-D
Can't help but think those photos don't capture the colour quite right, though?
Yeah, its a VERY colour to photograph properly!!! Looks more purpley in real life, similar to a bar of Dairy Milk, or 'The Big Purple One' in Quality Street:Can't help but think those photos don't capture the colour quite right, though?
Quality Street by Mink, on Flickr
Currently umming & ahhing about CSL wheels though - mine need a refurb. The CS comes in a very similar colour so it wont be like im trying to copy the CSL ...
Sir_Dave said:
For those that dont know, Cardiff Bay has a tunnel, of quite decent length ... and in all seriousness, even if the M3 was slow, i wouldn’t care. The noise it makes as it climbs towards the redline is simply sublime, spine tingling in fact.
Nice M3 OP love the colourI was down in Cardiff earlier in the year for a Mini run I loved the tunnels my mate in hiw JCW Cooper S popping and Banging andmy little classics exhuasht was nice an wamr so bounced off the tunnel wall nicely!
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