Picked up an M3 CS over the weekend!

[djon]

Morning all,

I finally picked up a manual interlagos blue over the weekend. I'm the 3rd owner and it's in pretty good shape. 82k, so highish miles but nearly all the toys and got a pretty good price on it. It needs a few things doing to bring it up to scratch but will still be well within my budget. I'm going to get the RTABs and front wishbones done as well just for piece of mind but overall I'm pretty chuffed with it so far. I've wanted one for ages so it's nice to have scratched the itch and actually own a car again! Shame I'm busy BTAP weekend and can't make it along...

Just need to find some winter tyres for it now before they go up any further...

[daveknott5]

Congrats - that's not the one that was up for £11,500 in the west midlands is it? Looked a bargain! Lovely car the M3 CS.

[djon]

It was, managed another chuck off that price too. It needs rear springs and a bit of paint but nothing too £$£$ so I think I've done pretty well. Has new pilot sports on for now, just wondering whether to pick up some 18" and fit winters or just put 19" winters on the existing alloys. Loving having a car and a project again, how I survived so long I have no idea!

[HurryUpAndWait]

Very nice - used to have an Interlagos one myself. M-track mode is the way forward by the way!

[Big E 118]

djon said:

It was, managed another chuck off that price too. It needs rear springs and a bit of paint but nothing too £$£$ so I think I've done pretty well. Has new pilot sports on for now, just wondering whether to pick up some 18" and fit winters or just put 19" winters on the existing alloys. Loving having a car and a project again, how I survived so long I have no idea!

Hope you enjoy it! Mines an IB SMG car and each time I think about getting rid of it I go for an early morning hoon and think what could I replace it with that would actually be much better.

Less than £11k? That sounds pretty good, I paid £20k for mine 10 months ago!

[Gruber]

Lovely car and a very good deal! Well done sir!

My CS was Interlagos too. IMHO it is far and away the best colour for an e46 m3.

Enjoy!!

[JNW1]

djon said:

Morning all,

I finally picked up a manual interlagos blue over the weekend. I'm the 3rd owner and it's in pretty good shape. 82k, so highish miles but nearly all the toys and got a pretty good price on it. It needs a few things doing to bring it up to scratch but will still be well within my budget. I'm going to get the RTABs and front wishbones done as well just for piece of mind but overall I'm pretty chuffed with it so far. I've wanted one for ages so it's nice to have scratched the itch and actually own a car again! Shame I'm busy BTAP weekend and can't make it along...

Just need to find some winter tyres for it now before they go up any further...

Congratulations, got there in the end! I hope the car gives as much pleasure as my much loved and much missed CS gave me; outstanding cars IMO.

[Jarrod]

Hey congrats Jon, looks great, love that colour too. Winters are not that easy to find for 19s so it may be better getting some cheapish 18s and some winter treads. We'll have to have a mini meet after BTAP!

[Hughesie]

Djon are you BTAPPING ?

[djon]

Cheers guys, off for a drive to Takeley tomorrow.

I can't make BTAP this year, I'll take my fines at the next DD's

[MattOz]

Jon,

Great buy. I looked at that car before I ended up with mine. Mike is a true gent and the car drives very well, even if it does/did need a couple of sprngs. It certainly made 2 of the other CS's I looked at with less miles seem poor value. Enjoy your new purchase.

Matt

[dazren]

Nice purchase Jon.

[djon]

MattOz said:

Jon,

Great buy. I looked at that car before I ended up with mine. Mike is a true gent and the car drives very well, even if it does/did need a couple of sprngs. It certainly made 2 of the other CS's I looked at with less miles seem poor value. Enjoy your new purchase.

Matt

Thanks Matt. It did need a bit spending on it but there are the kind of things I don't mind spending on to know it's in good shape, and the price reflected this. It's definitely an honest car with honest wear and tear. Mike is a top bloke, hoping to catch up with him again for a beer in a few weeks when he's in London.

I've updated the SatNav so it's the current version (3D, new colours etc) and have fitted the shorter gearstick, makes a huge difference to how it drives. Spring and track rods being done as we speak, hopefully I'll be at Ace on Monday with the PN guys. Found some winter tyres/wheels for it too so all that's left (for now at least) is to retrim the steering wheel and the small parking dent on the rear wing.

[djon]

dazren said:

Nice purchase Jon.

Cheers Daz, shame not to make it to BTAP this year but hopefully catch up soon.

[MattOz]

Hi Jon,

All the CS's I drove had sticky steering wheels. I have a Karcher steamer and just steamed the dirt off. 3 micorfibres later the wheel was free of dirt and grime and was back to as new. Might be worth trying to clean it first?

Cheers
Matt

[JNW1]

MattOz said:

Hi Jon,

All the CS's I drove had sticky steering wheels. I have a Karcher steamer and just steamed the dirt off. 3 micorfibres later the wheel was free of dirt and grime and was back to as new. Might be worth trying to clean it first?

Cheers
Matt

Issue I had with the wheel on my CS wasn't so much dirt it was more that it just wore smooth and shiny with use. The best "solution" my dealer could suggest was a replacement wheel at (from memory) around £600!!

[djon]

olly22n said:

MattOz said:

Hi Jon,

All the CS's I drove had sticky steering wheels. I have a Karcher steamer and just steamed the dirt off. 3 micorfibres later the wheel was free of dirt and grime and was back to as new. Might be worth trying to clean it first?

Cheers
Matt

Raceglaze Alcantara cleaner is also quite good.

Cheers guys, I will definitely try those first then. Prob worth buying a steam cleaner for it, alcantara always goes like this after a while in my experience. Lambos were the worst, a Gallardo we ran was worse than mine after only 4000 miles.

Nearly tempted to buy driving gloves...

Joke.

[djon]

JNW1 said:

Issue I had with the wheel on my CS wasn't so much dirt it was more that it just wore smooth and shiny with use. The best "solution" my dealer could suggest was a replacement wheel at (from memory) around £600!!

Ouch. A full retrim is only about £120 IIRC from Jack Royal I think!

Thanks for your emails before buying too, a great help!

[JNW1]

djon said:

Ouch. A full retrim is only about £120 IIRC from Jack Royal I think!

Thanks for your emails before buying too, a great help!

No bother, just pleased you got sorted in the end!

Hadn't heard of Royal Steering Wheels but having looked at their website they look to do some excellent work; I know alcantara keeps the car original but if I'm honest I'd almost be inclined to get a retrim in leather from someone like them complete with M-sport stitching. IMO nice quality leather is just as nice to hold and will keep looking good for years whereas alcantara will just go shiny again no matter how hard you try to look after it; having said that, I used my CS as a daily driver so I guess an alcantara wheel in a car used more sparingly would keep its looks for longer!