Looking to buy e90 m3

[davud]

Hi all,

This is my first post but I've followed this forum with interest for ages. I'm looking to buy an e90 m3 and wondered if you think this car is value for money:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

This will hopefully mark my return to m3 ownership after 5 years. I previously owned an e36 convertible before swapping to an r129 shape sl500.

It has full BMW service history. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Davud

[ecain63]

Confusing advert. 10k in 4 1/2 years? At that price?

Eddie

[davud]

Hi Eddie so if genuine then a good price I deduct? I would have it inspected of course.

[ecain63]

Id say its a good price but im no expert on the E9x M3's. The age is obviously a factor in the price but at 10k its only just run in. I'd be keen to do an HPI before i went any further. Im sure some more experienced M3ers will be along in a moment to help out.

[davud]

Cheers Eddie, the car is hpi cleared. You're right the age is a factor but I'm balancing that against the mileage. It doesn't seem to have EDC but the way I see it, it's one less thing to go wrong. All the best.

[Slarty Bartfast]

If its any help that car is fairly local to me and I would be willing to have a quick look if it's any help? It has been up for sale for quite a while, at least 2 months at a guess.

[davud]

Thanks so much. I would really appreciate if you would have a look as I'm in Reading and it's a 150 mile trip each way. They may be prepared to accept an offer as its been on sale for a while; I noticed it on auto trader about 5 weeks ago. I've also Asked if they would p-ex my sl500. If the car was ok and I could reach terms, I would happily drop off a nice bottle of red for your trouble.

[pjv997]

Recent discussions with two of my local dealers are that non EDC cars are very hard to shift (I have just p.ex'd mine which did have EDC) and on that basis I would be wary - it may explain why it hasn't sold despite the low mileage.

There are bound to be some very low mileage cars around so that wouldn't bother me much, but the price doesn't look great for the year. For example, my manual, EDC saloon in same colour combo is 2009 and is up for £29,995 at local dealer with AUC warranty at £29,995 I think. Admittedly on 36 or 37K miles.

[NIIKME]

pjv997 said:

Recent discussions with two of my local dealers are that non EDC cars are very hard to shift (I have just p.ex'd mine which did have EDC) and on that basis I would be wary - it may explain why it hasn't sold despite the low mileage.

There are bound to be some very low mileage cars around so that wouldn't bother me much, but the price doesn't look great for the year. For example, my manual, EDC saloon in same colour combo is 2009 and is up for £29,995 at local dealer with AUC warranty at £29,995 I think. Admittedly on 36 or 37K miles.

Not the one at Barons is it! How do you find the M5 compares? I test drove one and found it to feel quite heavy by comparison.

[pjv997]

Yes that was my car.

You are right, the M5 does feel a more heavy car and will not be as good as the M3 to hustle along a B road. But the weight also brings a much better ride - it is much more comfortable (of course it is also a bigger car which is what I need).

Straight line performance is on another level to the M3, with less need to threaten the red-line to get inter-galactic performance (which maybe is a bad thing)

But still early days for me with the M5 - need a few months to form a final view.

[davud]

Hi guys so some further details. The car definitely doesn't have EDC but that isn't a major issue for me. It is due a service now and they will have it fully serviced by the local BMW dealership (Cooper Norwich). That's a plus. MOT is until 31 Jan 2013. That's a plus. There is no tax on the car but the dealer may add 6 months if the service charge is reasonable. That's a minus. Apparently the car has been reduced from 27995 to 26995 but it still feels around £1000 - £1500 too much to me. I think £25,500 is probably about right given the age of the car and lack of EDC. Any thoughts?

[JNW1]

davud said:

Hi guys so some further details. The car definitely doesn't have EDC but that isn't a major issue for me. It is due a service now and they will have it fully serviced by the local BMW dealership (Cooper Norwich). That's a plus. MOT is until 31 Jan 2013. That's a plus. There is no tax on the car but the dealer may add 6 months if the service charge is reasonable. That's a minus. Apparently the car has been reduced from 27995 to 26995 but it still feels around £1000 - £1500 too much to me. I think £25,500 is probably about right given the age of the car and lack of EDC. Any thoughts?

I agree with your view on price; yes it's low mileage but, wheels aside, it sounds like a standard spec car and looking forward a year or two that will count against it when you come to sell (and hence to minimise depreciation you need to be careful not to overpay just because it's only done 10k miles!). Also, I might be missing it but I can't see any mention in the advert of a service history? On a mileage basis it probably wouldn't need one but I'm sure some items need looking at on a time basis and I reckon it should have seen a dealer at least three times by now (with the first visit being for the all important running-in service at around 1200 miles). If there's no sign of a service history that would certainly put me off, especially if the car's had multiple owners; plenty more fish in the sea!

[davud]

Hi spoke with the dealer and it has a full BMW service history. break in service at 1200 miles and then 2 services since then. 3 services in total. I'm going to go back to the dealer with my proposal based on the above. thanks for the input guys. It's really appreciated.