Thinking of buying a e90 m3

[SBN]

These m3 saloons are fairly rare with a max budget of £23k and most are manuals which begs the question is the manual any good?

For anyone with a manual m3 can you please give me your experiences and living with a manual.

My journey to work is a 30 mile round trip where I have a choice of A and B roads, with the occaisional 150 mile trip round the m25 and m4. I have an auto 330i at the moment which is great but I do miss the manual gear change,.

Keen to find out seating position for pedals as the e46 seemed off centre at times, clutch weight and bite, and the old 1st to 2nd in heavy traffic

I know I can just drive one but I'm picky in spec and the only one I found is 100 miles away... All the ones on the doorstep are not what I want so would be waiting the garages time and may be branded a test pilot...?

[Schermerhorn]

Stick it out till the end of the year, DCT's will fall into your price bracket and you'll probably have a bit more money saved up by then too.

[dasherdiablo1]

If you don't test drive a few how do you know you are getting a good car when you go to look at the one with the right spec?

Get out there and try a few- that's what main dealers are for!

[Wills2]

The manual is fine, clutch isn't heavy and pedals are not offset to any great degree. The gearchange itself is OK but not great.

[DazNich]

Stretch your budget a bit and buy mine, open to offers!!

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[GMpower]

DCT is the way. You don't have to stretch your budget to far, An 08 plate DCT @£24,995

[SBN]

I have heard dct is the option to go for, I have dsg in a vrs and loath it as in stop and start traffic it can be horrifically snappy and jolt like. Is this a similar view in the BMW version?

[SBN]

DazNich said:

Stretch your budget a bit and buy mine, open to offers!!

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Nice car but I have a part ex and your not a little over budget your quite a way over budget lol

[Wills2]

SBN said:

I have heard dct is the option to go for, I have dsg in a vrs and loath it as in stop and start traffic it can be horrifically snappy and jolt like. Is this a similar view in the BMW version?

No in my experience it's smooth but it is not without its issues, three point turns on a hill for example as there is a slight delay in engaging 1st from R and vice versa which can leave you rolling forwards or backwards whilst you seemingly press fresh air with your right foot.

[cerb4.5lee]

Wills2 said:

The manual is fine, clutch isn't heavy and pedals are not offset to any great degree. The gearchange itself is OK but not great.

I mirror this too, at low speed the box is a little clunky but when driven with gusto the gearbox is fine in my experience & unlike my old Z4M you can execute quick first to second changes which I like.

I think it's nice to experience a manual gearbox coupled to a high revving V8 while we still can...don't buckle to the modern day DCT fad...enjoy being able to drive a car & interact with it...

The DCT is awesome just not for me personally.

[SBN]

No hill hold feature then so it's back to hand brake hill starts?

Is it potentially big bill territory like dsg is as the Internet is rife with massive dsg bills... This could be down to the fact dsg is more common across the vag group than dct for bmw

[Wills2]

There is a hill hold on the DCT (can't remember if the manual has one I think it does) but it doesn't engage (for me anyway) whilst going from reverse to 1st and vice versa, I end up rolling back down my drive most mornings.

[whp1983]

Love my manual and went out of my way to find one albeit in coupe form. Clutch is not heavy, pedals nicely spaced. 1st to 2nd marginally clunky (I do mean marginally if we're being picky).

That said I don't spend much time in traffic. If I did spend a lot of time in traffic I prob wouldn't use m3 for commute, DCT or otherwise!

Try both, but swapping cogs manually is part of the enjoyment for me.

[JapFreak786]

There is an 08 E90 DCT for £21k on Autotrader right now, and over on the gtr.co.uk forum another E90 M3 with DCT in blue for £22k.

Both with black leathers and clean history I believe, keeping an eye on the market as I want one in a few months!

[rossb]

got an e90 manual - done 18k miles in it - love it - can't really see what i would replace it with - go try one - and as soon as you buy - do oem exhaust mod. if you like changing gear/double de-clutching etc you will get on fine - not a bad box. my manual car has a hill start feature - assume they all do. bought mine deliberately with manual box - because it is the last analogue naturally aspirated screamer with manual box - flappy paddles and turbos do not interest me - but it is all down to personal preference. you need to test drive both to see what floats your boat - oh and DO buy BMW comprehensive warranty if it does not come with one

[t8cmf]

To the OP,

If you do go for a manual, an absolute must of a modification is the F10 M5 gear knob which is £100. The original E9X M3 gear knob is tall and rubbery which translates to an awful gear change in my opinion. The M5 gear knob is shorter and has a solid metal shaft which gives you a much more direct and solid feeling gear change. The difference is night and day. It comes with the same electrical connection for the illumination. The only work required is to peel the leather gaiter off the original M5 gaiter frame and to use impact adhesive to glue it to your M3 frame. It's very easy to do.

I've spent thousands on my E92 M3 installing CIC retrofits, LCI LED rear light cluster, Dension install, etc but by far the best mod I've done is the M5 gear knob. It's brilliant.

[SBN]

Thanks for the comments.... Looks like a manual gear box it is then! Found one in budget with a sunroof and loud speaker set up.

[cerb4.5lee]

SBN said:

Thanks for the comments.... Looks like a manual gear box it is then! Found one in budget with a sunroof and loud speaker set up.

Great stuff! I miss having a sunroof loads as I am pretty old school & the loud speaker set up is a must, I have the standard set up & it's nothing to write home about.

Keep us all updated.

[Wills2]

HK is good (a lot better than the pile of cack HK in the e46) but for the real deal I've been told you need the individual set up.

[SBN]

Ok so this one has the loudspeaker upgrade over the standard speaker setup. I have seen hk mentioned and the individual range what's the difference?