E36 M3 - Am I being fussy?

[ICSD]

Having struggled to find a 3L I've expanded my horizons to also include an Evo and I really am struggling to find a good one!

All I want is a straight one with good history, no vanos problem or any of the other known problems and for around £6k. I'd even take one with a vanos problem if I could get it at the right price but for some reason I keep coming accross ones that have all of the known issues masked over to try and get a decent price without the owner having to pay for the work themselves! I just can't believe how many have AC that needs "regassing"! As if it's not common knowledge that the compressors are a weakness!

If anyone knows of a good one I'd be very interested - must be a coupe.

Cheers

[M3RMS]

I think that for that age of car it's always going to be difficult finding a mint one.

And the mint ones are probably staying with their owners for a while longer yet.

Just gotta keep your eyes open buddy and be ready to pounce when one comes up.

Good Luck
RS

[chippy17]

I too am searching for a nice E36, I have yet to find one that I really want, 'mint' is a strong word but good condition ones are out there, I have missed a couple of nice ones by dithering but I am happy to have a few little things that need doing...

[BillyB]

I am looking too!

It will be interesting to see if this one sells (at anything near asking price) if it is as good as the seller claims: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=1248...

[jac-in-a-box]

I too was recently in the same boat as those who're searching just now. It's a disheartning experience travelling to see those described as "mint" - wrong word entirely for cars of this age. Even after lengthy telephone calls with sellers who still maintained their car is the "best" you roll up to find a car full of faults.
I spent a fruitless 3 months and travelled around 2k miles viewing optimistically described examples within Scotland.

Contrary to the views expressed by someone else on recent similar thread; cars in Scotland are not less expensive, the earlier 3.0 non Evo's are not necessarily cheaper and it's not a buyers market for good, clean examples - the good 'uns don't hang around!

Sellers who know what they've got know full well the value of a good car, they're not usually in a rush to sell and they won't move a huge amount on price for the best examples.

While I'm in Scotland I had to travel to Sussex to find the car I wanted - a '93 3.0. Good spec, spot on history and a bunch of invoices that showed the previous owner wasn't afraid to spend money on the car.
Mine was owned by a 60 year old business man for 10 years who appeared to offset his running costs for the car against his business...kerbed alloys? Let's not bother with a re-furb but go straight to the dealer for a new set! Or not shy away from fitting a gasket worth a couple of quid to the a/c system that's allowing water to seep in and collect under the carpets - 12 hours labour for the dash to come out and a bill for work in excess of a grand!

I happily paid top dollar for it and after inspection by a reputable specialist I've secured an agreed value insurance policy for it for £6k.

There are some properly good cars out there, but they're rare and invariably owned by those who know what the cars worth is...if you find one I wouldn't hang around and haggle too long; you'll miss it!

[swtmerce]

I could be persuaded to sell mine for £6500 but not a penny less. It's a March 1998 Estoril Blue coupe that's been converted from SMG to 5 speed manual. Has done less than 68,000 miles and, rather than use the word mint, is in exceptionally good condition. Please feel free to PM/email me for more information.

Edited by swtmerce on Wednesday 16th September 12:51

[tjw110]

I'm selling my evo convertible, Sept 99 on a V plate, carbon black with modena electric leather (the last 200 made), everything works including the AC, it's clean, couple of stone chips, bit of wear on the seat bolsters, new vanos @ 78k, it's got 92k now, open to offers

[chippy17]

ok any help greatly appreciated

I have found what look like a nicely looked after 3.0 coupe, 110k FSH, bit of recent money spent, wheels ok one will deffo need refurbing, bit of rust on the boot lid below the number plate and a bit of bubbling on the front wing, will need sorting

what is fair price, it is with dealer?

thanks

[BillyB]

Around £4,000 based on what else is for sale

[pat_y]

Another of the 'currently looking' crowd here too. I'm however looking at the lower end of the market circa 3-4K. Seems to be that prices have picked up a bit in the last 6 - 9 months for good spec cars, everyone seems to want black or estoril.

[swtmerce]

chippy17 said:

what is fair price, it is with dealer?

thanks

It all depends on what work has been done. For example, has the vanos been serviced (change of seals and o-rings), has the constant pressure valve been changed, how’s the fan clutch, how’s the water pump, how’s the calipers? All these things are items that come up often with M3s.

[chippy17]

BillyB said:

Around £4,000 based on what else is for sale

ta

[jac-in-a-box]

chippy17 said:

ok any help greatly appreciated

I have found what look like a nicely looked after 3.0 coupe, 110k FSH, bit of recent money spent, wheels ok one will deffo need refurbing, bit of rust on the boot lid below the number plate and a bit of bubbling on the front wing, will need sorting

what is fair price, it is with dealer?

thanks

On what has the "bit of recent money spent" been used for? At that sort of mileage your wallet could suffer for a suspension rebuild - shocks, mounts, springs, lower front arms, diff and carrier mounting bushes, trailing arm bushes, steeing joints ect; that'll cost you the thick end of a couple of grand in parts alone.

Air-con condensors, driers and pipework are another weak area. Water pumps, thermostats and radiators are likely to need replacing soon too.

Cats, lambda sensors, various engine sensors - there isn't anything cheap on M cars and if it's aftermarket those parts won't last nearly as long as OE parts. Clutches and flywheels...and so on!

You really need to do your homework before buying - if there's a decent specialist nearby it'll be worth the expense of an inspection to avoid tears down the line.

If you're hunting - good luck!

[chippy17]

swtmerce said:

chippy17 said:

what is fair price, it is with dealer?

thanks

It all depends on what work has been done. For example, has the vanos been serviced (change of seals and o-rings), has the constant pressure valve been changed, how’s the fan clutch, how’s the water pump, how’s the calipers? All these things are items that come up often with M3s.

excellent list thanks

[bazking69]

They are about, but you have to sift through all the rubbish to find them.
You'll know when you find the gem you have been waiting for.

[chippy17]

jac-in-a-box said:

chippy17 said:

ok any help greatly appreciated

I have found what look like a nicely looked after 3.0 coupe, 110k FSH, bit of recent money spent, wheels ok one will deffo need refurbing, bit of rust on the boot lid below the number plate and a bit of bubbling on the front wing, will need sorting

what is fair price, it is with dealer?

thanks

On what has the "bit of recent money spent" been used for? At that sort of mileage your wallet could suffer for a suspension rebuild - shocks, mounts, springs, lower front arms, diff and carrier mounting bushes, trailing arm bushes, steeing joints ect; that'll cost you the thick end of a couple of grand in parts alone.

Air-con condensors, driers and pipework are another weak area. Water pumps, thermostats and radiators are likely to need replacing soon too.

Cats, lambda sensors, various engine sensors - there isn't anything cheap on M cars and if it's aftermarket those parts won't last nearly as long as OE parts. Clutches and flywheels...and so on!

You really need to do your homework before buying - if there's a decent specialist nearby it'll be worth the expense of an inspection to avoid tears down the line.

If you're hunting - good luck!

thanks for this, I am finding out re recent money...

[Stevo///M3]

Best of luck finding a good'un - there are some still out there!

Re: travelling 1000s of miles to see optimistically described cars, I think I saved myself shed loads of time and expense by holding video calls with sellers - i.e. I check with them verbally that they have a video-enabled phone (most either have this on their phones or have access to a friend/family member with such a phone) and then we arrange a time for our video call, at which time I'm asking for fairly detailed walk around shots of the car. The images are too fuzzy when on the move generally so I just ask them to show me the bits I'm interested in - close up of the wheels/tyres and wheel arches, specific parts of the engine bay, show roof working if it is a convertible, seat leather condition and if your seller and you have decent quality phones you can start it up and (whilst you're never going to get perfect results) you can probably hear very serious problems straight away. You select the bits you are interested in, ask the seller to show you them. You're only trying to avoid wasting both your and his/her time after all.

Before you all jump in!!, I'm not suggesting you can identify a minter by this method - I think I'm more saying that you might save yourself a few miles and time by eliminating obvious dogs. I guess you could achieve the same by getting the seller to post a video of their car on Utube but you could easily doctor this with paintshop or something similar I suppose. You can't really fake a live video call however (although someone will doubtless say you can!).

Just trying to be helpful. Does anyone else do this?

[chippy17]

Stevo///M3 said:

Best of luck finding a good'un - there are some still out there!

Re: travelling 1000s of miles to see optimistically described cars, I think I saved myself shed loads of time and expense by holding video calls with sellers - i.e. I check with them verbally that they have a video-enabled phone (most either have this on their phones or have access to a friend/family member with such a phone) and then we arrange a time for our video call, at which time I'm asking for fairly detailed walk around shots of the car. The images are too fuzzy when on the move generally so I just ask them to show me the bits I'm interested in - close up of the wheels/tyres and wheel arches, specific parts of the engine bay, show roof working if it is a convertible, seat leather condition and if your seller and you have decent quality phones you can start it up and (whilst you're never going to get perfect results) you can probably hear very serious problems straight away. You select the bits you are interested in, ask the seller to show you them. You're only trying to avoid wasting both your and his/her time after all.

Before you all jump in!!, I'm not suggesting you can identify a minter by this method - I think I'm more saying that you might save yourself a few miles and time by eliminating obvious dogs. I guess you could achieve the same by getting the seller to post a video of their car on Utube but you could easily doctor this with paintshop or something similar I suppose. You can't really fake a live video call however (although someone will doubtless say you can!).

Just trying to be helpful. Does anyone else do this?

well he has sent me images of all the bad bits (I have taken up a lot of his time and he has been nothing but patient, he is a dealer) I have just been on the phone to him and he has gone through what has been done to the car in the last three years;

most epxensive year was 2007 over £3k spent on things such as control arms, rear axle mounts and rubber, discs and pads and shoes, full service, rocker cover gaskets and what he thinks looks like a vanos service as it says bolts and gaskets (says there is no noise from the vanos unit), 'pulley v belt' I think, possibly air con related

2008 clutch slave cylinder, rear pads and general servicing

2009 general servicing

there are other items obviously but I could hardly ask the guy to list every single item

has receipts going back to approx 2003, not much before then but fully stamped book the usual mix but mainly BMW before 2003ish

anyone out there who can do me a reg check?!

[_Neal_]

If he's a dealer he's likely to be subscribe to an HPI check-type service - get him to print out and send/scan and email you the full search results, including the printed date of the search

[chippy17]

_Neal_ said:

If he's a dealer he's likely to be subscribe to an HPI check-type service - get him to print out and send/scan and email you the full search results, including the printed date of the search

thanks