Help and advice looking to purchase an E46 M3 cab.

[MPETT]

Hi there. I'm about to buy an E46 M3 cab 2003 with 33K. She is a cat D and the chap wants £13K. The seller said that the previous owner said it was vandals damage and a full repaint was required. The paint looks very good, so that info is probably right. I've done an HPI and the cat d is showing up.


I went to see the car tonight and drove it. A couple of issues caused me to put a desposit, but not agree a price for now until I know a few more facts. This is where I'm hoping the PH community can come into its own Here are my notes. Can you help answer some of these questions and or give advice please?

Rear bumper doesn’t look perfectly fitted. May have been rear ended but no sign of damage to any panels or the boot floor probably very light impact or a reversing accident. Needs repositioning/checking. The Parking sensors do not appear to be working, could have been the cause of the accident? Need to check that they are not simply turned off (user manual not present to check).

The glove box catch is broken. Needs checking/replacing. How much is this?

There is only one key. How much is a new one going to cost and how to I buy one?

The owner went to demonstrate that by pressing and holding the unlock button on the key fob that the windows and the hood should lower when pressed and held down. It didn’t work at all. If this feature is not working/it is intermittent, what does this point to? Is there a big cost to fix?
The SMG gear changes appeared to be lethargic. I have not experienced one of these gearboxes before. I now know that the rocker switch behind the gear lever is the gear change severity adjuster. I didn’t adjust it which was silly, but the chap said it adjusted how long it held onto the revs. It seemed to take 0.5 - 1.00 seconds in the 2nd lowest setting. Is this about right? Is it worth getting someone who knows these gearboxes to have a look? Obviously, repairing an SMG gearbox would seriously affect my offer. If necessary, how much should I reduce the offer by to cover the possibility that the clutch is knackered, or the SMG hydrolic/control unit is not as it should be?
When the gearbox was in 0 and I turned the engine off and took the key out, it beeped at me. Why? If I left it in gear it did not beep!?
I need to double check with Styner SC that the sevice at 30000 was a inspection ½ and not called a service but was in fact a check....

Thanks for your advice
Martin

[cringle]

first things first...pretty much all the cat d's on autotrader will say vandal damage and its usually tosh..a respray/odd mirror replacement/ding will rarely write off a car thats worth over £15000. Its also worth checking out when the car was written off, because the earlier it was written off (when the car was worth more), the more severe the damage and subsequent repair costs. My guess would be it was in some sort of accident, after all it is a car with 340 odd BHP. The SMG gearbox is quite lethargic in the lower settings, when you've lived with it for a bit you dont tend to notice as much. Its certainly not on a par with th twin clutch gearboxes about these days. Not sure about the glovebox lid tbh, but may suggest the airbags been replaced, or it may have been forced open at some point. Rear parking sensors, again probably due to rear damage and not hooked up properly, or possible damage inside. M3's come with a variety of customisable settings, I have a list for mine somewhere, these include the roof/windows operating from the fob, the sensitivity of the auto wipers, drive-away self locking etc, nothing to worry about as the dealer can programme these things as you wish. And the car should be switched off in Drive mode ie stick in the middle position, this leaves the clutch engaged when parked and will prevent the car from rolling similar to the Park position on a standard auto.

If it was me, I'd personally steer clear for the money, its not particularly cheap, I'd get a mint one with slightly higher miles if it was me, you cant buy peace of mind later. Also, the M3 is a high performance car with very finely tuned settings, rear drive with a diff and big wheels etc all need to be bang on for the full M-car experience. I can imagine one thats had a knock to possibly never feel right ever again. At the very least, shell out £150 for an AA used car examination, that should give you a better idea. and drive a few other examples too! Im in Stockport if you're nearby and would be more than happy to give u a spin. Good luck!

Cringle

[MPETT]

You are a LEGEND! That's the most comprehensive reply I think I have ever had on here. I was thinking the same thing about the righting off of a 3 year old car! Sound advice all round. I think I'll go down the AA route and hopefully go back to the seller armed with more knowledge. I'm near Coventry but thanks for the offer on the drive;). A guy at work has one, so I'll see if he'll show mr what his drives like at lunch.

Thanks again!!

[darreni]

That car sounds like a lot of grief for the money.

A litte extra gets you a sraight, mint car with the proper BMW warranty



http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1686131.htm

[MPETT]

Had a racing team garage do a full undercarriage check, looked at the rear bumper and went for a drive to check the SMG 2 gearbox. The result was no damage and all original. They did find a tiny oil leak from the rocker cover gasket and a small leak from the input/drive shaft seal on the diff. So I negociated down to £12,400. Am getting her delivered on Thursday! Am now going to have to get on the case and sell my Tuscan!! http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1999294.htm Anyone tempted or know anyone looking for a TVR??

Just goes to show that sometimes there are cat d's out there that have had minimal damage.

I was going to ask BMW to send round a blank service book to all the dealers involved with past services to try to recove some of the history (officialy). Has anyone done this before?

Cheers,
Martin