E46 m3: buying one
Discussion
I seem to be fairly decided on buying an e46 within a month or two (I have another car so can shop around).
My current thoughts are:
- dark coloured (eg non silver) manual coupes under 100k miles seem to go for between 8-10k
- servicing, tyres and fuel will be pricey, but the engine is fairly robust on these cars
- I love 6 cylinder engines and the e46 m3 engine is a gem!
The one issue that seems to come up is the subframe issue - is this really that common, and how much would it cost to fix independently of BMW?
Are there any other common issues on the e46 I should watch out for?
Should I budget for a suspension refresh and roughly how much would this cost if so?
Thanks!
My current thoughts are:
- dark coloured (eg non silver) manual coupes under 100k miles seem to go for between 8-10k
- servicing, tyres and fuel will be pricey, but the engine is fairly robust on these cars
- I love 6 cylinder engines and the e46 m3 engine is a gem!
The one issue that seems to come up is the subframe issue - is this really that common, and how much would it cost to fix independently of BMW?
Are there any other common issues on the e46 I should watch out for?
Should I budget for a suspension refresh and roughly how much would this cost if so?
Thanks!
ady702 said:
Have a read here
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=285...
http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=2593...
Fantastic thanks! The fun beginshttp://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=285...
http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=2593...
Baz Tench said:
Bought mine on 126k miles and it's showing 131000 now (light use).
I purposely bought a higher mileage example as it appeared more genuine in my opinion.
No problems so far
There's lots around with dubiously low mileage. I purposely bought a higher mileage example as it appeared more genuine in my opinion.
No problems so far
To OP... if there's anything fishy about the miles on one you're looking at....walk away - let your head rule your heart.
I would want MOT recorded mileage history and/or a call to BMW's 0900 number that backs up the mileage at each BMW dealer vs the service book, before parting with cash. Essentially, you just want something from a third party to give you comfort that the service book isn't totally made up to fit the mileage.....
Oa,
I am about to sell mine. I love it but am ready to try something else.
It's got 105k and will have a new clutch from bmw tomorrow. All the work you speak of has been done and I plan to advertise it tonight on here if I can organize some photos......
If you pm me, I'll send you the text of the ad
Cheers
Trev
I am about to sell mine. I love it but am ready to try something else.
It's got 105k and will have a new clutch from bmw tomorrow. All the work you speak of has been done and I plan to advertise it tonight on here if I can organize some photos......
If you pm me, I'll send you the text of the ad
Cheers
Trev
TrickyTrevM5 said:
Oa,
I am about to sell mine. I love it but am ready to try something else.
It's got 105k and will have a new clutch from bmw tomorrow. All the work you speak of has been done and I plan to advertise it tonight on here if I can organize some photos......
If you pm me, I'll send you the text of the ad
Cheers
Trev
could you PM please as wellI am about to sell mine. I love it but am ready to try something else.
It's got 105k and will have a new clutch from bmw tomorrow. All the work you speak of has been done and I plan to advertise it tonight on here if I can organize some photos......
If you pm me, I'll send you the text of the ad
Cheers
Trev
Thank you both for the responses, it's slightly too early for me to be in touch at the moment - I will be ready with the space and time within a month. As with my last car search once I am ready to move, I'll move quickly, but I like to have done the groundwork first in terms of what to look for.
The interesting thing is that the insurance is eminently more reasonable than a year ago, by a substantial factor even from my existing insurer.
Clearly there's a need to be careful but hopefully by doing the research and buying from a known forum member I can at least reduce the risk of a "big mistake" (though of course a decade old car with substantial performance is more likely to throw chunky bills).
I have no issue with higher mile cars if the history, work, and condition works out - my current mercedes is on 160k.
Many thanks once again and to the posters above I have been / will be in touch. I've certainly firmed up my knowledge over the last few days, and it seems that what for a long time has been a target car of mine - memories of a passenger ride in San Fran and of driving a z4m just draw me back to that engine
The interesting thing is that the insurance is eminently more reasonable than a year ago, by a substantial factor even from my existing insurer.
Clearly there's a need to be careful but hopefully by doing the research and buying from a known forum member I can at least reduce the risk of a "big mistake" (though of course a decade old car with substantial performance is more likely to throw chunky bills).
I have no issue with higher mile cars if the history, work, and condition works out - my current mercedes is on 160k.
Many thanks once again and to the posters above I have been / will be in touch. I've certainly firmed up my knowledge over the last few days, and it seems that what for a long time has been a target car of mine - memories of a passenger ride in San Fran and of driving a z4m just draw me back to that engine
By the way, new clutch in the M3 makes all the difference - I cant believe I drove it as long as I did withe a spongey left pedal.
Think i'll keep it a wee while, but when I sell it, it will be for around 8.5k.
knowing how i flip around, that may be on monday if I see a nice E39 on the web....
Think i'll keep it a wee while, but when I sell it, it will be for around 8.5k.
knowing how i flip around, that may be on monday if I see a nice E39 on the web....
If you get one now without the subframe repair its coming to the end of the 10 year guarantee from BMW where they do it for free so buy an early one with it done or a late one without but with some cover under the BMW guarantee. I'd be looking for a discount on an early one without the repair. All said I'm not sure what the stats are on incidence rates so I may be paranoid
TrickyTrevM5 said:
By the way, new clutch in the M3 makes all the difference - I cant believe I drove it as long as I did withe a spongey left pedal.
Think i'll keep it a wee while, but when I sell it, it will be for around 8.5k.
knowing how i flip around, that may be on monday if I see a nice E39 on the web....
Your car sounds excellent my only worry is the resale given the +100k mile mileage down the line - not a concern for me given the work done, but I know how people think. Think i'll keep it a wee while, but when I sell it, it will be for around 8.5k.
knowing how i flip around, that may be on monday if I see a nice E39 on the web....
Plus I'm now thinking of bottling it and going c43 amg... Funds arranged for mid August though!
The c43 is not bad at all. It's a lot slower off the line than the e46 but a good car none the less. It makes a nice v8 rumble too. I will hang on for a great e39 before I decide to sell the m3 and at the moment, none fit the bill. I tried an Audi rs6 which was immense but heartless, and the cls55 which again was great but lacked involvement of the m-cars.
If a good m5 doesn't come up over the next few weeks, it will be September for me due to holidays etc. Munich legends have since one but its far too expensive in my view. If it was 2 grand lees, I probably would have bought it by now!
frustrating though isn't it?
Good luck. If you are near Hertfordshire, you're welcome to give mine a look over or a test drive.
If a good m5 doesn't come up over the next few weeks, it will be September for me due to holidays etc. Munich legends have since one but its far too expensive in my view. If it was 2 grand lees, I probably would have bought it by now!
frustrating though isn't it?
Good luck. If you are near Hertfordshire, you're welcome to give mine a look over or a test drive.
TrickyTrevM5 said:
The c43 is not bad at all. It's a lot slower off the line than the e46 but a good car none the less. It makes a nice v8 rumble too. I will hang on for a great e39 before I decide to sell the m3 and at the moment, none fit the bill. I tried an Audi rs6 which was immense but heartless, and the cls55 which again was great but lacked involvement of the m-cars.
If a good m5 doesn't come up over the next few weeks, it will be September for me due to holidays etc. Munich legends have since one but its far too expensive in my view. If it was 2 grand lees, I probably would have bought it by now!
frustrating though isn't it?
Good luck. If you are near Hertfordshire, you're welcome to give mine a look over or a test drive.
Many thanks for the offer, your car will make a great buy (if I don't buy it myself!). If a good m5 doesn't come up over the next few weeks, it will be September for me due to holidays etc. Munich legends have since one but its far too expensive in my view. If it was 2 grand lees, I probably would have bought it by now!
frustrating though isn't it?
Good luck. If you are near Hertfordshire, you're welcome to give mine a look over or a test drive.
The v8 rumble of the c43 is what attracts me. The w124 I have t the moment is very comfortable in traffic and I fear I will lose this with the M3. At the moment I can only have 1 car, but at some point I could switch to 2 and put a lightweight alongside it.
I don't have any interest in the audis for some reason!
Terminator X said:
Is the sub-frame really a problem on a high %age of cars? My BIL is a MOT tester and has yet to see a single problem M3.
TX.
As I said above, mine is showing 131000 now. I got paranoid after reading so much about it on the net, so I had the rear sub-frame inspected at Autokraft about a year ago.TX.
No cracks as yet.
Terminator X said:
Is the sub-frame really a problem on a high %age of cars? My BIL is a MOT tester and has yet to see a single problem M3.
TX.
To check properly you ideally need to drop the subframe which obviously wouldn't happen when being MOT'd. Even when the cracks are visible they are often only tiny to start with and could be easily missed, even if the MOT tester was thorough. Mine went through an MOT fine with cracks and I do think my MOT guy is decent.TX.
There are tons of threads on the problem but no one knows the % of cars involved. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy 10+ year old M3 without having it inspected by an indy who knows what he is looking for. My local indy reckons more than 50% that he sees have cracks and he doesn't repair them so has no reason to lie.
Terminator X said:
Is the sub-frame really a problem on a high %age of cars? My BIL is a MOT tester and has yet to see a single problem M3.
TX.
^ The E46 M3 is now getting to the age that if I were buying one, I'd personally prefer to find one that had actually had the repair done already. TX.
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