E46 M3 Warranty

[48Valves]

Good Morning All,

I'm considering the purchase of a 2005 SMG Coupe with full main dealer history.

This will be my first venture into M car ownership after many years in Golfs.

I was intending to buy a B7 RS4 but the horror stories about repair bills and the increase in VAG cars with R badges being stolen has put me off.

So I now have my heart set on the M3.

I've done a bit of research and it seems the main issues are SMG pumps (£2.5k?), rear sub frames (£2k?) and suspension spring/bushes (£1.5) with the odd VANOS problem reported (£????).

I'm aware that consumables and servicing are relatively expensive, and that is fine, but is it worth paying out for an extended warranty to cover the issues mentioned above or any other potential large bills?

If so can anyone recommend a suitable warranty provider?

Thanks

[Stone Cold]

Any extended warranty worth having is likely to cost you £2000+, I was quoted £2500ish when my BMW AUC warranty expired in December. The other usual suspects were cheaper but none of them cover the SMG pump so unless it is daily driver and you need it I wouldn't bother and just put £200 away each month should the worse happen.

Servicing depends on whether you use BMW or an indy, from BMW it is around £250 for oil service, £700 Ins 1 and £900 Ins 2 give or take a few quid.

I have had mine for a year and whilst it is not a daily driver it is a pampered w/e toy I love it

[mark.c]

Depends on the mileage but I put one on my CSL and since the car is below 60k it costs about £55 a month, this is the full on cover but with £250 excess. I don't reckon it would cover the bootfloor but my main concerns were the SMG, diff and of course the engine. The first year was slightly more (80 ish) as the car was out of the network for a few years but came down the next year.

This is with BMW' s Mondial warranty which by all accounts is as good as it gets. Since its a monthly policy it won't jump when the car hits 60k like the annual one would.

[warren182]

Worth buying a car with the subframe already repaired (or recently inspected with proof). Also worth reading up on headgasket issues. Not exactly common, but given costs to repair, worth knowing the symptoms.

[mark.c]

warren182 said:

Worth buying a car with the subframe already repaired (or recently inspected with proof). Also worth reading up on headgasket issues. Not exactly common, but given costs to repair, worth knowing the symptoms.

I think people need to be careful here, with respect to a car that has had a new floor from BMW, yes it's good if the car has been repaired properly but I have seen several cars that have had such a repair and the difference in quality is shocking, one was so bad I thought it had been done by a back street garage on a Friday afternoon, not a BMW approved bodyshop. This is a very intrusive repair. The other thing to remember is that the floor panel that gets put in is not modified in any way shape or form to that of the one that has come out, and in the case of the car above was clearly stressed when it went in. I suspect it will crack again in short order.

In the case of my car, it doesn't have any cracks and is on its original floor, I actually prefer it this way to one that has had its guts cut out, I will inspect it every year and if it starts to crack then it will get the well documented localised repair plates/ resin without the need to cut its boot floor out. All my opinion of course and I hope it never cracks but who knows, I don't use launch control and if you've felt a flat out gear change in a CSL on S6, you could almost forgive the car for complaining!!

[48Valves]

Thanks for the replies.

Whatever I get will be my daily for a couple of years.

I've not seen anything about head gaskets so thanks for that.

I was convinced about getting 05 relatively low mileage car with full BMW History within my budge of £13k

But having done a bit more looking around the net today, I'm thinking maybe a higher mileage 03/04 car in the £8/10k range might be the best bet and saving the spare cash just in case.

There are a couple on autotrader with the pumps an subframe done at his price, but are private sales. I was hoping to get on from trade to p/x the wife's golf as I cant be doing with the hassle of selling it private.

Thanks Again

[John Laverick]

I have an '03 SMG with FBMWSH on 106k. I bought it for £7000 on 90k last year and it's been pretty much faultless.

I looked at cars from £6k right up to £15k but found there was massive variation in what you got for your money. Some of the £8k private cars were better than the £13k trade cars. Some of the private cars were very very shoddy.

I'd say simply buy on condition. Mine has had the boot floor done and the SMG has been faultless. I'd personally not buy right at the top of the market as you're paying a premium and getting no real benefit if it all goes wrong as I wouldn't trust an aftermarket warranty at all. The only exception would be buying from the BMW dealer network but the E46s are few and far between.

In 15,000 miles mine has had a set of Michelins all round (£800), a set of coil springs (£200 fitted), a throttle position sensor (£50 fitted) and two services at BMW (Oil and Inspection 1 (£800). Not bad in my book!!

[mark.c]

John Laverick said:

I have an '03 SMG with FBMWSH on 106k. I bought it for £7000 on 90k last year and it's been pretty much faultless.

I looked at cars from £6k right up to £15k but found there was massive variation in what you got for your money. Some of the £8k private cars were better than the £13k trade cars. Some of the private cars were very very shoddy.

I'd say simply buy on condition. Mine has had the boot floor done and the SMG has been faultless. I'd personally not buy right at the top of the market as you're paying a premium and getting no real benefit if it all goes wrong as I wouldn't trust an aftermarket warranty at all. The only exception would be buying from the BMW dealer network but the E46s are few and far between.

In 15,000 miles mine has had a set of Michelins all round (£800), a set of coil springs (£200 fitted), a throttle position sensor (£50 fitted) and two services at BMW (Oil and Inspection 1 (£800). Not bad in my book!!

Just to add, you don't have to buy a car from the BMW Dealer network to attain a BMW warranty.

[48Valves]

John Laverick said:

I have an '03 SMG with FBMWSH on 106k. I bought it for £7000 on 90k last year and it's been pretty much faultless.

I looked at cars from £6k right up to £15k but found there was massive variation in what you got for your money. Some of the £8k private cars were better than the £13k trade cars. Some of the private cars were very very shoddy.

I'd say simply buy on condition. Mine has had the boot floor done and the SMG has been faultless. I'd personally not buy right at the top of the market as you're paying a premium and getting no real benefit if it all goes wrong as I wouldn't trust an aftermarket warranty at all. The only exception would be buying from the BMW dealer network but the E46s are few and far between.

In 15,000 miles mine has had a set of Michelins all round (£800), a set of coil springs (£200 fitted), a throttle position sensor (£50 fitted) and two services at BMW (Oil and Inspection 1 (£800). Not bad in my book!!

That's not too bad at all. How is the SMG in the snow?

I've all but decided to buy in the £8/10k range, buy on condition with a good history and set some cash aside just in case.

As you say. Prices are all over the place which makes it quite difficult to compare one car to another, the ones I'm interested in are all a long way from where I live so I'll probably end up doing what I always do and buying the first one I go to look at.

[BroadWay81]

Have a look on the M3 cutters forum, some useful information there and also a cars for sale section, albeit private sales only, a lot of the M3's are enthusist owned and seem to be well sorted in terms of maintenance and history