My E92 BMW M3 in Space Grey
Discussion
Have been wanting one of these for a few year’s now, main points of appeal for me were the engine (of course!), handling, looks and the ability to play both everyday car role and fast, fun and occasional track day car too. Took quite a while to find the car for me that ticked all of my boxes:
- DCT
- EDC
- 09> onwards model (updated I-Drive)
- Not black!
- under 70K miles
- Around £18K
Sold my previous car, Z4 3.0L which I had owned for almost 4 years in early march and luckily this M3 came up almost at the same time, although it was over budget it had all the bits I wanted and was fairly low miles at 60k with full service history. I even managed to get in touch with one of the former owners through PH when I posted the advert in the BMW section of the forum. He provided some useful insight in to the car’s history and gave me reassurance it was well cared for in the past!
Unfortunately the car was located 230 miles away from me in Preston so it was a bit of a risk, but I put a holding deposit down and a very kind friend drove me up to view / purchase the car! Thankfully it was everything I had expected and more. Bodywork (Space Grey) was in excellent condition and on the test drive it performed flawlessly! Needless to say, I made my mind up quickly and was soon driving the 230 miles back down to London in the pouring rain. I’ll never forget the first time I actually went full throttle through the gears (coming off the M6 toll booth) ! The noise of that V8 howling to 8,300rpm and the relentless acceleration as it thumps through the gears on the fastest upshift mode was incredible.. Well and truly smitten!
Have since covered around 400 miles and starting to get a real feel for the car now. I’ve setup the M button to my liking - Fastest shift mode, MDM handling, Power button on and EDC set to 1st level of stiffness. It’s great having that at your fingertip for when you want to have a bit of fun. Otherwise, the auto mode on the gearbox is perfectly fine for everyday use, if a bit dim witted at times. Handling wise, it is light years ahead of my previous Z4.. it is sooooo good to have an LSD again and combined with the MDM mode makes it a doddle to slide around a little without it getting too far out of line and burning up tires! Planning to get it on track mid July at either my local (Brands) or quite fancy trying out Abingdon airfield circuit where I can properly explore the limits of the car.
Things to do on the car. It’s going for an oil service and general check up at Cooper BMW this week. Other than that, I may do the ‘2 pipe mod’ to the exhaust back box to liberate a bit more sound from the V8!
Can any one tell me how I go about updating the i-drive to the latest software including BMW apps?
Anyway, time for some photos…
- DCT
- EDC
- 09> onwards model (updated I-Drive)
- Not black!
- under 70K miles
- Around £18K
Sold my previous car, Z4 3.0L which I had owned for almost 4 years in early march and luckily this M3 came up almost at the same time, although it was over budget it had all the bits I wanted and was fairly low miles at 60k with full service history. I even managed to get in touch with one of the former owners through PH when I posted the advert in the BMW section of the forum. He provided some useful insight in to the car’s history and gave me reassurance it was well cared for in the past!
Unfortunately the car was located 230 miles away from me in Preston so it was a bit of a risk, but I put a holding deposit down and a very kind friend drove me up to view / purchase the car! Thankfully it was everything I had expected and more. Bodywork (Space Grey) was in excellent condition and on the test drive it performed flawlessly! Needless to say, I made my mind up quickly and was soon driving the 230 miles back down to London in the pouring rain. I’ll never forget the first time I actually went full throttle through the gears (coming off the M6 toll booth) ! The noise of that V8 howling to 8,300rpm and the relentless acceleration as it thumps through the gears on the fastest upshift mode was incredible.. Well and truly smitten!
Have since covered around 400 miles and starting to get a real feel for the car now. I’ve setup the M button to my liking - Fastest shift mode, MDM handling, Power button on and EDC set to 1st level of stiffness. It’s great having that at your fingertip for when you want to have a bit of fun. Otherwise, the auto mode on the gearbox is perfectly fine for everyday use, if a bit dim witted at times. Handling wise, it is light years ahead of my previous Z4.. it is sooooo good to have an LSD again and combined with the MDM mode makes it a doddle to slide around a little without it getting too far out of line and burning up tires! Planning to get it on track mid July at either my local (Brands) or quite fancy trying out Abingdon airfield circuit where I can properly explore the limits of the car.
Things to do on the car. It’s going for an oil service and general check up at Cooper BMW this week. Other than that, I may do the ‘2 pipe mod’ to the exhaust back box to liberate a bit more sound from the V8!
Can any one tell me how I go about updating the i-drive to the latest software including BMW apps?
Anyway, time for some photos…
Edited by Jez m on Friday 2nd November 10:00
Edited by Jez m on Sunday 16th June 11:23
Looks stunning! Was just watching a YT vid of a Space Grey car with two pipe mod and that exact spoiler - really like the 'kick' of the spoiler, is it a BMW item?? Currently looking at these myself no thanks to several recent PH members threads and looks like you might be joining 'that' group now lol!!!!!
Si
Si
Not really done too much with this in the 4 weeks since purchasing, however, it has been for an oil service at Cooper BMW as well as a full inspection which revealed very little apart from the fact i am going to need new rubber all around shortly! 
3mm tread left on the fronts and 5mm on the rears.
Brake discs and pads probably have about ~10k miles left in them.. Any other E92 M3 owners.. where is a good place to get these?
Oh, i also sent off a sample of oil for analysis, they came back as all okay..no excess amounts of metal like lead or copper from bearings. Oil smelt a bit of fuel but this could be down to the fact my weekly commute is 4 miles each way.. apparently a lot of short journeys can cause this i am told.
My fave view!
3mm tread left on the fronts and 5mm on the rears. Brake discs and pads probably have about ~10k miles left in them.. Any other E92 M3 owners.. where is a good place to get these?
Oh, i also sent off a sample of oil for analysis, they came back as all okay..no excess amounts of metal like lead or copper from bearings. Oil smelt a bit of fuel but this could be down to the fact my weekly commute is 4 miles each way.. apparently a lot of short journeys can cause this i am told.
My fave view!
SiT said:
Need some updates on this Jez, just reading your comments on the Space Grey readers cars thread today and looked back to see if much more on this thread??
Clearly still enjoying it!
Si
Hi mate, yes indeed! Just been enjoying driving it over the last few months... just been enjoying driving it at the weekends and racking up the £££ in V-Power! Unfortunately also racking up a few points from speed cameras.. but the less said about that the better Clearly still enjoying it!
Si
Have done the exhaust mod: Went for 1.75 as i didn't want it 'too' loud. As it is now is perfect, just enough of the V8 growl without any droning or anti-social neighbour waking noise! (Not using the car for commuting helps with this the most to be fair mind)
BMC air filter installed. Maybe made it feel a touch more urgent, the old one was pretty well used. Nice little extra induction noise too.
Ferodo DS2500 pads fitted to the fronts along with brake fluid refresh to Motul RBF 660 Racing Brake Fluid.
GTS gearbox update also done. That bit slicker and faster on the changes plus less dim witted in auto mode.. not that i use it much.
Gave it a good polish and wax last week to seal it for the winter months.
Abingdon trackday on one of the hottest days of the year in July:
Supercharged M3!
Pistonheads meet earlier in the year:
For the future.. New tires, upgraded brakes and perhaps the Evolve decat / stage 2 map.
Edited by Jez m on Friday 2nd November 10:05
Car is looking stunning and certainly seems like you are getting the most from it! I was never a huge fan of the grey but the more I see it, particularly with carbon highlights, the more I think it really suits the E92!
Interested to hear your 1.75 mod if you ever get chance to do a video, I had in my mind 1.75 was the one for me when I get the M3 but read several people saying that 2.0 is the one - I know it’s very much personal opinion but would be interested to see what 1.75 sounds like.
In the process of selling my own car to allow the purchase of an E92, some great readers threads on here at the moment.
Keep up the good work!
Si
Interested to hear your 1.75 mod if you ever get chance to do a video, I had in my mind 1.75 was the one for me when I get the M3 but read several people saying that 2.0 is the one - I know it’s very much personal opinion but would be interested to see what 1.75 sounds like.
In the process of selling my own car to allow the purchase of an E92, some great readers threads on here at the moment.
Keep up the good work!
Si
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