Ready to buy, advice please

[cito quod fortis]

Old car now sold, subject to receiving the balance at the weekend, so now ready to buy.

I'm still not positive what I'll buy, but it will be in the refgion £7 - £9k and a 330, 130 or maybe an earlier e46 M3. The M3 wasn't in the running until last night when my better half said she thought they looked nicer than the 330.... Whatever I do buy is likely to have 60 - 80k miles, from what I've seen.

I'm happy to make my own choice of which is the better / more suitable car for me, but would really appreciate some advice on what to look / listen for when buying a BMW with that sort of mileage, are there specific things that ought to have been done at services, typical faults etc etc.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks Andy

[DennisCooper]

Hiya

All the answers and things to look out for when buying each model you mention have been posted up many times before here on PH and other forums and specific postings etc etc. It's all easily readable - look at bmwland, m3cutters, e46zone, PH forums for a start, then do a search for perhaps autocar, top gear reports and reviews etc.

Only then can you start to shortlist cars that you can go for. The E46 M3 has it's own sets of common issues and things to lookout for, so by reading up on those cars, only you can evaluate if it's a good purchase for you and your pocket etc!

Cheers, Dennis!