E92 M3 prices

[Welshbeef]

ratty6464 said:

yep i've never seen anything about a comp pack increase in power before, that's a red herring!

What about increased throttle response?

[Eviltad]

zainster said:

No change in power through the life of the E92. It was always 420ps (414 bhp).

Its the switch in from 420ps to 414bhp which I've seen misquoted in that case.

[V8Taxi]

Anyone here looking for a nice LCI E90 M3? 61 plate, DCT, HK, EDC, heated seats, 26k miles. FBMWSH, Comprehensive warranty ongoing. OEM 2 pipe mod, Silverstone Blue.

I'm selling up but I'm dreading doing the advert and dealing with the muppets/dodgy buyers etc...

[SebringMan]

Welshbeef said:

Was it like the RS4 B7 which never made the quoted power and coked up

Correct. The direct injection system did not help with the engine coming up.

[V8Taxi]

FAO: Stu. Replied to your email. I've had issues with my PH emails before, I'm not sure if they send properly.

[Stu-nph26]

V8Taxi said:

FAO: Stu. Replied to your email. I've had issues with my PH emails before, I'm not sure if they send properly.

I haven't received anything can you send to stu_739 at hotmail dotcom

[V8Taxi]

Stu-nph26 said:

I haven't received anything can you send to stu_739 at hotmail dotcom

You have mail.

Cheers.

[tenmantaylor]

I'm seriously close to buying a used E92 M3 Coupe from a private seller with just under 50k miles on it, 09 reg. Need to get one and enjoy it whilst I can afford it and allowed by the state.

No history of Throttle Actuators being changed or Rod Bearings being inspected.

Should the buyer entertain the idea, would anyone recommend how best to self insure against buying something close to failing in these two respects?

Any tell tales on throttle actuators? I've heard they pretty much always go some point after 40k miles.

I've heard irregular ticking when idling could be rod bearing indicator.

Recommend an oil sample for blackstone or take to an independent inspector (offer to pay should the result be bad out of good will).

[FazerBoy]

tenmantaylor said:

I'm seriously close to buying a used E92 M3 Coupe from a private seller with just under 50k miles on it, 09 reg. Need to get one and enjoy it whilst I can afford it and allowed by the state.

No history of Throttle Actuators being changed or Rod Bearings being inspected.

Should the buyer entertain the idea, would anyone recommend how best to self insure against buying something close to failing in these two respects?

Any tell tales on throttle actuators? I've heard they pretty much always go some point after 40k miles.

I've heard irregular ticking when idling could be rod bearing indicator.

Recommend an oil sample for blackstone or take to an independent inspector (offer to pay should the result be bad out of good will).

Hi,

There are no real tell-tale signs of the throttle actuators being close to failure, unless they are really close, in which case there would have been engine warning lights having come up on the display and there would be fault codes stored - so try to get the fault codes read by somebody with a code-reader or by a dealer. In any event I would budget on having to change both actuators by 80,000 miles at best.

Again, there will not really be any signs of badly worn bearings. One oil sample on its own is not much use as it's a trend you're looking for. Failures of the rod bearings are much rarer than the actuators failing so if you've got a full service history with regular oil changes using the correct oil you'll almost certainly be ok. If you're nervous you should buy a warranty. The problem with the bearings is that if they actually fail then you're generally looking at a ruined engine. Nobody 'inspects' rod bearings as the work required to inspect them is basically the same as replacing them.

Jack

[ndj]

I replaced my first actuator at 33K miles so they can go at less than 40K.

Ticking at idle is unlikely to be rod bearings, or at least there are multiple other more likely culprits.

Personally I'd be budgeting for the BMW insured warranty for peace of mind. A comp policy will cover most wallet emptying potential failures not just actuators and rod bearings. I know many will disagree and recommend putting money into a repair fund. Each to their own but I have peace of mind for less than £25/week.

[John Laverick]

tenmantaylor said:

I'm seriously close to buying a used E92 M3 Coupe from a private seller with just under 50k miles on it, 09 reg. Need to get one and enjoy it whilst I can afford it and allowed by the state.

No history of Throttle Actuators being changed or Rod Bearings being inspected.

Should the buyer entertain the idea, would anyone recommend how best to self insure against buying something close to failing in these two respects?

Any tell tales on throttle actuators? I've heard they pretty much always go some point after 40k miles.

I've heard irregular ticking when idling could be rod bearing indicator.

Recommend an oil sample for blackstone or take to an independent inspector (offer to pay should the result be bad out of good will).

Throttle actuators are pretty much a given at some point or other ... If you have a slush fund then just get them done when they go. It's not exactly mega expensive nowadays.

Rod bearings is mainly internet scare mongering in my opinion. I wouldn't worry about it ... just buy it and enjoy.

[Tony B2]

ndj said:

I replaced my first actuator at 33K miles so they can go at less than 40K.

.

Slightly OT - is your car DCT or manual?

[tenmantaylor]

Thanks guys, useful comments. Apparently it has full BMW service history so will look into BMW warranty. Anyone recommend a private warranty scheme?

I have a Carly Bluetooth OBD that I use with my current E92 330D, I'll hook it up to my phone and run a report when I view the car tomorrow.

[ndj]

Tony B2 said:

Slightly OT - is your car DCT or manual?

DCT. Car was 7 years old at the time of failure.

[ndj]

tenmantaylor said:

Thanks guys, useful comments. Apparently it has full BMW service history so will look into BMW warranty. Anyone recommend a private warranty scheme?

I have a Carly Bluetooth OBD that I use with my current E92 330D, I'll hook it up to my phone and run a report when I view the car tomorrow.

Personally I wouldn't bother with any warranty other than BMW Insured (Mondial).

[Tony B2]

ndj said:

DCT. Car was 7 years old at the time of failure.

I have a theory (not yet backed up by any statistics) that the throttle actuator failures are associated with DCT, which controls throttle position very aggressively, especially on down changes. The aggressive movements stress the plastic gears which control the position of the throttles, and this causes the plastic to wear rapidly.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot blip the throttle on my manual car anywhere near the way a DCT car does it on downchanges. Even on up changes DCT is moving the throttles very quickly as the interval between one clutch disengaging and the next one engaging is extremely short.

[Welshbeef]

How about a B7 RS4?

Frankly both are great cars wonderful noise purposeful looks.

[mike150]

Tony B2 said:

I have a theory (not yet backed up by any statistics) that the throttle actuator failures are associated with DCT, which controls throttle position very aggressively, especially on down changes. The aggressive movements stress the plastic gears which control the position of the throttles, and this causes the plastic to wear rapidly.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot blip the throttle on my manual car anywhere near the way a DCT car does it on downchanges. Even on up changes DCT is moving the throttles very quickly as the interval between one clutch disengaging and the next one engaging is extremely short.

I hope this is correct as I have just bought a 51k manual with the original actuators and my mate has a 58k manual with original actuators. Even if they do fail fixing them is the same price as 2 new back tyres so it's not that big a deal.

[bigtime]

I have a 2012 dct on 34k miles that I've owned from new and has only been in to BMW for servicing. I do have the BMW monthly paid warranty with £100 excess but touch wood haven't had to use it. Awesome car and know a few mates who's have also been 100% reliable. Go on M3 cutters as someone on there refurbs the actuators and supplies a lifetime warranty. They aren't expensive from him either.

[tenmantaylor]

Tony B2 said:

I have a theory (not yet backed up by any statistics) that the throttle actuator failures are associated with DCT, which controls throttle position very aggressively, especially on down changes. The aggressive movements stress the plastic gears which control the position of the throttles, and this causes the plastic to wear rapidly.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot blip the throttle on my manual car anywhere near the way a DCT car does it on downchanges. Even on up changes DCT is moving the throttles very quickly as the interval between one clutch disengaging and the next one engaging is extremely short.

That is interesting as in other developments (stay with me) re: my e92 M3 purchase journey a local BMW garage I had registered interest with got back in touch with me today(!) about a DCT M3 they had just brought on part ex for a new M4. Would have been rude not to go and try it out, wouldn't it?

So, I'd driven one manual M3 a couple of months ago. I was impressed but it didn't have EDC. I wanted to try EDC and DCT before buying a manual with or without. The manual sold quickly and not many in the spec I want are around so I jumped at the chance to test the EDC/DCT car today. It was a white coupe with fox red interior, all the options bar start/stop (not available in 08 AFAIK). Even had an alcantara wheel as per the comp pack which whilst being a tad try hard feels awesome in the hand and isn't OTT. Reminded me of the M3 V8 GT I drove at Palmer sport a few years ago (and got 2nd fastest lap out of 72 I might add but that's a story for another day). Had the shadow line trim too which works well with the carbon roof and contrasts the white nicely.











To my pleasurable surprise the fox red isn't as red/pink as many of the pics online make it look; it looked closer to tan leather than outright red. This is a good thing (not that it unintentionally matched my tan/red/burnt orange jacket!) The drivers seat was more heavily worn than the pic makes it look unfortunately - first in the armour.

The drive was epic. The EDC isn't night/day difference to without but I definitely want it. On the soft setting it takes the edge of sharp bumps that are unfortunately on the rise on UK roads. BMW got the EDC settings just right IMO. As for DCT, well, it's seriously impressive mated to this astonishing engine. If the only thing you ever did in your M3 was accelerate hard, in a straight line and want to do it as fast as possible you'd take the DCT everytime. The speed of the changes and the way the electronics handle the shift of such a huge amount of power is staggering. A few times I found myself in the wrong gear coming out of a corner and shifted down once too many times with the paddles - the gearbox, clutch and brain sorted it out everytime and matched the revs quicker than I could realise what I'd done wrong. The throttle blips on the downshift, the accuracy of the engagement, it's seriously impressive stuff.

And this leads me onto your comment; I mentioned to the BMW sales dude how amazingly well it (the DCT box) handles that winding whirlwind of an engine and I wouldn't be surprised if you were right re: throttle actuators being worked harder with the DCT box. The engine is asked to do *a lot* to get the revs in the right place to match what the gearbox wants when asked to do so by a clumsy driver. I currently drive a pre-DCT era 330D e92 auto (56 plate). It slowly slops between gears in comparison as the viscous coupling mates the engine to the drive train in a more analogous fashion. As a result, I often lift the throttle when shifting manually to match the revs and gear engagement timing like you would a manual shift. You categorically don't need to do this with the DCT, it just sorts it all out. That said it's not perfect. Pulling away from the first junction I had to depress the throttle more than I expected to get the thing to set off. A combination of being less torque than my 3L diesel and the DCT box being less analogous (has a steep transition from neutral to engagement) I suspect.

The only question mark over this example for me was that the log book showed the oil hadnt been changed between 7k and 48k miles. 41k miles without an oil change doesn't sound good to me for this (or any!) engine. On further inspection (digitally via the key) the car had been into official BMW garages more often than was in the log book but the digital records don't show proof of any additional oil changes. I couldn't detect a problem with the engine. It ticked over smooth, regular and calm and pulled like an absolute beast. I dared not to hit the limiter and didn't need to, it's faster than most cars up to 5k, by the time you've hit 8k you're in supercar sound and pace land. I've driven the last NA RS4 V8 with 400hp, the M3 V8 NA feels *much* faster.

After blasting around for 8 miles the car came back with 17mpg average. Given the best I've heard these can do is 25ish that's not bad given the experience and that I couldn't (legally) push it much harder. I'll be putting more miles on the car than I want to when I get it (12k per year just commuting) so the fuel costs being over x2 that of the diesel aren't insignificant. Maybe I should buy a diesel jalopy for the work commute and keep the M3 for the weekends to preserve the value. But that would ruin the idea of the M3, it's a highly practical car that is designed for everyday use with almost supercar performance. It would make driving to work a more joyous event. I'm not a car collector, I'm trying to improve my quality of life. Screw it, I can afford it!

I'll report back in a similar fashion with the Manual/EDC I'm going to see tomorrow (80 miles away, commitment to the cause!). The 330D is in for wheel refurb this week, friday I'll be putting it up on autotrader and here if anyone is interested in what is probably the best condition 56 plate 3L Diesel E92 around.

Edited by tenmantaylor on Wednesday 16th August 13:23

Edited by tenmantaylor on Wednesday 16th August 13:24