E46 M3 prices....increasing

E46 M3 prices....increasing

Author
Discussion

Shezbo

Original Poster:

594 posts

129 months

Thursday 25th May 2017
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I have been after an E46 M3 - few a while and cannot believe how low mileage cars have shot up in value.

Dealers who specialise in them, cannot get enough of them (their words).

People are waking up to a classy good looking car, with four seats a decent boot, that goes like stink, yet is as docile as they come.

Glad I got mine, it's a lovely thing!

pidsy

7,958 posts

156 months

Thursday 25th May 2017
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yeah its speeding up. got a call from a friend a couple of days ago whos looking for a vert.

hes going to see one from a dealer in London who has one. its not very exciting spec:

silver
black leather
SMG
2005
only 40k miles

but its £17,000

ds666

2,605 posts

178 months

Thursday 25th May 2017
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I've just bought one . They therefore will not go up in price ....

Front bottom

5,648 posts

189 months

Thursday 25th May 2017
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Mine is a higher mileage one (144000) so the value will have 'firmed up' I suppose, rather than risen. Still not bad though after five years of ownership.

poordecisions

198 posts

100 months

Thursday 25th May 2017
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ds666 said:
I've just bought one . They therefore will not go up in price ....
I haven't just sold one, so I imagine they will stay put. If I had held onto my cars another year each, I'd be £18k better off in the last few years (I've actually worked it out..).

Zebrs

461 posts

191 months

Monday 29th May 2017
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Well I sold mine last year so prices are definitely on the up lol. In fact, I bought mine for 10k in 2012 and sold last year also for 10k with 25k miles more on the clock so from my sample of 1, prices have been firming recently.

I don't think these are quite investment material yet however, my 4 years of ownership incurred fairly high expense to maintain and keep on the road. If you add on top of that some of the known weak spots - boot floor, vanos etc they can still put a fairly big hole in your wallet at a high percentage of purchase price.

SirSquidalot

4,039 posts

164 months

Tuesday 30th May 2017
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I'm looking to get one as a next car, feel like i need to get buying sooner rather than later!


slipstream 1985

12,123 posts

178 months

Tuesday 30th May 2017
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77k manual coupe for mine so enjoying it but keeping needless commuter miles off it. The 110.k mile tt gets all the crappy miles.

XMT

3,778 posts

146 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
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People seriously under estimate the cost of keeping these cars to a good standard.
There are various large expenses that are bound to happen at this age and that isn't things that become faulty and on top of that usual servicing

Go with your eyes open.
As much as I love the E46 M3 I still dont think its all that. I think people on forums get carried away with the few harping on about how amazing they are

Eviltad

1,320 posts

178 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
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I'd think they are bottom of their curve so prices will fluctuate based on the condition of the good ones.

Same with the E36's where good ones creep up but there are still dogs about.

Shezbo

Original Poster:

594 posts

129 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
quotequote all
XMT said:
People seriously under estimate the cost of keeping these cars to a good standard.

As much as I love the E46 M3 I still dont think its all that.
Must admit I am slightly puzzled by this statement, what else is soundly built, goes pretty swiftly, can be had in tin or convertible tops, can seat four and a can be purchased for the same price as a 4 year old Fiesta...there is a 80k example for sale for £8k presently?

I have owned a few classic's mainly 1960's car's and I have had more questions about the M3 than some of them, it certainly does not get ignored like "some" classic's (at classic car shows!).

I suppose £8k would get you a decent MGB - GT....but I know which I would own, the M3 is "good fun!"



Evolved

3,553 posts

186 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
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Agree with everything you've said here. They are a great package and good fun but to me they just seem over hyped.

Even the CSL which I yearned for and eventually owned just left me feeling underwhelmed. The prices they now command is silly, they're simply not worth it IMHO.

XMT said:
People seriously under estimate the cost of keeping these cars to a good standard.
There are various large expenses that are bound to happen at this age and that isn't things that become faulty and on top of that usual servicing

Go with your eyes open.
As much as I love the E46 M3 I still dont think its all that. I think people on forums get carried away with the few harping on about how amazing they are

TR4man

5,207 posts

173 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
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Shezbo - such an unusual moniker. Don't suppose you used to have a TR6 by any chance?

E30M3SE

8,465 posts

195 months

e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Friday 2nd June 2017
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I've only had the use of an E46 M3 for a few weeks but I loved the thing. I thought it was a hugely capable car and with some sensible mods it can keep a lot of expensive stuff honest. I also like the aggressive styling and the CSL type air box is the icing on the cake. I even like the SMG despite it being a bit dimwitted and clunky when manoeuvring in Sainsbury's car park. Cliche I know but it reminded me of the E30 and what an M car is all about.

As has been said though, owning and running an M3 can be bloody expensive. Routine maintenance can be bad enough but suffer a spun shell or VANOS failure and it'll sting like hell when you get the bill. Mind you, any M car has the potential to do that I guess?

Given the way E36 M3 prices have gone though, I am pretty sure E46 values won't be far behind. I just hope I can get myself one before they're out of reach.

  • off to check and see what the cheapest M3 is at*

Shezbo

Original Poster:

594 posts

129 months

Friday 2nd June 2017
quotequote all
TR4man said:
Shezbo - such an unusual moniker. Don't suppose you used to have a TR6 by any chance?
I did indeed, had several in fact and a very nice TR4a too!

I am sure I recognise your moniker too...really smart powder blue TR4, by chance?

Sorry (an age thing) forgotten where, or how we possibly know each other and importantly your name...

regards Mark

Shezbo

Original Poster:

594 posts

129 months

Friday 2nd June 2017
quotequote all
e21Mark said:
I've only had the use of an E46 M3 for a few weeks but I loved the thing. I thought it was a hugely capable car and with some sensible mods it can keep a lot of expensive stuff honest. I also like the aggressive styling and the CSL type air box is the icing on the cake. I even like the SMG despite it being a bit dimwitted and clunky when manoeuvring in Sainsbury's car park. Cliche I know but it reminded me of the E30 and what an M car is all about.

As has been said though, owning and running an M3 can be bloody expensive. Routine maintenance can be bad enough but suffer a spun shell or VANOS failure and it'll sting like hell when you get the bill. Mind you, any M car has the potential to do that I guess?

Given the way E36 M3 prices have gone though, I am pretty sure E46 values won't be far behind. I just hope I can get myself one before they're out of reach.

  • off to check and see what the cheapest M3 is at*
Good man...some bargains to be had fight now, you will not have the chance next year, the market may well have moved on by then. I certainly should have purchased a 911 Targa (circa 1989 vintage) when they were £16-18K 3 years ago...and are £30k+ now.

Go for it - best regards

SebringMan

1,773 posts

185 months

Sunday 4th June 2017
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When I was looking last year it seemed prices have firmed up for any good example irrelevant of mileage. The low milers of course have started going for quite a bit more.

When I looked last year I thought I'd get a half decent one for £6k with only a few minor issues and being slightly leggy ; it's what a few guys here seem to think. How wrong and naive I was. It seems many people have bought these and have massively underestimated the running costs, resulting in plenty of chod for sale despite them saying they are in 'good' condition. Mine was no exception.

Owner 1: Owned from 2003 (new) to 2009 covering 90k with every service from BMW
Owner 2 : Owned from 2009 to 2014 with new discs etc. along the way. Took it to 105k
Owner 3L Owned from 2014 to 2016: It seems an Inspection II, a set of discs/pads all round, wheel refurb and two new tyres made him sell it (around £2.2k in the first year!)
Owner 4 : Me in 2016. My garage history will prove that it's not a cheap car even with the repairs taken out.

I must say however despite mine not being a 'desirable' spec it's about one of the best all rounders I've ever had. If I was to change it would be to get something that was cheaper to run in addition to something newer, but I have always owned a car older than 25 years old until now.

Even the much hated SMG I quite like ; it's dimwitted in some of the lower gears but generally fine and engaging most of the time with the auto mode being fine if you are shattered/on a long drive etc (mine is a daily). I will admit the CSL software did transform the car however.

While I've put it up before a bit here was my experience a year ago. I debated getting a manual for value's sake until I drove a mate's 328i and an M3 Manual with less miles than mine but it seems unless you are willing to spend a fortune initially there is plenty of rubbish out there for sale even at higher prices:

https://theleylandlegends.wordpress.com/2017/03/11...
https://theleylandlegends.wordpress.com/2017/03/15...

NAS90

146 posts

111 months

Monday 5th June 2017
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Off the back of reading this thread I was looking at what was available on eBay; (even having selected manual gear only) lots of SMG cars listed and a few colour options I couldn't live with but having discounted these it seems to be that £11k is the entry for a decent history with around 90-100k miles which I think is fine on these cars. To me these two looked like nice potential cars for a manual gear E46 M3.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-03-BMW-M3-3-2-Coupe...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-M3-2002-Manual-98300...

On Pistonhead classifieds it is a little more at £11.5k before I get to manual gear with a good colour combination

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Think i'd probably go Carbon Black in preference to Phoenix Yellow on the eBay cars but both look like they've got good history and are colours I'd happily live with. Now how do I explain to the Mrs. that I need another M car.....

Edited by NAS90 on Monday 5th June 21:04

benaldo

393 posts

226 months

Tuesday 6th June 2017
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Hah! That carbon black one is my old one. I sold it back in October last year to a couple of dealers (who said they worked in the NHS but sold some cars on the side) from Bradford / Leeds sort of way. However, this car would be one they would keep for themselves......... Mileage looks the same, but they have swapped off the genuine CSL wheels and it now it appears to be in Kenilworth so I guess it was moved on to another dealer.

There was some rust on the front wings and a little on the rear wing but from the (very poor) pictures, looks like it has been fixed. I would expect that it would have needed new front wings as any repair that I researched wouldn't have been 'long term' without replacing them as the metal is so thin there.

I'd be interested if they had done anything to the boot floor as it was something that every caller asked about but I hadn't had it reinforced or checked. The guys who bought it had a look at the boot floor but didn't go underneath and didn't see anything.

I sold it for £7.5k but realised it needed about £1 - £1.5k spent on the bodywork but it did have CSL alloys so I reckon that price is a little high - but maybe prices have been increasing.

PM me if you are genuinely interested and want more details !