E46 m3 collectability

[Tony B2]

thegermancarguy said:

All individual exterior colours I have seen are lovely- they rarely come up and command a lot more. Estoril blue is probably the more common ones. Really like techno violet and that light blue colour.

I had an Estoril Blue E46 M3.
I had to pay - from memory - about £900 as it was an Individual colour when I ordered it.

Then BMW decided to paint almost every M-sport car in the colour without charging anything extra...grrr

Individual, my arse....

[CRA1G]

Cheburator mk2 said:

thegermancarguy said:

What are some of the rarer colours? Most seem to be silver, silver grey, black or dark blue. An e46 in a nice colour still stands out!

Laguna Seca Blue
Imola Red
Dakar Yellow

Rare and make the car really pop out in the sea of dross that are today’s car colours...

I looked ages for a Dakar Yellow car for my collection but just couldn't find the right car with low mileage FSH and Manual so ended up with a lovely Silver car..... ..

[andyman_2006]

Here is my list of the rarer ones...

Alpine white code 300 (only ever seen 1)
Laguna seca Blue code 448
Mystic Blue code A07
Topaz Blue code 364
Interlagos Blue code A30
Phoenix yellow code 445 (launch colour) same as my own.
Imola red code 405
Oxford green code 430

My fave has always been Laguna Seca Blue. Getting very hard to find.

[thegermancarguy]

andyman_2006 said:

Here is my list of the rarer ones...

Alpine white code 300 (only ever seen 1)
Laguna seca Blue code 448
Mystic Blue code A07
Topaz Blue code 364
Interlagos Blue code A30
Phoenix yellow code 445 (launch colour) same as my own.
Imola red code 405
Oxford green code 430

My fave has always been Laguna Seca Blue. Getting very hard to find.

All stunning colours. What about silverstone blue- really looks the nuts in the flesh

[limited slippp]

great cars, ruined by several design flaws imo. The chassis cracking is such a b@ll ache to deal with. Its either cracked or going to crack soon. Ive seen cars that have been reinforced only for the load to go else where and crack somewhere else. The diff being bolted to thin sheet metal rather than chassis legs is so daft. nice cars, if you dont drive them hard. Makes vanos and rod bearing issues seem like a walk in the park.

[Double gauche]

limited slippp said:

great cars, ruined by several design flaws imo. The chassis cracking is such a b@ll ache to deal with. Its either cracked or going to crack soon. Ive seen cars that have been reinforced only for the load to go else where and crack somewhere else. The diff being bolted to thin sheet metal rather than chassis legs is so daft. nice cars, if you dont drive them hard. Makes vanos and rod bearing issues seem like a walk in the park.

I’ve just bought a car that hasn’t cracked or been reinforced yet. It’s being done however. Catch it early and surely it’s not an insurmountable problem?!!

[andyman_2006]

limited slippp said:

great cars, ruined by several design flaws imo. The chassis cracking is such a b@ll ache to deal with. Its either cracked or going to crack soon. Ive seen cars that have been reinforced only for the load to go else where and crack somewhere else. The diff being bolted to thin sheet metal rather than chassis legs is so daft. nice cars, if you dont drive them hard. Makes vanos and rod bearing issues seem like a walk in the park.

Mine hasn’t been done, and doesn’t need doing and so there are cars out there, I would say head gasket is a more common and nearly as expensive issue, that and vanos together is going to release £2500 or more from your wallet (labour rates depending)

I don’t think these cars are any better or worse than other cars, look at the 996/997 911’s with IMS/RMS and bore score issues, I think all cars have their issues at any price point, look up the issues with DCT gearboxes on 2009/10 Ferrari California..quite eye watering really all due to a design fault.

My friend has a 2016 Seat Leon cupra from new and it’s just destroyed it’s DSG gearbox, 75k miles, a known weakness on 2014 DSG models (and when the garage took the box out of his 2016 car it’s got a 2014 box fitted!) no warranty or goodwill, new box £4500, he’s found someone to repair and rebuild the current one but it’s cost £2k so I don’t think it matters what you buy or run there are issues with all cars of all ages and at all price points.

[Slippydiff]

Agreed, sorting the boot floor/subframe mounts can be a pain, and again I agree, it shouldn't happen on any car, let alone what was then a premium German brand.
But the E46 M3 is intrinsically a great car, and good ones (ie not convertibles) are definitely worth the bother if they're otherwise mechanically good and rust free.

However, potential owners do need to be aware they can be high maintenance, especially cars that have been abused and/or have deferred maintenance. Buy the best you can, and have any potential purchase inspected by a specialist.

[pidsy]

Slippydiff said:

Agreed, sorting the boot floor/subframe mounts can be a pain, and again I agree, it shouldn't happen on any car, let alone what was then a premium German brand.
But the E46 M3 is intrinsically a great car, and good ones (ie not convertibles) are definitely worth the bother if they're otherwise mechanically good and rust free.

However, potential owners do need to be aware they can be high maintenance, especially cars that have been abused and/or have deferred maintenance. Buy the best you can, and have any potential purchase inspected by a specialist.

They can be wallet straining cars to own.
Mine got to a point where every time it went in for a “little” issue, it was costing me a grand.
Mine ended up being one of the better ones out there but had 116k on it when I sold it. Next up was a full suspension refresh in a few 000 miles so I sold while it was still in a condition I would expect to buy a car in.

Very easy to spend money on

But

The only car I’ve ever owned that I always regret selling.

[NIgt3]

Great cars and good ones always will be worth good money and increase as the years go by!!
8 years ago I paid £10.5k for a 03 manual with 29,000miles on the clock, if only I wouldn’t have wrecked it on the last lap of my 2015 Nurburgring year it would have been worth a lot more

[CRA1G]

Very suprised to see this valuation for my 55 Reg 67k Manual..! What does that tell you...?

[sevensfun]

CRA1G said:

Very suprised to see this valuation for my 55 Reg 67k Manual..! What does that tell you...?

That they want you in the door and it will be 10k by the time they're done with you.

[Mo28]

CRA1G said:

Very suprised to see this valuation for my 55 Reg 67k Manual..! What does that tell you...?

Want to sell it to me? (as long as it's not silver)

• If anyone in the near future is interested in selling their facelift E46 manual coupe with relatively low miles then send me a pm**

Edited by Mo28 on Monday 24th May 15:52

[Herr Schnell]

sevensfun said:

That they want you in the door and it will be 10k by the time they're done with you.

A few people on a FB group for e46 stuff have used them recently and only had a few hundred knocked off the valuation.

Seems they want them at the moment.

[thegermancarguy]

They’re older cars that need something doing- personally if I came across one that had immaculate bodywork I would be slightly worried as the fronts should have some bubbling or rust by now - they’ve either been replaced for new items(best option) or more likely sprayed over before sale in which case its lonely coming back within a few months.
I would get one- budget for a bit of rust treatment and maybe HG/VANOS refresh. You’ll get all your money back and more when you do sell. I am leaving towards the individual colours though/ they make the car! Anyone I can convince to sell theirs?

[daviekiwi]

The styling of the e46 is improving with age, probably helps when the design team are focusing on China and total sales figures!
M2 is good though! F80 looks good until you drive it. Droney flappy paddle thing?

[nickfrog]

daviekiwi said:

M2 is good though!

Particularly if it's still worth £20k at 15 years old like the M3 upthread. That would mean £60 depreciation per month for me!!

[Cactussed]

As a medium term owner (7 years now I think?) they're old cars that def need maintaining.
Mine lives in the garage and has been very reliable for the most part, but I'd personally attended to:
- power steering high pressure hose
- water pump
- starter motor
- cabin heater valve
- minor rust spots
- rear driveshaft (crack in the CV joint that apparently needed a whole new shaft)
- rear diff bush (bought a whole new housing with the bush installed as it was easier)
- other minor odds and sods.

None of it hugely expensive (and I can do a lot myself) but you do need to keep on top of things / expect wear and tear stuff to go wrong.

That said, I use it every day and its been fabulous (and still is).

[andyr]

My E46 M3 is a 56 plate. Registered on Friday 29th Sept 2006.

Must be one of the very last ones sold.

I've not seen another 56 plate advertised. The BMW specialist that services it told me to stick it in the garage and keep the miles off it. I reckon it might have gone up 10k since I bought it.

[Bemmer]

andyr said:

My E46 M3 is a 56 plate. Registered on Friday 29th Sept 2006.

Must be one of the very last ones sold.

I've not seen another 56 plate advertised. The BMW specialist that services it told me to stick it in the garage and keep the miles off it. I reckon it might have gone up 10k since I bought it.

That is a late registration.? What is the colour and mileage.? Manual or SMG.?