E46 BMW M3 Prices
Discussion
Been looking through A Trader and am Amazed at what prices these start at these days.... basically £11k upwards for a 51 reg car.
New they were Circa £38k so they have lost £27k in 7 years or £3.8k p.a. depn or £316pcm.
Question I have is what goes wrong with cars of this pedegree and age? And say I bought a £12k example with say 60k on it and ran it for 5 years so that it would be a 12 year old car and push up the milage up to 140k.
Servicing wise it would be either Main dealer serviced or local Indy (are there any in Reading?) purely to help boost its residual value.
New they were Circa £38k so they have lost £27k in 7 years or £3.8k p.a. depn or £316pcm.
Question I have is what goes wrong with cars of this pedegree and age? And say I bought a £12k example with say 60k on it and ran it for 5 years so that it would be a 12 year old car and push up the milage up to 140k.
Servicing wise it would be either Main dealer serviced or local Indy (are there any in Reading?) purely to help boost its residual value.
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What about the extra value of M3??
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Well from an ins perspective pa its £530 extra and from a VED perspective its £220 extra p.a.
So £750p.a. extra Just for the car and that assumes self servicing.
Yes its RWD, yes it looks very good & of course its pedigree and it is a step up on the performance scale
Welshbeef said:
Ins quote for 15k a year incl Business miles - £830pa.
Thats near on 3 times the cost of the ins of my Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo for only an additional 120bhp.
Parts for the M3 are more expensive, the M3 is more attractive to theives too.Thats near on 3 times the cost of the ins of my Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo for only an additional 120bhp.
Then theres the value consideration, I'd guess that an M3 is getting on for 3 times the value of the Fiat.
Welshbeef said:
So £750p.a. extra Just for the car and that assumes self servicing.
Yes its RWD, yes it looks very good & of course its pedigree and it is a step up on the performance scale
I remember going into a BMW dealers a few years ago and there was an M3 in there with its engine in bits all over the floor. Can't remember why but apparently it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. I believe there may have been a design flaw or something. Sorry to be vague but someone else may be able to elaborate. Worth bearing in mind though.
Get an Alpina B3 3.3 instead 
Or if you can stretch to it and don't want an auto, a manual 3.4!
M3's are nice, but that engine is a big liability as the miles rise. I'd take the plunge but keep £3,000 handy for a biggie, and expect maybe £1200 a year for consumeables like brakes, tyres and so on, before just general servicing bits.
£15k to buy, but still £45k car running costs.
Imho, the Alpina will be cheaper to run, rarer, more interesting, and much better residual prospects
Dave
Or if you can stretch to it and don't want an auto, a manual 3.4!
M3's are nice, but that engine is a big liability as the miles rise. I'd take the plunge but keep £3,000 handy for a biggie, and expect maybe £1200 a year for consumeables like brakes, tyres and so on, before just general servicing bits.
£15k to buy, but still £45k car running costs.
Imho, the Alpina will be cheaper to run, rarer, more interesting, and much better residual prospects
Dave
Mr Whippy said:
Get an Alpina B3 3.3 instead
Or if you can Imho, the Alpina will be cheaper to run, rarer, more interesting, and much better residual prospects
Trust me, the Alpina B3 is not cheaper to run than an M3.Or if you can Imho, the Alpina will be cheaper to run, rarer, more interesting, and much better residual prospects
Works out about the same when you factor in the Alpina being more to insure than an M3.
You need to be doing serious miles in order for the slightly better economy and fractionally cheaper servicing to pay off.
As for residuals - theoretically yes, but then trying to sell an Alpina isn't easy.
ETA - all B3 and B3s in the UK are Auto. Only 3.3 manual was the B10, and the only 3.4 auto was the Roadster S.
Edited by Dunk76 on Wednesday 9th July 18:14
Welshbeef said:
Been looking through A Trader and am Amazed at what prices these start at these days.... basically £11k upwards for a 51 reg car.
New they were Circa £38k so they have lost £27k in 7 years or £3.8k p.a. depn or £316pcm.
Question I have is what goes wrong with cars of this pedegree and age? And say I bought a £12k example with say 60k on it and ran it for 5 years so that it would be a 12 year old car and push up the milage up to 140k.
Servicing wise it would be either Main dealer serviced or local Indy (are there any in Reading?) purely to help boost its residual value.
no experience my self but cus had one for a few years from new.New they were Circa £38k so they have lost £27k in 7 years or £3.8k p.a. depn or £316pcm.
Question I have is what goes wrong with cars of this pedegree and age? And say I bought a £12k example with say 60k on it and ran it for 5 years so that it would be a 12 year old car and push up the milage up to 140k.
Servicing wise it would be either Main dealer serviced or local Indy (are there any in Reading?) purely to help boost its residual value.
inspec I about £350 inspec II between £600-750 this is a couple of years ago so prices may have gone up.
always dealer service. he did around 25K ayear 90% motorway. new tyres (19inch) every 9months or so depending on how much fun he had.
not a cheap car to run. did go into the dealership for work at least once a year. nothing serious though.
imho as already stated by another poster, good idea to have a 2K cash pot for any serious work. plus £800 for tyres and £400-700 for a service. better to have extra cash than fall short.
NST
Edited by NST on Wednesday 9th July 19:04
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