RE: PH Fleet: BMW E90 M3

[AC43]

"as I read more about it, chatted to the owner and took it for a test drive it became clear that it was the one. By that I mean that aside from it being a manual E90 it had more or less none of the options I had been hoping for, although it does have a DAB radio."

LOL. Sounds like my seach for a gunmetal of black E350 Sport on 18's with a pano roof, DAB and black leather. Suddenly ended up in blue E500 Avantgarde with no sunroof, 17's, no DAb and light grey leather.

But, like yours, on stupidly low miles, cosseted and with huge history.

Anyway, that M3 is a very nice car, love it.

[SiT]

These are great cars, was reading through another PH'ers Readers Cars thread recently and at certain angles the arches look incredible coupled with the bonnet bulge. I have always been a fan of the V8 M3 and dabbled many times with buying one, circumstances haven't always been right but who knows?!? Friend recently bought an E93 M3 and sadly its just done its rod bearings, accelerated by a garage using the wrong oil, but ruined all the same.

Definitely a preventative job I would want to get done I think.

Si

[Onehp]

SiT said:

Friend recently bought an E93 M3 and sadly its just done its rod bearings, accelerated by a garage using the wrong oil, but ruined all the same.

Just curuous, which oil then? As most 'wrong' oils starting with a 5 or 0 would be better for the rod bearings. In theory at least...

[neilferg]

323ti said:

Man maths at it's finest, but the essence of it all lies in this, quote;

"I managed to convince my wife it was a good idea"...

So well done there sir!

I managed similar man maths 18 months ago. Persuaded the wife to sell her 2011 1.2tsi Skoda Fabia for a more family practical estate car which happened to be a b7 rs4! She still says it's just an old Audi estate!

[Onehp]

"If I get my way you may well hear it coming too. More on that next time."

Careful, if it's only just a bit loud on regular journeys, it might slowly 'unsell' the car and you'll start getting subtle suggestions that some other cars look like a nice proposition. Cars very unlike this one...

[ryandoc]

Owned my E92 M3 for 5.5 years from new was an epic car. I understand the desire for the E46 M3, which is what my E92 replaced.

But couldn’t fault the E92, it was a step up In build quality for sure, I had the EDC and in stiffest mode it really did corner brilliantly.

Can’t remeber it having any faults either. Was only one other car I would have swapped it for which I did. Definitely have nothing but fond memories of mine.

[Gez79]

Good work on the man maths.

The lcl facelift on the saloon was from a 58 plate though, 2011 was the coupe convertible, although the M3 may have been slightly later but I'd have gone for one of those. Better looking and much more up to date idrive.

[Itsallicanafford]

neilferg said:

323ti said:

Man maths at it's finest, but the essence of it all lies in this, quote;

"I managed to convince my wife it was a good idea"...

So well done there sir!

I managed similar man maths 18 months ago. Persuaded the wife to sell her 2011 1.2tsi Skoda Fabia for a more family practical estate car which happened to be a b7 rs4! She still says it's just an old Audi estate!

Yeah, i get this as well. My wife thinks our BMW is ' a big heap of junk, a total embarrassment to be seen in'...the car, a 30K mile, total spotless 1979 635CSI.

I just whistle a little tune in my head and smile

[Onehp]

neilferg said:

I managed similar man maths 18 months ago. Persuaded the wife to sell her 2011 1.2tsi Skoda Fabia for a more family practical estate car which happened to be a b7 rs4! She still says it's just an old Audi estate!

If you rev it aaall the way up to 3k rpm, she might just think it has an above average engine, as in, 2l diesel power Bet you're the one tasked with filling up the cars... perfect.

[chow pan toon]

I seem to be in a minority but when I tested an E46 M3 I wasn't overly impressed with it. Possibly I didn't drive it hard enough. Love my E92 though, does the whole "2 cars in 1" thing superbly.

[big_rob_sydney]

Never really been a fan of these. Too heavy, and not enough torque, compared to some others.

Havent been a fan of most M3's to be honest. I think Porsches are dynamically better.

[eliotrw]

Shnozz said:

Esceptico said:

He missed an important point in the article - how much did he pay!

I had a E90 M3 for just over half a year. It was okay but never didn’t like it half as much as an E46 M3 I had had a few years before. However it wasn’t really a like for like comparison as the E46 was a manual coupe and the E90 an auto convertible. I only really bought it because it was blinding value proved by selling it to a dealer for the same amount I had paid from a dealer.

I entirely agree with you there. Adored the E46 M3. Hugely underwhelmed by the E92 M3.

Should be expected with convertibles though, Entirely lacking the M experience, weigh literally 155kg more for a start.

Add in the weight distribution and lack of rigidity in the shell and its no surprise.

For contrast:
E46 M3: Power/Weight 218
E92M3 Coupe : Power/Weight 250
E93M3 Convertible: Power/weight 228

So 10bhp per tonne more.... but with all that weight in the corners and an engine that needs revving to produce peak torque

[tonyshepp]

Utter rubbish on the convertible not being an M car. Yes it’s heavier but unless you are on a track you can’t tell plus the engine note in a convertible is much sweeter..

[Court_S]

Nicholasavis1 said:

Will be watching with interest as I've been considering one of these myself. I just need to answer the practicality question as to how much rear leg room there is... Can I get a isofix base and child seat in whilst leaving sensible space for the front passenger.

Should be absolutely fine - we had an E90 330 as a family car when your little boy was born and it was fine for me to sit in the front with the car seat behind me and I'm a chunk taller than my other half.

I'd love one of these but for my budget (up to 19k) I appear to be near the bottom of the market, so older cars and higher mileage which brings added risk / cost that worries me slightly. Maybe I just need to take some brave pills and jump in - I love the engine.

[blade7]

"finically" ?

[cerb4.5lee]

Court_S said:

I love the engine.

The engine is special in isolation and I think it was great that the V8 revved to 8400rpm and on its top end(6000rpm plus)it was really special. The power delivery/torque versus the kerbweight made it feel really flat at times though which spoilt the overall experience for me.

I would have liked that engine in a much lighter car though for sure and that could be a lovely recipe I reckon. The engine seemed to come and go very quickly with BMW only using it in the E9x M3...especially when you consider what BMW have done with the M4's engine(used it in the M2/X3M/X4M).

[RemyMartin81D]

big_rob_sydney said:

Havent been a fan of most M3's to be honest. I think Porsches are dynamically better.

Interesting. What's this Porsche saloon than rivals this?

[SidewaysSi]

Not sure I would have skipped on doing the rod bearings to be honest.

It seems that unless money have been spent, you need to chuck a lot at one of these before really using them.

[Stunters]

Well done, OP.

I've had my manual E90 LCI for almost 10 years now. It's got 78k on the clock, still on the original clutch, and the discs and pads lasted until over 60k miles. I don't track it as I have another car for that task

I agree that the E46 M3 is more exciting, but echo the comments that the E90 is definitely a grower and it's more grown up. It rides a lot better than the E46 and is faster and more capable. It definitely rewards a smooth style rather than driving it on the nose.

Tyre-wise I didn't get on with the Michelin PS2 set that my car came with, and switched to Conti Sport Contact 5P and then Sport Contact 6. But now it's on Pilot Sport 4S, and they are (slightly) better than the Contis. Either is a good match for the car in my opinion.

Enjoy your time in the car, they truly don't make them like that any more!

[BFleming]

Gez79 said:

The lcl facelift on the saloon was from a 58 plate though, 2011 was the coupe convertible, although the M3 may have been slightly later but I'd have gone for one of those.

I know a lot of M3 saloons sat in dealers unregistered for a long while, so not all 58 plate M3 saloons will be facelifted. The facelift was subtle though, virtually nothing on the front end (as the E90 M3 already had different front styling to the regular E90) and LED lights/different bootlid on the back. Biggest change is inside, with CIC instead of CCC.