Discussion
I have always wanted an E46 M3 and now find myself in the position to buy one.
This car is local to me.
http://www.clinkardcars.co.uk/car/434/BMW+M3+Coupe...
Test drove it yesterday and seemed fine. Owned by the company for 5 years with FSH and just had refurbished wheels and discs / pads all round to prepare it for sale.
Slight clonk from the rear when changing gear but assume that is reasonably normal? Slight stutter at approx 2000 rpm when accelerating on part throttle but I understand that is normal with this engine when it is still cold?
I have been offered the car but the price to change against my 2005 C320 CDI is 3500 which seems a little steep.
Had a look on AT, M3 cutters etc and good cars seem to be selling for less.
What do the experienced think.
This car is local to me.
http://www.clinkardcars.co.uk/car/434/BMW+M3+Coupe...
Test drove it yesterday and seemed fine. Owned by the company for 5 years with FSH and just had refurbished wheels and discs / pads all round to prepare it for sale.
Slight clonk from the rear when changing gear but assume that is reasonably normal? Slight stutter at approx 2000 rpm when accelerating on part throttle but I understand that is normal with this engine when it is still cold?
I have been offered the car but the price to change against my 2005 C320 CDI is 3500 which seems a little steep.
Had a look on AT, M3 cutters etc and good cars seem to be selling for less.
What do the experienced think.
junglie said:
I have always wanted an E46 M3 and now find myself in the position to buy one.
This car is local to me.
http://www.clinkardcars.co.uk/car/434/BMW+M3+Coupe...
Test drove it yesterday and seemed fine. Owned by the company for 5 years with FSH and just had refurbished wheels and discs / pads all round to prepare it for sale.
Slight clonk from the rear when changing gear but assume that is reasonably normal? Slight stutter at approx 2000 rpm when accelerating on part throttle but I understand that is normal with this engine when it is still cold?
I have been offered the car but the price to change against my 2005 C320 CDI is 3500 which seems a little steep.
Had a look on AT, M3 cutters etc and good cars seem to be selling for less.
What do the experienced think.
Not ime, what was it like when warm?This car is local to me.
http://www.clinkardcars.co.uk/car/434/BMW+M3+Coupe...
Test drove it yesterday and seemed fine. Owned by the company for 5 years with FSH and just had refurbished wheels and discs / pads all round to prepare it for sale.
Slight clonk from the rear when changing gear but assume that is reasonably normal? Slight stutter at approx 2000 rpm when accelerating on part throttle but I understand that is normal with this engine when it is still cold?
I have been offered the car but the price to change against my 2005 C320 CDI is 3500 which seems a little steep.
Had a look on AT, M3 cutters etc and good cars seem to be selling for less.
What do the experienced think.
Gear change clunk could well be normal:
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
Not sure about the other issue though.
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
Not sure about the other issue though.
junglie said:
Clonk still there but no hesitation.
They are a little rough and hesitant until warmed through, but the clonk is not normal, not saying it's the cause, but these cars can and do suffer from cracks in the rear floor, do a search on 'cutter' for it lots of info there. If that was the issue that car would be repaired by BMW as it's not reached it's 10th anniversary yet. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Personally, it looks expensive, the spec is low, & id be concerned that the hesitancy is linked to the HG problems that e46 M3's suffer from. My opinion is that thea deal on offer is very poor for a car that is plentiful/difficult to shift on the used car market.
The clunk is probably the rear 'donut' thing on the propshaft, but could also be any number of bushes, or worse, the subframe cracking.
Walk away.
Read these, then try again.
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=285...
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=886...
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=215...
Also, buy a INPA cable from bmw-cables - will allow you to interogate the ECU for faults etc PRIOR to buying the car. Also call BMW and all previous servicing dealers to check history - half the M3's i looked at had stamps from garages that had never done any work on them ...
The clunk is probably the rear 'donut' thing on the propshaft, but could also be any number of bushes, or worse, the subframe cracking.
Walk away.
Read these, then try again.
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=285...
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=886...
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=215...
Also, buy a INPA cable from bmw-cables - will allow you to interogate the ECU for faults etc PRIOR to buying the car. Also call BMW and all previous servicing dealers to check history - half the M3's i looked at had stamps from garages that had never done any work on them ...
junglie said:
Is the trade in crappy or the M3 priced too high?
The draw of that car was the complete history.
Probably a bit of both,The draw of that car was the complete history.
http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...
SS2. said:
junglie said:
Slight clonk from the rear when changing gear but assume that is reasonably normal?
OK, so mine is a 2005 SMG cab, but there are no 'clonks' at all from the rear.The hesitation (or kangarooing) when [stone] cold, now that is normal..
Some hesitancy is to be expected from this engine when its stone cold, however should clear within a couple of minutes / miles. Always remember that this is an engine producing comfortably over 100bhp per litre of capacity, which only a handful or road cars do without forced induction.
"clonk" is a difficult word to define for everyone on a forum to share a common understanding of, however a "thump" is part of the SMG experience on the faster settings and/or if a sympathetic throttle modulation isn't part of the shift process. Anything more metal-on-metal in terms of a "clonk" should cause some concern. It might be a dead easy and cheap donut fix, but could be chassis related.
After 100k miles (30k mine), and 10 years (3 mine), my car showed the first signs of some problem underneath this time last year. First sign was some surface rust where a spot weld had begun to pull. Thankfully I had the time, space and skill to effect a thorough repair and reinforcement of the car, however there'd be a big bill to anyone that didn't have those abilities. In fairness, my car sees quite a few race tracks with sticky boots attached.
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