E36 M3 Bargain or false economy £3000
Discussion
EJH said:
I would be tempted to suggest it's a false economy.
I would suspect unless you find a very "motivated seller," that anything at £3k will lead to open-wallet surgery shortly thereafter.
I love my E36 but looking after them properly is not cheap!
Thats kind of what I was thinking, although there do seem to be a few around that sort of priceI would suspect unless you find a very "motivated seller," that anything at £3k will lead to open-wallet surgery shortly thereafter.
I love my E36 but looking after them properly is not cheap!
Edited by Jay205gti on Wednesday 16th October 13:00
Are you after an early 3 Litre M3 I'm assuming? I would personally save the extra £1000 or so for a later model Evo edition with the 3.2 engine. I searched like murder for a £6000 E46 M3 as that's as far as my budget can stretch and all I found were the doggiest M3's going. Instead I have decided on a Nissan 350Z. Not quite an M3 but I didn't want an E36 M3 and couldn't afford an E46 version.
Are you looking at 3 Door coupe M3's yeah?
Are you looking at 3 Door coupe M3's yeah?
Darren156 said:
Are you after an early 3 Litre M3 I'm assuming? I would personally save the extra £1000 or so for a later model Evo edition with the 3.2 engine. I searched like murder for a £6000 E46 M3 as that's as far as my budget can stretch and all I found were the doggiest M3's going. Instead I have decided on a Nissan 350Z. Not quite an M3 but I didn't want an E36 M3 and couldn't afford an E46 version.
Are you looking at 3 Door coupe M3's yeah?
I'm looking for fast, practical, with a boot, C43, M3, Civic R or similar, the M3s on ebay seem to be cheap so I thought I would ask before jumping in with both feet, although a C43 for 2200 seems like a bargainAre you looking at 3 Door coupe M3's yeah?
Jay205gti said:
I'm looking for fast, practical, with a boot, C43, M3, Civic R or similar, the M3s on ebay seem to be cheap so I thought I would ask before jumping in with both feet, although a C43 for 2200 seems like a bargain
Hmm, I wouldn't say the M3 is massivley false economy because the 3 Litre engine is pretty bullet proof and as long as it is in decent condition with a good service history and not 300,000 miles then you should do okay. They have 290BHP and alot of purists prefer the ride to the Evo model which has 320BHP or so. I would advise to buy one from a private owner who's had it a while, and not pay over the odds at a stealers who says it comes with a warranty. (Which lasts one week)Civic Type R's can be had for £3000 but once again ALOT of them have been ragged and riced to within an inch of their lives,
It may sound stupid and might possibly be fast anough for you but I reccomend a BMW E46 330ci Sport. They have 240BHP (Or near enough) and you can pick up a low miles minter for £3000. 0-60 is around the 6.5 marker and it'll top 150MPH+. I would own a 330ci over a Type R any day of the week.Look at the garage in my profile. Wince.
It's a matter of luck. If you buy an original, unmolested one you have a half-decent chance of escaping with your wallet intact (At this budget 3.0L is the one to go for).
Mine was fairly well loved, and completely un-barried, however it's still been an expensive year and a half... I've ended up with an extremely well sorted, lovely driving late model though so all's not lost.
Buy a mucked-about with innitwagon and you'll lose your shirt. And all credibility. The only way is standard.
It's a matter of luck. If you buy an original, unmolested one you have a half-decent chance of escaping with your wallet intact (At this budget 3.0L is the one to go for).
Mine was fairly well loved, and completely un-barried, however it's still been an expensive year and a half... I've ended up with an extremely well sorted, lovely driving late model though so all's not lost.
Buy a mucked-about with innitwagon and you'll lose your shirt. And all credibility. The only way is standard.
I bought a 3k M3, well actually think it was £3500, was from a confirmed nutter from this very parish & hadn't had the easiest life, but had been v well maintained, for me was the everyday car plus several few thousand miles euro trips up & over the Alps, France Italy etc give it all it had on the Autobahn many times, drifted out several rear tyres on roundabouts & tracked it hard Uk & Europe tracks circa 10+ times, I just did basic maintenance, uprated pads & a set of coilovers, changed the oil lots & had it 3 years & sold it on for a tad more than I bought it for, it then got got a very decent track prep, cage, strip, big brakes etc, so ok granted its no longer a £3k car but the base car remained the same, now got has now done another 15 odd track days on it, proper hard use on slicks & is used hard like- 3 min spa laps & sub 8min ring laps, fundamental breakages in that time, a gearbox, cost all of £100 for a used one & wishbones & ball joints, rear wheel arches needed doing, but still the same now on 130k odd miles engine (with an added grp N restrictor valve) that I bought all those yrs ago & still going strong.
I've had a couple of other cheap M3s too, all have been fine, 3 other have been tracked hard also, yes there is the M tax on parts but in my 10 odd e36s only one has financially hurt & that was a car of dubious heritage & previous owners botching. I've had far more expensive 3s too but other than the one off issue car, they were no more or less reliable than the cheapies, just look carefully & don't buy a dud no matter what the price tag.
carreauchompeur said:
Buy a mucked-about with innitwagon and you'll lose your shirt. And all credibility. The only way is standard.
Yes to really nasty council kevs crapper stuff, but its not always gospel, I bought one with some really expensive bling type mods on, not my bag, im more 'ring use than bling, but easily re-saleable stuff, sold it all on, ended up with a really solid decent base M3 owing me £2k which was exactly what I wanted to turn into a track wagon.I had a 3.0 M3 which I sold to a very decent chap on this very forum for £3500. 
In the time that I had it, I had to replace a couple of bits that failed. The first was the main brace for the engine mounts. The old one had fatigued and the engine mounts had no metal to bolt into any more. That was about £450 from what I remember. The other thing that failed was the front bolt which holds the diff in place. It snapped, leaving the bolt in the diff, which meant the diff had to be removed and the bolt carefully drilled out of the diff. This meant driveshafts etc out, which was time consuming because some of the driveshaft bolts sheared and overall was about £500 in labour to replace a bolt worth about £5. So that was a quick grand spent in a very short space of time. Comically, I sold it and then it didn't put a foot wrong.
Slightly disappointingly, the VX220T that followed it wasn't nearly so high on the
per £.
Overall, I'd echo all the comments already made. Buy a well loved one and you'll have a very entertaining car for very little money. But do be prepared for the odd moment where age/fatigue has had its wicked way with a component.
All this talk has made me want one again.
In the time that I had it, I had to replace a couple of bits that failed. The first was the main brace for the engine mounts. The old one had fatigued and the engine mounts had no metal to bolt into any more. That was about £450 from what I remember. The other thing that failed was the front bolt which holds the diff in place. It snapped, leaving the bolt in the diff, which meant the diff had to be removed and the bolt carefully drilled out of the diff. This meant driveshafts etc out, which was time consuming because some of the driveshaft bolts sheared and overall was about £500 in labour to replace a bolt worth about £5. So that was a quick grand spent in a very short space of time. Comically, I sold it and then it didn't put a foot wrong.
Slightly disappointingly, the VX220T that followed it wasn't nearly so high on the
per £.Overall, I'd echo all the comments already made. Buy a well loved one and you'll have a very entertaining car for very little money. But do be prepared for the odd moment where age/fatigue has had its wicked way with a component.
All this talk has made me want one again.
Jay205gti said:
Looks pretty solid for the price. I like the honesty re roof, makes me more confident than if they'd simply fudged it.I've documented my running costs in my profile if you want to take a look.
Mine was the opposite in terms of price point I went for the higher end of the market (around £6K) and an Evo model. I wanted the 3.2 engine and later build date. However after having owned one I would be less concerned with the engine, however the build date is still a valid point as rust is an issue on these at this age. For me the gearbox in the 3.0 is much nicer to use.
I bought the nicest condition one I could find that had been used (i.e. not 20k miles on it)
Still had to put a fair bit of money in to get it up to my standard but depends on how well you want to maintain the car, some of the things I had 'fixed' were not strictly necessary.
Mine was the opposite in terms of price point I went for the higher end of the market (around £6K) and an Evo model. I wanted the 3.2 engine and later build date. However after having owned one I would be less concerned with the engine, however the build date is still a valid point as rust is an issue on these at this age. For me the gearbox in the 3.0 is much nicer to use.
I bought the nicest condition one I could find that had been used (i.e. not 20k miles on it)
Still had to put a fair bit of money in to get it up to my standard but depends on how well you want to maintain the car, some of the things I had 'fixed' were not strictly necessary.
Edited by MGR on Sunday 20th October 13:11
carreauchompeur said:
Look at the garage in my profile. Wince.
It's a matter of luck. If you buy an original, unmolested one you have a half-decent chance of escaping with your wallet intact (At this budget 3.0L is the one to go for).
Mine was fairly well loved, and completely un-barried, however it's still been an expensive year and a half... I've ended up with an extremely well sorted, lovely driving late model though so all's not lost.
Buy a mucked-about with innitwagon and you'll lose your shirt. And all credibility. The only way is standard.
Your experience looks quite similar to mine. I've stopped using my car recently as I'm away a lot, however when I get back I'll need some work doing again (air con just packed up, rear arches are starting to show a bit of rust) which will bring the per mile cost quite close to yours. It's a matter of luck. If you buy an original, unmolested one you have a half-decent chance of escaping with your wallet intact (At this budget 3.0L is the one to go for).
Mine was fairly well loved, and completely un-barried, however it's still been an expensive year and a half... I've ended up with an extremely well sorted, lovely driving late model though so all's not lost.
Buy a mucked-about with innitwagon and you'll lose your shirt. And all credibility. The only way is standard.
Not cheap cars to keep in good condition. I wonder how many people will be prepared to spend the money - not many I'd imagine. I suspect good condition cars will become very rare over the next few years.
MGR said:
Your experience looks quite similar to mine. I've stopped using my car recently as I'm away a lot, however when I get back I'll need some work doing again (air con just packed up, rear arches are starting to show a bit of rust) which will bring the per mile cost quite close to yours.
Not cheap cars to keep in good condition. I wonder how many people will be prepared to spend the money - not many I'd imagine. I suspect good condition cars will become very rare over the next few years.
Not cheap cars to keep in good condition. I wonder how many people will be prepared to spend the money - not many I'd imagine. I suspect good condition cars will become very rare over the next few years.
It's nice to see someone else who has spent a bit on theirs, sometimes on the M3 forums you get a bit disheartened hearing about everyone else's which does 30mpg all the time and only ever requires a yearly service...The only thing really going against mine is slightly high mileage, although I only put about 7k miles a year on it so it does average down over time. I am hoping that having a very well sorted, original example of one of the latest ever E36 M3 convertibles built will keep the value fairly solid.
I've just snagged a bargain Simota induction kit and fitted that, initial impressions are that it sounds EPIC. Next on the list may be a new set of Bilstein shocks...
carreauchompeur said:
It's nice to see someone else who has spent a bit on theirs, sometimes on the M3 forums you get a bit disheartened hearing about everyone else's which does 30mpg all the time and only ever requires a yearly service...The only thing really going against mine is slightly high mileage, although I only put about 7k miles a year on it so it does average down over time. I am hoping that having a very well sorted, original example of one of the latest ever E36 M3 convertibles built will keep the value fairly solid.
I've just snagged a bargain Simota induction kit and fitted that, initial impressions are that it sounds EPIC. Next on the list may be a new set of Bilstein shocks...
I think my vanos is beginning to go as there is the odd growl now when its cold. Not sure if its worth doing for £1k as theres nothing functionally wrong with it.
Simotas do sound cool. I personally prefer a totally standard car though especially when they get a bit older unless we are talking out the carbon airboxes like the CSL but they cost ££££.
When I'm using the car (i.e. when I'm in the country) I'm doing about 500 miles per week as I use it for work so the mileage on mine is going to get high very quickly. I'm hoping it will last for another year or two then if its still running I'll retire it for a track day car perhaps and get something else for work.
Value wise at least they are cheap to buy so there isn't much to loose apart from the running costs. I can't see an Evo going for less than £4k unless its very ratty.
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