E92 BMW M3 DCT - Running costs/pitfalls
Discussion
I'm thinking of getting an M3 DCT. I've heard and read the stories about the rod end bearings being a lottery and the like. I've done some research and after reading some posts on these forums about the ownership experience I am still interested in getting one.
I would like to know from past or present owners what I am likely to expect in specific areas:
Bearings - Evolve seem to the place to get this done and an oil analysis might it be prudent once car is bought to gauge condition of the bearings?
Throttle actuators - I know this an issue on some and a potentially a cost but unsure of frequency and root cause.
Vanos - Something that I am aware of as almost a service item.
Engine - what is considered the standard oil consumption?
DCT - Are there any pitfalls of this transmission? Essential service checks when time comes to buy..?
Mileage - Am looking at cars with less than 100K miles but have seen some cars with up to 170K miles on them. And there was a readers cars with 165K and still running strong. I am lead to believe these engines are forged and besides the rod bearings are pretty sound if oil changes have been done every 6-10K miles...?
The biggest thing for me is the number of owners a car has had. Normally I'm the second or the third owner ( presently the first Registered UK owner of my FSTI ) I've seen some cars in the classified with up to 8 or more owners. I know that a car should be bought on condition but this worries me a little....Am i being too sensitive?
Please and thank you.
I would like to know from past or present owners what I am likely to expect in specific areas:
Bearings - Evolve seem to the place to get this done and an oil analysis might it be prudent once car is bought to gauge condition of the bearings?
Throttle actuators - I know this an issue on some and a potentially a cost but unsure of frequency and root cause.
Vanos - Something that I am aware of as almost a service item.
Engine - what is considered the standard oil consumption?
DCT - Are there any pitfalls of this transmission? Essential service checks when time comes to buy..?
Mileage - Am looking at cars with less than 100K miles but have seen some cars with up to 170K miles on them. And there was a readers cars with 165K and still running strong. I am lead to believe these engines are forged and besides the rod bearings are pretty sound if oil changes have been done every 6-10K miles...?
The biggest thing for me is the number of owners a car has had. Normally I'm the second or the third owner ( presently the first Registered UK owner of my FSTI ) I've seen some cars in the classified with up to 8 or more owners. I know that a car should be bought on condition but this worries me a little....Am i being too sensitive?
Please and thank you.
They mostly all have lots of owners..
Personally, don't compromise on spec or mileage. Some things can be retrofitted, others can't (ie edc).
I bought mine with bmw warranty and it was the most joyful ownership experience. Absolutely no anxiety that something might blow up!
If I were to buy one without I'd probably factor in £1200 for rod bearings. Either Evolve or A Reeve.
Actuators do go, but not suddenly. They fail over time and the car goes into limp mode. The car can be restarted to clear the fault but obviously it needs resolving sooner rather than later before the fault becomes persistent. There non bmw solutions with lifetime guarantees.
I can't comment on the dct box as mine was manual but I don't ever recall any/many reports of failure at all.
Personally, don't compromise on spec or mileage. Some things can be retrofitted, others can't (ie edc).
I bought mine with bmw warranty and it was the most joyful ownership experience. Absolutely no anxiety that something might blow up!
If I were to buy one without I'd probably factor in £1200 for rod bearings. Either Evolve or A Reeve.
Actuators do go, but not suddenly. They fail over time and the car goes into limp mode. The car can be restarted to clear the fault but obviously it needs resolving sooner rather than later before the fault becomes persistent. There non bmw solutions with lifetime guarantees.
I can't comment on the dct box as mine was manual but I don't ever recall any/many reports of failure at all.
Edited by Ice_blue_tvr on Sunday 27th February 11:10
Definitely buy on condition.
Rod bearings is a lottery, theres no way of knowing until its too late. Unless its low mileage and low owner car I'd factor them in at a cost of around 1500 with engine mounts.
Actuators are easy to replace and can cost 450 with your own labour or around 650 fitted. £450 to buy rebuild units with life time warranty.
The DCT oil pan was renowned on earlier cars for leaking and causing a real mess so try to get any cars on a ramp and have a good luck to see any oil leaks around that area. Its quite expensive to rectify as the dct holds a lot of oil.
Which leads me onto the DCT oil change, it's a 'sealed for life' unit which doesn't sit right with me as I think all lubricants should be changed and refreshed.
Other than the above I think the e92 platform is good value for money I too was looking at e92 dcts however with the current market I have decided to wait it out as there's a lot of overpriced cr@p out there.
Personally I'd go for a later car as they seem better value when early 08 cars are fetching 20k and 11/12 plates are around 23/24k
Rod bearings is a lottery, theres no way of knowing until its too late. Unless its low mileage and low owner car I'd factor them in at a cost of around 1500 with engine mounts.
Actuators are easy to replace and can cost 450 with your own labour or around 650 fitted. £450 to buy rebuild units with life time warranty.
The DCT oil pan was renowned on earlier cars for leaking and causing a real mess so try to get any cars on a ramp and have a good luck to see any oil leaks around that area. Its quite expensive to rectify as the dct holds a lot of oil.
Which leads me onto the DCT oil change, it's a 'sealed for life' unit which doesn't sit right with me as I think all lubricants should be changed and refreshed.
Other than the above I think the e92 platform is good value for money I too was looking at e92 dcts however with the current market I have decided to wait it out as there's a lot of overpriced cr@p out there.
Personally I'd go for a later car as they seem better value when early 08 cars are fetching 20k and 11/12 plates are around 23/24k
Thoughts on the drop top guys? Don't expect it to be as dynamic as the coupe but wondering whether the open air and added enjoyment of the V8 might be worth the trade off for a weekend/holiday car?
Also seems to offer decent value with a few decent looking options in the £15-20k bracket.
Also seems to offer decent value with a few decent looking options in the £15-20k bracket.
Ice_blue_tvr said:
I bought mine with bmw warranty and it was the most joyful ownership experience. Absolutely no anxiety that something might blow up!
I am big fan of the warranty too. The dealership experience is smoother / simpler with it. It's a great value choice and does make life easy as the dealers get same day delivery on parts.It does get more expensive when over 60k miles though I think. Another 10 years for me although I don't how old the car can be to qualify for it anyway.
supacool1 said:
I'm thinking of getting an M3 DCT. I've heard and read the stories about the rod end bearings being a lottery and the like. I've done some research and after reading some posts on these forums about the ownership experience I am still interested in getting one.
I would like to know from past or present owners what I am likely to expect in specific areas:
Bearings - Evolve seem to the place to get this done and an oil analysis might it be prudent once car is bought to gauge condition of the bearings?
Throttle actuators - I know this an issue on some and a potentially a cost but unsure of frequency and root cause.
Vanos - Something that I am aware of as almost a service item.
Engine - what is considered the standard oil consumption?
DCT - Are there any pitfalls of this transmission? Essential service checks when time comes to buy..?
Mileage - Am looking at cars with less than 100K miles but have seen some cars with up to 170K miles on them. And there was a readers cars with 165K and still running strong. I am lead to believe these engines are forged and besides the rod bearings are pretty sound if oil changes have been done every 6-10K miles...?
The biggest thing for me is the number of owners a car has had. Normally I'm the second or the third owner ( presently the first Registered UK owner of my FSTI ) I've seen some cars in the classified with up to 8 or more owners. I know that a car should be bought on condition but this worries me a little....Am i being too sensitive?
Please and thank you.
Don't worry about the number of owners, worry about how well it's been maintained! These cars need to be well maintained oil changes every 10k/yearly diff oil every 4 years/gearbox fluid/filter every 5 years (this is my brothers maintenance schedule) nothing is overly expensive in terms of normal running costs.I would like to know from past or present owners what I am likely to expect in specific areas:
Bearings - Evolve seem to the place to get this done and an oil analysis might it be prudent once car is bought to gauge condition of the bearings?
Throttle actuators - I know this an issue on some and a potentially a cost but unsure of frequency and root cause.
Vanos - Something that I am aware of as almost a service item.
Engine - what is considered the standard oil consumption?
DCT - Are there any pitfalls of this transmission? Essential service checks when time comes to buy..?
Mileage - Am looking at cars with less than 100K miles but have seen some cars with up to 170K miles on them. And there was a readers cars with 165K and still running strong. I am lead to believe these engines are forged and besides the rod bearings are pretty sound if oil changes have been done every 6-10K miles...?
The biggest thing for me is the number of owners a car has had. Normally I'm the second or the third owner ( presently the first Registered UK owner of my FSTI ) I've seen some cars in the classified with up to 8 or more owners. I know that a car should be bought on condition but this worries me a little....Am i being too sensitive?
Please and thank you.
He has however had the rod bearings done/is on his second set of throttle actuators & the Vanos as you say is pretty much a service item.
BUT he loves it & those costs are just part of the ownership experience as far as he's concerned (then again he spent nearly 3k on a carbon plenum & intake) he went in with his eye's open he's the 5th owner of his car.
His car had fully documented history & he still had issues, it's a bit of a lottery with the rod bearings, the throttle actuators are more of a when & the Vanos is pretty much a service item.
I think they're great cars you do have to work them compared to a CLK/C63 but when you're on it they're the better car as I said my brother loves his & he may be the 5th owner but I reckon he'll also be the last owner.
He's had his E90 8 years now.
I was literally about to start a thread about trading in an E92 M3 for a Z4 M40 roadster.
Let's start with the running costs of the E92. The big negatives is the fuel economy and £600 road tax.
If you're happy with running a thirsty car then no worries.
Throttle actuators will have to be refurbed or replaced at some point as they are made of plastic but I wouldn't worry until they need doing. I would most definitely replace the rod bearings for piece of mind (unless it was a one owner car or had impecable history). I have a bill for a replacement engine - cost me/warranty/BMW £23k not to mention the worries and hassle. Everything else is on the service schedule.
Let's start with the running costs of the E92. The big negatives is the fuel economy and £600 road tax.
If you're happy with running a thirsty car then no worries.
Throttle actuators will have to be refurbed or replaced at some point as they are made of plastic but I wouldn't worry until they need doing. I would most definitely replace the rod bearings for piece of mind (unless it was a one owner car or had impecable history). I have a bill for a replacement engine - cost me/warranty/BMW £23k not to mention the worries and hassle. Everything else is on the service schedule.
fido said:
I was literally about to start a thread about trading in an E92 M3 for a Z4 M40 roadster.
Let's start with the running costs of the E92. The big negatives is the fuel economy and £600 road tax.
If you're happy with running a thirsty car then no worries.
Throttle actuators will have to be refurbed or replaced at some point as they are made of plastic but I wouldn't worry until they need doing. I would most definitely replace the rod bearings for piece of mind (unless it was a one owner car or had impecable history). I have a bill for a replacement engine - cost me/warranty/BMW £23k not to mention the worries and hassle. Everything else is on the service schedule.
I'm coming from a Subaru Forester STI 2.5 so only see the low 30 mpg on a run sat at 70mph. So I would imagine the they are evenly matched in their thirst for Super.Let's start with the running costs of the E92. The big negatives is the fuel economy and £600 road tax.
If you're happy with running a thirsty car then no worries.
Throttle actuators will have to be refurbed or replaced at some point as they are made of plastic but I wouldn't worry until they need doing. I would most definitely replace the rod bearings for piece of mind (unless it was a one owner car or had impecable history). I have a bill for a replacement engine - cost me/warranty/BMW £23k not to mention the worries and hassle. Everything else is on the service schedule.
SWoll said:
Thoughts on the drop top guys? Don't expect it to be as dynamic as the coupe but wondering whether the open air and added enjoyment of the V8 might be worth the trade off for a weekend/holiday car?
Also seems to offer decent value with a few decent looking options in the £15-20k bracket.
My BIL has had his E93 M3 Convertible for 10 years this year(he only uses it as a weekend car) and he has been very happy with it. Roof down does make a massive difference in terms of hearing the V8. When he went out in my E92 M3 Coupe...he asked me if it had a different engine under the bonnet because he couldn't hear it in comparison! Also seems to offer decent value with a few decent looking options in the £15-20k bracket.
Mine is a 2010 and has only done 21k miles so i’m not minded to get the rod bearings done yet, but the previous owner had to do the actuators so they are certainly not mileage related and cost £700, but do come with a lifetime warranty. Per other posters, they need good maintenance but it’s not expensive considering the performance on offer.
Running costs are pretty bad, but when you’re banging out 8.5k redline shifts and the engine is making the most heavenly noise, the mpg is not really a consideration. These things sound magnificent.
If you’re going to test drive one, just be aware they are a difficult car to judge on first impression. Because of rod bearings etc., you need to warm it up a bit first and the engine can feel a little tight while you’re driving a bit slower and changing gear earlier than you’d like. Once warmed up, which only takes 5 mins, they are just magnificent.
Running costs are pretty bad, but when you’re banging out 8.5k redline shifts and the engine is making the most heavenly noise, the mpg is not really a consideration. These things sound magnificent.
If you’re going to test drive one, just be aware they are a difficult car to judge on first impression. Because of rod bearings etc., you need to warm it up a bit first and the engine can feel a little tight while you’re driving a bit slower and changing gear earlier than you’d like. Once warmed up, which only takes 5 mins, they are just magnificent.
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