M3 Rear View Mirror (Interior)

[Pork]

Chaps,

I followed a 53 plate M3 cab today and noticed that it had the oval shaped rear view mirror. I'm pretty sure my 51 plate coupe had that shape too, but my current car doesnt have one, it has just the normal rectangle mirror.

Was the change from rectangle back to oval a part of the minor updates in 2003?

Just curious really....

Cheers
Pork

[Zod]

Does your current car have the compass or universal remote in the mirror? If not, I suspect that the mirror has been replaced, because the oval mirror was standard throughout the life of the E46 M3.

[Pork]

Zod said:

Does your current car have the compass or universal remote in the mirror? If not, I suspect that the mirror has been replaced, because the oval mirror was standard throughout the life of the E46 M3.

See, I thought that too, which is why I asked.

What is the compass thing? I havent had that on either I dont think.

I looked at several for sale on the web and all the later ones had the same rear view mirror as mine i.e NOT the oval one.

[Zod]

Pork said:

Zod said:

Does your current car have the compass or universal remote in the mirror? If not, I suspect that the mirror has been replaced, because the oval mirror was standard throughout the life of the E46 M3.

See, I thought that too, which is why I asked.

What is the compass thing? I havent had that on either I dont think.

I looked at several for sale on the web and all the later ones had the same rear view mirror as mine i.e NOT the oval one.

Really? My Csl had the oval one and that would have been built in 2003.

[Overhaulin]

Do they look anything like these?.

http://eagleday.stores.yahoo.net/3te.html


My 05 M3 had the oval mirror. Can't remember if the compass version was offered as an optional extra.

[Pork]

Zod, yeah, just checked a few more on the Autotrader and it seems all of the ones I can see have rectangle rvm's.

Overhaulin, mine doesnt have that compass bit on it.

Its not of any relevance, just curious to see why some have oval and some dont. Perhaps I should do a survey!

[sleep envy]

my early '02 had an oval RVM

[rassi]

If the mirror had the auto-dimming feature, which is reported to sometimes fail (a big "blob" in the mirror that grows larger and ultimately makes the mirror completely murky), the previous owner could have been cheap and replaced it with a standard rectangular mirror as the auto-dimming mirrors are rather expensive.

[Pork]

rassi said:

If the mirror had the auto-dimming feature, which is reported to sometimes fail (a big "blob" in the mirror that grows larger and ultimately makes the mirror completely murky), the previous owner could have been cheap and replaced it with a standard rectangular mirror as the auto-dimming mirrors are rather expensive.

Very possible but I'd be surprised, the car is not even 3 years old.

I'd ask a dealer but its a bit of an odd question

[Pork]

BAHN-STORMA said:

All oval mirrors AFAIK.

Change it and NEVER tell anyone again!

Might not be a good reason why it was changed... hopefully not though...

Just to prove I have too much time on my hands, I've had a look on the Autotrader again, searching for later E46 M3's.

Here's three pic which show the mirror to be the same as mine (only one of the pics showing the mirror had an oval mirror).







I know its pretty irrelevant but I'm curious as to what some have them and some dont. I'm thinking its to do with one of the options, maybe folding mirrors has an oval interior mirror too? (I dont have elec. folding mirrors)

Most of you are probably thinking....

[Zod]

I had three E46 M3s, an early 2001 manual, a late 2002 SMG and a CSL. All had oval mirrors.

[Pork]

I'm wondering if its a case of "right, we're coming to the end of the line with these and running out of oval mirrors....lets keep them for spares and chuck normal ones in the last x00 cars...."

I've actually gone a bit far and even e-mailed BMW to find out! I'm like a dog with a bone.

[Overhaulin]

Have you posted this on http://www.mtorque.co.uk/.

Perhaps a bod or two might have the answer.

[waremark]

Isn't it a rectangle on cabs, oval on coupes?

[whitechief]

waremark said:

Isn't it a rectangle on cabs, oval on coupes?

I've had both, each had the oval mirror.

[Pork]

waremark said:

Isn't it a rectangle on cabs, oval on coupes?

I thought it might have been that too, but alas it was seeing a cab at the weekend that made me wonder as his was oval, mine (cab) isnt.

[Pork]

Overhaulin said:

Have you posted this on http://www.mtorque.co.uk/.

Perhaps a bod or two might have the answer.

I'll do that later, thanks.

[whitechief]

There appears to be talk of the oval mirrors leaking and being replaced under warranty by a rectangular one.

[Pork]

whitechief said:

There appears to be talk of the oval mirrors leaking and being replaced under warranty by a rectangular one.

Ah, interesting.....

I dont think my history shows that but I'll check again. Thanks

[Overhaulin]

Leaking what

Is that on covertables