E46 M3 running costs
Discussion
How long is a piecde of string? 
I do quite a few miles in mine as I use it for work (25K per year) so I tend to incur quite a lot of costs.
A lot will depend on driving style, I average 28mpg but have frequently got mid 30's on long work trips sticking to the limits and driving like my mother.
I have had mine (53 plate) 2.5 years and have needed:
Tyres at £200ish each every 12K or so for the rears, double that for the fronts. Its worth noting no one locally to me ever seems to keep the stock bridgestones in stock (next day only) so when I have had a puncture its been of the road for a day as there is no spare. I know keep a couple of old tyres in the shed for emergency use
I cant remember all the costs for the below but will have a look when I get home:
- a new alternator (under Warrenty)
- New disks and pads all round.
- New suspension bushes.
- Diff seal.
- Two new rear springs (one had broken and one was cracked!), a common problem I am led to believed.
- New Geo set up (due to above)£60
- Front suspension control arm. £300 or so.
- Wheel refurb (£400) the stock wheel finish has issues and quite often need looking at.
- New M3 grill badge after some scroate nicked it! £20
Servicing has not been too bad but I use an excellent independant garage that is often less than half BMW prices.
All in all quite expensive to run (depending what you are used to of course) and I quite often think I should run soemthing more sensible for work as it is too good a car to run the miles up on.
That said it is by far and away the best car I have ever had and will hate to sell it. Don't let any of the above put you off! That engine is very addictive.
My only other advice is that if you go off warrenty keep a pot of cash for repairs just in case and find a good indie garage!
Jim
I do quite a few miles in mine as I use it for work (25K per year) so I tend to incur quite a lot of costs.
A lot will depend on driving style, I average 28mpg but have frequently got mid 30's on long work trips sticking to the limits and driving like my mother.
I have had mine (53 plate) 2.5 years and have needed:
Tyres at £200ish each every 12K or so for the rears, double that for the fronts. Its worth noting no one locally to me ever seems to keep the stock bridgestones in stock (next day only) so when I have had a puncture its been of the road for a day as there is no spare. I know keep a couple of old tyres in the shed for emergency use
I cant remember all the costs for the below but will have a look when I get home:
- a new alternator (under Warrenty)
- New disks and pads all round.
- New suspension bushes.
- Diff seal.
- Two new rear springs (one had broken and one was cracked!), a common problem I am led to believed.
- New Geo set up (due to above)£60
- Front suspension control arm. £300 or so.
- Wheel refurb (£400) the stock wheel finish has issues and quite often need looking at.
- New M3 grill badge after some scroate nicked it! £20
Servicing has not been too bad but I use an excellent independant garage that is often less than half BMW prices.
All in all quite expensive to run (depending what you are used to of course) and I quite often think I should run soemthing more sensible for work as it is too good a car to run the miles up on.
That said it is by far and away the best car I have ever had and will hate to sell it. Don't let any of the above put you off! That engine is very addictive.
My only other advice is that if you go off warrenty keep a pot of cash for repairs just in case and find a good indie garage!
Jim
My experiences in that last 12 months of my (un-warrentied) ownership mirror Jimbo's almost exactly, with regards to mileages and the parts that I have replaced ..... I also have a couple of borderline boots in the corner of the garage to fit immediately if needed.
I'm a reasonably handy spanner man that isn't afraid to tackle many tasks at home, and there is a great deal that can be done by the owner to save a lot of labour expenditure ... especially if main dealers are likely to be involved.
There are two ways to look at an M3. The first is that it is a very expensive alternative to the rest of the 3 series range, that is between 50% and 100% more expensive to service and buy parts for. The other is that it is a very good value way of getting into a high quality, high performance GT/sports car producing over 100bhp/litre, and is perfectly suited to driving "normal" mileages in all weathers (except snow, as they are crap!) with 4 people and luggage onboard ..... I prefer to think of mine as a bargain high specific output alternative to a 911 Carrera, Aston Vantage, Maser 3200 etc (none of which are appreciably faster), rather than a pumped up 316i with silly servicing costs.
I'm a reasonably handy spanner man that isn't afraid to tackle many tasks at home, and there is a great deal that can be done by the owner to save a lot of labour expenditure ... especially if main dealers are likely to be involved.
There are two ways to look at an M3. The first is that it is a very expensive alternative to the rest of the 3 series range, that is between 50% and 100% more expensive to service and buy parts for. The other is that it is a very good value way of getting into a high quality, high performance GT/sports car producing over 100bhp/litre, and is perfectly suited to driving "normal" mileages in all weathers (except snow, as they are crap!) with 4 people and luggage onboard ..... I prefer to think of mine as a bargain high specific output alternative to a 911 Carrera, Aston Vantage, Maser 3200 etc (none of which are appreciably faster), rather than a pumped up 316i with silly servicing costs.
Cheers for those posts.
I'm with you on that mindset - I see the M3 as a completely different car to the other E46s.
I'd only be looking at doing 5k a year or so (no commuting).
The costs you listed sound very reasonable. I'd be interested in finding out the cost of those warranties though. Can anyone give examples?
I'm with you on that mindset - I see the M3 as a completely different car to the other E46s.
I'd only be looking at doing 5k a year or so (no commuting).
The costs you listed sound very reasonable. I'd be interested in finding out the cost of those warranties though. Can anyone give examples?
You are best off phoning BMW as they offer many options. It depends on a lot e.g. has the car been out of warranty, what cover do you want, full or named component, what excess you want etc.
I have full comp warranty, never lapsed with no excess and pay monthly for about £77 per month. The car is over 60k also.
I have full comp warranty, never lapsed with no excess and pay monthly for about £77 per month. The car is over 60k also.
There are different options for the warranty. Fully comp, named component and driveline. There are also options for the excess, either £0, £100 or £250 per claim. You also can choose to have roadside recovery aswell.
Fully comp with no excess is somewhere in the region of £1000 if you are below 60k miles, considerably more if you are above.
If you don't have warranty at the moment, then the first year is slightly more and you can't claim for the first month.
BMW's warranty number is 08705050195 phone them up for a quote, they're very helpful.
Fully comp with no excess is somewhere in the region of £1000 if you are below 60k miles, considerably more if you are above.
If you don't have warranty at the moment, then the first year is slightly more and you can't claim for the first month.
BMW's warranty number is 08705050195 phone them up for a quote, they're very helpful.
If you get a car under 60k, so long as you sign up to the warranty before 60k, my understanding is you can put it on direct debit mothly and it stays at that price for the duration. I think its something like £80/month comprehensive.
Awesome cars though. As the poster above says, i dont think of it as an expensive 3 series, its a very well price alternative to a 911.
Awesome cars though. As the poster above says, i dont think of it as an expensive 3 series, its a very well price alternative to a 911.
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