E36 M3 4-door - buying advice
Discussion
Good choice - the old clunker on Top Gear still made monkeys of the oppostion, on 3 wheels 
!
These days I'd check all the usual M3 suspects: eg VANOS on an Evo (although that's not a huge issue these days), & then all the e36 problems eg rear wheel arch rust. The 4 doors came in later than the coupes & cabs, & left earlier, so there are fewer out there to start with, & they were less popular on the new market - in the region of 700 or so I believe. Most will have leather, wood trim, shuld have electric windows, early should have manual a/c, later climate control. You might find PDC, electric roof, rear blind, electric/heated seats, headlamp washers. It should have a matching spare wheel; they might be Contours, the standard fit, or maybe 5 or 10 spoke. Evos should have wider rears. There is one I know of in Byzantium red which has the SMG gearbox - otherwise it should be a manual, 5 on a 3.0. 6 on a 3.2. Good luck, if you're local to me you're welcome to have a look at mine (which is bits at the moment...) I'll chip in with anything else I think of.
!These days I'd check all the usual M3 suspects: eg VANOS on an Evo (although that's not a huge issue these days), & then all the e36 problems eg rear wheel arch rust. The 4 doors came in later than the coupes & cabs, & left earlier, so there are fewer out there to start with, & they were less popular on the new market - in the region of 700 or so I believe. Most will have leather, wood trim, shuld have electric windows, early should have manual a/c, later climate control. You might find PDC, electric roof, rear blind, electric/heated seats, headlamp washers. It should have a matching spare wheel; they might be Contours, the standard fit, or maybe 5 or 10 spoke. Evos should have wider rears. There is one I know of in Byzantium red which has the SMG gearbox - otherwise it should be a manual, 5 on a 3.0. 6 on a 3.2. Good luck, if you're local to me you're welcome to have a look at mine (which is bits at the moment...) I'll chip in with anything else I think of.
Edited by MarkwG on Monday 30th August 11:05
yep good choice,
I bought mine about 4 months ago and 6k miles. I paid £3995 for mine and it hasn't missed a beat, its a EVO 3.2 with full service history. I have had quite a few Beemers in the past. The last couple being 328i so it seemed like the ideal choice, although I did look into the Audi S4 but the EVO seemed like more fun.
The day I bought it , wasn't planned at all, i had been looking and saw one for £2995 in autotrader and planned to have a look, but just had a further look to see what a little more money would get and I found the 1995 Evo i bought with just 103k on the clock in silver with light grey leather and its in great condition. I looked at it first and put a deposit down before even bothering looking at the other. I am happy withe the car for the money and it hasn't cost me a penny. You can get ropey looking ones for about 3k but you will probably end up with a money pit.
I bought mine about 4 months ago and 6k miles. I paid £3995 for mine and it hasn't missed a beat, its a EVO 3.2 with full service history. I have had quite a few Beemers in the past. The last couple being 328i so it seemed like the ideal choice, although I did look into the Audi S4 but the EVO seemed like more fun.
The day I bought it , wasn't planned at all, i had been looking and saw one for £2995 in autotrader and planned to have a look, but just had a further look to see what a little more money would get and I found the 1995 Evo i bought with just 103k on the clock in silver with light grey leather and its in great condition. I looked at it first and put a deposit down before even bothering looking at the other. I am happy withe the car for the money and it hasn't cost me a penny. You can get ropey looking ones for about 3k but you will probably end up with a money pit.
I bought mine for 7.5 4 years ago... its been to the moon and back and then written off and then turned into my track day toy... so basically its been absolutely abused and is worth around £1k (not selling it tho lol)
In all that time it has been an absolute rock, its only just properly let me down for the first time and thats a water pump failure thats been coming for a while and I still used it on track. Still pulls very strong to redline.
Everyone talks about the vanos being the thing to look out for but I actually thing you need to pay more attention to the suspension and brakes as these cost more than the vanos and seem to be a more common issue (often not fixed as in my case lol).
Cant recommend the M3 enough, not the fastest thing around but unbeatable for the money IMHO
In all that time it has been an absolute rock, its only just properly let me down for the first time and thats a water pump failure thats been coming for a while and I still used it on track. Still pulls very strong to redline.
Everyone talks about the vanos being the thing to look out for but I actually thing you need to pay more attention to the suspension and brakes as these cost more than the vanos and seem to be a more common issue (often not fixed as in my case lol).
Cant recommend the M3 enough, not the fastest thing around but unbeatable for the money IMHO
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