My dad is going to get rid of his yaris t sport,and is thinking of buying an M3 I know its not a ford but i know a lot of people like them, i was just wondering if anyone knew what brakes on them and the sort of running costs and problems they have,cos the old gits used to brand knew boring cars its a 1995 e36 m3 (not an evo)

 

286 bhp from the std 3.0 m3
me m8 has 1 and says it's brilliant on fuel, only problem to watch really is that the vanos ain't fooked and that the rear diff ain't been ripped out the floor pan when some coonts been raggin (launching) it far too much.

I will be after 1 of these myself as soon as the rest of me cossie bits have gone

 

would the insurance on an m3 be more than a cossie do ya reckon?

 

i know one thing, they Fly. Plenty of fun to be had.

 

I
know that. thats why im trying to persuade him to get one,he wants to weigh up the pros and cons
Anyone else know much about them?

 

i dont think the M3 is a group 20 is it?

 

not sure if the pre evo has vanos does it ?

mine was a evo and was fantastic faultless car

 

no a cossie is more to insure than an M3

 

mine was 321bhp as standard , and dangerous in the wrong hands, also very desirable

 

E34 M5 is better but if he wants a coupe fair play.

The 3.0 one is better than the Evo.The Evos have probs with the vanos (variable timing and this is the main drawback because it costs around 2k to put right.The 3.0 also has a nicer g/box.

They are good allround cars and sound good.It needs full dealer/specialist history though.

 

the non evo (3.0) has a single vanos

the evo (3.2) has twin vanos

both cars can suffer vanos problems, but it is quite rare now to get 1 that has problems.

The 3.0 is the quicker car upto 100 mph and the evo will leave a 3,0 after that point, I would have either tho as im not that fussy


as for the E34 M5 I seriously hope your wrong on that front, as I have had one and whilst I thought it was a nice car, I think I did the right thing in selling it to get another cossie.

 

thats what i think hes worried about, if he has to pay out big bills for it at the dealers

 

the dealers are always a rip off imo

but there is alot of bmw specialists about that are far better at fixing and servicing them than a dealer and won't cost much / anymore than servicing any other (non bmw) car.

 

your looking for noise on start up in the vanos department, never had a hint of a problem with mine

sorry but the 3.2 IS significantly better than its predecessor, speed and more power, BETTER and faster, I know from owning them

cossie group 20 also, but costs more to insure as its easy to steal, poor security and rated as more commonly choosen by vandals and thieves

 

he did try and get a quote online for the m3 with tescos,but it stated that it had to have a tracker device fitted to it for them to insure him

 

sorry but a few weeks ago the 3.0 and 3.2 m3 argument was settled for me

My m8 has a 3.0 4 door totally std and it did a 13.915 sec 1/4 @ the pod
the car he was against was a

std 3.2 m3 evo coupe which pulled a 13.961

they did all 3 runs together and the 3.0 pulled similar times everytime while the 3.2 evo ended up doing 14.1 and 14.2 runs

I know some of it is down to the driver, but we watched other evo's run and most / all others were in the 14.1 and higher times

 

yeh most companies ask for a tracker on them

but not all require it and tbh I wouldn't want to realy on a tracker

 

hes definately not getting an evo,and hes way past it now to be ripping it up the pod judging from everyones answers they are quite reliable,probably a lot more than an rs,and getting work done by bmw specialist would be just as good as the dealer. I suppose thats the case with any make of car,your going to get a lot more help from an rs parts specialist than from a ford main dealer,as i found out from my previous car

 

i had a look some today

100k miles are going for 10k

thats a bit pricy if you ask me, there were some cheaper ones tho, about 6-7k, but they had 140k miles

personally, for that money, id have a 3 door cos!

 

To be fair the only cars that will land you with a big bill are the real dogs which are ovbious and not that common.Get the car thouroughly checked by a specialist if you buying private just to be safe.

Im a BMW specialist by trade and its mainly wear and tear and general servicing with these cars,but every Evo that has come in to the workshop has had vanos probs,the 3.0 are bullet proof.

I still say the M5 is better at same money though 8k-11k,nicer handling and much better build quality.

He'll deffo be taking it to a specialist for servicing/repairs though.The dealers are crap and will charge £500 upwards for a major service.

 

I had a M3 3.0 1994 coupe for nearly 3yrs & it never gave any trouble whatsoever, it was 100% reliable, personally i think they are very good cars & would not hesitate to buy one again. The 3.0 is more reliable than the 3.2 evo but less refined. I only took my M power to the pod just before i sold it to Danvisteon on here & posted a 13.9Q 1st time up the strip

They are expensive to service at the main dealer, from memory of my old bills a oil service was about £150 right up to Inspection 2 cost me just shy of £800 . Personnally i wouldn't touch one that hasn't got full BMW main dealer history from new, regardless of miles, mine had done 123k miles when i sold it & didn't use any oil, just petrol & tyres !

GO AND BUY ONE YOU WON'T REGRET IT

Simon.

 

Only BMW I'd ever go near is the original lefthooker M3 it just has oodles of prescence and class about it

The newer M3's are like clits, every cnut has one

 

my dad had m3 saloon and a coupe out of the pair the saloon felt stiffer and a nicer car to drive specially round the lanes but its down to preference tell him to drive both and go from there the saloon is a much rarer beasty

 

I own an e36 M3 evo, the best car I have ever owned and will be keeping this for a while.

You can still get M3 with BMW extendable warranty that covers parts such as VANOS, engine and transmission problems should they arrise.

In regards to M3s are like clits, hmmm you prob see alot of 318is dressed up, but then again you do see alot of dressed up 2.0 sapphs, and mk5 escorts. Ohh and S2 RSTs are rare arnt they!

 

i suppose £800 a year on a service isnt too bad,considering thats all you have to pay out more,i spent £1500 in a year on my old rs and maybe a bit more
if he does get one i might seriously consider it in a years time.I was thinking about a 328 but then if i did buy one of them,id bet a few months later id wish id bought an m3

 

Defo get one, I though long and hard about spending 15k on a nice Escort Cosworth. After driving both cars, im very glad I didnt.

The M3 doest really draw attention as much as a Cossie or Mitsi Evo and for me thats what I like best. Plus the fact its very fast, very comfortable, and silent inside.

a few pics if your interested....

 

thats sweet favourite colour on them,its techno violet isnt it?

 

Yep. Techno Violet, with champagne leather.

 

what sort of insurance do you pay on that if you dont mind me asking,if i get one ill be 24, dont know if ill be too young to get insured on it

 

Im 23, insured with Tesco, have 5 years NCD. Pay £1200 fully comp.

 

that aint bad at all,im seriously thinking of getting one of these
ill have to go out with the old man when he test drives one

 

Sorry but i dusted an e36 m3 up Barton Cutting in bedford last night.
M3's are gorgeous though i'd love to own one just for its looks

 

My M3 wasn't quite as quick as my stage 3 3dr in a straight line,not much in it though, through the lanes the M3 pissed all over my 3dr. Driving an M3 is not quite as much fun as a well sorted cossie but then again you don't have all the hassle of a cossie eg: checking your mirrors everytime you thrash it just to check that something hasn't dropped off the car or the engines smoking or the headgaskets leaking. With a cossie its probably a good idea to have a pit crew following you around in a van with a spare engine
No such worries with an M3 3.0.
Simon.

 

The 4 door version is reputed to be better handling than the coupe!

 

Paul Es Cos, hardly surprising you would waste an M3, you have a lighter car, more power and more torque. What are you sorry about, you car is faster, I know that, you know that.

I thought long and hard about buying an Escort Cos instead of my M3, bottom line, compared the the BMW the build quality on the Cos was shocking/appauling, I couldnt live with the paranoia of it breaking down etc also the age thing aswell. EsCos anit exactly young.

I didnt really buy my M3 to be the fastest thing on the road, its far from it, I bought it because its a sorted car from the factory and has everything I need it to do. With a level of comfort I have grown to enjoy.

Phil, maybe so, but when would you put the M3 chassis under so much stress to notice a difference, Im willing to be you will not get the chance to do it on the UK roads. A race track maybe.

 

Well I know of 5 M3's within 2 roads of my missus house and they aren't replica's unless the Porsche's are likely to be replica's as well . So I stand by them being like clits at least in the area that I'm in. And I never claimed S2's were rare But if I was offered a swap for one I would turn it down flat. Or accept then sell it and buy the Cossie I keep promising myself