Thinking of getting an E46 M3 and I know there are a lot of very knowledgeable BMW owners on her so would appreciate your advice..

My budget is up to about £11-£12k and so would prefer a post 53-04 facelift model with up to 50-60,000 miles on it. It'll be a weekend / Friday commuting / fun / occasional track day car so longevity and condition are important.

I've read about the Vanos & rear subframe potential problems but are there any other issues I should be aware of?

Anyone know of a decent one for sale?

Cheers for any info peeps

 

subframe and vanos are common issues, but a good service history and check will show any issues.
rust on arches - replace with new
noisy window cables/runners - replace with new/second hand
steering rack wear - replace
steering column knuckle bush sloppy - replace
final stage resistor making the heater not work correctly - replace (circa £50 if you have tiny hands)
ensure an inspection 2 has been done recently - it's bloody expensive
flat batteries in remotes - replace at £100, get battery changed £25 independant
*smg2 - pumps can fail (£800 been thrown about a lot)
*manual - sticking linkages, £50 in parts ish and box out to sort.
warped brakes, not very common, but £500 to replace fronts to a reasonable standard.
just a small list and some are common across the range of e46's.

 

Buy a good spec saff and get another puma Dal. Fook the badge snobbery l0l.

 

M3cutters is a decent site. Take a look over there.

 

Another Puma? Already got a Thunder as a daily! lol

Badge does nothing for me - if it was a Lada that went like it does it'd be fine.

Anything else to consider then?
(That isn't Ford - thought about a well sorted Focus ST but had one already so don't want another)

 

I didnt know you had a puma still.

Spend 8k on a saff cossie and have change to mod repair it.

 

Think he wants a car that handles not a shitty old cossie

 

Get an evo bought then.

 

Get the car which beat what EVO mag ( and others ) have regarded as "the best M3 ( and M-car ) of all time"

That car was the E30 M3 - and it was beaten consistently by one car


Simples

 

E46 m3 is a great all round car.
As you have mentioned there are only a couple of things to be aware off.

The floor is one, the vanos is not a massive issue anymore and they can be repaired or replaced for around the 500 mark, not the 3000 it used to be many years ago on the E36.

Don't set your heart on a low miler, buy on condition and history.

Great car.

 

Suggesting a saph Cossy as an alternative to a m3 is rediculouse.

Drove my mate saph a few weeks ago, it was fucking awful. Just felt like I was gunna die the whole time I was in it.

Drove a m3. My focus rs is now for sale to fund the purchase of an m3.

 

Use cossie drivers accept there an old donkey and dont handle the best but we enjoy the cars for what they are.

I like M3s and would have one but I just enjoy owning my cossie.


I love audi RS4s and I wouls love an escort cossie. To me I buy/own cars I can afford to run and repair. So if I had 25k to spend on either a RS4 or an escort cossie. It would have to be the cossie, why??? I dont wanna pay 3 grand for a set of brake discs every few years. Most of the cossie service parts are well cheaper too.

 

How much are cossie engines door strips. You do talk some shit

 

How often do you replace door strips. How often do you replace engines??? Had my saff 8 n a half years. Got 1 door strip changed cause of divvy bodyshop. Im still on the orginal engine and running gear.

 

Any way Dan I was having a bit of banter which some people dont get. If you want a M3 you go and get one bought.

 

It's a great site as long as you don't dare suggest any other car is quicker, can be very clicky. There are also some straight up really decent people on there too. My brother had one of the forum members do some work on his M3 and the bloke was clearly very very knowledgable on the cars and was a bloody nice bloke to boot.

The E46 M3 is a fucking brilliant motor and I can see the appeal and keep coming back to them again and again but I am put off by the value over my current A4 and the fact I like beating the Hell out of my cars on track. Bending an M3 would be a disaster but bending my A4 whilst an annoyance wouldn't ruin me. My ONLY Criticism is they just don't feel fast. Driven my brothers M3 and given it death and just wasn't excited by its acceleration, then I look at the speedo and see I'm doing the speeds that got me a ban not more than 3 months earlier.

Ref the VANOS issue my brother has ordered some parts from the US and will be rebuilding his VANOS unit for a total of £80 somewhat less that the £600 that often gets thrown about

 

Went out in my mates old B10 alpina. I was looking out the window and my mate asked me how fast we were doing. I said about 100. We were doing 140 lol.

 

Re vans, seals etc for rebuild are about 50 quid, takes about 2 hours and may need a cam cover gasket.

 

Ive a mate who had an e46m3 and they don't handle there bumpy and twitchy and go wrong a lot! He has an e39 m5 now which is a far better car in every way

 

Total crap! The E46 is a superb handling car with super balance and poise. i would love to get one on a track after going out with RichardPON in his old vert at Bedford. If it didn't handle there was something seriously wrong, and if he was having huge reliability issues I would suspect he purchased himself a rock bottom budget wrongun.

 

Blackys by any chance?

 

We will have to disagree lol compared to the m5 it was nervous and twitchy on the edge. He is on his second m5 now first was a very high milage cosmos black one current is dark blue neither have ever missed a beat a few pics can't find a pic of his blue one but it has horrid wheels

 

Fair enough mate, if we all shared the same view this would be a pretty dull place.

 

Yeah that's right mate we are all different

 

Yerp. Stunning car. I love his. Rare as rocking horse shit too.

 

Defo agree. Im a big car nut. In fact I like anything with wheels. I just a big ford fan. The same as some people are big vw nuts.

 

I do miss my e36 m3. Just felt bomb proof. Wouldn't even contemplate taking the Sierra to Germany like I did the m3. Think something would break on the way.

 

I took mine to the South of France - did 3000 miles. Nothing broke......but I wished I had aircon

They're just a family saloon with a turbo engine - if they're well maintained and kept serviced nothing is any more likely to break than any other car of that age. It'll be stuff like wiring that is getting old now but you can get new looms.
People used them as everyday cars back when they were new. Went on hols in them, went shopping, went to work etc

 

Well said Mike. Ive been all over the country in my saff. I went to silverstone/ford fair did a track session on drove home.

 

Hi Glenn,My Sapphire 2wd had an engine rebuild in 1996 at 48000 miles, it has now done 104000 miles . The engine does not use any oil, smoke or rattle and has never even had the head off. I have done other work to get more power, also new engine wiring loom, hydraulic clutch conversion etc etc It still goes like a rocket and it has never failed an MOT except last year for having honeycomb background number plates.Fragile Cosworth? It is no more fragile than other cars providing you look after it and have regular servicing.
The only thing missing is air-con which would be nice when its hot weather!
Cheers Richard.

 

Mines on about 130k. It had the head off in 2002 way befor I got it. Its still on the orginal engine box and diffs.

 

You need to take 6 Valium tablets a day to get down to the excitement level of an M3 .
If you want Poise & balance go & watch some ballet .

Yes ive driven them my son had an Evo version the Quattro in my garage is a far better car. But then all Audi's are.

If it floats your boat buy one but be advised to try other boats first cos it aint the best out there.

Unlike Glen im not defending a Cossie in this debate they are not everyday type transport unless you are mentally unhinged. The M3 can be used daily but its not as exciting to drive as a decent rwd Cossie not even close.

 

The Evo would have been an e36 though, not an e46? Much of a difference?

Thanks for all the advice chaps - I'd prefer a car that I don't have to worry about it breaking (such as an old cossie - regardless of everything else, it's still old and more likely to break) and just roll out the garage for fun.

Was thinking earlier about a Chimera / 350z / Z4M.. opinions what else for the same money would be fun?

 

Was an e30 2.3 because at the same time I had a 2.5 16v 190 that was faster and handled just as well lol

 

They go sideways well and do 170mph whats boring about that?

 

Im not defending cossies Rodney im just saying they arnt as bad as people make out for reliability. There a bloody old car now and sadly ford should of made cars to compete with the bms and Audis.

 

Nothing boring about a M3. Rodney doesnt like proper cars. He owns a fast cossie but slates them for been shit lol.

 

get an m3 with a supercharger setup if you think they're boring compared to a cossie, bet it won't be then

 

Bought one..

https://passionford.com/forum/other-...assionbmw.html

 

Exactly

I proper love them. They are so balanced and awesome to drive. I wish folk wouldn't compare them to a sierra