I am looking at buying an E46 M3, I want to try and get the best one I can for my budget (£20k), I have done a lot of research on them on what to look out for etc, but one thing that I dont know is when did they stop recalling them for the engine problems?
I know all the early ones suffered with it but on what year did they sort it out? I think it 2002/2003 but cant be sure

any help or other things to look for would be great!

 

Be sure you can afford the running costs... 20k to buy it now is cheap, the running costs are still that of a 40k car...

Eg..

SMG gearbox, rear diff and two wheel bearings.... 10.5K!!!!!!!!!


Alex

 

I'd sell mine for £20K its a 53reg post bottom end problems, manuel, silver grey with red leather and 19's

 

Just incase

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/236535.htm

 

Paul - that looks like a nice car matey

Just had its inspection 2 aswell - I would have thot you would get some interest in that one!

Best of Luck

RW

 

That looks mint Paul, what you getting next?

 

Been looking at BMW M5's, but I recon it'll be the Audi RS4 I see on Monday that I'll buy thou as its spec and colour is perfect

 

what did i say paul

 

Not sure if you have been on this site but its not bad with some interesting topics, worth a read .
http://www.bm3w.co.uk/index.php

If I go for the M3 over the Evo 9 I'd be tempted to wait for the prices to drop due to the new M3. Depends how much of a rush your in.

 

I'd wait too....

 

The best car i have owned so far!!, get a 03 onwards to miss out the bottom end recalls etc, with a 53 onwards you will get the led rear light upgrade and if you have satnav, will be dvd based.
Try and get one with BMW Warranty, and make sure it has had its 1200 mile running in service, as this will invalidate the warrenty if it has not been done.

 

i bought mine last month. 2002, 43kmiles fbmwsh with extras valueing about 6k, wheels, exhaust, cube trim inserts coilovers etc etc. i paid a lot less than £20k for it

 

Was this on pistonheads about 6 weeks ago? maybe a little bit longer? I phoned up about it so many times and there was never any answer really stunning car mate...

 

yes it was on pistonheads, guy was a real fanatic and spent a fortune on it. he was buying a gt3 thats why he was selling it. its a fantasic car the only thing it hasnt got is the sat nav screen but i aint bothered as most of them were tape players on this age car and even the cd ones arent mp3 which in this day and age is a necessity.

 

Paul love ya siggy mate!! The Monte looks ACE

cozzymatt firstly GOOD CHOICE BUD

expensive to service, unless you go to a independant specialist

400 quid for an oil service and rear brake pads and sensors i had to pay two days ago

Carl

 

pleasure comes with pain as some say.. I have looked at these for a long time and realise the costs of running one... it helps when your cousin works for sytners though ... just a shame they make such a mark up on their cars...

gonna really try and get rid of my 320 this week... if it goes through I will hopefully be giving Mr Ripley a call!

S3an
Are you selling your wheels because there is a set on egay with a pic of your car! didn't know wether it was you or someone stole a pic... awesome rims though..

If anyone wants a nice 320 see the cars for sale (this is not a for sale post)

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/241704.htm

 

not selling them mate you got a link?????

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ac-Schnitzer-1...QQcmdZViewItem

deffo your car(s)

 

deffo mine yes, hes blanked the plates out so its not a problem i dont think.

 

is there not a problem with the tiptronic gearbox on the earlier ones?

other than that, no much. odd wheel bearing and wishbone (love sellin wishbones-good for the sales figures) cos theyre fcukin expensive

 

thats why i bought a manual, none of this girly smg

 

SMG is the bollocks, no probs with mine, if you put the sport mode on and take off the dsc you get an extra shift mode, so you can change gear full throttle nearly instantly , also if you hold in both shift padddles plant the accelerator you engage launch control mode let go and off it f@cks . The only down side if you still have bmw warranty the launch control is data logged, and after 20 times becomes invalid

 

I test drove a e46 m3 CSL

and i had the SMG BANGING THRU THE GEARS

I LOVED IT