If, and it's a big if at the moment, things come good I'll be in a positon to look at one. Will be the bottom end of the market, circa £6500-7000.

Anything to really look for on them? How do they cope with miles? Manual or SMG? Reliability?

 

Be vary wary of one for that money mate you'l struggled to find a good one thats not gunna need a lot spending on it, you can spend 2k on one in a heartbeat. Id advise you to save for a bit longer and buy a better car to start with rather than chuck money at one that will only ever be ok.
Lots to look out for- the boot floor cracks on them, can be done under warranty by bmw if under 10yrs old but doubt you'd get one for that budget, its anout a 5k fix at a dealer! Headgaskets going are getting common and difficult to diagnose, rear trailing arm bushes go often, rear springs snap often, tyres are £750-£800 a set for decent ones, servicing is expensive and very important thats its done right, an insp 2 is 600-800 as the valve clearances need to be adjusted which is often missed as its a big job, all parts are expensive and a lot of stuff is bmw only, wheels corrode and expensive to refurb to name a few, there is lots of info on m3cutters.com, certainly worth a good read on there about them, oh smg boxes are sposed to be very troublesome and give lots of bother, also there old tech and not very nice to drive, can be very lurchy and jerky and a total pain round town.

Dont get me wrong there a great car but buy one with your eyes open as you can get stung big time, expect to look at a few theres lots of dogs out there

 

Cheers mate, this is what I'm after. My brother has one now and loves it and if I'm honest I love how it drives. He has a daily driver as well though egress for me it would be my daily driver.

Kind of finding myself swinging back to my original plan of a B5 Audi S4 after reading your list of issues.

 

Mate of mine who works for woods bmw in basingstoke rates them as stay away cars lol un less you have deep pockets!

 

At the end of the day its a top end sports car that was 60k ten years ago

They are reliable though apart from smg pumps

I'd have one but bad luck would have me raped as I own a Clio with all the common issues and is due a few big bills

Though I also own a impreza too but been lucky with that

 

There seems to be a lot of scare mongering here already!

These are fantastic cars as I guess you alreayd know by seeing your brothers.

I've had no issue with my first 1 in 2 years. They are so cool I just bought a second one I really love them. Both mine are manual so I can't comment on SMG.

 

They are great cars but as said get one with good history and money spent on it.
SMG is great but not a cheap fix if the pump goes so if your on a budget get the a manual .

I have had 2 M3s both with no issues except servicing etc , tyres ain't cheap though if you got on with 19's

 

I've had no problems in the 2 years I've had mine. Will check the rear subframe this winter as they can be repaired by BMW or independent garages can fit strengthening plates. Buying tyres hurts, the servicing is all DIY (if you're used to working on fords!) and won't cost much more than a couple if hundred. My mate bought his for 6.5k and that seems ok if a bit tatty (high miles) but other than that its fine. Ive had 38mpg on the motorway. One of the best all rounders in that price bracket.

 

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/forum...181&mid=253681
a catolgue of info ,use the search facility mate

 

Lots of good points there Steve, never hurts to make sure the buyer is fully aware of what they're getting themself into, it's not the kind of £7k car like a mondeo that you can just buy and put petrol in and it won't cost a fortune to run or fix when it breaks,(especially if it's your main car) alot of people don't buy into that and that's where the cheap uncared for examples on PH's come from.

Very reliable, pretty much like any M car, they are built to a very high standard. Out of 100 cars you'll find one car that broke and people will make a song and dance about it all over the internet, and make out like everyone else will suffer the same fate, but they never do. Anyway, the issues that Steve has posted about are relatively common, the only one i hadn't heard of was headgaskets, but given they're all getting on a bit it's not something i would dispute, i wouldn't say it's a weak point though.

 

I love mine, paid just over 8k for it and it has only cost me fuel and oil top ups since april. They do use oil, not rx8 levels but ive covered 6k in mine since then and have had to put 1lt in. Mines got the smg box and I checked that the pump had been changed before I bought it. They only lurch and jerk if you can't drive it properly, they respond to how brutal you drive. Would only sell it if I had no choice.

 

Im shocked about the subframes on bms thats mad.

 

Great all round cars! I love mine. Do like rear tyres though for some reason lol ...

Mine gets driven hard and has never missed a beat!

 

I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty and between my brother and I there isnt much we won't have a crack at and he has the software for fault diagnostics. The SMG stuff really worries me though so was thinking of going for the manual.

Only other worry I have is I think the S4 is a bit more understated than the M3 and I would have to park it in the communal car park outside my flat. Never had a problem here but there are a few wronguns in the block

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...73xp?logcode=p

 

Really?

I've not put a drop in my first one in 5k miles.

The second hasn't been used yet.