Mid 90's M3

Rich · 12 Oct 2007 at 20:52

What are peoples oppinions of these? I believe its the E36?
Firstly, it is worth saying that I absolutely hate the look of the E36. It sums up the word "Chav" to me unfortunately.
On the other side of the coin, you are looking at a good condition (albeit high mileage) M3 for £5k. I personally think it could be a lot of car for the money.
Gorgeous leather sports seats, almost 300BHP (minus anything it has lost over the year) and it might just see 30mpg if driven sensibly.

Anyone got an idea of running costs and whether these suffer from any massive problems?

[TW]Fox · 12 Oct 2007 at 21:07

Big running costs, large servicing costs, but quick. The thing to remember is that cars like this will always be £35-40k performance coupes irrespective of how cheap they get on the used market. For simplicity, avoid the Evolution versions.

NickXX · 12 Oct 2007 at 21:09

Fantastic car still, lots of Vanos issues though particularly with the Evo model (320bhp ish iirc). A clean example will still look awesome.

Don't be fooled by their cheap prices though, they are mega expensive to insure and fix - and they're at an age now where things start going wrong.

Rich · 12 Oct 2007 at 21:12

I *should* - all things being well, be moving much much closer to work. Should bring my commute down from 20 miles each way to 3 miles each way every other day (car pool with housemates for the win). I was thinking I may as well ditch the Skud VRS and grab one of these while im still young and wreckless

I will save £100 a month off the finance. That might just cover the hike in insurance

Just an idea I was toying with. Either this or an RX8, Which are now doable for around 8-10 grand. Problem with these is the "unique" way in which the Rotary works. I.E Having to ensure you let it warm up before setting off to avoid flooding. Oh, and having to rebuild the bleeding motor at 100k ish (is this still true?).

I guess if I am only going to be doing a miniscule amount of miles per year, I want to do them in the most bonkers fashion I can without bankrupting myself

NickXX · 12 Oct 2007 at 21:16

Rich said:
I will save £100 a month off the finance. That might just cover the hike in insurance

I wouldn't count on it - I got a quote off my broker - Costs me £1,200 to insure a remapped 330d for the year. I phoned up 6 months into the policy and they wanted another £1,000 for the remaining 6 months if I bought an M3 today :/

Rich · 12 Oct 2007 at 21:20

Hah, thats pretty heavy

Im still not entirely put off mind, but i always was a bit silly

NickXX · 12 Oct 2007 at 21:24

Rich said:
Hah, thats pretty heavy Im still not entirely put off mind, but i always was a bit silly

Heh, it's not quite put me off but it's a bit of a wake up call. The M3 is a fantastic car, but you do have to expect to pay over the odds to own one.

wez130 · 12 Oct 2007 at 22:23

funny you should mention this, i was at a garage the other day, they had a 96 'N' plate M3 Saloon in stock, it had 111k mileage and was up for £5477, and i'm not a fan of the E36 but this looked nice, and it looked in great shape too. Decent price i thought.

paradigm · 12 Oct 2007 at 23:01

I looked into this seriously at the start of this year. Not sure where people are getting the "insurance will cripple you" lark from though. For me it would have been £900 to insure the thing (Comprehensive), but the running costs, image, and age all put me off. Not to mention the potential for problems.

I was looking at a 1999 3.2 Evo cabriolet, but the principal is the same, it is a LOT of car for your money, but you need to treat is as if you were buying one from new, as fox said, its still got £40k car running costs.

Was absolutely amazing to drive (I loved SMG, even though people slate it compared to SMGII for being too rough for the road), blisteringly quick, but just wasn't special enough to warrant the costs. Shame

EDIT: Here is my thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17695712&highlight=startername_paradigm