M3 Ownership costs

Gibbo said:
Hi there

Hard to remember for sure, but I owned a CSL for a little over a year and it cost me very little money. I remember a big service at circa £600, dealership wanted £850, but they priced match another dealership to win business. Warped brake disc but Tax Evader on here sold me his spare set very cheap and along with pads was approx £300. Then a set of PS2's all round, about £900 I think. Had no warranty but it never let me down, fitted a Milltek system and drove it with a couple of track days.

All in all was not so expensive to run, but I was lucky as nothing broke but in general a well cared for example with FSH should be a pretty reliable car.

The E46 M3 really is an awesome car, certainly an upgrade on a 350Z in both power and handling without a doubt. CSL is just in another league, get it done as you wont regret it one bit, epic epic cars! :)
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Cheers, thanks for taking the time to reply. I really mean that, same for everyone.

I think i have a real decision to make. I had dismissed the M3 but from everything ive read it is a go-er.

I love the 350z but maybe the step-up isnt as out of reach as i previously thought.
 
I had one for 3 years and tbh didnt cost me much to run, broken coil springs and a knackered headlight were it other than routine stuff
 
Rotty said:
I had one for 3 years and tbh didnt cost me much to run, broken coil springs and a knackered headlight were it other than routine stuff
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Hah - funny you say that. In 3.5 years, my only issues have been a cracked rear spring and a Xenon levelling sensor bracket.
 
What's the difference in reliability between a late E46 and an early E90/92 M3? I know the prices are significantly different too, but I'm curious as to whether they're mechanically more sound?
 
NickXX said:
As with most times this phrase is rolled out, this is a load of tosh. £1-2k in the bank will cover most surprises.
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Agreed. Mine only cost me an alternator, a broken rear spring and headlight levelling bracket too. Are you planning on upgrading any time soon?
 
Rotty said:
They eat coil springs for fun, I put Eibach Pros on mine
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They eat Eibach's too. I've got 4 front Eibach Pro springs left over as had to buy a full set every time a rear one snapped.

P.S. I only ever had rear springs, rear top-mounts and Xenon ignitors break. That's 3 E46 M3's spanning 7 years. Did have an issue with a clutch once which BMW sorted out pronto.
 
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sigma said:
What's one of the common big failures on these? Gear box?
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The rear subframe cracking and eventually pretty much falling off the car, it's an E46 problem but big power wide tyres and a diff make things much worse, BMW would usually replace the subframe for free on an under 10yr old car but its not guaranteed. The subframe will eventually fail.

Other than the SMG pump that's the other biggie, the e46 is an older car now so general servicing can be carried out by yourself if you are handy, bar valve clearances unless you are very confident and have done stuff like that before. Parts are not cheap but if you are confident and don't mind loosing service history go for it.
 
It's not a cars age which dictates whether its worth DIY servicing, its its value. The OP is looking at £12kish cars, which IMHO are still sufficiently expensive that the effect of DIY servicing on its value would be quite high - the 5 figure M3's are the ones with perfect history records etc.

If it was a bottom of the market £6k cheapy I'd agree with you.
 
[TW]Fox;24205436 said:
It's not a cars age which dictates whether its worth DIY servicing, its its value. The OP is looking at £12kish cars, which IMHO are still sufficiently expensive that the effect of DIY servicing on its value would be quite high - the 5 figure M3's are the ones with perfect history records etc.

If it was a bottom of the market £6k cheapy I'd agree with you.
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So do you do DIY servicing on your E39 Fox? While I assume its in excellent condition, its value is unlikely to be more than £6k to all but the most rabid enthusiast.
 
£6k? In my dreams! I don't DIY service it, it's serviced by BMW, but thats more a convenience thing - I like the service and I can't be bothered to do it myself. It would fail any value for money appraisal, thats for sure.
 
[TW]Fox;24205775 said:
£6k? In my dreams! I don't DIY service it, it's serviced by BMW, but thats more a convenience thing - I like the service and I can't be bothered to do it myself. It would fail any value for money appraisal, thats for sure.
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fox do you rate ocean bmw in plym - looking at taking our Z4 there for servicing?
 
Only had mine a few weeks but love it.

I did find that the DSC is overactive and kicks in before its needed quite a lot... but I just enabled "M-Track" mode as in the CSL and it transforms the car without having to turn the DSC fully off (which Im not happy with doing yet)

computer says im averaging 15.8mpg... :D which isnt great, but I'm not worried - haven't bothered to work it out properly.

I love the feeling of booting it in first and grasping for the smg paddles when the shift lights do their stuff.

Oh and the noise :D
 
Fantom said:
Only had mine a few weeks but love it.

I did find that the DSC is overactive and kicks in before its needed quite a lot... but I just enabled "M-Track" mode as in the CSL and it transforms the car without having to turn the DSC fully off (which Im not happy with doing yet)

computer says im averaging 15.8mpg... :D which isnt great, but I'm not worried - haven't bothered to work it out properly.

I love the feeling of booting it in first and grasping for the smg paddles when the shift lights do their stuff.

Oh and the noise :D
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Just out of interest, what tyres are you running and are the rear trailing arm bushes OK? You need to work the M3 pretty damn hard when off track to get frustrated by the DSC being over active.
 
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