Is the E46 M3 CS Worth the Premium?

Which is turn bodes well for the E46 and E92 M3 surely once they are of similar age and most of them have gone? What with being the last great naturally aspirated M Power engines to be made and all.
 
olv, stunning car.

The E46 M3 was a high point for BMW. Everything about the E46 strikes me as perfectly designed. Nothing will come close to it again for me.
 
mrk said:
Which is turn bodes well for the E46 and E92 M3 surely once they are of similar age and most of them have gone?
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Absolutely - though with the possible exception of you (As you intend long term ownership) that doesn't really bode too well for the current owners, as they have to hit the bottom first :p
 
[TW]Fox;28851598 said:
One day the M3 bubble will pop as everyone realises there are thousands of them out there. Just

There are over 15,000 E46 M3's still registered on UK roads. This is a huge amount - there are more of them than there are BMW 530d M Sport's to give you an idea!
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How do people not know there are that many out there and how has that caused a bubble?

I don't think it's a bubble, I think it's a car that fitted perfectly into the kind of household badly affected by the recession, hence the dive in price with people wanting something more economical and now the market is catching up with that depreciation making it look like values are solid. I'm not a car economist though.
 
Another one bites the dust... Just seen pics of a fettled with Phoenix Yellow coupe wrapped around a tree on the Facebook M3 group. Driver says he was doing 80 and just "lost it". From the pics, it doesn't look like a motorway either, what with houses visible in the background.
 
hurfdurf said:
How do people not know there are that many out there and how has that caused a bubble?

I don't think it's a bubble, I think it's a car that fitted perfectly into the kind of household badly affected by the recession, hence the dive in price with people wanting something more economical and now the market is catching up with that depreciation making it look like values are solid. I'm not a car economist though.
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The e46 M3 is many things, but the car that sits perfectly in a household hit by the recession?

Yes, I quite agree, your no car economist!! :p :D

mrk said:
Another one bites the dust... Just seen pics of a fettled with Phoenix Yellow coupe wrapped around a tree on the Facebook M3 group. Driver says he was doing 80 and just "lost it". From the pics, it doesn't look like a motorway either, what with houses visible in the background.
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Which group? - I'm on a few and not noticed that one pop up, if your on it (given your steed) it's probably one worth joining. :)
 
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The ///M3ntal one :p
It recently turned into a closed group though, and not sure if it shows up on searches. The car itself was one put up on sale recently too for £9k. That's gotta suck big time.
 
mrk said:
The ///M3ntal one :p
It recently turned into a closed group though, and not sure if it shows up on searches. The car itself was one put up on sale recently too for £9k. That's gotta suck big time.
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Found it, cheers, hopefully they'll let me join, unfortunately many such faceache groups have to go closed to keep the trolls & cretins away.

Hope he's insured and they pay out (I think) - sounds like a bit of karma perhaps - times and places for hoons, think he got his very wrong......
 
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Scania said:
The e46 M3 is many things, but the car that sits perfectly in a household hit by the recession?

Yes, I quite agree, your no car economist!! :p :D
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It's analytical but I know of 2 people personally who couldn't justify an m3 during the recession and had to sell. The market was flooded with people desperate to just pay off the finance they had left and not be on the line for the big bills.
 
Scania said:
Found it, cheers, hopefully they'll let me join, unfortunately many such faceache groups have to go closed to keep the trolls & cretins away.

Hope he's insured and they pay out (I think) - sounds like a bit of karma perhaps - times and places for hoons, think he got his very wrong......
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There are 2 groups with the same name format, both from the same guy, one for M3 owners only, the other for all M cars. So be sure you've joined the right one :)

Many posts are a bit bruvvy, but there are some interesting things on there. Not so sure about the cluster LED mod posted most recently...
 
I have a E36 Evo Convertible Estril / 77K / Full BMWsh. Brought it new back in 1998 and have watched it drop money from £44K down to £5K and have recently seen the prices slowly increase. Like all these cars, slowly they become cheap enough for the chavs to get hold of them and smash them up resulting in the good condition / standard ones becoming more valuable. Ive seen this happen to the E46 M3s too now.

Personally, I wouldnt worry about whether the car looses / keeps it value, as its all about the driving experience and having such a good car. Ive lost £38K on my car over the last 17 years but its all about the smile factor.

Just go out and buy one, drive it, love it and enjoy it.

SBK
 
[TW]Fox;28851598 said:
Don't we all.

One day the M3 bubble will pop as everyone realises there are thousands of them out there. Just like the E36.

There are over 15,000 E46 M3's still registered on UK roads. This is a huge amount - there are more of them than there are BMW 530d M Sport's to give you an idea!
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I think we should revisit this topic in a few years to see if you're correct, because personally I don't think you are. They hit rock bottom several years ago and hovered around that price range and good condition face lift coupes are starting to slowly creep up in value. I can't envisage the prices suddenly plummeting again for no reason. Pre face lift high mileage cars will still hover around the 6-7k mark but low mileage face lift coupes are moving up into £10k and above region. The CS, whether people like it or not, is going up in value. It doesn't make any sense to me but I'm quite happy if it does go up more in value.
 
panthro said:
I think we should revisit this topic in a few years to see if you're correct, because personally I don't think you are. They hit rock bottom several years ago and hovered around that price range and good condition face lift coupes are starting to slowly creep up in value. I can't envisage the prices suddenly plummeting again for no reason. Pre face lift high mileage cars will still hover around the 6-7k mark but low mileage face lift coupes are moving up into £10k and above region. The CS, whether people like it or not, is going up in value. It doesn't make any sense to me but I'm quite happy if it does go up more in value.
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Agreed I got mine for £6800 three years ago, at the time there were also ones for sales from as low as £4500 advertised and a mate of mine got one for £4000. I got lucky, mine was in good condition and it has not let me down in any way apart from clutch exploding but to be expected on a car with 100k and 30+ track days on the original clutch. :)

Of course mine has also not failed no doubt because nothing has had chance to fail as I changed everything, yes it nearly spun a shell but again no fault of the car, just a tuner thinking 8500-9000rpm was safe on a 100k S54, luckily a set of shells and ARP bolts later and car is better than ever.

I told a friend about 6 months ago he could get one for around 5.5k if he looked hard he might find an OK one, I had not checked what had happened to prices and though he found some around 5.5k they were dogs and the decent ones in better condition were more around 8k in value. So values certainly bottomed a couple of years ago and they have since being increasing value, of course things just don't continue increasing, they might take a sudden fall again but I believe overall long term those with excellent examples and especially CS and CSL models will hold their value very well. I would not be surprised at all to see CS models still in the 15-20k region for a good example in 2-3yr and the CSL who knows, maybe they will breach 100k.......
 
sb1972uk said:
I have a E36 Evo Convertible Estril / 77K / Full BMWsh. Brought it new back in 1998 and have watched it drop money from £44K down to £5K and have recently seen the prices slowly increase. Like all these cars, slowly they become cheap enough for the chavs to get hold of them and smash them up resulting in the good condition / standard ones becoming more valuable. Ive seen this happen to the E46 M3s too now.

Personally, I wouldnt worry about whether the car looses / keeps it value, as its all about the driving experience and having such a good car. Ive lost £38K on my car over the last 17 years but its all about the smile factor.

Just go out and buy one, drive it, love it and enjoy it.

SBK
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~ £2300 per year in depreciation isn't bad really is it? But, your right, buy the car and enjoy it, cars are all holes in the pocket in one form or another.

I think you'll find yours will start to go up so long as its a good one in nice condition, I was seriously toying with an e36 4 door M3 a few years back, ended up with a 328i in the end but could have had a 3.0 M3 for very little more than what my 328 cost, these days, first you've got to find an e36 M3 worth wanting and second try and find one priced sensibly, the nice ones are going in one direction price wise and that's up.

I don't think dropping on a cheap (ish) good e46 M3 as Gibbo did will be an easy thing to do for very much longer.
 
Gibbo said:
Agreed I got mine for £6800 three years ago, at the time there were also ones for sales from as low as £4500 advertised and a mate of mine got one for £4000. I got lucky, mine was in good condition and it has not let me down in any way apart from clutch exploding but to be expected on a car with 100k and 30+ track days on the original clutch. :)
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You got that 3 years go? :eek:
 
peterattheboro said:
You got that 3 years go? :eek:
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Yeah think so, might be 2, need to find my thread but certainly had it a while now, epic epic car, but it should be I changed most of it with some of the most expensive and best kit on the market. Alcon £7500 brake package, £3000+ KW Clubsports etc. etc. of course I but used so paid a fraction of those prices. :)

Today I literally just purchased on an impulse buy a pair of genuine carbon wings, brand new for £450, were over £1000 new and as my car has wing rot and I was gonna buy a fresh pair from BMW for £500 these were perfect, just not best of timing, but had to be done. :)
 
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