BMW and M Power Owners

panthro · 19 Feb 2015 at 11:42

[TW]Fox;27652172 said:
Why would you care about it being LCI? It changed virtually nothing.

wingman said:
The E46 M3 is steadily slipping away from a sound buying prospect, unless you find the "right one". Mrk's example is of course the exception to the rule it would seem.

I've been trawling through the classifieds for well over 12 months and nothing has made me want to bite the bullet.

I'm picky then too I guess!

Aesthetically, not much. I think the 2005+ ones got a revised suspension, and perhaps CSL headers though?

I guess if it's a 2005/06 model then there's advantages with the 10 year goodwill period with BMW, regarding paintwork and the subframe. Of course that's quickly running out.

From 03 onwards the changes are gradual, but 05+ cars there are quite a few changes from what I have researched: LED rear clusters, DVD/sat nav unit, revised rod bearings, revised ECU, revised HVAC unit, revised DSC (M Track mode), 12 year anti-corrosion warranty, CSL exhaust headers (05 onwards).

mrk · 19 Feb 2015 at 11:53

I think mnee has the CSL exhaust headers, the easiest tell is the noise no? It does sound meatier than other 2003 M3 cars I've heard accelerating on the road.

[TW]Fox · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:05

panthro said:
From 03 onwards the changes are gradual, but 05+ cars there are quite a few changes from what I have researched: LED rear clusters, DVD/sat nav unit, revised rod bearings, revised ECU, revised HVAC unit, revised DSC (M Track mode), 12 year anti-corrosion warranty, CSL exhaust headers (05 onwards).

So it's not the LCI that adds changes it's the 05 onwards, you are going to find this almost impossible then because if you hold out for an 05 onwards model you've basically got just 1 year of production out of a total of 6.

The LCI itself was March 2003 and the main change was the easily retrofitted rear lights.

12 year anti-corrosion is 1st Jan 2004 btw.

wingman · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:09

Isn't there a VED price hike around that 06 time too?

mrk · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:11

Yup, I thought it was 05 too until I looked online and gave a sigh of relief

Jez · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:12

March 06 for VED rapeage

panthro · 19 Feb 2015 at 12:47

[TW]Fox;27652406 said:
So it's not the LCI that adds changes it's the 05 onwards, you are going to find this almost impossible then because if you hold out for an 05 onwards model you've basically got just 1 year of production out of a total of 6.

The LCI itself was March 2003 and the main change was the easily retrofitted rear lights.

12 year anti-corrosion is 1st Jan 2004 btw.

I know, my 330d is getting it's rear arches sorted under warranty (thankfully).

The LCI included the revised ECU as most 03+ cars are M Track enabled.

Supposedly the 05 has a stronger head gasket too.

Gaygle · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:25

panthro said:
I know, my 330d is getting it's rear arches sorted under warranty (thankfully).

The LCI included the revised ECU as most 03+ cars are M Track enabled.

Supposedly the 05 has a stronger head gasket too.

What you really want is a 53 facelift one (most 53 plates onwards), preferably a 2004.

Most of the really major/good design revisions happened way before this (2001/2002/2003) and as such the differences between a 2004 and 2005 version are very minor, if at all.

My buying objectives were simple:

- 53 plate onwards 04/54/05 preferred
- Full service history and serviced to a high standard
- Good tyres all round
- Subframe done.
- Manual if possible to avoid SMG woahs.
- Low owners.

RE: the 05 headgasket, no one knows if this is true. Yes it has a different part number, but that doesn't mean they solved the issue, or if solving the issue was actually why they changed the part number. Back then, nobody knew of this headgasket issue because the cars were all so new. Some guy on M3Cutters, who sees a lot of failed head gaskets on the M3, says he sees quite a few 05 examples too.

From my extensive research, all things being equal (bar the price), there is very very little reason to choose a 05 example over an 04.

mrk · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:36

10yr subframe warranty withstanding!

Looks like I have the M-Track LED, expected for a 2005 car though, so will get to coding it in over the next week or so when I have some time to read through the m3forums PDF on what to do.

xs2man · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:36

I don't actually connect my phone via USB to my car very often, but did so last night and ran the Eco Pro Analyser. My youngest daughter wouldn't sleep, so took her out for a drive. So was slow anyway.

Anyway, as I was running the eco pro analyser, I thought I would test out to see just how good a fuel economy I could get on a relaxed run. Now this trip was all A roads. Some of these A roads were normal, single lane roads, some of it was dual carriageway, and some of it was through towns / cities. Of course, traffic was minimal with it being so late at night, and I did stop for around 15 minutes in the middle, but the start stop was engaged.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the best trip I've done in my 2013 530d...

I will, however, admit, it was THE single most boring drive of my life. But there you go.

Havana_UK · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:40

Funky, does it have to be plugged in to the USB to get this data?

xs2man · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:43

Yes. The phone has to have the ConnectedDrive app installed, the phone plugged in via USB, and Eco Pro mode engaged.

Here are my top 10 trips for comparison. I have only started doing this a couple months ago. And this is a broad cross-section of the type of journeys I regularly undertake.

panthro · 19 Feb 2015 at 13:50

Gaygle said:
What you really want is a 53 facelift one (most 53 plates onwards), preferably a 2004.

Most of the really major/good design revisions happened way before this (2001/2002/2003) and as such the differences between a 2004 and 2005 version are very minor, if at all.

My buying objectives were simple:

- 53 plate onwards 04/54/05 preferred
- Full service history and serviced to a high standard
- Good tyres all round
- Subframe done.
- Manual if possible to avoid SMG woahs.
- Low owners.

RE: the 05 headgasket, no one knows if this is true. Yes it has a different part number, but that doesn't mean they solved the issue, or if solving the issue was actually why they changed the part number. Back then, nobody knew of this headgasket issue because the cars were all so new. Some guy on M3Cutters, who sees a lot of failed head gaskets on the M3, says he sees quite a few 05 examples too.

From my extensive research, all things being equal (bar the price), there is very very little reason to choose a 05 example over an 04.

That's pretty much what I determined too from the vast amount of (possibly rubbish) data on the internet. I don't believe BMW would have changed the head gasket to address problems, but you never know.

Gaygle · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:35

*sigh* another encounter with BMW and another battle.

I have rust on all 4 of my wheel arches (3 very small bits under the arch and one very minor bubbling on the passenger wheel arch). I also have rust bubbling through under the paint on the sill bit that meets the front wheel arch.

Now BMW have approved the repainting of the whole driver side of the car. Great! They have rejected the front wheel arch, front bit of the sill and rear wheel arch of the passengers side. The rejection of the passenger rear wheel arch is justified - it has had a small bit of paint just above the arch at some point in the past. However, they have used this to reject the front passenger wheel arch and sill too - which is approximately 2 metres away from where it was previous painted!

It's always got to be a ball ache with BMW :rolleyes:

Watch out guys, if you use a touch up pen to fill in a stone chip on your front bumper BMW will probably reject anti corrosion work on your boot claiming the car has previously been painted. :rolleyes:

mrk · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:40

I did tell you BMW are less than "customer friendly" with stuff like this

That's why I'm not touching any stone chips until the paint warranty has expired!

panthro · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:46

I am expecting mine to get rejected too, even though the body shop said the paint depth is within the thickness tolerance to prove it's not been painted; my service book has a full BMW history but one of the services which was supposed to be an inspection 2 has not been ticked (it's been stamped in the book but not ticked). Knowing my luck they will come back and say it's not been serviced correctly. I am being pessimistic but realistic about it.

NVP · 19 Feb 2015 at 14:52

Gaygle · 19 Feb 2015 at 15:16

mrk said:
I did tell you BMW are less than "customer friendly" with stuff like this

That's why I'm not touching any stone chips until the paint warranty has expired!

They originally tried to claim that the rust on the sill had been caused by a stone chip from the passengers front wheel. Until I pointed out that the sill is protected by the wheel arch liner and as such it would have been damn near impossible for a stone to hit it!

I am reasonable - I can see the reasoning behind them rejecting the rear passenger wheel arch. It has had paint on it at some point, but in the only 5-10cm around the arch. To reject a wing and sill at the front of the car for this reason is laughable.

panthro said:
I am expecting mine to get rejected too, even though the body shop said the paint depth is within the thickness tolerance to prove it's not been painted; my service book has a full BMW history but one of the services which was supposed to be an inspection 2 has not been ticked (it's been stamped in the book but not ticked). Knowing my luck they will come back and say it's not been serviced correctly. I am being pessimistic but realistic about it.

I thought BMW would be quite "forgiving" of this issue A) because it's under a statutory warranty and B) because of how prevalent it is. I wouldn't put it past BMW to reject paint work because someone sneezed next to the car 5 years ago.

NVP said:
@Gaygle - That sucks. Can you not fight it?

I've sent an email back basically saying "BMW have rejected the passenger front wheel arch repair and sill....because the rear wheel arch had a very small bit of paint on it at some point? You serious?" and am awaiting their reply. I don't expect it to be a positive reply and foresee days/weeks of emails/calls to BMW to get them to do a U turn. Lest we forget, they aren't "doing me a favour" and this isn't a goodwill thing - this is part of their paint warranty that they are trying to tactically avoid paying out for things.

The dealership said since BMW wouldn't pay for the passenger side, they could do it for a mere £1100. Thanks, but no thanks - I think we should give BMW a chance to have another little think about if they will cover it. I did expect a bill for around £250 for the passenger side wheel arch as the bodyshop guy at BMW said that since they'll have all the paint, the car prepped and bumper etc pulled off anyway, they could do a good price on it and since another dealership had quoted my £350 for just that part, i thought £250 would be about right.

J1nxy · 19 Feb 2015 at 22:41

Spoke to BMW on the way back this afternoon, they are dropping off a 4GC tomorrow for me to drive while they put right the current set of problems. I do hope they get it right this time as I've just driven it from Manchester to home which was with the minor detour via the Peak District, Sheffield and Leicester due to traffic problem about 160 miles none stop. Took just over 4 hours and it return 46 mpg and I got out tired but not aching from being sat for that long.

The HK system in the car is immense and gets a proper workout from the music I listen to and I can highly recommend anybody looking at the BMW range to ensure they go for that system if they can. But my favourite option has to be the HUD, it makes using so many of the functions so easy and seamless without having to glance around the car, sat nav directions, speed, phone calls and music are all handled so an option that looks like a bit of "showing off" tech turns out to be utterly brilliant.

lee1101 · 20 Feb 2015 at 09:32

Having a little bit of a vibration issue on my 330ci.

It seems to vibrate gently from about 45mph upwards. It can be felt through the whole car and the steering wheel. Its not too bad and a fairly gentle wobble type vibration but its enough to get irritating quickly! I can feel it through the accelerator as well so your leg feels a bit numb after a while :confused:

Any ideas? I have had all four wheels balanced but this doesn't seem to have helped much. I've also checked the brakes after driving and none of them seem to be heating up too much so I've ruled out a sticking caliper. I've also changed the following in the past week or so

Control arms and bushes
Drop Links
Inner & Outer Tie Rods
Front ARB Bushes

Any ideas?