Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

mrk said:
There are times I get fed up with the convertible side of things. Like on a crisp weekend I look out the window after getting out of bed and think "I'm going to shower, eat, then go for a bloody good drive", then by the time I'm ready to get out the door, the weather turns rank. Oh and not forgetting if a bird poos on the roof. It's not a simple task of lashing it with hot water until it rolls away, there's a tedious process to getting it cleanly off the canvas :rolleyes:

And then there's the front windows that creak against the rubber seals when the roof is up on a wet day, a phenomenon caused by moisture in the air and canvas.

But when the weather is right, and the roof is down, any thoughts I had of maybe changing it go out the window. I genuinely can't think of a better car to just drive on the road and enjoy the engine, cabin, and feel. And on occasion, take 3 other fully grown humans in decent comfort. It's also well suited to long motorway drives, the roof is well insulated and it's very stable at any speed. I just don't know what other car could do the same things for similar money. I'd also miss the noise this makes :(

Many folks want more power, or more torque, but I think 345BHP and 385Nm is plenty for the road, yeah slightly modified modern hot hatches could probably give me a good seeing to, but those things don't really bother me.

I do understand what you mean about stuff like worrying about parking it in a certain place. Just the other week I discovered a couple of minor scuffs on the rear bumper where someone had clearly rubbed against it attempting to enter or exit a parking space. Luckily it was just surface scuffs, and a few rubs with crunchy peanut butter and a dab of Triple sorted it.

Looking back at all the energy put into keeping it in good mechanical and cosmetic condition, I feel that I've invested too much into it that it's probably not worth changing at all. I do want to get an all electric daily car though as originally planned, and with the way things are heading, it looks like there should be plenty of affordable options in a few years time.
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Can't argue with you on that.

For me, I think the time to own an E46 M3 has probably just about gone. They are a truly amazing car, which is very capable in all areas, but it's centrepiece isn't about power though, or handling - it's about character which it has in bucket loads. I never used to understand it when people said a car had "character" and used to think it was just a nice way of describing a car with lots of annoying faults with it. Well, maybe it is a little bit, but a combination of things, from the bespoke engine, to the subtley aggressive semi retro looks made this car an event to drive and own.

I always really loved the E46 M3 but never looked at them because I thought that their running costs would be way beyond me, but when you take BMW dealership prices out of the equation and you're smart about where you buy your parts/do your servicing - they are actually very reasonable to own. I did 30,000 miles in mine, from 93k to 123k and I can now say that my 13 year old E46 M3 was the most reliable car I ever owned. In my near three years of ownership, I only ever once saw an EML (which cleared on restart) which was caused by a throttle position sensor. It cost £35 to replace and it couldn't have been easier to fit if it tried. Apart from that - nothing.

Oh...and who said E46 M3 prices haven't gone up?! ;) :D
 
The E46 M3 Convertible is 'wrong' on paper, i.e. 340BHP 'hardcore' sports car with a wibbly-wobbly soft-top..

The problem is, its so wrong it's almost right for some people (like me!)..
I also get the angst that when the roof is down, it's a glorious experience, but with the roof up all the squeaky windows (mine are terrible at the moment, it's booked in to get a complete roof/seal realignment) etc make it a bit of a pain at times..

I know that if I had to do a few more miles I'd consider:
Merc E350CDi (A remapped 265BHP version is as quick as my M3 to silly speeds), but the car is so effortless and cosseted with the air-scarf and front/rear electric wind deflectors, not to mention comfier suspension and more sound proofing, yet it handles 'OK'..
E93 335i dct / 330d - The DCT 335i (mainly N55 engined) are pretty quick, a simple piggy back ECU sees a reasonable chunk more power and youtube vids seem to suggest it'll out drag an E46 M3.. but it's a bit more civilised, and with the hardtop folding roof, it's actually quite taught.

Of course, the hardtop on the E46 does wonders for the roof up experience (no creaks, less scuttle shake), but taking it on/off is a two man job (or one man if you have a garage and use the hoist), even if it only takes 5 minutes.

Or the other side of me was tempted by an E46 M4 Coupe with supercharger and CSL mods.
 
Alibaba99 said:
If an E46 M3 is a hardcore sports car what does that make an Elise. And as for a Caterham 7...
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Its not hardcore, from it. A stock M3 is quite bloated and heavy, a good sports GT car thats lovely to drive with a great engine, but its not hardcore.
The CSL is getting closer to hardcore but not quite there.

Hardcore would be a fully built race M3 weighing around 1200kg with 500HP. :D
 
Neither coupe/convertible are hardcore, or even sports cars really. They're just very capable GT cars that seat 2+2 in comfort and handle really well for their respective weights. Oh and put a grin on everyone's face as you go from 4000 to 8000rpm in a wave of noise that just resonates harder with every rpm increase.

They also have an ideal power band for their size for the road. Any more power would be too much for the handling and chassis not being able to put the power down decently. Hell, even stock power is enough that you can't apply throttle in 2nd to 3rd gears without reaching license losing speeds very quickly.

The gearing isn't really suited to normal everyday driving, it wants to be revved and upshifted approaching redline - Hence why people always mention the character of the engine so much and how it feels through those gear changes. There also isn't another 6 cylinder engine in a car of this class and price bracket that gives the same (or better) sound and feel, and that's my main problem with a potential upgrade. Because anything that does offer that, is considerably more expensive.
 
mrk said:
Neither coupe/convertible are hardcore, or even sports cars really. They're just very capable GT cars that seat 2+2 in comfort and handle really well for their respective weights. Oh and put a grin on everyone's face as you go from 4000 to 8000rpm in a wave of noise that just resonates harder with every rpm increase.

They also have an ideal power band for their size for the road. Any more power would be too much for the handling and chassis not being able to put the power down decently. Hell, even stock power is enough that you can't apply throttle in 2nd to 3rd gears without reaching license losing speeds very quickly.

The gearing isn't really suited to normal everyday driving, it wants to be revved and upshifted approaching redline - Hence why people always mention the character of the engine so much and how it feels through those gear changes. There also isn't another 6 cylinder engine in a car of this class and price bracket that gives the same (or better) sound and feel, and that's my main problem with a potential upgrade. Because anything that does offer that, is considerably more expensive.
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Agreed its why a shorter final ratio is such a great mod on these cars, the stock 3.62 was simply done for improved economy on the motorway. I am on a 3.91 and the get up and go is night and day difference, even 6th the acceleration from 60mph is very impressive, actually wished I'd put in a 4.10 as I've never had an issue launching the car on the 3.91, so in hindsight 4.10 would probably be fine, though maybe a little too hardcore for the road. With the 3.91 my top speed is now geared for around 185mph, which the car can actually do, so its a good ratio. :)

But its one of the best mods, more noticeable than a remap/CSL style box in performance and my terminal speeds in the quarter mile are a good 7mph or so up on a stock coupe, so the weight, power and ratio all helps. A 4.10 would be quicker though traction permitting as I am crossing line in 4th with a good 1500rpm spare, so a 4.10 would cross the line just before limiter, probably achieve low 12's and 113mph area if one could boot it off the line without issue.
 
Hi Mrk,

How are you finding your Erisin HU after having it for a while?

I'm getting quite fed up with the factory nav unit in my 330ci, it's clunky and desperately needs some new features - even BT streaming would be a massive upgrade for me.

I've been looking at the Erisin ones similar to yours and they look like they'd do the trick, I noticed there was a slightly updated version to yours with Android 7.1, 2GB RAM and a slightly different button layout - would you recommend your unit?

I've also been offered the Parrot Asteroid Smart from a mate for cheap, but the super early version of Android puts me off that massively.

This was the one I was looking at:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAB-Andro...108780?hash=item361b6921ec:g:-HMAAOSw3fZZ7woG

Cheers.
 
If you can, I'd definitely recommend seeing if you can get the one with OEM style button layout like on mine, but running 7.1 and 2GB RAM. Those make the unit look factory as the buttons are shaped the same as the rest of the centre console buttons.

My unit is the 1GB model and unless I clear caches, then a bug app update won't complete as there isn't enough ROM storage available as my apps are taking up too much space! Just a minor workaround to sort however. The newer models have more app storage space.

Otherwise I really like the unit, and I've been holding off changing to one running android 7.1 with hope that they'll release on running Android Automotive which is different to android Auto in that it runs Android designed specifically with cars and acts like a normal car nab unit, but has the play store etc.

The Asteroid Smart is fine but it really is slow by comparison, and none of the newer nav apps will work as they no longer support Android versions below 4 now anyway.
 
mrk said:
If you can, I'd definitely recommend seeing if you can get the one with OEM style button layout like on mine, but running 7.1 and 2GB RAM. Those make the unit look factory as the buttons are shaped the same as the rest of the centre console buttons.

My unit is the 1GB model and unless I clear caches, then a bug app update won't complete as there isn't enough ROM storage available as my apps are taking up too much space! Just a minor workaround to sort however. The newer models have more app storage space.

Otherwise I really like the unit, and I've been holding off changing to one running android 7.1 with hope that they'll release on running Android Automotive which is different to android Auto in that it runs Android designed specifically with cars and acts like a normal car nab unit, but has the play store etc.

The Asteroid Smart is fine but it really is slow by comparison, and none of the newer nav apps will work as they no longer support Android versions below 4 now anyway.
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Really helpful - thanks Mrk. I wasn't quite sold on the button layout on the newer version but it's the only one I could see which had the extra RAM and later version of Android. It's a shame they don't make one that retains a little of the OEM look for the E46, the E39 model has the longer buttons either side of the screen.

Do you notice any lag or crashes on your HU?

I did notice a monstrosity of a head unit which just looked like a 9" tablet had been stuck to the dash, definitely giving those a wide berth. They'd look stupid in an E46.

The Parrot is massively old and despite being offered it for £100, I don't think it'll be worthwhile considering apps aren't support.

Thanks again for your reply!
 
No problem,.

I don't notice any lag really. I use GoneMad music player and Waze. Google Maps is slower than I'd like though, but the requirements for that are higher than other nav aoos, especially with satellite layers tuned on. Did you see a previous video I posted of the UI and general speed of it?

Other than that it's a pleasant experience with smooth animations and whatnot.

You do need to tweak these units to your liking of course, because our the box they're a bit colourful with icon themes and stuff that doesn't suit the interior styling of an E46, easy to do however.

@Gaygle I'm assuming your car bought at 100k already had most of the common failures seen to by previous owners? I bought mine at 62k hence during my ownership, saw the usual things like sensors fail. Engine has been great however, and has never consumed any oil either!
 
mrk said:
@Gaygle I'm assuming your car bought at 100k already had most of the common failures seen to by previous owners? I bought mine at 62k hence during my ownership, saw the usual things like sensors fail. Engine has been great however, and has never consumed any oil either!
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Got it at 93k and from 50-80k it had had things like wheel bearings replaced, wishbone bushes, a new fan, a couple of new calipers, springs, new starter and a new battery etc etc - no sensors or anything, but yeah all common weak spots had already been done.

Engine was spot on though - never had so much as a hiccup from it.
 
mrk said:
No problem,.

I don't notice any lag really. I use GoneMad music player and Waze. Google Maps is slower than I'd like though, but the requirements for that are higher than other nav aoos, especially with satellite layers tuned on. Did you see a previous video I posted of the UI and general speed of it?

Other than that it's a pleasant experience with smooth animations and whatnot.

You do need to tweak these units to your liking of course, because our the box they're a bit colourful with icon themes and stuff that doesn't suit the interior styling of an E46, easy to do however.
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Great, it sounds like it should do the trick, and hopefully the extra GB of RAM should help keep things running smoothly - I had thought it might be laggy at times like with low end Android phones (which drives me bananas) :p I think I'll opt for one in the next few weeks to replace my stock unit.

As a matter of fact, I did see that video by coincidence when Googling for Android E46 units - I thought I recognised the name and the car, wasn't until a little later on I remembered I'd done and sent some bits over for your M3's ECU (think it might have been limiter delete) :p

Thanks again for your reply - it's made my mind up to get one!
 
Hah yeah limiter removal and shift lights to show oil temp iirc, all good :cool:

Edit*

Notice anything different?


steeringwheel_flat_4.jpg
 
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Steering wheel :-)

Where did you get it from, pretty much spot on to what i'm looking for :D was thinking of either something like this or at very least re-trimming my standard wheel.

I did also see your forsale ad on cutters for a steering wheel lol
 
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