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

Can't say I've noticed any difference. Evolve said the material construction gives better filtration but doesn't affect airflow.


Also, Inspection 2 in 900 miles, will find out what needs replacing then.

#PrayForWallet
 
Just keep an eye on your MAF. Sometimes I wonder if mine was fast tracked to failure due to the extra dust and stuff getting in through the old filter material!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
Hah yeah limiter removal and shift lights to show oil temp iirc, all good :cool:

Edit*

Notice anything different?


steeringwheel_flat_4.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yeah can't beat a new wheel retrim!

Cookie12 said:
:D:D:D i'll agree with that statement more when it gives me grief lol. I actually like it due to it being my daily drive and its easy in traffic etc. Something that got my t*ts in my previous car the EVO 9. I dont have space for second car, plus i have always been a big believer in driving a car, especially as i only do 3-5k a year.

If it was a weekend toy it would have been a manual. I'm going put on my winter wheel setup next weekend. CSL reps with Vredestein Wintrac Extremes on. If that fails in bad weather then a second car will be the only option lol

You got any other plans for yours mrk or you done pretty much what you wanted with owning it a while?.

For me i want a brake upgrade, these are shocking even for a 14 year old stock car, considering its performance pedigree. My backs are in desperate need of replacement, the discs have gone off and are pitted etc.

Interior upgrades like the steering wheel, gear knob from stormworkz

I want to go through the car and replace tired old parts like suspension and frame bushes

Eventuri air intake

Upgrade my android unit, either with a 2gb one or custom install. Done all the usual tweaks with this one but its still a bit laggy. I have a nexus 7 here from my EVO install. Dont know if im daring enough to try it in this, even though i've seen plenty of people do it!!

Not sure what after that, those above upgrades wont be overnight, due to money etc so i'll see where i am and how i feel after that.

After 4-5 months ownership i still love the car and even more so now than when i bought it. Yes there are now quicker cars out there, hell my EVO was a lot quicker but this is, for me, just a lot nicer all round package and i have always been a tinkerer / modifier of cars and the wealth of options for these, for not stupid money it is great :D and the noise when your on it never gets tiring lol
Click to expand...

Intake is definitely the number one upgrade for everyday use, the noise is just addictive :)

As for brakes, fluid and pads will make the stock brakes much better as this is where they lack the most really. I went for ATE Typ 200 fluid and PFC Z Rated pads.

I've got no other plans now really as everything is how I like it. Just keeping it maintained is the only cost!
 
Different beasts. No denying the V8 tone is sweet! I'd still miss the mechanical-ness of the S54 though, and also the build quality of everything inside :p
 
Really like that colour and leather combo.

A number of things raise eyebrows though!

1: It says it's been kept in storage and is excellent throughout. It's been used with no floor mats, so the carpeting itself is a bit muddy and beaten up, something you can't restore or clean easily.

2: The front wing point where it meets the A pillar base looks bent :eek:

Capture_15.jpg


3: Aftermarket exhaust, I imagine this is for rasp delete, which typically also adds some drone from the lower tone increase.

4: It's running EP Tyres, tyres that come as cheap as £30 each on tyreleader!

Conclusion: It's way too high priced for the eyebrows it raises.

I don't trust traders when they say a car has had xyz. Hell, even the M3 only trader that sold me this one tried to pawn off a wing mirror that was glued back onto the mount, which then fell apart in my hands the first time I washed the car! Think I mentioned it in the thread, he ended up sending me 2x newly painted wing mirrors.

Next meet you're welcome to come out in mine! Obviously it's not going to be coupe stiff, but you'll get a good idea for how these sound and feel inside.
 
Last edited:
If you don't drive it, some mechanical parts can seize, tyres need to be rotated else the rubber starts to perish from just sitting there bearing 1600+KG for months on end in cold weather. The AC system pipes can also build up with bacteria and moisture causing foul smells and/or perishing the lubrication in the seals resulting in AC breaking.

Most of these are if the car is kept outside of course, if inside a garage then it's less of an issue.

Inspections: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?672126-E46-M3-Inspection-I-II-list
 
This one feels the same thickness and the padding is the same softness as the original leather. I've had 3 lots of steering wheel retrims over the years between both E46s and all times I've opted for double padding thickness and side perforated grips.

The first thing I noticed when I bought the M3 was that the wheel's padding was super soft to the point of feeling a bit squidgy (in a good way). This new retrim has padding that's exactly the same. All the other retrims felt slightly thicker, but were not as soft like the original leather is. Either they've changed where they source the leather padding, or they're using the same materials as what BMW used now.

In short, it's not as thick as the last retrimmed wheels, but only by like 1mm or so it would seem, but is softer padding, identical to the original E46 M3 wheel.
 
First inspection 2 during my ownership was completed today. I had a list of additional items to be checked.

- VANOS unit and seals in good shape
- Subframe and mounts are free from any issues/cracks
- Diff mounts all good
- Gearbox mounts all good
- Engine mounts all good
- New flex disc needed. I expected this to be the case as there were tell tale signs during load transfer applying sharp throttle taps at low speeds. so the car is with them another night to have this replaced tomorrow
- o2 sensors showed no issues during diagnostics and road test
- Minor surface corrosion on the rear brake lines (common), so some cleaning and protecting needed is all

Whilst a lot of other things have failed over the past 40k miles --mostly sensors-- I'm glad the engine itself has been absolutely fine. It has never needed an oil or coolant topup either.
 
Do you have the exact model code for the two you are seeing? Both those links seem to load the same product (Android 7.1 one) for me, bit weird. but as far as I recall, the newer ones all had the flat style buttons instead of the OEM style ones like on the older models like my one. If this has recently changed, then I'd be inclined to upgrade mine to one in the near future as the larger app storage space certainly would come in handy, or I could just install a custom ROM I guess, but that can also lead to instability, so am more than happy to just root the factory ROM and tweak stuff like I have done with the older model.

I would want to make sure that the image shown of the unit in the links above definitely are accurate and the item you get doesn't have the flat style buttons that do't gel with the E46 centre console buttons, if they are OEM styled, then go for the better hardware spec because in a car head unit like this, the main OS itself doesn't matter a huge amount as long as it runs the latest Google Play Services update, which even the Android 4.4.4 ones do, so will run the latest apps.

As for the guibo/flex disc,yeah if you're at a low or constant speed, then tapping the throttle in quick succession and letting go will exhibit a bit of transmission knock. You'll get some knock by default anyway even with a new flex disc as this is what BMW call load transfer between the engine and transmission. A worn flex disc just amplifies that and it's more obvious in normal driving at low speeds. If your one is over 80k miles, then get the flex disc inspected for the rubber cracking. It's easy to do if you can raise the car up and wriggle the shaft to check for knocking and excess play at the disc end, but as I don't have the means to do that, I let the indy do it during service :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom