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

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Exhaust acquired :)

Had to get a look at the guy's car too. Superb example. Sadly he bought it from a guy who put coilovers on it. He has driven it only single digit miles in 6 months, it sits under cover on the trickle charge and started up once a month :o

I think CSL wheels need to go on my shopping list.
 
mrk said:
rps20160103_112550_925.jpg


Exhaust acquired :)

Had to get a look at the guy's car too. Superb example. Sadly he bought it from a guy who put coilovers on it. He has driven it only single digit miles in 6 months, it sits under cover on the trickle charge and started up once a month :o

I think CSL wheels need to go on my shopping list.
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Depends if its got good coilovers on it or bad one, a good coilover setup is very nice on the road, whereas a cheap poor one is a downgrade over stock suspension which unfortunately many M3 owners seem to do. :(
 
I've just been looking at a Genuine M3 CSL bootlid :/

It looks so good, but is it really worth £700 (inc painting and fitting)? I'm pretty sure there is something better I can spend £700 on in my life. One thing I have noticed is that the CSL boot looks "alright", until you look back at the normal M3 boot, which looks really boxy and not as modern.

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you can get that for 644 from BMW Cotswold inc del thats if they still sell them. One on cutters for 640 collected new

i love both bootlid and front bumper, looks much better than the OEM M3 parts, oh yeah and diffuser :D
 
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Thing is the CSL wheels, diffuser, brakes etc are genuinely decent upgrades without making the standard car look like it wants to be a CSL. The bootlid tips the scale in my view.

I think the standard boot lid looks perfectly fine and modern with the lip spoiler installed.
 
Can you get "non genuine" ones, or do they not look the same? Remember that you would need to add paint cost on top of the £700 too!

The diffuser and lack of parking sensors also help that CSL look better. :)
 
hartgeh3 said:
you can get that for 644 from BMW Cotswold inc del thats if they still sell them
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I can get them for quite a bit less than that.

mrk said:
Thing is the CSL wheels, diffuser, brakes etc are genuinely decent upgrades without making the standard car look like it wants to be a CSL. The bootlid tips the scale in my view.

I think the standard boot lid looks perfectly fine and modern with the lip spoiler installed.
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It's one of those things that would be nice to have, but really can't justify the cost. I've got no problem with the whole "trying to be a CSL" thing, because, it's not and anyone who knows about E46 M3's (which is about 2% of the population) would know it isn't. I don't think it's any different to getting CSL alloys - It's a styling mod at the end of the day, which basically nobody but me would ever know any different.

Acme said:
Can you get "non genuine" ones, or do they not look the same? Remember that you would need to add paint cost on top of the £700 too!
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Non genuine ones are all ****. They don't fit properly. The £700 was inc painting and fitting.
 
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In which case £700 seems fairly reasonable. As long as the paint is good and it fits properly. You would then have a standard M3/M-Sport boot lid to sell too. Should get you £75 back. :)

Alternatively you could just get one of these and pay for paint. Looks pretty good. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-e46-M...173566?hash=item33ae8350be:g:qJYAAOxy6MBSRrDT

e; No it doesnt, thats an actual CSL lid in the picture, the stick on duck-tail looks like just that, a stick on. Cheeky beggars.
 
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Not for the convertible anyway, as the lid is different :o

I have the carbon fibre diffuser to fit and have painted at some point and that will be it in terms of visual aesthetics.
 
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Acme said:
In which case £700 seems fairly reasonable. As long as the paint is good and it fits properly. You would then have a standard M3/M-Sport boot lid to sell too. Should get you £75 back. :)
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It just seems like an awful lot to spend on a bootlid :p I could spend that on a nice holiday or doing some bits to the house! I think I'm getting old :o I swore this'd never happen!!

I'm still in two minds about getting some CSL alloys. My standard 19in M3 alloys need a refurb which, to have them cut and polished, would be £400. Some new excellent quality CSL reps are £500. I love the standard alloys, but the only problem is that i'll be lucky if they last 18-24 months without milking/corroding again :( whereas the CSL reps would stay looking great for 5+ years. And I don't want to get the standard alloys powder coated because they really only look great because they are polished (sorry mrk :p)

Acme said:
Alternatively you could just get one of these and pay for paint. Looks pretty good. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-e46-M...173566?hash=item33ae8350be:g:qJYAAOxy6MBSRrDT

e; No it doesnt, thats an actual CSL lid in the picture, the stick on duck-tail looks like just that, a stick on. Cheeky beggars.
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These look hilariously awful IRL :p
 
To put this into perspective, I have an old Corolla, worth a fraction of what your car is worth. I'm planning on spending £350 on wheels, £500 on suspension, and I've already spent £200 on induction modifications and cold air ducting. Though the latter was well worth it, the noise is incredible... (For a 4 banger hatchback - not my video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaSkKC5udb4) :D

You must be getting old. ;) :p
 
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Acme said:
To put this into perspective, I have an old Corolla, worth a fraction of what your car is worth. I'm planning on spending £350 on wheels, £500 on suspension, and I've already spent £200 on induction modifications and cold air ducting. Though the latter was well worth it, the noise is incredible... :D

You must be getting old. ;) :p
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You've just prompted me to add up everything I've spent on this car in 11 months (excluding petrol/MOT/VED/insurance) and Jesus Christ - a CSL bootlid is out of the question.

£4500. :o

Edit: Revised - £4700 :(

£1200 - BMW Performance brake kit (inc discs/pads/calipers/fitting kit/ATE brake fluid)
£70 - FCAB's
£160 - Front trackrod assemblies
+ £200 for fitting of above.

£550 - MPSS tyres all round
£230 - Rear brake discs/pads
£270 - New shocks/struts all round
£350 - Eventuri kit
£400 - Respray entire front end, fix rust on rear wing
£400 - Insp I service
£150 - HK amp upgrade with A2DP/better sound
£60 - Bosch headlight lenses
£120 - Steering wheel refurb
£450 - Rear ball joints replacement, fitting and alignment
£100 - Exhaust flanges
 
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Acme said:
There is no problem if you love the car and can afford to do it. :)
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I love my girlfriend, but i'm not spending nearly £5k on her. :p Which reminds me, I better delete the list I made, otherwise she might start asking questions why I'm not.

In fairness, I got the car for a decent price and with all the bits i've done now, it should be worth quite a bit more. And a couple of the very expensive mods I should be able to sell and get £1500 back.

Does put things in perspective though when you add it up. I honestly had no idea it was going to be that much.
 
Gaygle said:
I love my girlfriend, but i'm not spending nearly £5k on her. :p Which reminds me, I better delete the list I made, otherwise she might start asking questions why I'm not.

In fairness, I got the car for a decent price and with all the bits i've done now, it should be worth quite a bit more. And a couple of the very expensive mods I should be able to sell and get £1500 back.

Does put things in perspective though when you add it up. I honestly had no idea it was going to be that much.
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I bet you've spent more than £5K on her if you've been with her any length of time. If you include presents, nights out, buying dinners, those times she persuaded you to buy her something, etc etc. ;)
 
I gave it a good drive the other day in the absolute pouring rain and 5c, and even then, the level of grip it had was truly unbelievable. It digs in so hard and feels SO amazing to drive, and also looks the part now that the paint is perfect too. I have nothing left to do to the car now, bar getting the alloys diamond cut/polished in the spring. It is as close to perfect as an original E46 M3 will ever be.

My single biggest fear now is what happened to mrk, or if a deer runs out and completely ruins the front end.
 
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