M3 feasibility

very interesting thread. i'm looking into the viability of an e46 M3 at the moment too (albeit a cabriolet because i'm a part time stupid poser) and this has lots of useful info.

one more thing i'd like to know tho: the warranty, that you quote at around £1200 per year: how many years of the car's life do bmw let you have them for?

also i'd be interested to see what sort of insurance costs you're looking at, jamoor. i'm 26 with 2 years NCB and the cheapest confused.com found me was £1600!
 
Gibbo said:
Hi there

First of all never trust no one. :)

MPG is not bad, but coming from a 4.6l V8, with supercharger pushing out over 500 horses and 500 torques that returned 15-16mpg I was expecting a lot more from the BMW's puny in comparison 3.2l straight 6, still I aint bothered. :D

The M3 is a friendly RWD car, it benefits from 50/50 weight distribution and is very well balanced, when it slides its controllable unless your sliding on oil/diesel then like any car you might not recover it, but in normal condition wet or dry the chassis is great and friendly. If you have DSC on then it really tames the car as it kicks in all too easily. DSC annoyed me from day one becuase on the SMG box it even kicks in during straight line acceleration as it tries to prevent the wheels from chirping on gear changes, so it kills acceleration. Then if your coming of a roundabout or corner you may feel the need to get the power down or a little more yet the DSC may think otherwise. A perfect example is pulling out of a junction with poor surface but giving a bit of gas, the DSC will just kill all power, wheras with it off you might get a bit of spin but you will be away and grinning.

Only take the car to BMW garage or approved ones, using a backstreet non-authorised garage on such a car is a very bad idea. If you fear you can't afford the bills then simply don't buy the car, sorry if thats not want you want to hear but these cars are special and need specialist attention from professionals such as BMW or specialist approved garages. As already mentioned get a warranty for the car and then let BMW carry out any work under warranty.
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You should try this 330D with the DSC, it is just as bad prob worse as it has more torque? Any acceleration which involves a corner is a no no as the engine is just cut of any power. I was accelerating in 3rd doing around 50 mph in a straight line and it kicked in (in the wet).

I cannot believe how slidy this thing is in the wet bordering on dangerous. My 330 is no where near a handful to this diesel thing.
 
Tetsujin said:
very interesting thread. i'm looking into the viability of an e46 M3 at the moment too (albeit a cabriolet because i'm a part time stupid poser) and this has lots of useful info.

one more thing i'd like to know tho: the warranty, that you quote at around £1200 per year: how many years of the car's life do bmw let you have them for?

also i'd be interested to see what sort of insurance costs you're looking at, jamoor. i'm 26 with 2 years NCB and the cheapest confused.com found me was £1600!
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I assume insurance will be around £800 with a large excess.
 
Ed said:
More like £3000.
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All the other cars I have tried have been 800, the highest one was a galant VR4 which had an excess of the following

£500 for drivers aged 25 and over
£1000 for drivers aged 22-24
£1250 for drivers aged 21 and under:eek:
 
Rather than start a new thread. Not sure if anyone has the new Evo magazine, but Fox might be interested in particular - they review the new M3 and that Alpina 3 series you'd choose over it. Interesting reading if you haven't got it already.
 
Problem with buying an M3 now is that the new one is out in September which will undoubtably hit e46 values hard over the next year.
 
thepharcyde said:
You should try this 330D with the DSC, it is just as bad prob worse as it has more torque? Any acceleration which involves a corner is a no no as the engine is just cut of any power. I was accelerating in 3rd doing around 50 mph in a straight line and it kicked in (in the wet).

I cannot believe how slidy this thing is in the wet bordering on dangerous. My 330 is no where near a handful to this diesel thing.
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Probably down to the tires.
 
jamoor said:
All the other cars I have tried have been 800, the highest one was a galant VR4 which had an excess of the following

£500 for drivers aged 25 and over
£1000 for drivers aged 22-24
£1250 for drivers aged 21 and under:eek:
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But you're 20 years old so what do those figures mean to you?

NathanE said:
At 20? No way. It'll be probably double that - at least!!
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There you go then. Even more reason to drop the idea. This sort of insurance premium is just absurd. I'd rather get a decent 325i and spend the rest on a Scorpio.
 
jamoor said:
All the other cars I have tried have been 800, the highest one was a galant VR4 which had an excess of the following

£500 for drivers aged 25 and over
£1000 for drivers aged 22-24
£1250 for drivers aged 21 and under:eek:
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As a guide I was given a quote of at least £2,000. 2yrs ncb, 25yrs old driving for 7 years and 2 year's experience of driving 330s.
 
Ed said:
But you're 20 years old so what do those figures mean to you?

There you go then. Even more reason to drop the idea. This sort of insurance premium is just absurd. I'd rather get a decent 325i and spend the rest on a Scorpio.
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Means i would pay 1250 excess if i crashed it.
 
NickXX said:
As a guide I was given a quote of at least £2,000. 2yrs ncb, 25yrs old driving for 7 years and 2 year's experience of driving 330s.
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Fleet policies work differently to regular once, hence why i was insured on a 530d for £700 @ 19 yrs.
 
Even with fleet policy that doesn't reflect the risk. Someone, somewhere has to underwrite you for that car and pay the costs involved. Who's paying? Does the business? :confused:
 
housemaster said:
This was my first one
DSCN0018_800.jpg
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Love that :cool:

You have had a CSL havnt you?
 
Ed said:
Even with fleet policy that doesn't reflect the risk. Someone, somewhere has to underwrite you for that car and pay the costs involved. Who's paying? Does the business? :confused:
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Norwich union? I dunno, but it works.

I guess all the private consumers underwrite my cars :D
 
just for a laugh im going to get an insurance quote...

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funnily enough these guys were one of the cheapest on a 3.2 M3 coupe 2003 lol..... the irony... £1400-£2000 with £500 excess for me.... :eek:
 
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