M3 feasibility

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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What do his premiums have to do with you? He's said he can insure it, its his problem and it wasnt the question.

Jamoor, you must go for it. Owning a car like this is special at 20 years of age, it felt really good driving around in my 330ci sport, an M3 would have been the icing on the cake :)
 
my e46 M3 was £1400 at 28 with 2 yncb £300 excess

I had a spring go in mine and the tyres on the 19s were £250 ish for the rears

The diff will; have a little backlash in it but not too much, also check the wheels for corrosion on the 19s as theygo real easy with the slightest mark in the clear coat. due to the polished natue not many places will refurb them, cost £450 to get all mine done, and they are never the same as the original finish (although close).

I drove like a nutter most of the time so was getting 14mpg daily but then is had schric cams in it etc (370bhp) so she was uber thirsty, when going for it I used to see 7mpg :p

If you can afford it then good for you but pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease be careful, I found the e46 far more dangerous than my e36 as it is so softerned up that it fools you into thinking your not going as fast as you are (140mph feels like 80mph) the e36 fed back far more and the lack of ACS+T made you learn the cars limits.

ACS+T in the M will let you drift slightly but it still unbalances the car if your really messing about when it decides enough is enough mid corner (hence why I kept it off and sport mode on)
 
jamoor said:
its an open driver policy, anyone can drive.

Anyways, I am not bothered about insurance, just what goes wrong and how much it costs to fix :p
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Insurance is the main running cost when buying a car like this, especially when under 25... I don't see how it can't bother you?? :p

An M3 is a BMW afterall so I wouldn't have thought much serious could go wrong it... it's just the running costs... fuel, tyres, and the regular servicing.

Also "open driver policies" tend to have a lot of small print.

Insurance is often the yay or nay about any car purchase when you're young and loaded and it's best not to follow in the footsteps of others in skimping on "proper" insurance (i.e. TPFT only or being a named driver on someone elses policy, or having a cheap but heavily claused policy...)
 
Steve said:
my e46 M3 was £1400 at 28 with 2 yncb £300 excess

I had a spring go in mine and the tyres on the 19s were £250 ish for the rears

The diff will; have a little backlash in it but not too much, also check the wheels for corrosion on the 19s as theygo real easy with the slightest mark in the clear coat. due to the polished natue not many places will refurb them, cost £450 to get all mine done, and they are never the same as the original finish (although close).

I drove like a nutter most of the time so was getting 14mpg daily but then is had schric cams in it etc (370bhp) so she was uber thirsty, when going for it I used to see 7mpg :p

If you can afford it then good for you but pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease be careful, I found the e46 far more dangerous than my e36 as it is so softerned up that it fools you into thinking your not going as fast as you are (140mph feels like 80mph) the e36 fed back far more and the lack of ACS+T made you learn the cars limits.

ACS+T in the M will let you drift slightly but it still unbalances the car if your really messing about when it decides enough is enough mid corner (hence why I kept it off and sport mode on)
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Hi there

I must be doing well on insurance because I am paying £700 for the CSL. Is the CSL maybe the cheaper car to insure as its a more specialist version?

I've been looking at the power upgrades for the CSL, they start with a stage1 remap which gives 10BHP peak but better mid-range. Then Stage2 is remap plus full exhaust system with 100cel cats, good for circa 380BHP with the final stage being cams which can take it in the 390-400BHP range, but am not too sure on the whole cam thing myself.
 
Gibbo said:
Hi there

I must be doing well on insurance because I am paying £700 for the CSL. It Is the CSL maybe the cheaper car to insure as its a more specialist version?

I've been looking at the power upgrades for the CSL, they start with a stage1 remap which gives 10BHP peak but better mid-range. Then Stage2 is remap plus full exhaust system with 100cel cats, good for circa 380BHP with the final stage being cams which can take it in the 390-400BHP range, but am not too sure on the whole cam thing myself.
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Have a word with Thorney Motorsport, Thorny has worked on more csls than anyone, the cam kit that mine had done with full miltek 100 cell cat exhast schrick cams and remap (mine got a speciel road map as my ACS+T got funny with the rollers fo some reason) is the same that they use on the csl but with the Alpha N air intake etc you get the same 45bhp gain but with the headstart the CSL carries power wise.

They will also talk you thrugh sticking an AP racing BB kit on her suspension you name it. Thorney is such a top bloke.

If you go to the webaitesite you will notice the Pheonox Yellow M3 in the pictures, wonder whos that is ;)

My car was used as a testbed to do the cams with the engine in situe (before every tuner pulled the engine as the back of the cams are hidden by the firewall/winscreen tray. So you can thanks the price of the stage 3 to me as befor it needed loads more man hours :p

Anyway I can really recommend the stage 3, if it can make my lardy m3 faster (just) than a CSL it must make the CSL god like

The cams do bring a little loss of power under 4k but the extra you get and how it feeds in above that is worth it.
 
jamoor said:
The small print happens to be the huge excess :(
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Always the case, thats why if i was you and id seriously consider this...is to wait a few more yrs...get some more ncbs under your belt...that way when you go to insure it properly...not tpft etc then it wont be so expensive.

20 yrs old and owning an M3 is a lovely dream but anyone would tell you *** insurance will kill you rather than the servicing and maintenance...although they themselves are quite expensive.

I was 32, im 34 now...when i got myself a new BMW M3 convertible and the insurance cost me about £800 fully comp with £400 excess...sadly thanks to my brother, i no longer have it as he wrote it off in a pretty bad accident a few yrs ago.
 
Spawn said:
Always the case, thats why if i was you and id seriously consider this...is to wait a few more yrs...get some more ncbs under your belt...that way when you go to insure it properly...not tpft etc then it wont be so expensive.

20 yrs old and owning an M3 is a lovely dream but anyone would tell you *** insurance will kill you rather than the servicing and maintenance...although they themselves are quite expensive.

I was 32, im 34 now...when i got myself a new BMW M3 convertible and the insurance cost me about £800 fully comp with £400 excess...sadly thanks to my brother, i no longer have it as he wrote it off in a pretty bad accident a few yrs ago.
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M3 = LEND TO NOBODY!!!
 
Also consider where you will go from here if you get an M3. The quicker you upgrade cars the quicker you'll hit that wall where you can't really get anything better.

Rank up slowly and you can have many years of driving cars you think are amazing.

You could easily own something now like a 330Ci and find it great fun. Own it after an M3 and it'll be rubbish....

If you are not careful you could reach 25 with no way of upgrading other than to something like a Ferrari you cant afford. Doh. Every car you own after that will be a dissapointment..

Same reason why everyone thinks their first car is amazing.
 
Steve said:
Have a word with Thorney Motorsport, Thorny has worked on more csls than anyone, the cam kit that mine had done with full miltek 100 cell cat exhast schrick cams and remap (mine got a speciel road map as my ACS+T got funny with the rollers fo some reason) is the same that they use on the csl but with the Alpha N air intake etc you get the same 45bhp gain but with the headstart the CSL carries power wise.

They will also talk you thrugh sticking an AP racing BB kit on her suspension you name it. Thorney is such a top bloke.

If you go to the webaitesite you will notice the Pheonox Yellow M3 in the pictures, wonder whos that is ;)

My car was used as a testbed to do the cams with the engine in situe (before every tuner pulled the engine as the back of the cams are hidden by the firewall/winscreen tray. So you can thanks the price of the stage 3 to me as befor it needed loads more man hours :p

Anyway I can really recommend the stage 3, if it can make my lardy m3 faster (just) than a CSL it must make the CSL god like

The cams do bring a little loss of power under 4k but the extra you get and how it feeds in above that is worth it.
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Hi there

Yeah its Thorney I've been talking too. My main concerns is exhaust boom in the cabin, he ensures me the latest exhaust has hardly no boom at all now and also offers a wacking 24kg weight saving too over the CSL's standard exhaust which is impressive.

I am gonna have a go in a stage 2 CSL (remap+exhaust+cats) in a couple of weeks to see how it compares. If I like it then I shall go with the stage 2 setup and then leave it at that. If I still feel I'd like a little more I could always get the stage3 done at a later date, but the cams cost a small fortune for what is a relatively small increase. 380BHP in a CSL is gonna be very quick, the cams up this to the 390 area so again very quick. Nearly 300BHP per tonne. :)
 
[TW]Fox;9970453 said:
Also consider where you will go from here if you get an M3. The quicker you upgrade cars the quicker you'll hit that wall where you can't really get anything better.

Rank up slowly and you can have many years of driving cars you think are amazing.

You could easily own something now like a 330Ci and find it great fun. Own it after an M3 and it'll be rubbish....

If you are not careful you could reach 25 with no way of upgrading other than to something like a Ferrari you cant afford. Doh. Every car you own after that will be a dissapointment..

Same reason why everyone thinks their first car is amazing.
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Hi there

Better does not always mean better though. ;)
Just because a car executes everything so precisely and is built to high standards does not always necessarily make it better though. :)

There are many many better cars than an M3, but that comes down to personal oppinion. Too some people an M3 is the ultimate driving machine and hard to beat, wheras to people like me an M3 is nothing special its just a good all round sports coupe, but there is certainly better handling cars, quicker cars, more fun cars, rarer cars and cars that have a whole lot more character. Its just down to what an owner seeks in a car. :)

Also I never thought my first car was amazing either, I could poke holes in the body work, it was a yuck colour and generally crap, but it was an ideal first car.

Still I agree people should work up in cars and a 325ci or 330ci would be far more appropiate. :)
 
Wait till the new E92 M3 comes out. The E46 M3/CSL usually will significantly drops in price as its old hat.

As for feasibility, depends what your salary is. Under £30k and I woudn't bother, you might look a bit of a tit to some if you haven't got the Profession to match ;)

You could always wet your appetite with an E36 M3 Evo first, some say its a better car :)
 
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Spawn said:
Always the case, thats why if i was you and id seriously consider this...is to wait a few more yrs...get some more ncbs under your belt...that way when you go to insure it properly...not tpft etc then it wont be so expensive.

20 yrs old and owning an M3 is a lovely dream but anyone would tell you *** insurance will kill you rather than the servicing and maintenance...although they themselves are quite expensive.

I was 32, im 34 now...when i got myself a new BMW M3 convertible and the insurance cost me about £800 fully comp with £400 excess...sadly thanks to my brother, i no longer have it as he wrote it off in a pretty bad accident a few yrs ago.
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It is properly, its a fleet policy :confused:
It's what we usually do and always have done for the past 7-8 years.
Makes insuring our cars and vans a lot easier than have numerous differrent sets of paperwork. The excess decreases with age.
 
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