Any M3 owners here?

[streetracer101]

I diy a lot on my older LX (Land Cruiser), change oil, fluids, brakes, grease driveshaft, etc. But it's been rock solid otherwise. Bimmers had problem that I couldn't fix myself

I consider myself to be an amateur wrencher at best, and I have been able to tackle most the projects on my car myself. I think I can do the vanos and valve adjustment on my own, but I worry about f'n it up or getting into a jam and not knowing what to do. I think if someone more experienced worked alongside, it would be fine. From what I've seen, the E46 is actually a very diy friendly car. The newer ones...maybe not so much.

[JP Chestnut]

Now that I live in a free state, an e36 m3 lightweight with the 3.0l euro m3 engine swapped in sounds mighty fine.

[blkgsl]

Yes, currently have an e46 coupe 6 speed. Love the car. Out of my toys, it is by far the easiest to drive quickly and make me look like a racing champion.

When buying, make sure the car has no vanos issues (either serviced or no history of troubles) and budget $2k for subframe fix if not already done. The rest are typical German car wear and tear items. I put on about 2k miles over the last 2 years on mine, and I've only done an annual service each year without any unanticipated issues.




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[SoCal C4S]

Been thinking about an E46 M3 for a while now. Would be good to pick one up from an owner that I "know." Interested to see what comes up for sale here...

For those looking at Porsche, I owned a 996 4S for several years before we had a baby. Spend the $ for a warranty, whether your go 996 or 997. Toward the end of owning it, the warranty paid for itself and then some. But for the first few years and ~40k miles, it was bulletproof, no issues and maintenance was fairly cheap.

[toxicavenger]

You guys make the M3 sound super reliable

[59yukon01]

You guys make the M3 sound super reliable

[foodle]

^^^
M3 != regular 3-series

I've used a e90 M3 for six years as a daily driver. No major issues at all. The naturally aspirated V8 avoids a lot of the problems of the turbo engines in the regular 3-series. I read that the M3 only shares about 30% of its parts with the regular 3-series.

My previous E46 330i ZHP was also a great car and the closest you could get to a four-door M3 at the time. Again with no major issues.

[Panerai7]

I guess it's normal to see polarizing feedback.
My buddy has an e92 M3 and he dumped it as soon as CPO ran out. Last item of many, thank god they covered, was $9K transmission work. No thanks.

[SoCal C4S]

Same thing with my Porsche. $18k transmission replacement, luckily before the warranty ended.

[streetracer101]

I guess it's normal to see polarizing feedback.
My buddy has an e92 M3 and he dumped it as soon as CPO ran out. Last item of many, thank god they covered, was $9K transmission work. No thanks.

Keep in mind that BMW dealers charge around $200/hr and utilize that stupid computer work order rate. That's not too say they're cheap to have worked on, but an indy is generally far more reasonable.
Dealerships are also more likely to try to replace parts to fix an issue than actually determining the true cause of the issue.
For what it's worth, my last Subaru needed more than $2k worth of work with 56k miles and just out of the warranty window due to age. Auto repairs are expensive for any major work now.

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[Panerai7]

that's with our BMW dealer at 99$/hour, at 200$ it'd be probably like 12-14

[streetracer101]

that's with our BMW dealer at 99$/hour, at 200$ it'd be probably like 12-14

Damn. I would've dumped it too.

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[foodle]

I guess it's normal to see polarizing feedback.
My buddy has an e92 M3 and he dumped it as soon as CPO ran out. Last item of many, thank god they covered, was $9K transmission work. No thanks.

Lots of variables here. If he bought it CPO, hard to say how the previous owner used/abused it. If it was launched or tracked a lot, that'll put a lot of strain on the transmission. Also whether it was a manual or DCT would matter, especially if anyone was rough on the clutch.

I haven't kept up with M3 forums in the past few years, but the e9x M3's are generally regarded as reliable and pretty worry-free. Much more so than the regular e9x ... HPFP anyone?

All that being said, owning one outside of warranty is risking some high repair bills, especially if you go to the dealer.