M3's.. What are they like.. and are they worth the money.?

[visionz]

Hi.. i've been looking into buying an m3 for a little while now.. but have been put off by people telling me they are money pits.. and go wrong.. i've had 2 e30 325s and have never had any probs with them.. would appriciate any advise anyone has.. cheers. Mike

[Chris-W]

I ran one for a few years and it was absolultey, without doubt, the best all round car I have ever owned.

Not money pits, in fact remarkably reasonable to maintain compare with 'similar' cars I have owned.

Do not be put off.

[maxfield]

Maintinence is pretty expensive. These engines are very reliable when well maintained. But if they do go rong it can be very expensive. Buy the most expensive one you can afford.

Generally look out for rust. These engines are very tappety so don't worry about that.

I'm sure there are people that know alot more than me about these cars.

[visionz]

what would go wrong? is it the parts that cost a bomb? cuz i'm good 4 labour.. see i worry now.. lol.. i dont want to fork out like 8k for a car that is gonna break down

[maxfield]

Not much really go rong altho timing chain at about 100k but thats easily resolved with an E36 tensioner.

8kWill buy you a decent M3.

[M5pilot]

The timing chain does not chaning at 100k - a theory made up by Munich Legends to rinse M3 owners! Total Bull.

I've had a couple now, not owned them for very long but a brilliant machine. I would definately buy one again.

Get a 215bhp model.

Engines are rumoured to have little torque low end but this again is not quite true. An engine with good compression will have good low end grunt.

Will eat a 325i alive all day long and is an absolute joy to drive. Beautifully balanced car.

Upgrades return some very good gains - pair of Schrick's and a good remap usually gives around 235bhp on a 215bhp model.

Then you can have a Carbon Airbox to make insane noises and excellent throttle response.

Expect to pay around £8000+ and make sure you take some m3 anorak with you before you hand over any money.

If you buy a good one you'll never regret it.

Sal

[visionz]

This is the one im lookin at..

1991(H) BMW M3 E30 2.3 Evo Sports 215bhp 2 Door, Metallic Black with Full Black Sports Leather, Air Con, A.B.S. P.A.S. 16" X Spoke Alloy Wheels, Remote Central Locking / CAT 1 Alarm, E/Sunroof, CD / Stereo System, Rear Sunblind, White Light Kit, Sports Exhaust, F.S.H................................................£7995

http://www.elitecar.co.uk/BMM3E30blk/Movie.html

[maxfield]

Looks quite clean and a nice car apart from the gear knob

[fuzzy]

dont be put of by scare stories.any high performance car will be a bit more expensive to maintain and on older cars like these bits will fail from time to time but if you buy one thats been well maintained it shouldnt be to hard to live with

[M5pilot]

There is a nice Macau Blue Ceccoto floating about somwhere for not Ceccoto money. Think I spelt Ceccoto wrong.

Is it Cecotto or Ceccoto or Ceccotto?? Or neither?

Sal

[maxfield]

cecotto

[M5pilot]

Cheers!

has you dad got rid of that hideous air filter yet?

Sal

[maxfield]

c/f air box now

[Rich_W]

Random thoughts

Reliability, so far mine has let me down a handful of times in over 2 years and 20K of use. Mainly down to the cooling system. But its an old car, so I kind of expect a hose to fail here or there. Everytime that happens I try to get the Samco kit, but its always 4-6 weeks away, so I just buy another BMW hose Its also got a weird intermittant fault (that I think is the AFM) wherte it wont rev

RE: Parts prices. Some of the prices are a little daft. Heres some of them ones Ive done.

£160 HT Leads
£100 Dizzy Cap (DTM style "peg" version)
£40 Rotor
£140 water pump (its just a casting and a propellor!)

>>C3<< can supply a lot of these parts at more reasonable prices, though be aware that some are pattern and some are genuine.

Rust is an issue nowadays. Under the front screen and mines has started to bubble on the arches now.

Maintenance is not diffucult. Theres lots of room around the engine. And its all fairly self expanatory. Though the Haynes manual doenst cover the M3. If you do buy one get hold of a copy of Koala Motorsports CDROM. Nto cheap, but a useful bit of info sometimes.

Performance. Im not overly impressed below 3K if Im honest. But once its wound up, it can be quick. 5th gear is quite flexible too on the motorway. Top speed wise. 140 or so is achievable, but its that lack of mid range that will see you going backwards to faster stuff. Also its quite short geared so at 70 in 5th its probably doing 3,5K rpm so its not especially great on fuel economy, but probably not any worse than other cars of its type.

Modifying, as Sal says. Low end upgrades (up to 250 or so) are realtivley easy. But not especially cheap. And theres a percentage of people with them that say you should keep the car as original as poss at all costs But they can look brilliant with the right mods. Having said that theres a kindof "This way or the highway" on mods. i.e Alpha N, Milltek, Schrick cams, Carbon box from Marcus etc etc. Very few people try something new so the tuners dont bother to invent new tech.


That'll do for now. Any questions bung em up.

This is the one im lookin at..

1991(H) BMW M3 E30 2.3 Evo Sports 215bhp 2 Door, Metallic Black with Full Black Sports Leather, Air Con, A.B.S. P.A.S. 16" X Spoke Alloy Wheels, Remote Central Locking / CAT 1 Alarm, E/Sunroof, CD / Stereo System, Rear Sunblind, White Light Kit, Sports Exhaust, F.S.H................................................£7995

http://www.elitecar.co.uk/BMM3E30blk/Movie.html

Looks nice enough, but without physically looking at it you wont know. Not sure about

1) Gearknob
2) Seats that are fitted (mine arent stripped like that)
3) Clear indicators
4) Mileage?
5) Rust?
6) Dinan badge

Its probably the sort of car that you can haggle at bit, get for 7,5 or so and then loose all the shitty bits and have a good useable car.

[Simon]

This is the one im lookin at..

1991(H) BMW M3 E30 2.3 Evo Sports 215bhp 2 Door, Metallic Black with Full Black Sports Leather, Air Con, A.B.S. P.A.S. 16" X Spoke Alloy Wheels, Remote Central Locking / CAT 1 Alarm, E/Sunroof, CD / Stereo System, Rear Sunblind, White Light Kit, Sports Exhaust, F.S.H................................................£7995

http://www.elitecar.co.uk/BMM3E30blk/Movie.html

Evo sports is a load of bull, and the interior is from a standard E30, just a couple of things to start!

Looks nice otherwise!

[maxfield]

Rich there were 2 types of seats ones going down and others accross

[Simon]

Rich there were 2 types of seats ones going down and others accross

No, E30 M3 leather only has horizontal stitching.

If the rear seat has come from the same car as the fronts, it will have a centre armrest and won't be the contoured for 2 people as a proper M3 should have.

[maxfield]

Does that count as cloth aswell?

[visionz]

cheers lads thought that was a sport interior also.. will be able to knock down on that..

[Simon]

Does that count as cloth aswell?

Nope, the seats in the above car are leather? And that's why my post says leather.

[Slarty_Bartfast]

Mine is a better colour and its for sale..

[visionz]

http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classic ... 960_1a.jpg

Same interior? i know it's not proper M3 interior.. but could they have put this interior in some of em?

[visionz]

This one here has the proper interior.. http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/ca ... 3246331437

[mikey-t]

love the look of them but i would always crave the howl of a 6 pot, a combination of both would be awesome

[maxfield]

Why is there so much hype over 6pot! An M3 with a supersprint race centre section sounds much better IMO. But then if you added C/F airbox

[mikey-t]

i just love the sound and the smoothness , ok i have never driven a m3 but have been in more than enough ,and i love them just saying i love the 6 sound, which is why i had a volvo 850t5 before,

[Simon]

i just love the sound and the smoothness , ok i have never driven a m3 but have been in more than enough ,and i love them just saying i love the 6 sound, which is why i had a volvo 850t5 before,

You love a 6 pot howl so bought a T5?!

One cylinder short matey!

And a 5 cylinder engine noise beats a 6 cylinder engine noise anytime!

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/qua ... 2f3051.htm

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/vol ... 494fef.htm

[Simon]

http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classic ... 960_1a.jpg

Same interior? i know it's not proper M3 interior.. but could they have put this interior in some of em?

Nope, it's been fitted at a later date. It looks so wrong!!

Only 2 seat belt receivers in the back, no lap belt, and the tilt lever is on the wrong seat, it should be on the passenger seat in a LHD, and it's on the drivers seat in this car which proves the interior has come from a RHD.

[M5pilot]

S14 with cams and Carbon Airbox - insane noise. You have to experience it to understand. The noise inside the car is just bloody awesome.

I have a video clip on my phone of Bexleys 290bhp M3 going down the straight at Silverstone. If anyone knonws how to show it here I will send it to them.

M20's can also sound amazing - if ONLY a carbon airbox was available for them!

Sal

[Simon]

M20's can also sound amazing - if ONLY a carbon airbox was available for them!

Sal

Get on the case!

[Demlotcrew]

Why is there so much hype over 6pot! An M3 with a supersprint race centre section sounds much better IMO. But then if you added C/F airbox

Dont forget to add diesel to your list.

Andrew

[Fushion_Julz]

Car looks clean...
But it isn't an EVO, nor an EVO 2 or an EVO Sports...it is a plain M3 (nothing wrong with that)...

You'll need engine or chassis number to check if it's a 200 (195 with CAT) or 215bhp model...

Interior is wrong one for the car...Gearknob is awful, but probably changed to cure a rattle (mine had that, too)...

Nasty "DINAN" badge (whatever that is) on the rear...Import, cos speedo is in KMPH
Why no reg on the photos?

£8k is pretty top money for a standard M3

As for the cost of ownership: In general, they are reliable and the engines are strong and long-lasting....But if it does all go wrong it can be expensive...
Parts are lots more expensive than "standard" E30 bits and most mechanical bits are different...Body panels are also all different...even the front indicator lenses are different!

Worst problems on these are RUST..check everywhere...behind the plastic panels, if you can, and under the carpet, especially at the front...Scuttles rust and because the screen is bonded, the repair is more involved than on a standard car...
Also check for stress fractures around front strut towers and under the fuse box...But this one has a strut brace which helps a lot in preventing this....

£8k will give you a lot of scope looking at standard M3s...you may even find a reasonable Evo, Evo 2 or Cecotto/Ravaglia for that money...But best advice is buy the best one you can find regardless of the spec...

[mikey-t]

i just love the sound and the smoothness , ok i have never driven a m3 but have been in more than enough ,and i love them just saying i love the 6 sound, which is why i had a volvo 850t5 before,

You love a 6 pot howl so bought a T5?!

One cylinder short matey!

And a 5 cylinder engine noise beats a 6 cylinder engine noise anytime!

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/qua ... 2f3051.htm

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/vol ... 494fef.htm

exactly 5,6, 8 thats more like it. although there are good soundinf 4 potters, but of course its not all about the soundm and m3 is one of my top ten wish list cars

[Rich_W]

FYI

Dinan are an American Tuning firm. Did some 2.6 conversions back in the day. http://www.dinanbmw.com/

But to stick their badge on a car with no Dinan products is the same as having a 'ring sticker and never visited the place in the car, or having a Greddy sticker on a 1.2 Corsa

Oh and maybe Im alone in not particularly liking the sound of the CF boxes, Watch this clip http://rapidshare.de/files/30010660/25. ... t__65_.MOV

I hate the fact it makes lots of noise, but isnt fast to watch. If I ever get one, I can see myself wrapping it in heatshield to dampen the sound. (and reduce ambients)

As others, a 6 pot is fundamentally a better sound than a 4. And a V10 is crisper than a V12 to my ears.

[mikey-t]

As others, a 6 pot is fundamentally a better sound than a 4. And a V10 is crisper than a V12 to my ears.



---totally agree mate