m3 e36 model

[nm1]

hi

i thinking of buying a m3 e36 now i can afford insurance as an everyday car, as i dont want to drive my sport on the crap roads and climate in ireland. i would rather keep my sport for the weekends. would anyone recommend them as i dont know much about them apart from they are fast and i hate dieseal cars no offence to anybody out there, how reliable are they do they have to have a full service history?

over in ireland most m3's arent driven in a straight line but round and round and round in circles so i will be going to england to get a good one i hope

my budget is 4k
including taking the car back from england
is there anything i should look out for engine wise

thanks nicky

[dickster]

I bought my 3.0 despite having mainly irregular specialist servicing most of its life and tyres so worn that the canvass was showing.

I have owned it just over a year and the only time it let me down was on the ferry and that was the sh!tty Numax battery that was playing up other than that its been problem free. I've had the trailing arm bushes replaced and had some nice Toyo tyres fitted and carried out a small service myself including the little Vanos filter.

Despite the warning signs telling my head not to touch it my heart said sod it as it was a totally unmolested 52k miler. If I drive normally its not too bad on fuel its only when you give it some stick then it uses fuel.

As for being expensive to run and own...not really, no more than any other 'normal' Beemers I've had. I expect you've done you're research and looked at the 3.0 vs 3.2 debate so my advise would be build yourself a picture of how the car you're looking at has been looked after-there are a few tell-tale signs to look out for and that includes the sort of person you're buying from, mine had a few signs like the worn tyres that I wasn't keen on but it was owned by an old boy who at least had the oil and filter changed and he didn't spank it...hopefully

[barryj]

Buy a nicely looked after one and you will love it, I have had 5 and they have all been fantastic.

[nm1]

thanks for the infomation guys

there are so many out there i dont know what colour to go for what colour where the ones you had barryj

[barryj]

I had two Daytona Violet Coupe's then my wife had a Daytona Voilet Cab, then I had two M3 GT's they are all British racing green. I really liked them in Silver.

[dickster]

Estoril Blue seems to be the most popular colour, mine is Avus blue which is a really nice blue that comes alive in the sun (not literally you understand)
Silver is boring but safe. Black M3s look cool and white ones seem to be unusual. Dakar Yellow might prove very hard to shift if you ever need to sell. I'm not keen on Red myself but if you like it and you don't mind eventually driving a pink M3 then go for it.

I really like Daytona Violet, I read in a buyers guide once to avoid Daytona Violet I'm not sure why as its a nice inoffensive colour.
Anyways each to their own-best advice is to buy whatever colour you like!