BMW e46 M3 - advice please?

Zascar · 30-03-2009 3:44pm #1

Always wanted one of these - really thinking about it this year. A mate just got one and got a savage deal. Cost him 20k for a nice 02, it would have been 30k a year ago.

Anyway, anyone have one? Any advice? Any pitfalls? What mpg can you expect?

Any and all advice appreciated.
Cheers

Chergar · 30-03-2009 3:53pm

do you mean e46 m3?

unkel · 30-03-2009 3:58pm

There's a lovely '02 E46 M3 here

MarkN · 30-03-2009 4:57pm

Insurance, petrol, tax, servicing and tyres will all wreck your head...

But everytime you drive it and hear that E46 raw scream as you get faster you'll forget about all that.

biggybum · 30-03-2009 5:11pm

spot on.. Service costs are through the roof if going via main dealer. Friend of mine got small enough servive done last week and cost him near 1k absoulute maddness but if ya can afford to buy i'm sure you can afford to run. A weapon of a yoke to go but no different to any Bmw if not maintained will put a big hole in your pocket !!:eek:

Chergar · 30-03-2009 5:46pm

If you wanna go to college you gotta pay:D

They are expensive to run with tax and insurance.. for sure and an inspection 2 will cost you around 1200 average, but you can get cheaper if you don't get much done. i think M&G will do one for mid 800, but if there is anything extra, thats where they screw you.
it will get you in and around 20mpg around the city and close to 30mpg are on the nose on the motor way. These cars tend to be owned by a certain kind of people, Anal nutters, like myself who clean everything in some ocd fashion. finding a good one at the right price is very doable these days. I think this one looks lovely

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1363037

Bandara · 30-03-2009 5:46pm

unkel wrote: »

There's a lovely '02 E46 M3 here

its lovely but its at least 2.5k over the odds.

I was looking at an absolutely immaculate convertible one with a hardtop for 20k (with less milage), and it had a warranty.

Yes the one you posted has been loved very much by the owner etc but so have a lot of others out there.

(this is not a dig at the car you posted at all, its just that the market price for these is dropping like a stone and 22.5k is too much)

kdevitt · 30-03-2009 6:05pm

Hammertime wrote: »

its lovely but its at least 2.5k over the odds.

I was looking at an absolutely immaculate convertible one with a hardtop for 20k (with less milage), and it had a warranty.

Yes the one you posted has been loved very much by the owner etc but so have a lot of others out there.

(this is not a dig at the car you posted at all, its just that the market price for these is dropping like a stone and 22.5k is too much)

Convertible is alot less desirable than the coupe though. Think its priced about right - there are loads of these owned by people who can't / don't run them properly and skimp on servicing.

The same goes for the UK market - took me months to find mine.

Chergar · 30-03-2009 6:52pm

kdevitt wrote: »

Convertible is alot less desirable than the coupe though. Think its priced about right - there are loads of these owned by people who can't / don't run them properly and skimp on servicing.

The same goes for the UK market - took me months to find mine.

I think he was talking about the coupe as our posts hit at the same time... but convertible alot less desirable than a coupe?? from the trade.. i've never heard that in my life. and as for depreciation rates, the convertible is considerably less severe. well that used to be the case before the sky started falling, which i think happened the day john gormley arrived.

Bandara · 30-03-2009 6:56pm

kdevitt wrote: »

Convertible is alot less desirable than the coupe though. Think its priced about right - there are loads of these owned by people who can't / don't run them properly and skimp on servicing.

The same goes for the UK market - took me months to find mine.

never heard that before tbh, I'd find it surprising that someone would pick the coupe over a vert with a proper hard top at the same price.

As for the pricing I just cannot see it gettign that, and month by month the value is dropping quite alarmingly.

kdevitt · 30-03-2009 7:13pm

Hammertime wrote: »

never heard that before tbh, I'd find it surprising that someone would pick the coupe over a vert with a proper hard top at the same price. .

The handling in one of the main reasons people buy an M3 - chopping the roof off does absolutely nothing for the handling, hence more people want the coupe.

Gumbo · 30-03-2009 7:54pm

biggybum wrote: »

spot on.. Service costs are through the roof if going via main dealer. Friend of mine got small enough servive done last week and cost him near 1k absoulute maddness but if ya can afford to buy i'm sure you can afford to run. A weapon of a yoke to go but no different to any Bmw if not maintained will put a big hole in your pocket !!:eek:

i would imagine that was either an inspection1 or inspection 2 which are both major services on the E46 M3, and at that price i would say he got a little bit of extras done on the service.

would like to see the service receipt to see exactly what was done for that money.

http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/ have a good thread going at the moment with various main dealer servicing costs including inspection 1 & 2.

http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5820&highlight=inspection

Hammertime wrote: »

never heard that before tbh, I'd find it surprising that someone would pick the coupe over a vert with a proper hard top at the same price.

As for the pricing I just cannot see it gettign that, and month by month the value is dropping quite alarmingly.

i agree with the convertible being less disirable, i wouldnt have one im afraid.
i would only buy the coupe. hard top or no hard top i still wouldnt have one.

BMW e46 M3 - advice please?

Comments