BMW M3s, the E46 variety of 2000 to 2006, are becoming expensive, and if you want to get into a good one for under £10,000, you better act soon.
BMW M3 Coupé, £9700: Clean convertibles begin at around £8000 and coupés closer to £9000. There are always cheaper examples, such as the well-maintained 2002-reg manual convertible with 124,000 miles at £5200 that we saw and a same-age automatic coupé with 100,000 for £6500, although its engine had recently started knocking…
Elsewhere, we found a 2003-reg manual coupé, again with 100,000 miles, for £7800. All the services, including the much-championed 1000-mile oil change, were recorded in the ad. The bodywork was described as being very good for the age but the seller admitted the interior needed refurbishing, which is never cheap.
So back to the more expensive cars. We came across a 2003 manual coupé with 119,000 miles – more than the aforementioned cars but it had full service history and looked bright. Price? A highish-sounding £9700.
The manual gearbox is the one to have but turning your back on automatic versions and narrowing the field means you might miss a car that has had things such as the rear subframe reinforced and big end bearings replaced under a BMW recall. We found an £8950 2002-reg auto coupé with 107,000 miles that had benefited from this work and had full service history.
Aside from a weak floor and a noisy big end, other things to check when picking over M3 E46s include clutch wear on manuals, pump and clutch on autos, broken rear springs, rusting brake pipes, exhaust pipe and rear quarter panels, and a worn interior.
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I've driven a couple of E46
I've driven a couple of E46 M3s, a coupe and a convertible, both manuals, they were awesome especially when the revs hit around 5k. Thing is they are proper performance cars and the running costs reflect that which is why I'd go for a 325 or 330 as a coupe as I think the E46 is the best looking 3 series and the straight six engines are fantastic.
Great Advice
I think that's sound advice si73, real world public highway performance is not disimilar and as you rightly point out, E46 M3's are expensive to maintain compared to boggo 330's.
Re the M3.....
About twelve years ago I had one with a manual box, I managed to find one that avoided the big Oil service, I knew about the possible problems so I only kept it six months, it only cost me two rear tires, ran it on £25.00 for fuel...a week! , it never missed a beat ,put it a huge grin on my face, I, and this is just me, wouldn’t consider a car with a stellar mileage no matter how thick the service History was.
Peter Cavellini wrote:
12 years on, ie now, what do you drive?.