Yeah I'm still a bit shocked to see the prices around the 18's, I think people just say hey this is a fully loaded BMW 3 series so let's charge $$$$ for it.


I figured they would drop a bunch due to the E90's... I was wrong... still though these 2003-2005's have about half the miles as the E36 M3's

 

I to have a hearsay example. My cousin owns an 2003 model and he travels a lot. When he does he would leave his car with me. I have probably only racked up a few clicks under 10,000 miles in it but he has had it for nearly 100,000. He is absolutely terrible with maintenance, scheduled or otherwise. The kind that won't do anything until something breaks or a warning light comes on, and sometimes not even then. He hasn't had a single problem with the car that wasn't of his own doing (accidents). I am only certain that the 60,000 mile service was performed, since I had it done for him at a cost of $2200. The car still drives really well, the interior is still holding up fairly good for a nearly 100,000 mile car, and the motor pulls like it did new. My biggest gripe with the car, and is probably the single reason I wouldn't buy one, the shifter. The gearbox itself is great, positive and smooth, but the shifter feels so weak that I am afraid of breaking it when driving hard. A shift kit would probably fix that.

For less money I would get a GTO and a set of coilovers. If you go M3 try for a CPO model or at least a well documented one, pay a little extra up front and it may save you money in the long run.

 

I don't post here much but I did own an E36 M3 and loved the car but it did have it's share of problems when I hit 100k miles. I had the car when it only had 20k miles on the car so give or take about 5 years of ownership.

- injectors went bad
- 4 oxygen sensors
- numerous electrical problems
- coil packs went bad
- ac and heater went bad

Other than that the car was great, my biggest gripe was that the E36 M3 here was not a true M3. The us spec and euro spec were completely different. The euro had 321 up and different brakes just to start. The car just lacked something and is considered the bastard child of the M family. I would actually buy another one if I can get my hands on a estoril blue with dove interrior.

 

Ive had my e46 M3 for 3 years and ive had nothing go wrong at all.

the only maint i do is the schedualed dealer maint and a midpoint oil change...

when i bought the car i was nervous about the "horror stories" people talk about...

these stories usually come from people who have never even driven an m3.

great highway car. great engine. really really easy to maintain yourself with so much forum support.

the only negatives are the overpriced aftermarket, and alot of cars these days are just as quick.

dont listen to what people say about maint. if you take care of the car it will be fine.

go to m3forums.net they have alot of good info.

 

What about the subframe issue and do you think the engine will last up to 120k miles with out a major overhaul. I would love to have an e46 M3 as a DD but since it's a dd I don't want to do anything more then change the oil. Is the e46 more of a weekend car or can it handle 15-20k miles a year.