A guy at work has just recently bought an E46 M3 (thus knocking it off my list, dammit), but I had a look at running costs anyway. Very similar to the 996 C2, as is performance, but the OEM warranty is what splits the 2 cars apart.

911 -

 

if you read th eforums you will find loads of cases of people bragging about making half a dozen or more warranty claims

these people will claim for a bloody rattle in the door and without exception they have no ability or willingness to undertake any repairs themselves

so listen and you will hear the sound of chickens roosting

I've had two minor problems, both covered by my (third party) warranty and I've fixed both myself

you work it out

 

I hear what you're saying mate. For me, a warranty is for something too difficult or too expensive for me to fix myself (like engines, gearboxes, and clutches). Not for an overhead light that's rattling too much.

 

trouble is that an increasing number of faults are electrical

buggers to trace

therefore time consuming and expensive

and we all know the average tech cannot fix anything - they just replace

electrics are the new rust!

 

I hear what you're saying about why the warranty may be priced as it is but you alone not claiming on these minor issues won't put the price down as there's still plenty of pretty boy M owners not wanting to break a nail.

 

I only have a 3rd party warranty because it was part of the deal I struck with the trade seller

I wouldn't have one otherwise

I prefer to have a fighting fund of my own money

So really I couldn't care less about the cost of a BMW (or any other) warranty

My attitude being that if you are struggling to afford the cost of that, and the other running costs, maybe you are over-stretching?

And should buy a MINI or something similarly cheap to run

No different to someone whinging about the cost of living in an

 

gaddafi

Do you know how many miles the engines are good for before they need a lot of money spent on them?

 

Although making sense, how are m3/5 owners any different to 911 ones? I'm sure they'd claim on rattles too? similar demographics buying both cars you see?

Methinks, the Ms are just not as reliable as the 911s or cost a disproportionate amount to fix etc.

Anyway, I think the big costs are involved in staying in the main dealerships. Go to a specialists. They'll cost a lot less and quality of work will be every bit as good as bmw, if not better if you get the right one.

 

I think the wisest thing I heard about running high performance cars was on Pistonheads a while back;

If you can't afford a good one, you can't afford to run a bad one.

I suspect this is especially true for cars liek the M5, since as Gad says, electrical items, when filing can be an expensive job. Add to that the general day to day stuff being more expensive than you're probably used to.

A

 

Used to have a E46 M3

Bad Points:
The bloody sat nav unit broke, luckily replaced under warranty, could have cost