I personally would prefer a diff as I like trackdays but for day to day driving I don't think I'd see much of a benefit. It certainly wouldn't stop me buying a car Yeah I love ours mate cracking car and it has enough poke to make it fun, awesome car to drive Here's ours
Thats stunning mate, the missus drives ours quite a lot as she works in Sawley near long eaton so has a 17 mile commute, although she's alrea looking at x6's she's worse then me lol
My daughter will be learning to drive next year so my mrs is on about a TT or something like that, she can fook off lol
Haha my missus was never really bothered about what she drove, she's always had cheap runabouts the 107 and then I got her in this and she's a right car snob now ha, gets in the Megane and complains about audio and all sorts lol
Tbh when I did me first track day at donnington in the r26 I couldn't get my missus out the passenger seat she loves that aspect
Not looked at the replies, but don't get one unless you're spending top dollar for a low mileage manual. Dsg boxes are dog shit, subframes rot and the vanius? Issues they have are common? Not exactly what you expect buying German 'reliability'
Want to and affordable to are different Charlie ;-) I don't like the idea of having a debt on a depreciating asset. Maybe I should be content with the meg for now and save more.
SMG boxes on the bmw's, Subframes don't rot, they split which can be repaired quite easily. Vanos can be an issue but again repaired. If you get a manual and the box shits it self you can buy an smg box fit that with manual controls then you'll have a perfect gearbox too. Its like saying dont buy a megane because the hubs go, injectors are shit etc etc
every car has its problems, no car is perfect meganes have their lovely little problems m3s are good and yes the smg is not perfect but you get used to it very quickly and you drive around the quirks like any other car i am still partial to a 1m but i cannot believe how a 20k miler is still the same price as they were new, they have lost no money at all
I am really a big fan of these as I've already expressed but a nice facelift example is 12-15k, anything below that seems to have been owned by your part time dealer lol If I was to have one it would have to be a cherished example and I wouldn't use it daily
Hubs and injectors Or a sub frame splitting and gearbox shitting its self with a massive bull to follow I know which I'd prefer People forget how much m3s were too and those issues in my eyes are unacceptable
Good point, a lot people see how the cars are now affordable now days and they have come down in value but maintenance is no cheaper if not it's more expensive
This. Several of my friends have M3's with a mixture of manual and SMG and in a variety of states from standard road cars upto full on track cars. These issues do happen but they are no where near as common and prevalent as the internet would have you believe but of course you only tend to hear the bad stories.
A friend of mine has an e46 m3 and has owned it for about two years. The only issues he has had is a broken exhaust clamp which bmw quoted £1000 to replace and a couple of broken springs.
broken springs are a common issue on all E46's, Not just the M. IIRC the same applies to the boot floor cracking, its just the extra power and diff in the M exacerbates it
Aha I think I know who you are know, Dan? Aye G's car is lovely, just how I would spec an M3 for track work
A quaife diff is not an LSD, it will not lock and allow you to do the... things you might want to do in a rear wheel drive car. In a 135i coupe (and I believe 335i) they work reasonable well because they (135i does, not sure on 335i) have an "e-diff" that applies a little brake to the wheel that starts spinning. 135s and later 335s have the internals of the diff welded in place. Not as in a welded diff, they're still very much open, you just cannot remove anything to install an LSD or quaife in there.
Os giken also list a LSD for them, as for the later models I wasn't aware of the diff being welded in place, but either way if you were dead set on having as LSD they'd be a way round it. I was just putting across as your potentially buying a 14 year old car with an e46 and how you may be better putting your money into a more modern 335
The way around it is auto diff, which are apparently unwelded. If you have a manual you have to source a second hand auto diff. This was a while ago, somebody might have found an easier way. A 335i is not a bad car by any means but it will not be as thrilling straight out of the box as an M3.
The one I mentioned for sale near me is the only one in that colour in the uk. Interior is a bit shabby but other than that looks clean. http://www.leistungauto.co.uk/mobile/cars/bmw/3series/m3/25779/0
