p1tse Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 prices have come down alot. even spec'd sat nav, smg, 19's etc. can be had for like £11k (but with 80k on the clock) any opinions on these, drive, ownership, costs, high mileage ones etc. obviously costs on 350z is a lot cheaper, insurance and service costs probably on average half. it's not a debate over manual vs smg, but if you have experience with it would like to hear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ab350z Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I've been seriously considering one of these recently aswell, BUT they're like assholes here in Aberdeen, everyone has one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p1tse Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 yeah it's nice to have a unique car, but the e46 m3 isn't going to get a second glance now really is it? to be fair, the exterior is getting a little dated, but still stands it ground, but it's about the drive ultimately. there are cheaper cars for the bhp and torque, but i assume doesn;t offer the same reward of the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Yep. My mate has a TOP spec one for sale just now (not SMG though) As Chris says, everyone has an M3 or an A5 in Aberdeen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I've got a real soft spot for these, I just can't live with the image Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 About one hundredth the charisma of a Zed, common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p1tse Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 Yep. My mate has a TOP spec one for sale just now (not SMG though) As Chris says, everyone has an M3 or an A5 in Aberdeen.... out of curiosity to benchmark, price and spec? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p1tse Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 I've got a real soft spot for these, I just can't live with the image what's the stereo-typical image? is there one for the m3, or just the bmw general, no indicators etc.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERUK Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Love em, brilliant build quality, i borrowed a convertible with smg box for a few days (prefer a manual though) a lot of car for the money http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/753768.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I've got a real soft spot for these, I just can't live with the image what's the stereo-typical image? is there one for the m3, or just the bmw general, no indicators etc.? Just a BMW in general Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 E46 m3 is a real hoot to drive... they are a very capable fast car.. much more balanced than the Z and faster in standard trim. Engines and trim are very strong.. i have had 3 of the 3.2litre evo engined bm's one of the 321bhp z3mcoupes, and 1 each of the 343bhp e46m3s and z4mcoupes whcih i drive hard and never managed any serious damage other than a gearbox in teh z4m but it was a recall job anyway... So be warned gearboxes can be the achiles heel.. and they are not cheap... As far as ownership there's not much you can do to mod them.. i saw straight m3's modded by + 15 BHp to 358 from 343 but at staggering cost.. They eat tyres, love brakes and adore petrol.. all M-Cars do .. Insurance is 350z + 50% .. main dealer maintenance can be heart stoppingly expensive. Tyre dealers are the hard driven m-cars best friend as they love rolling over the sidewalls of the 19" wheeled low profiles as the suspension setup gives very little body roll ... Image is mixed.. i have seen everything from blinged up wide boys to rozzers driving them... I don't go with the stereotype nonesense otherwise all Nissan drivers would either be geriatric 20mph wrong way down the motorway barely able to see over the steering wheel micra drivers or max power toting bo-Ya-kasha screaming, skyline drivers with a little bit a drum and bass booooming out da sub.... ... so all that b0ll0x people say about generic bm drivers never indicating and fast lane hoggers etc is just that.. b0ll0x. The only image problem the m3 has as far as i am concerned is that they are about as rare as trees round manchester and to be honest are getting cheap + starting to look as old and battered as Jodie Marsh..... I would say yeah get one.. watch out :- Non main dealer serviced ones as they can be EXPENSIVE to put right.. Test drive one hard, check for synchro problems shifting 1 - 2 and 2 - 3 and preferably cold as that is when it will fight you to throw itself out of gear. Avoid the SMG unless you really like em.. just my opinion but i never got on with mine at all... On the manual M's do the slipping clutch check.. clutch's are pricey. Do some hard braking.. they have floating disks and calipers and they can go wrong... check for wobbling under brake load also roll to a stop slowly with the brakes off and make sure that the car doen't come to an unnatural rest.. sometimes a caliper will jam and keep the brakes on a bit .. you can feel resistance when you are coasting the last 2mph to rest... Disks and pads are pricey.. check em b4 you buy I would save my cash for a year ... i have seen 57 plate e92 m3's with under 10k miles for 34k stickered and dealers will probably be taking offers at 31cash just to move them on.... 12mths from now.. early 20's.. bargain... Good luck... but just so 350z owners don't get the wrong idea.. i bought the 350z by choice when i could have got a decent bm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p1tse Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 nice write up manc350z, thanks i don't go with stereotype either. last car was a celica with bodykit - screaming boy racer or something probably current car audi tt - hair dressers or for girls ;-) some well spec'd examples going for similar value to 350z's, although maybe more mileage, but then it was a car of £40-50k. i thought and still do think, they are getting dated in looks. but a good thing is it's not like an evo or subaru which shouts i'm here and blends in well, without attracting the wrong attention. but yes your last paragraph, cost is the main issue. it seems there isn't value for money garages out there, not even independants and service labour time is long and parts expensive. my current TT, forexample, i've heard people pay like £500-800 for a service from a dealer. i used a specialist VAG £28/hr+vat and charges something like £150/service. i don't read many of these for BMW especially for M3 attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Hi P1tse Yep, unfurtunately the steroetype thing is out there.. all car types seem to have the tag.. I am a bit of a fan of the TT.. especially the 3.2 and the new TT-S.. only really since my mate just bought a tt-s and let me have a blast.... i have to say what a focused motor.. reminds me of the old swb quattro from the 80's in handling and sound.. it made me want one !! There is a decent BM specialist in Manchester city centre, an ex colleague used to get his mk1 m3 serviced and maintained there and to be honest they were pretty hot from memory... can't remember the name for the life of me but they are still going i believe.. The e46 m3 does look dated now.. shame because up to 12mths ago i thought it looked pretty on the money, subtle and not shouty in the least. Before i got the zed i tried a few motors, the most dissappointing was the alfa brera q4 3.2 which was frankly awful.... bit of a dumb supermodel... cracking looking but slow and expensive to live with .. warp speed depreciation.. expensive maintenance etc etc. My last service on my z4mcpoupe at 22k and 23mths old was 778gbp from a main dealer.. all that wa extra was the 2year brake bleed and refill.. that put me off M-Cars for a while.... well for the next 12mths untill the e92's come under 30k then i am back in ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ab350z Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Manc, what was the Z3M like? I looked at them before the Z but was put off by talk of Vanos issues and the lack of TC in a 300+ bhp car. Still got a soft spot for them though and price seems to be creeping down a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p1tse Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 near £800 for a service on a 2 yr old car. i know the M is technical, but it's like the word wedding (having got married not long ago), mention the word on that for a service, car, flowers etc, prices just double, it's like that of the M don't get me wrong, i'm sure the M is very special, but in some cases it's not the highest bhp, torque, 0-60 car out there (i know it's not all that, it's the whole drive), but it seems alot of expense to maintain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Manc, what was the Z3M like? I looked at them before the Z but was put off by talk of Vanos issues and the lack of TC in a 300+ bhp car. Still got a soft spot for them though and price seems to be creeping down a bit. Hi Ab350z. Mine was a 1999 on the "T" z3mcoupe 321bhp variant.. i had it nearly 3 years and did 60k miles in it. The Vanos was a known issue and my dealer dealt with it under warranty... the vanos unit is manufactured by rolls royce and is rather expensive... i can;t even guess how much but other owners used to state some scary at the time numbers none of whcih i can remember !!! The Vanos issue goes away in the 325bhp variants which were MY 2000 + 2001 from memory although i saw 52 plate examples around the patch. Issues with the car to watch for - Gearbox... Gearbox.... Gearbox.. (A BMW weakness) again look for crashy synchro's in 1 -2 and 2 - 3 when cold. Noisy Diffs - Have been mentioned, i never had the issue Missed service intervals - 6k interval and they need it.. every second or third service the car would get a cold tune and i vageuly remember having cylinder head bolts replaced.... Thrashed ones - They stand up pretty well to being tortured, mine attended probably 10 track days in the three years i owned it and some pretty elongated spells on the autobahns... Brakes cost fortunes.... floating disks .... expensive..... Interior - drivers seat rails used to fail, check full seat movement... a/c could be an issue.. Also brake fluid reservior was hidden under the inlet manifold... nice and easy to check Ownership - Yep no traction on the 321's .. which is a little hard to get used to.. massive lift off oversteer but if you were in the right gear you could snap back to mild understeer on the throttle. The 325's had traction and to be honest it ruined the driveability in my eyes... or had i got used to it a little too much !!! Best brakes on a car i had ever driven up untill the Z4mcoupe... it was like you'd hot a wall when you pulled up from high speeds.. they stop so effortlessly and don't fade out... Oil - they love it... i was going through probably 3 lires per 6k miles.. spoke to BM and they just said that's the way these cars are.. that was backed up by other owners. The exhaust note as standard on the m3coupe was so good.. it had a shorter exhaust than the m3 hence why they couldn't get the full 343bhp from that unit in a Z3... Handling was very neutral, very very easy to drive even without traction in the dry.. in the wet a totally different bordering on evil attempted murderer... not easy in the wet but once you were used to it constantly wanting to wag it's tail in straight lines in the rain you adjusted your driving... it had a very helpful LSD !! As for speed... it was fabulous fun to goad 911's and subaru's with.. you could run up to 115 in 3rd and it was sooo flexible.. Speed limiter at 155 was easy to get around apparently and derestricted i heard tales of 170 - 175 .. never seen that myself but my z4mcoupe ran at 185 indicated, 175 by satnav so sounds feasible. I had 3 years trouble free motoring... but at a staggering cost - 11 services at a total cost of 5k (every 6k on 98-99 321's but i think they changed the 325's to 12k or 16k ??) 4 sets of pirelli tyres at a total cost of 4400 16mpg over the cars life (i was quite a bit more throttle happy back then !) 16k in depreciation I would buy another one tomorrow... would have to have full BM service history and if a 321 it would need proof of vanos work... never buy the mustard yellow ones.. they look like baby pooh !.. best colour was mine which was estoril blue... also love the imola red and black ones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERUK Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 awesome rasp even from an oem exhaust, sounds better than the zed at wot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Manc, what was the Z3M like? I looked at them before the Z but was put off by talk of Vanos issues and the lack of TC in a 300+ bhp car. Still got a soft spot for them though and price seems to be creeping down a bit. Hi Ab350z. Mine was a 1999 on the "T" z3mcoupe 321bhp variant.. i had it nearly 3 years and did 60k miles in it. The Vanos was a known issue and my dealer dealt with it under warranty... the vanos unit is manufactured by rolls royce and is rather expensive... i can;t even guess how much but other owners used to state some scary at the time numbers none of whcih i can remember !!! The Vanos issue goes away in the 325bhp variants which were MY 2000 + 2001 from memory although i saw 52 plate examples around the patch. Issues with the car to watch for - Gearbox... Gearbox.... Gearbox.. (A BMW weakness) again look for crashy synchro's in 1 -2 and 2 - 3 when cold. Noisy Diffs - Have been mentioned, i never had the issue Missed service intervals - 6k interval and they need it.. every second or third service the car would get a cold tune and i vageuly remember having cylinder head bolts replaced.... Thrashed ones - They stand up pretty well to being tortured, mine attended probably 10 track days in the three years i owned it and some pretty elongated spells on the autobahns... Brakes cost fortunes.... floating disks .... expensive..... Interior - drivers seat rails used to fail, check full seat movement... a/c could be an issue.. Also brake fluid reservior was hidden under the inlet manifold... nice and easy to check Ownership - Yep no traction on the 321's .. which is a little hard to get used to.. massive lift off oversteer but if you were in the right gear you could snap back to mild understeer on the throttle. The 325's had traction and to be honest it ruined the driveability in my eyes... or had i got used to it a little too much !!! Best brakes on a car i had ever driven up untill the Z4mcoupe... it was like you'd hot a wall when you pulled up from high speeds.. they stop so effortlessly and don't fade out... Oil - they love it... i was going through probably 3 lires per 6k miles.. spoke to BM and they just said that's the way these cars are.. that was backed up by other owners. The exhaust note as standard on the m3coupe was so good.. it had a shorter exhaust than the m3 hence why they couldn't get the full 343bhp from that unit in a Z3... Handling was very neutral, very very easy to drive even without traction in the dry.. in the wet a totally different bordering on evil attempted murderer... not easy in the wet but once you were used to it constantly wanting to wag it's tail in straight lines in the rain you adjusted your driving... it had a very helpful LSD !! As for speed... it was fabulous fun to goad 911's and subaru's with.. you could run up to 115 in 3rd and it was sooo flexible.. Speed limiter at 155 was easy to get around apparently and derestricted i heard tales of 170 - 175 .. never seen that myself but my z4mcoupe ran at 185 indicated, 175 by satnav so sounds feasible. I had 3 years trouble free motoring... but at a staggering cost - 11 services at a total cost of 5k (every 6k on 98-99 321's but i think they changed the 325's to 12k or 16k ??) 4 sets of pirelli tyres at a total cost of 4400 16mpg over the cars life (i was quite a bit more throttle happy back then !) 16k in depreciation I would buy another one tomorrow... would have to have full BM service history and if a 321 it would need proof of vanos work... never buy the mustard yellow ones.. they look like baby pooh !.. best colour was mine which was estoril blue... also love the imola red and black ones... I'd love to respray a Zed in Estoril Blue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ab350z Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Cheers Manc, still going to keep my eye out for one in the New Year. Excellent write up!! You on commission for these novels?! Great stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Hey guys.. Yep,agree P1tse.. 778gbp on a service for a 2yo car is basically giving it to you dry..hence why i am out of the car..well that and the fact it deprecaited way more than the selct agreement GFV... nope they are not the best bhp / torque / 0-60 but for the money but i love em... i have been lucky enough to have some pretty exotic metal over the last 23 years but the M's are good all rounders in M3 guise and great fun in Zcoupe guise... My mates have had scoobies / lancers / porkers and they've never attracted me... I have always had a soft spot for the 350's since launch.. always wanted one and glad i got one.. £ for £ much better value than an M car. Gixxeruk - Z3m rasp was a real bonus.. but the 350z exhaust note sounds almost like it was designed to sound like a racing car.. i love the sound of the 350 between 3 and 6k in 3rd on a walled road.. it can sound like it's not coming from your car if you know what i mean... Digsy, 350z would look cool in pretty much any colour.. estoril would suit it well.. but i prefer the 350 in it's own metallic deep blue,.. it shows the cars lines off rather well.. i would like to see one in a pearlescent blue .. Ab350z - Do it, buy one M.. you'll want more... yep.. reckon i should work as a used BM salesman... but i would end up trying to sell innappropriate cars to punters.... i.e. nice old lady, ever considered a v10 loosely derived from an F1 car... cheap insurance ar your age... you need an M5 Sorry.. i do write novels about BM's, Mercs and Cossies... i love em.... for 23 years all i have owned are the above 3 brands... apart from a brief visit to Jaguar, Lancia and Ford (non cossie) which all ended in various types of tears..... promise to stop waffling about em, honest.... but like i said b4, i bought and love my 350.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIXXERUK Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 talking of cossies my bro's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 talking of cossies my bro's Nice... very nice.. too nice !!!! hahaha .. excellent condition.. i'm jealous... every time i see aphoto of a good one i want one again.. it took me years to ween myself off cossies.... they bring out the Manc Scally in me even today !!! I had a '93 in '94 .. it ha the older wheel style and front splitter so the one you show is a '95 model year... i sold mine on in late 94... insurance got prohibitive.. due to it's ability to win me points i was quoted 5k from one company.. 26yo, 6 points, good postcode,full no claims,,,,,,, so i sold it and got a new bm 325coupe with AC goodies... insurance was 1k fully comp.. It looks like a weekend / show car.... surely not a daily driver.. prices are coming up for them..or at least were last time i looked 6mths ago.. Sweet motor, tell your bro he has got a top car there !!!! and an appreciating bit of FMC history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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