M3AN

Yeah, unless you need the money I'd consider keeping it as a summer cruiser... but, since you asked... On price I think you're between a rock and a hard place, you're not going to be rewarded (in any significant fashion) for the low miles unless you're very lucky and find somebody that specifically wants the configuration you have. If it were a 3.2 coupe then the low miles would be worth more but I'm afraid not many M3 buyers are looking for a 3.0 vert. The colour is up there with the best and the wheels are ideal, assuming the leather condition is commensurate with the miles then that's also a bonus. Service history is important because some things have a lifespan regardless of the actual mileage... do you have service records? I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if a good condition 3.2 manual coupe sold for $28k and would work back from there (-vert, -5 speed, -3.0) and would agree with those above that $25k would be a good number but I'd expect it to hang around for a while. There aren't many public recent benchmarks out there as far as I'm aware - I've not seen a good condition original e36 M3 sell (publically) for quite some time now which makes the market difficult to assess. Mine's insured for $22k agreed... maybe I should reevaluate that...

Yeah, also interested in what happened, they're one of the few places I recommend.

I realise you've replaced the temp switch but have you bridged the connectors on the plug to make sure you have a full circuit to the fan?

Good stuff Kyu. By now I imagine you can taste food properly again!

Edit: I fully accept your point that not every failure will affect every vehicle and that some vehicles may never experience a failure. The risk of a failure is certainly less than what 'everybody that's ever been on the internet might say' but you all must agree, the risk does exist and it can be expensive. My mates e36 M3 Evo has done 240k kms and is still on the original VANOS... doesn't make VANOS failures a myth. It's not that's it's going to happen guys, it's the risk of it happening... if it's fixed, whether it was going to happen or not is irrelevant, the risk is eliminated. That's what affects the price. Two otherwise identical houses built in the 90's, one with monolithic cladding and the other with weatherboards - we all know which one will cost less, just because of the risk. In fact somebody on here just bought an e46 M3 only to find out a month later the subframe is completely screwed... bet they wish they got it inspected before purchase. Doesn't need to stop you buying but if I saw a torn subframe pre-purchase I'd be expecting a lot off the market price. So, silly not to ask. Caveat emptor.

Great, I'm glad you had a similar positive experience to me. When I took the 328 (with M3 suspension) in they couldn't get the camber I requested, needed longer bolts and shims. They did the best they could (and actually aligned) and said pop back in when you get new bolts... and left it at that, didn't charge me so I expected a larger bill when I returned. Not so, they only charged me for one alignment (plus the cost of the shims) even though I took up ramp and technician time twice. I asked about it, not wanting to rip them off and they said they prefer to provide results, not just service! They instantly created a repeat customer that's happy to refer others. A few members here go there actually.

Racelign Workshop https://www.autolign.co.nz/profile/website/view/accountId/14978 And no looking back, they're awesome.

If you can keep any classic M BMW at 4k miles you're going to do well! Imagine a 4k mile E30 M3?!? This one's an outlier though, average prices are much, much lower: https://bringatrailer.com/bmw/m-coupe/

"Cars under 5k" Hehe. ?

Wow, that sounds way more complicated that it should be... where's the drain plug that it requires the car to be level? Even if level is required you could just leave the drain pan under the car and lower it back to ground... And you can flush the oil when you're doing the change, that would be significantly less expensive that replacing the whole lot in a month. In fact, even if you're paranoid you could just change the filter next service... any crap that you need to be concerned about will already be picked up and you'd save a couple of hundred bucks on fresh oil. Although I'd say that's probably unnecessary anyway.

Repco also has oil sales starting today for the next 5 days... up to 30% off. @sobanoodle: unless your manual or dealer says to use 0W then I wouldn't, it's unnecessary in our climate, even in the deep south. A 20W is probably perfect for Auckland but they're few and far between.

I normally just drive the font of the car onto blocks, jack up the rear from the centre, install rear jack stands and then jack the front from the centre and install front jack stands. One jack, two blocks, four stands. If the font bumper is on I normally have to do the rear end in two goes, first to get the stands in (on lowest setting) then again to level it once the front it done. If I have the bumper off this isn't necessary.

I agree that it can't hurt to use the "approved" oil. And in this case, since it readily available at a lower cost than the alternative it makes perfect sense. And I accept that you were only answering which was preferred. You are mischaracterising my position though. I'm not advocating a "Chinese" oil over an approved oil, I'm saying that you're not going to do any harm by selecting one of two almost identical oils from the same reputable manufacturer as long as it's a suitable viscosity. Suggesting I'm being "cavalier" by asserting this is ridiculous. My problem is when people who should know better state there's only one choice when there's not. It's like the myth perpetuated about BMW coolant that is somehow magical. It's been repeated so often over time that too many people believe it and it becomes self-perpetuating. I do appreciate your less aggressive tone so thanks for that.

Well, that's assuming you consider kids a necessity to be 'grown up'. Some of us will never need four doors or a large car.

The ultimate barn find!

I was like: "but..." until I saw this: Which is the only reason I threw up a different opinion. From your pre-existing options - M2.

"It's the one word we caunt say." Well done.

Well, I'm honoured that you'd spend the emotional energy required to be disappointed in me... I didn't realise you cared so much! Your posts here belie your acceptance that there's no need to get worked up, it certainly appears as if you are indeed quite worked up about the subject. Wasted energy IMO. So, the oils are different, who really cares? I don't. I was simply relaying what I had been told and it seemed entirely reasonable. If the changes in the oil were significant enough to make a real world difference Castol's marketing department would be all over it. They're not and that speaks volumes. If BMW can change brands of oil without concern then no reasonable consumer should be expected to consider the relatively insignificant changes between two products from the same product line. Do you really, honestly believe that one of the two oils in question is unsuitable for M cars and the other is not? Of course you don't so get down off your pretentious horse and join the real world. The new guy asked for real world advice. The answer to his question is "either is fine" and required none of the miniature that you've diluted the truth with.

People are real nice and polite around here these days aren't they? The newer packing is a replacement product for the old one, they're not sold side-by-side as different products. Repco told me it was the same oil, different packaging and that they don't have much (any?) of the stuff in the old packaging left. I just had a look at the new bottle, it doesn't mention a new formula. Either way, any difference would be negligible and both are suitable. Boy, people get unnecessarily worked up about oil.

Those two oils are the same, just different packaging and labels. Second picture is the old package (same contents). If you look carefully at the labels you'll see that both a fully synthetic, FST, "Supercar", 10W-60SN. Get the least expensive one! Edit: actually the old packaging is NLA according to Repco's stock listings so you'll be getting the new packaging anyway unless you find some old stock.

E46 CSL hands down for me. I'm not sold on new cars that a) do most of the driving for you, b) you can't work on yourself, and c) apparently are too expensive to repair. No fun in that. There's also a niggle in the back of my mind that says in 10+ years all these electronic cars are going to start spazzing out and become entirely unreliable. But I'd also keep my entirely analogue E36 M3.

Your LHS indicator is upside down (wrong side), if the other one matches you can swap them over.

That cross threading sucks... and I wince every time I see a wheel put on with a pneumatic gun... ? Now, as for the lean, I've never seen an e36 without one so I feel chasing that is a fool's errand.

I see, so it's not really an LSD at all, it just emulates what and LSD does (and apparently outperforms one). On face value it seems like an inefficient use of torque but I suppose, if you have more torque than you can practically put through the rubber, there's no need to be particularly efficient. I assume though that that logic would not translate to lesser cars... if you have "100 torques" to send to the rear wheels and you send some of that to a slipping wheel, even if you prevent that wheel from actually slipping, you've robbed the other wheel of that potential twist. It'll all be electronic when we have motors driving each wheel independently and a central control module regulating the power each puts out based on a bunch of sensors... so we better get used to it! Sigh. Thanks for the info, it is interesting.

I'm certainly not anti E-LSD, especially if they can overcome some of the limitations of most mechanical LSD's (like when an inside wheel lifts and provides no mechanical resistance for the diff to use) but a "system" that uses the brakes for differential action seems inherently flawed (I suspect they're simply an extension of an existing traction control system therefore inexpensive to include in the build). I really don't know but I'd be surprised if the electronic diffs in those hypercars used the brakes for anything. A limited slip diff should stop over-rotation in the first place, not create it then temper it with an opposing force (brakes). Mitsubishi have used an electronic (torque vectoring) diff in in some of their cars since the mid to late 90's and they're amazing. Certainly no brakes involved in those.