NakiTouring

2 hours ago, GorGasm said:

To be honest, E60/E92 M car ownership isn't THAT bad provided you get one that isn't a bomb and you own it longer term.  You could get one that doesn't need anything other than basic services for a few years, or you might be unlucky and get one where every single sensor decides to die and the bearings go, in that case you are f**ked.

Given that my very tidy M5 went for $20k and only had 90km on the clock, add another 7.5k on it for for bearings and $5k for clutch and at $32.5k it's still a pretty capable and unique car for the money.

The big worry for me is the perceived costs and reliability driving away potential buyers at resale, so you potentially are stuck with the car for a long while, or will have to lose a bunch on resale.

If you are going to own long term then you may have to squirrel away $7.5k for bearings depending on mileage, but just factor that into the purchase and spread it over the ownership period.  Mid length ownership is the potential trap in my opinion.  You should own one for a very short time or a very long time to either avoid the risks or spread the cost out.

/braindump.

 

As for the cars themselves?  Amazing open road vehicles.  When driven through the country side there isn't much you could want to be honest.  They're just a joy to drive.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, nice summary.  I guess I only owned mine for a very short time.  Enjoyed it while I had it and deferred those pending expenses to future owners.  You'll see a lot out there that have had a few owners over the years, probably for the same reasons.  It doesn't take long for the potential repair costs to become a large percentage of the car's value, which of course puts people off and is then exacerbated by the rapid depreciation as a result.

1 hour ago, qube said:

I have decided against it this time round again for many reasons pointed out above. My pockets arent deep enough yet to cover the potential bills and the amount of joy it will bring on a soon to be jammed traffic commute isnt looking promising either. So theres that idea out the window till next time.

 

Pussy.  Haha, just kidding!  I do hope I haven't put you off though.  Sounds like my father...he gave me the BMW bug and has been watching 335s and M3s for many years on TM etc but always manages to talk himself out of it.  I can't understand it personally...if there are cars on my watch list and I'm asking sellers questions, then there is definite intent, for better or worse!

2 hours ago, Matth5 said:

Your mistake was going to the dealer.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/BMW-parts/M3/Brake-Discs/

$200 USD each. There will be extra costs to ship them in but you'll still be well under $1k NZ.

Then go to a decent Euro/BMW specialist. 

BMW dealers in NZ are terrible. Every single time I've quoted prices from them I just ended up shaking my head and going elsewhere. 

Too late to help with your M3 I know... but still it might help in future  

Well not quite, this was the line the BMW dealer gave me when he came to buy my car...you know, the usual tactics to beat the price down.  That's the first I heard my brakes were apparently getting down, and I was about to let it go, so didn't bother to investigate.  Trust me, I've spent plenty with FCP and ECS in the past (f'ing 335i) and would definitely have done the research before going down that road.  Good heads up for others though that there are cheaper alternatives.

9 hours ago, Michael. said:

 

Those are a couple of points that can't be taken lightly. OEM M3 parts are expensive, especially on the newer generation models. A brake overhaul could quite easily buy another nice car!

Especially the engine bearing service, which is as far as I am concerned should be treated as a regular service item with these, could be done significantly cheaper as a DIY but working on the core of an S65 isn't exactly everyone's forte, so forking out the thousands to get the work done at a shop is the only option for many. Or waiting and hope they wont fail, gritting your teeth every time you take it up to 8000rpm... the cost if they do fail is considerable as one member has found out here. There is always a price to pay for having a race car like engine in a road car, unless its been warmed up for 20+ minutes with perfect oil servicing, you're never really going to know how healthy things are - some previous owners have little mechanical sympathy. 

If I was in the market for such an M car I'd request the seller allow a 100ml oil sample drained and send away for wear metal analysis, doesn't cost a lot and provides significant insight. 

 

Yeah, if it was going to be a long term love affair, I would have closed my eyes and shelled out for new bearing shells.  I don't know what sort of money you'd pay for that job in NZ...no doubt double what it would be in the US or UK as that is how the Euro Garages seem to operate here unfortunately.

I used to warm it up for a good while before heading down the road.  They have an 8 litre sump which doesn't help.  This is one of the reasons why it wouldn't be much use to me as a daily (work is 5kms away).  You're right about not knowing how previous owners have treated them.  My boss has a lovely new RS4 which he jumps in and thrashes straight from the get go, no warm up.  He's not mechanically minded at all and at the end of the day, he'll be in the next new car before the factory warranty runs out.  I just shudder and cringe every time he does it and just pray that the M3 didn't have an owner like that.

Righto, so just about a year since I posted above, and I'm sorry to say it, but sold the M3 a couple of months ago ? 

I loved the car but for the following reasons I sold it:

• I wasn't using it enough.  Bought it mainly as a weekend car/one for the longer trips, but unfortunately the ladies in the house didn't like doing the big trips in it...they preferred going in the Odyssey ? 
• Even when I had the odd big trip by myself, I often took my stage 2 Polo GTI instead as it would use 60% of the gas, was just as much fun in its own right, and I didn't have to worry about clocking up miles and wear and tear on the special Bavarian.
• I ran out of garage space, so the M3 was parked outside, which I was none too comfortable with.  Didn't want to build another garage at that stage.
• I like to work on my own cars, but as this one was NZ new with only 70 something thousand on the clock with full service history, I felt compelled to have to stick with dealer services (I sold it before it was due a service).
• For the above reason, I never took it to the track.
• Constant unease about the rod bearings and too tight to drop the coin into replacing them...read above re preferring to do my own mechanical work.
• Apparently my front disks were getting down and a BMW dealer told me it would be thousands to replace them...WTF??  I struggle with that.
• It was some freaky blue/black and just never looked clean (read lack of garage space not helping).

They really are an awesome car on the right roads, like through the twisty stuff heading north from here on number 3, through the gorge and up Mt Messenger...I have never driven anything that makes you turn so evil, but of course we are talking some pretty antisocial driving and you're only going to get away with that for so long.

Would I own one again?  Probably, but only once the arse has dropped out of them (during the recession?) and I find one I like that I'm happy to tinker with and take to that track, which is really where it needs to be to get the most out of it.

So qube, just buy one already ? Bucket list and all...

Have a look at https://www.mdecoder.com/

Cool. I was interested in that one myself and exchanged a few texts with the dealer, but ended up going NZ new, lower kms, service history etc. I have a bit of a reputation for owning white cars, so I kinda had to get one in a different colour! I did like the look of the wheels on that one though and it's lower than mine. Is it a competition pack, or has someone made those touches to it? Had an interesting intake too, right? And it's LCI ?

Nice. Is that the one that eurosport were selling earlier in the year?

Yep and yep. There are plenty of peeps, relative petrol heads even, that think a 3 series M-sport is an M3. Funny thing is, I don't own an E90 M3 for how it looks, or what other people might think, but for the driving experience...something that's clearly lost on the owner of this thing ?

On 6/14/2019 at 8:40 AM, 325_driver said:

But with 6k entry price, I could have 3-4k stashed away in the $#!% happens corner.

Or am i right to assume, those repair costs are entry fees only lol?

Haha, you just never know. I was really unlucky with mine, to have the crank bolt come loose, effectively killing the engine. Plus the auto was slipping. $10k in parts alone. But the mileage was almost 170k. The turbos were still fine, but I replaced them while engine and box were out. On the other hand, plenty of peeps out there just clock up the miles without issues.

But I maintain that off you want a performance BMW, you either need deep pockets, or be fairly proficient with spanners...or both!

So picked the M3 up from welly in the weekend, love it. Got a bit to learn in terms getting a feel for it and setting it up the way I like, with various adjustments available around the dct, throttle response and edc etc. One thing for sure, it doesn't give the thump in the back the way a tuned 335i does. No doubt she goes hard when the revs are up, but you can understand why BMW may have deliberately kept the boost pretty low on the n54, so as not to sabotage the s65.

Re gas mileage, here is what it looked like about 260kms into my trip from BP Mana, near Porirua, to New Plymouth. I haven't been able to verify this with a refill, but even if it's 20 or 30% optimistic, I'm more than happy with it. It crept up to 10.1 litres per 100kms by the time I got home, as the roads got more entertaining and I took a wee detour through some twisty bits ?

10 minutes ago, M3AN said:

Well said.

It's like a strip club with a brothel upstairs... only $20 entry fee sir.

Indeed, but not always with a happy ending...

$6k on a 335i would just be the entrance price...trust me ?

You don't mention what year and if M-sport or otherwise, but I reckon at those sort of KMs, you wouldn't want to be paying more than 5k. Plenty of things other than just the engine wear with distance. 

2 minutes ago, shuey said:

My M3 is sitting on 12.4 and that’s after some “spirited” driving and it hasn’t been on a decent long trip for awhile.  All the research I did pre purchase pointed towards 14 but haven’t got anywhere near that yet.

 

That's pretty respectable, my 335i was definitely worse than that.  Well, I've taken the plunge and just bought an E90 M3, see I'll find out for myself soon enough ?  Not a big issue for me as I'll be averaging down with the Polo daily.

On 5/24/2019 at 11:11 PM, 325_driver said:

Are you beating every boy racer off the line???? lol! That's more hungry than a 335, heck maybe even an m3 lol

Strewth, thats probably up there my old 335i e91...but at least there was plenty of entertainment to be had.

I'd recommend getting an LCI facelift one, which came out late 08...much better iDrive etc.

So the 335i has gone to one happy camper ? I wonder what will fill the void...

Haha, very good ?

Unfortunately I've owned more French cars (2) than Hondas (1). And the 156 GTA I had was one special stroppy Italian. Living in the UK for several years opened my eyes up to the euro's (I had the tatts lasered off while there). But those two motor companies, HMC and BMW, represent what I like most about the auto industry...beautifully engineered atmo engines. Unfortunately in this turbo age, it's all too easy.

On 5/9/2019 at 6:27 AM, Olaf said:

both of those clearly inspired by the Renault 5 Turbo and the Metro 6R4.

Ok, agree with you on the CRX. But the ITR...umm, err, inspired by the engine doner car, maybe? Most Honda fanboys (me included) would rather poke their eyes out with blunt sticks than draw inspiration from frog shite.

Now if only Red Bull could get the car to work as well as their new engine...

I vaguely recall reading a Wheels magazine about 30 years ago, when the Japanese where getting right into their tech (4 wheel steering and the like), and some high up BMW boffin saying stuff like they'd never build a front wheel drive car. I thought that was a bold statement at the time. But then they had just swallowed Rover (and Mini), so maybe that was the out clause.

On 4/27/2019 at 5:48 PM, m325i said:

I've never seen the e90 wheels in silver. That's a lot of car^ GLWS.

I believe they are the 260M wheels, which were painted silver from September 2010 onwards.

Somehow they've taken a handsome car and made it look like a riced out RX8.

Damn, just as well I don't have any spare garage space...

11 minutes ago, Secniv said:

Did one of the best mods you can make to any car imho. Not only to protect your own investment but I remember, years ago now, a young woman on an Auckland motorway trapped in a burning car and an extinguisher could have saved her life.

Yep, that one is etched into my mind forever, was very sad.

28 minutes ago, str8_6 said:

Sorry if I’ve missed this in earlier threads. Why does the car have a new engine and gearbox?

The crank bolt came loose, which resulted in valve hitting piston ? Pretty rare for that to happen, but not unheard of.

The gearbox was slipping on the change from 4th to 5th. Probably could have been repaired, but given the mileage, it made sense to swap while the engine was out. I found a box with about 65k on it for a "reasonable" price. The genuine BMW gearbox oil is bloody expensive, but in my research I didn't find an alternative that I could trust, especially as I wanted to up the boost a little - its not worth the risk for the sake of saving 2 or 3 hundred bucks. Replaced the oil pan / filter and associated bolts as well.

Likewise with all the engine seals, gaskets, one tIme use bolts etc - I did it all properly with OEM quality and correct torque specs throughout.

Anyway, my 335i is now on Trademe, so we'll see what happens. If anyone is interested in trading it towards their unwanted and horribly thirsty E9x M3, sing out!

https://www.trademe.co.nz/2039326019