2013 M3 PURE FIVE YEAR OWNERSHIP
Stumbled across this post and figured I could add my two cents worth. Took delivery of my new M3 Pure, one of twenty, in 2013 and sold it a short while ago to avoid Phil Goff's tax.
In deference to Tom, who obviously knows these cars well and much better than I do, I've made a couple of further observations of my own after running the car for 5 years.
First, the good stuff, the engine... It can well pull the skin of a milk pudding and make a decent noise doing it in pretty damn fine comfort. Some reviews bagged the stereo, can't imagine why, never used it when driving and it seemed perfectly good at standstill. Honestly, if you rate this car on the stereo, you've got the wrong end of the stick completely and should get a Toyota Camry.
It's certainly a smart looking vehicle without being too ostentatious or blingy, so you won't feel overly self-conscious driving around in it, although it's pretty intimidating at full noise. Seats four comfortably with a pretty generous boot too, skis through the middle of the back seats, which can fold down completely as well, so it will take lots of gear.
Now some of the Ok stuff. The DCT does a wicked gear change, you couldn't do a manual change quicker, however it does clonk quite a lot along with the rear end (never bothered me, the manual refers to it), particularly at low speeds (e.g. intersections and parking manoeuvrers). After discovering the little rocker switch below the shift selector wasn't the stereo speaker balance, I always put it on 3 bars around town for pleasant tractability.
Sure, it used gas, however I managed much better than Tom with 10litres/100Km on a 4,700km (ave 75km/h) trip around the South Island. Overall, I still got around 11.5 including city driving over 5 years and, believe me, it got the occasional caning. Besides, the entire thrill of this car is booting it from standstill and out of corners, not the theoretical top speed. Incidentally, trick for new players, the speedo goes in 20k increments to 120k, then 30k to 150/180 where you can find yourself in a remarkably short space of time!
Tom's gas consumption might come from permanently using "M" mode, which has those funky gear change lights etc., but I found it mostly just used more gas and turned the steering leaden. I only used it on special occasions and on deserted roads, so not much, three bars was usually fine.
Drivers who don’t bother manually changing down to overtake (i.e. most of us) will discover the DCT takes slightly longer to change than you would like, often causing a slightly alarming torque lurch when it does. For best results, change down yourself, but then you have to decide whether to indicate or not, so do what all euro drivers do and flick the wipers on instead.
Finally, the bad stuff, the engine... this really is the worst thing about this car. The conspiracy theorists (American of course) have it that these engines are preprogramed to self-destruct within hours of coming out of warranty. Well, I can vouch for the fact that that is pretty much when the engine in my car started making disturbing noises, which got progressively worse over the next eighteen months. No problem, got a FIVE year extended warranty, haven’t I..?
Well, it is a problem actually, because unless the thing actually blows up... they ain't going to fix it. Oh, they tried and tried for months with it in their workshop to fix it, but to no avail. I think the final conclusion, based on the combined wisdom of all the experts, was that it must be my fault... so take your car and sod off..!
So, I did and, like Tom, I got rid of it. I totally echo Tom's sentiments upon trading in his M3 V8..!
