Beware this BMW

[Georgebyett 0]

BMW E36 M3 SMG. Registration XA1301. This car has been the subject of two claims to the Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal.under the Consumers Guarentees Act.The first claim was unsuceesful,on the grounds I waited to long to bring my claim. The new owner took a claim to the tribunal,which was suceesful. If you come across this vehicle be wary of it. If you ever decided to take a claim to the Tribunal please contact me so I can alert you to the pitfals.

[Nobimmer 694]

Whats wrong with it?

[bmw.maniac 1]

Is there something wrong with the car, or is the seller just being a bastard?

Being a little more specific would help.

[Grant 4]

This topic is meaningless without some kind of justified reasoning and explanation of why we should be weary of this car.

Cheers

Grant

[Foohey 0]

wtf is this guy goin on about? did i miss somthing?

[3 SERIES 93]

This topic is meaningless without some kind of justified reasoning and explanation of why we should be weary of this car.

Cheers

Grant

+1

[martyyn 2]

Just ignore it, how can you take someone seriously who signs up and posts this straight away ?

[QuickSilver 0]

a lock on this topic maybe?

[Georgebyett 0]

BMW E36 M3 SMG. Registration XA1301. This car has been the subject of two claims to the Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal.under the Consumers Guarentees Act.The first claim was unsuceesful,on the grounds I waited to long to bring my claim. The new owner took a claim to the tribunal,which was suceesful. If you come across this vehicle be wary of it. If you ever decided to take a claim to the Tribunal please contact me so I can alert you to the pitfals.

The e36 platform SMG gear change is a dog. This car will suddenly jusr stop driving. Suddenly just goes into neutral. the car has had the computer replaced,the valve block replaced,the wiring to the valve block replaced,the hydralic pump and motor replaced,the gear box replaced. The dealer is incable of fixing tHis car. Edited February 3, 2008 by 5_iron

[liam02 6]

where did you buy it from?

[ThreeOneEight 0]

Isn't this just a warning that in general, early SMG gearboxes were not very good in terms of shift quality or reliability? It's hardly a brand new car (must be at least ten years old now), so it's much akin to buying an old FIAT and wondering why it always breaks. Sounds like it's time for a manual conversion!

[hybrid 1043]

sounds like the mechanic did the whole thing the wrong way around ...

replace sensors first then gear boxes ...

Admittaly I still have a germlin in my gearbox after the rebuild. I have put it down to a when the gear box ECU is in "sleepy" mode (around town driving) it thumps second gear after a 1/2 - 1sec pause between changing down.

Its better than fine on open road or harder driving ...

[mr E34 11]

Thats the problem with all this SMG business.You can't beat a good manual gearbox.

600k Ferrari V12 stopped outside my house due to DIFFERENTIAL ERROR, engine ecu shut the whole car down.

Dealer plugged in portable scan unit, cleared error and off they went.

Whats it going to be like in 10-15yrs with these cars???

[M3 Cab 0]

Isn't this just a warning that in general, early SMG gearboxes were not very good in terms of shift quality or reliability? It's hardly a brand new car (must be at least ten years old now), so it's much akin to buying an old FIAT and wondering why it always breaks. Sounds like it's time for a manual conversion!

Maybe just a warning that this cars SMG isnt that good. Havent had any issues with the reliability of my SMG and the cars 10 years old. Granted the shift quality isnt great but its trouble free so far

[bmw.maniac 1]

The SMG shift quality is crap even in brand new M5s!

The dealers say it's not a problem, just a characteristic of the gearbox.

SMGs suck though, just like Fiat's lovely Selespeed. Why would it appeal to someone when it's supposedly as easy to drive as an auto, but the car rolls backwards at steep intersections, just like a manual?

[M3 Cab 0]

The SMG shift quality is crap even in brand new M5s!

The dealers say it's not a problem, just a characteristic of the gearbox.

SMGs suck though, just like Fiat's lovely Selespeed. Why would it appeal to someone when it's supposedly as easy to drive as an auto, but the car rolls backwards at steep intersections, just like a manual?

Crap compared to what?

I thought it was Alfa that had Selespeed which ive driven and agree that its crap but SMG is far superior to that.

I assume the appeal is the best of both worlds, auto when ya cant be arsed and semi manual (more interactive than an auto) when ya wanna play

[bmw.maniac 1]

Compared to normal Autos.

Alfa developed Selespeed, but Fiat use it on a lot of their new cars (And rip you off by making a lot of the options exclusive to the Selespeed model). I looked at an '04 Fiat Stilo Abarth, it went like the clappers but I decided against it when I couldn't get it to change into 3rd, and when I almost rolled back into the car behind me at an intersection! :S

[scottr 11]

Hello all, apologies from dragging this back up from the deep but I've been shopping for an M3 for a bit and came across this thread and then surprisingly this car.

Appears the yard has changed the plate recently, which if it's been sitting at Coombes Johnston BMW Tauranga for as long as this threads been around then changing it's a very strange thing to do. Maybe they've read this forum or googled the plate (comes up with the two threads on this forum mentioning the car), or the cars had a doof in the front/rear whilst on a test drive.

Anywho the plate was changed on Sept 2, 2008 and it's EQS581, there was no personalised plate in between.

The asking price has also dropped in the last couple of days, 25,995 from 29,995. Shame about the SMG cause it's a bloody nice looking car.

[Fen 0]

e36 M3 with SMG and VANOS; I wouldn't touch one with yours, mate. That specific model combines the 2 biggest German automotive mechanical design failures of the 90's.