Anyone know where to import E46 M3?

[lbo99 39]

Anyone know where I can import a E46 M3? Preferably a manual coupe with sunroof.
Is it worth it to import one? Feel free to provide your opinion, cheers

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Do you want to drive it as a road car? Need to check the emissions level for the M3, not sure if it is Euro4 which you would need in order to get it complied.

[Driftit 2069]

M3 will be able to be brought in under the Special Vehicles class.

Japan or the UK are really the only options.  There are plenty of agents who can sort it for you.

It can be worth it if you are looking for a specific car.  NZ is a very limited market.  The UK would be the better place to look for an E46 M3.

[BM WORLD 1283]

4 minutes ago, Driftit said:

M3 will be able to be brought in under the Special Vehicles class.

Japan or the UK are really the only options.  There are plenty of agents who can sort it for you.

It can be worth it if you are looking for a specific car.  NZ is a very limited market.  The UK would be the better place to look for an E46 M3.

UK!!! , if you like rusty bottoms 

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Far too many E46 M3s built to be anywhere near the Special Interest Vehicle category. Plus was sold NZ, new, etc.

Better off waiting until they get to 20 years old and then emissions exempt, can't be too far away now, when were the first one's built 1999?

[M3AN 4016]

Notwithstanding the advice above the safest place other than NZ to get one is Japan.

UK cars are all rusty unless they're in the top 5% and Singaporean cars will all develop electrical problems (and 99% will be SMG). A properly vetted Japanese car can be as good as a NZ new one but finding an unmodified one in Japan might be difficult.

 

[KwS 2421]

3 hours ago, M3AN said:

UK cars are all rusty unless they're in the top 5% and Singaporean cars will all develop electrical problems (and 99% will be SMG). A properly vetted Japanese car can be as good as a NZ new one but finding an unmodified one in Japan might be difficult.

 

Just slamming those stereotypes, and not adding anything useful

[Gaz 1058]

Now now children. Let's provide some helpful advice and if you don't have anything worthwhile then don't say anything.

As long as the car fully checks out and you do your due diligence then doesn't matter where the car comes from. 

[hotwire 352]

^^^^ This. Japan has humidity just like Singapore. I have seen, worked on plenty of ex Singapore BMW's that are no worse than from any other market.

Certainly the same can;t be said for Mercs - with their wiring degradation along with all the external trim plastics.

[Driftit 2069]

I now have a stereotype of NZ and Jap cars.  Usually featureless poverty spec vehicles.

[Allanw 1071]

18 hours ago, hotwire said:

^^^^ This. Japan has humidity just like Singapore. I have seen, worked on plenty of ex Singapore BMW's that are no worse than from any other market.

Certainly the same can;t be said for Mercs - with their wiring degradation along with all the external trim plastics.

Don't bother listening to any of the stereotypes - none of them are true for every car. Look at each car on it's merits.

Mt Singapore E39 only had the usual electrical issues: ignition switch and ABS module failure.

I've seen some poked NZ cars too - on average NZers don't care any more than any other country.

Just find a good car, and buy on condition/milage/history/feeling - whatever floats your boat. Have it inspected by someone who really knows their stuff, or learn the stuff yourself.

[lbo99 39]

Thanks for all the response guys! The E46 M3 has always been my dream car since I’m a child. I’m still currently saving towards it and I’ll see what I can find by the time I save near to $30k. Might go for the import route if really can’t find one in NZ by the time I’m able to buy one......

Just wondering if anyone know the owner of this particular E46 M3 as I’m very keen to buy off him/ her if willing to sell. This is the ideal spec that I always wanted, the rego is BYY329 and I’ll attach a photo of this particular car. Cheers :)

[lbo99 39]

On 10/19/2018 at 12:14 PM, Driftit said:

M3 will be able to be brought in under the Special Vehicles class.

Japan or the UK are really the only options.  There are plenty of agents who can sort it for you.

It can be worth it if you are looking for a specific car.  NZ is a very limited market.  The UK would be the better place to look for an E46 M3.

Can you please recommend me a few agents that you reckon is good? 

[m325i 709]

It's not the kind of car I would personally import. There are too many things you'd want an e46 'expert' to check out. 

The local market really ebs & flows. There are none on TM now, but ~8 months ago there were like 5+ really nice ones. 

That said, I highly encourage you to buy one. 

[Golfboy666GTI 68]

I agree, stick with something in NZ, there are 100's of them here. 30K should get you a nice example.

 

[M3_Power 636]

I have NEVER seen an e46 m3 from the UK without some sort of under floor rust (be it minor or significant) and I have seen a lot of them. It is usually the floor, suspension components (nuts and bolts), subframe, arms, fuel tank strap, exhaust mounts, front wings and the list goes on. 

I have even seen low mileage UK CSLs with tons of rusts. 

I also went and saw a 2016 X5M freshly imported with running in miles and it had beginning signs of rust.

If you know where to look you will find it. If you can’t see it, then it has been removed or covered up.

To say a UK import that has been used in winter has zero rust you are simply in denial about how science works.

 

Given the amount of potential issues I’d never import one without checking it out by somebody that really knows overseas or personally. Choices aplenty locally to make importing make sense.

EU4 compliant software thread

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by M3_Power

[Karter16 403]

On 10/23/2018 at 2:41 PM, lbo99 said:

Thanks for all the response guys! The E46 M3 has always been my dream car since I’m a child. I’m still currently saving towards it and I’ll see what I can find by the time I save near to $30k. Might go for the import route if really can’t find one in NZ by the time I’m able to buy one......

Just wondering if anyone know the owner of this particular E46 M3 as I’m very keen to buy off him/ her if willing to sell. This is the ideal spec that I always wanted, the rego is BYY329 and I’ll attach a photo of this particular car. Cheers

Only Alpine White E46 M3 Coupe in the country - that would be a very nice example to own...

[Golfboy666GTI 68]

On 10/30/2018 at 6:56 PM, Karter16 said:

Only Alpine White E46 M3 Coupe in the country - that would be a very nice example to own...

There a couple more alpine white E46 M3's, I think one of them got written off.

 

[The_Edge 10]

There are a lot of Mint E46 M3's in South Africa. And i can tell you that South Africans look after their cars well. Of course some of the cars get thrashed like anywhere else in the world, but generally cars are babied. 

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/umhlanga/2004-bmw-m3-coupe-blue-with-128518km-available-now/1003259911560910354983609

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/sandton/2003-bmw-m3-coupe-white-with-146000km-available-now/1003186905960911152620309

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/pietermaritzburg/bmw-m3/1003382710880910003436509

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/berea-musgrave/2003-bmw-m3-coupe/1003116756990910415252609

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/other/2002-bmw-m3-coupe/1003340723680910168234509

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/other/2004-bmw-m3-coupe/1003148562520911122900409

 

Just a few examples of cars available there at the moment. Exchange rate is about 1NZD = 9.5ZAR (south african rand)

The only reason i haven't imported is because I want to finance a car in NZ. Mrs not keen on spending house deposit money on a car !! ?

 

I know many car fanatics there that can look at cars properly.

 

Cheers

[Karter16 403]

9 hours ago, Golfboy666GTI said:

There a couple more alpine white E46 M3's, I think one of them got written off.

 

Yup 1x Alpine White coupe and 1x Alpine White convertible. Those are the only two currently registered in the country.

[Golfboy666GTI 68]

12 hours ago, Karter16 said:

Yup 1x Alpine White coupe and 1x Alpine White convertible. Those are the only two currently registered in the country.

Na, another coupe as well.

 

[Golfboy666GTI 68]

On 10/19/2018 at 1:19 AM, lbo99 said:

Anyone know where I can import a E46 M3? Preferably a manual coupe with sunroof.
Is it worth it to import one? Feel free to provide your opinion, cheers

A few E46 M3's have popped up on TM in recent days.

[Karter16 403]

9 minutes ago, Golfboy666GTI said:

Na, another coupe as well.

 

Yep I stand corrected ? - 2000 M/Y imported to NZ in 2002. Missed it as wasn't expecting to see anything under the year 2000, will go back and have a look at what else is in that year.

[M3_Power 636]

On 11/5/2018 at 3:22 PM, The_Edge said:

There are a lot of Mint E46 M3's in South Africa. And i can tell you that South Africans look after their cars well. Of course some of the cars get thrashed like anywhere else in the world, but generally cars are babied. 

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/umhlanga/2004-bmw-m3-coupe-blue-with-128518km-available-now/1003259911560910354983609

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/sandton/2003-bmw-m3-coupe-white-with-146000km-available-now/1003186905960911152620309

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/pietermaritzburg/bmw-m3/1003382710880910003436509

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/berea-musgrave/2003-bmw-m3-coupe/1003116756990910415252609

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/other/2002-bmw-m3-coupe/1003340723680910168234509

 

https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/other/2004-bmw-m3-coupe/1003148562520911122900409

 

Just a few examples of cars available there at the moment. Exchange rate is about 1NZD = 9.5ZAR (south african rand)

The only reason i haven't imported is because I want to finance a car in NZ. Mrs not keen on spending house deposit money on a car !! ?

 

I know many car fanatics there that can look at cars properly.

 

Cheers

Fairly certain non of those cars above are EU4 standards so you won’t even be able to import and register them.

EU4 didn’t happen till March 2005 for the E46 M3 and that was LHD variants. I need to check but I believe EU4 did not happen for RHD till May 2005.

[Kepes 231]

10 hours ago, Karter16 said:

Yep I stand corrected ? - 2000 M/Y imported to NZ in 2002. Missed it as wasn't expecting to see anything under the year 2000, will go back and have a look at what else is in that year.

Here's the other one! SMG, Imported in 2005 as far as I'm aware. Owned by a friend of mine - I've got dibs when it goes up for sale