M3 RUNNING COSTS

[Gareth135R]

Hi,
Looking into the prospect of buying a M3.
I have about £19K/£20K to spend.

Bearing in mind I'm going from a S2 Elise what are the approx running costs? I need to use it as a daily runner during the week (town driving) and I like to go on road runs with some trackdays thrown in.

I'm guessing petrol will be the killer....

Cheers

G

[vee]

Tyres on your trackdays will be £600 a set.
It's probably not the best car to pootle aroudn town in.

[r5gttgaz]

Is that an E46 you are getting?

[mondeoman]

Pterol you're looking at c25 mpg with a good mix of town/cruising. Thrash the nads off it and it'll drop to mid/low teens (if you REALLY cane it)

[Dave Dax builder]

Mondeoman..............25mpg.....You ain't trying hard enough, my wife doesn't even get that.

I just sold my M3 and was averaging 22mpg. I have just bought an M3 CSL and so far only getting 18mpg.........But boy is it fun. and usable around town. the regular M3 is at home around town as it is blatting down the motorway at 130mph (Where the law allows (Germany)) ;o)

>> Edited by Dave Dax builder on Tuesday 28th March 18:24

[aaandy]

How do you find the general service and maintenance costs? Say based on about 8k miles a year.

[Deutscher]

I do this sort of mileage in mine, so it's only going in for service every 20 months or so.

In the 4 years I've had it from new I've spent:

£150 oil service
£750 Inspection I
£750 set of tyres
£100 per year Tracker (£400 sub-total)
Warranty extension last year £510

So apart from petrol, insurance and VED that's £2560 over 4 years = £640 per year.

(Whoops, forgot to mention £20K depreciation.)

[mondeoman]

Dave Dax builder said:

Mondeoman..............25mpg.....You ain't trying hard enough, my wife doesn't even get that. I just sold my M3 and was averaging 22mpg. I have just bought an M3 CSL and so far only getting 18mpg.........But boy is it fun. and usable around town. the regular M3 is at home around town as it is blatting down the motorway at 130mph (Where the law allows (Germany)) ;o) >> Edited by Dave Dax builder on Tuesday 28th March 18:24

Its difficult to try too hard when its nose to tail at 60 on the M6! o

Cross country was a differnt matter though .....

[Egbert Nobacon]

They are good fun, but do your research and be choosy.

Things to check for include :

Early ones had bottom end problems requiring new bearings or in some cases a new engine, but most should have been sorted under warranty by now.

Driveline shunt is common and variable from car to car. Mine felt odd and BMW put a new prop and diff in under warranty.

Check syncro on manual boxes especially 2nd and 3rd in both normal and fast driving, some are weak and again mine had a new g'box because of this.

My advice would be to get one currently under warranty, this will give you the opportunity to get any niggles resolved (if any) prior to expiry.

Be aware that the warranty terms have changed from next renewal and are much less favourable.

Mine is not an my everyday car, and personally if I wanted to have an M car for everyday use I would get an E39 M5 - they just feel less frenetic when your pootling about.

[amare32]

When I had my E46 for 16 months, it was bought from new and bear in mind of the revised warranty cost and £250 excess, 22mpg avg, tyres, insurance around £1k, compared to an Elise it's gonna burn a major hole in your pocket (I used to have an S2 Elise 111S aswell).

I took mines back to BMW for warrenty work seven times during the 16 months' of ownership so let's assume you have a year's free warranty, it could still cost £1750 in excess alone to cover the cost of 7 warranty visits.

I wonder when BMW will start charging money for complimentary coffee and buscuits??

Thieving ba$tards

[aaandy]

Egbert Nobacon said:

They are good fun, but do your research and be choosy. Things to check for include : Early ones had bottom end problems requiring new bearings or in some cases a new engine, but most should have been sorted under warranty by now. Driveline shunt is common and variable from car to car. Mine felt odd and BMW put a new prop and diff in under warranty. Check syncro on manual boxes especially 2nd and 3rd in both normal and fast driving, some are weak and again mine had a new g'box because of this. My advice would be to get one currently under warranty, this will give you the opportunity to get any niggles resolved (if any) prior to expiry. Be aware that the warranty terms have changed from next renewal and are much less favourable. Mine is not an my everyday car, and personally if I wanted to have an M car for everyday use I would get an E39 M5 - they just feel less frenetic when your pootling about.

Thanks for this. You mentioned about the early one having some bottom end problems. What sort of age car would you be referring to? Would a 2002 car fall into this category as most of these would now be out of manufacturer's warranty by now and sounds like it could be expensive. Based on this is it wiser to look for a 2003 one with higher mileage than a low mileage 2002 example.

[m12_nathan]

amare32 said:

When I had my E46 for 16 months, it was bought from new and bear in mind of the revised warranty cost and £250 excess, 22mpg avg, tyres, insurance around £1k, compared to an Elise it's gonna burn a major hole in your pocket (I used to have an S2 Elise 111S aswell). I took mines back to BMW for warrenty work seven times during the 16 months' of ownership so let's assume you have a year's free warranty, it could still cost £1750 in excess alone to cover the cost of 7 warranty visits. I wonder when BMW will start charging money for complimentary coffee and buscuits?? Thieving ba$tards

how many of your seven vists actually required a seperate visit because the car was undrivable? just batch them up and make one massive claim per year.

[Egbert Nobacon]

aaandy,

Build dates are more important than registration dates when it comes to these types of thing.

Mine was built in May 2001, but my TIS disk is currently playing up so I cannot ascertain beyond which date the bearing problem was solved.

I wouldn't walk away from a nice early car, as most would have had this repaired under warranty.

It is easy to check - just phone a BMW dealer with the last seven letters / numbers of the chassis number and they should be able to detail all the work carried out on that particular car - assuming it has been serviced within the official dealer network.

Ask the guys or search the forums at www.bm3w.co.uk

>> Edited by Egbert Nobacon on Thursday 30th March 16:47

[Smartie]

AFAIK the warranty "given" on used cars is the same as ever with no excesses, the new rules come into play on renewal.