Buying a cheap E36 M3
Discussion
I've been to look at a 3.0l 94M M3 coupe being sold privately. It's a nice looking car in black with black leather and seems in good condition for a 12 year old car. A couple of stone chips are starting to rust and a small bit of rust on the rear off-side wing starting to come through, and a small ding where some one's opened a door into it but nothing major. Interior seems clean and mechanically there are no strange noises and it started 1st time despite having not been anywhere for a while.
He a nice young chap selling it too, only had it just over a year but has a company van and a Land rover so doesn't need it anymore. It has had 9 previous owners though and the tax ran out in November so is on a sorn. It has the wrong wheels on it (18" off an E46 330ci) but I should be able to get a set of 17" motorsport rims off Ebay easily enough. MOT is till May 2007 and the car has done 146000 miles. It is clear on the HPI as never having been a total loss and the vehicle has the necessary tracker and thatcham approved alarm/immobiliser.
I should be able to take advantage of it being the 'wrong' time of year to sell a used car and get it for a song.
Would you buy a car like this if it was the right price?
If you can get it cheap enough then i'd think about it but with 146000 miles and some rust i'd be tempted to spend a bit more on a better example. 9 owners seems quite high as well. Nearly a new owner for each of it's years, not really cherished IMO. Plus what the service history like.
Edited by m3evo2 on Friday 22 December 19:30
what cant go wrong you should be asking. FSH helps, I would take for long drive + get inspection, 4K still a lot of money and with possible big bills but with all that said they are great cars and I wish you luck. If it hasn't been used for a while pay attention to suspension and breaks, give them a good workout you can bet a caliper will ceas in near future.
Edited by m3evo2 on Friday 22 December 19:51
Starting to see a lot of these older M3's dipping into sub £5k price braket.
Terrific value for money, and these cars cope with big miles incredibly well, 150k is nothing to worry about.
A lot of them have had 6/7/8/9 owners, nothing to worry about as long as the history all stacks up (ok it would be better to get a 1 or 2 owner car but you are talking about the very lowest end of the M3 market hence the £4k price tag).
No big things to worry about on the early E36 M3, cracking value at that money just make sure its HPI clear and the history all stacks up.
Can you think of any other 300 bhp rwd car for £4k that can be used every day without worrying about it going bang?!
rallycross said:
Starting to see a lot of these older M3's dipping into sub £5k price braket.
Terrific value for money, and these cars cope with big miles incredibly well, 150k is nothing to worry about.
A lot of them have had 6/7/8/9 owners, nothing to worry about as long as the history all stacks up (ok it would be better to get a 1 or 2 owner car but you are talking about the very lowest end of the M3 market hence the £4k price tag).
No big things to worry about on the early E36 M3, cracking value at that money just make sure its HPI clear and the history all stacks up.
Can you think of any other 300 bhp rwd car for £4k that can be used every day without worrying about it going bang?!
you cant argue with that
m3evo2 said:
I've found having a tracker makes no difference to the policy. Insurance aint cheap but it's just one of the prices we pay to have fun. I figure, the more you pay the more fun your having.
Now there's the thing, I jumped back in the MR2 to drive some 40 miles of glorious Shropshire lanes to get home after having been to look at the M3 and I felt much happier in the MR2. Now I know the M3 would take some getting used too but it just did'nt feel as 'special' as I was expecting. I mean I enjoy my MR2 so much, I'm getting seriously attached to it. I'm starting to think I will never be able to get rid of it...
Now the e36 is becoming more affordable I'm toying with the idea of buying one to use at track days. My plan is to ditch most of the interior, fit a couple of kevlar seats and harnesses, weld in a cage and upgrade the brakes. Should make it a more than capable car.
Might make a bit back on the nice leather seats most of them have fitted too.
Might make a bit back on the nice leather seats most of them have fitted too.
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