BUYING M3 E-36 Evo

[v8 mark]

Hi chaps, new to this forum. Just sold my TVR Griff, and looking to replace with M3. What should i be looking for? (ie Mileage,model,known probs?) Looking to spend up to £13500 maybe more for the right car...
Any help would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

[pdavison]

There's someone selling their's on here, he posts under 'M3EVO'. It's up for more than your budget, but I have to say it's one of the nicest I've ever come across.

It's the cosmos black SMG one in the classifieds - totally sorted example.

Cheers

Paul

[domster]

Vanos sometimes gives problems.

This makes the pre-Evo variant (3.0 not 3.2) more attractive than an outgoing model would otherwise be.

You should get an Evo for your budget, though, if that's what you want. 6 speeds are nice to have.

[v8 mark]

Looked at my first M3 today, Drivers door had a wistle (due to air)?? And thought engine sounded a bit valvey..If this is the right word, it just sounded as if you could hear cams turning(More noisy than expected) Dont know if these are traits of M3's or just traits of a mistreated car? Plus did not seem to have much pull in first gear??? Could be VANOS probs maybe???
Any advice help?????

[Ballistic Banana]

Hey Mark,

Out of interest why'd you sell the Griffith, and are you still doing the DAsh's as have sent people your way in the past.

BB

[v8 mark]

Afraid Griff had to go for The old Addage (Married Reasons) Just not practical enough for everyday use.Had my fun from the car (2 yrs). As for dashes, will still make them if people want them, and thanks for any referals, But people want them for practically nothing, don't think they realise they are all hand finished, and sprayed manually..All takes time and money. But hey that's life...Happy motoring......

[hughjayteens]

I sold a Chimaeara last year, and have recently replaced it with an E36 M3 GT (3.0 but a little more hardcore than the normal ones).

I really do rate it as a very complete car - seems to do everything very well (the same could not be said about the TVR!). It isn't as electrifying to drive, but as a complete ownership proposition it takes some beating.

I am not convinced that the 3.2 Evo is worth the extra cash over a 3.0 - 6spd is nice, and the spec is a little higher, but I hear too many horror stories about the double vanos going squiffy, so unless you can afford main dealer prices for the warranty, then I think a 3.0 is a safer bet.

[hughjayteens]

There is a nice Estoril Blue one in the classifieds at the moment www.pistonheads.com/ads/adverts.asp?s=132

[Chris_N]

v8 mark said: Looked at my first M3 today, Drivers door had a wistle (due to air)?? And thought engine sounded a bit valvey..If this is the right word, it just sounded as if you could hear cams turning(More noisy than expected) Dont know if these are traits of M3's or just traits of a mistreated car? Plus did not seem to have much pull in first gear??? Could be VANOS probs maybe???
Any advice help?????

I used to own an E36 Evo. Great cars IMHO, with one of the best engines ever, though the problems with the double VANOS are well documented here and elsewhere. I would think twice before buying another one without a comprehensive warranty.

I had VANOS probs three times (fortunately with BMW footing the bill) and each time it was really obvious because the car idled REALLY roughly and sounded like a bag of spanners, which I'm pretty sure you'd have noticed straight away.

I don't really recognise the sound you describe, wonder if it could be valve clearances (these are done with shims and are a little tricky to set up properly - the engine needs to be absolutely stone cold) rather than VANOS. If you're interested in the car you saw it might be worth checking when these were last done and by whom i.e. did they know what they were doing and do it right.

I didn’t ever notice any lack of go in first gear that wasn’t linked to clouds of tyre smoke, but coming from a Griffith, as you are, who knows!

This thread is worth a look too if you haven’t already found it:

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=31082&f=72&h=0

While I would wholeheartedly recommend an Evo, I do think you need to buy carefully and think about the VANOS issue.

Good luck.

Chris