e36 m3 evo the costs
Discussion
i would like to start by saying i am sorry and i bet this has been covered a million times.
i have been eyeing up the idea of buying a m3 evo but always been up off by the costs.
i used to have skylines and they where costly to run so i bought a fiat coupe 20vt which gives me 30mpg avarage and is not to expensive again.
i am missing the rwd and my skylines where quick and fun but cost to much to do 350 miles a week. someone i know has said his didn't cost to much to run and that 30mpg was normal and on a long run 35mpg! is this true and what sort or reliablity issuies do these have and gebral costs?
thanks guy
i have been eyeing up the idea of buying a m3 evo but always been up off by the costs.
i used to have skylines and they where costly to run so i bought a fiat coupe 20vt which gives me 30mpg avarage and is not to expensive again.
i am missing the rwd and my skylines where quick and fun but cost to much to do 350 miles a week. someone i know has said his didn't cost to much to run and that 30mpg was normal and on a long run 35mpg! is this true and what sort or reliablity issuies do these have and gebral costs?
thanks guy
I've had one for a year, and although its not my main car, if I didn't live in a street in SW London (Tooting) I would run it as my main car. Insurance, lack of people being able to park without rubbing and bumping others in my street and possible thievery / keying is what stops me, not the car. I have an old Vectra to take the pain and keep the M3 Evo garaged somewhere in Berks as a weekend car.
Even so, costs aren't bad. I get 24mpg and I only do nice spirited weekend driving down country lanes once warmed up, and I got nearly 30mpg in Europe on a self done Euro Hoon thing with a fair few motorways thrown in. The 2.5 V6 Vectra I have is worse!
BMW now do a deal in some main dealers where they will give you 10% off parts for the BMW CC GB members and 60%, yes 60% off servicing costs. I got the Evo front discs and pads done in Brighton for £45 in labour that way as I had to get the proper discs from them anyway (non BMW ones warp trust me)
I have used Phil Crounch at CPC and I had an Oil service for £135 to keep the full service history last month. It needed about £1000 of work but he told me about all of that on my pre inspection when I bought it last year and I got him to take a look at the car. Air con had gone along with a fan, and the conv roof needed tweaking... BUT I got over a grand off when I got it and only got round to it when it got warm again!
I've done a little work on it and it seems well put together, my frame of reference is a 944 Lux before, I like German cars!
Get someone good like Phil to do a pre inspection and make sure the suspension has been refreshed as all the keyboard ninjas who say they have rubbish handling either own or have driven a complete dog with s
t suspension thats done 80K miles. They do need to be treated well, but its only important to make sure you have one that the previous owners have looked after so that you don't have to take on a restoration that looks pretty if you know what I mean? Same with the VANOS, just get someone to look at the car and avoid one they say needs work, enough cars out there! If you get one for £4k which is a bit tired to try to save money, and then the VANOS goes bang / handles badly people seem to think it justifies moaning about the model as crap on places like here.
Edit. I mean the suspension parts have done 80K not the car. ine has 116K on it and the BMW guys who were bedding in the brakes with a little 10 mile run said it was one of the best handling ones they had been in in a long time.
I think the Evo is worth the £500-£1000 premium, although I have the convertible and so undoing some of the point I guess!
Even so, costs aren't bad. I get 24mpg and I only do nice spirited weekend driving down country lanes once warmed up, and I got nearly 30mpg in Europe on a self done Euro Hoon thing with a fair few motorways thrown in. The 2.5 V6 Vectra I have is worse!
BMW now do a deal in some main dealers where they will give you 10% off parts for the BMW CC GB members and 60%, yes 60% off servicing costs. I got the Evo front discs and pads done in Brighton for £45 in labour that way as I had to get the proper discs from them anyway (non BMW ones warp trust me)
I have used Phil Crounch at CPC and I had an Oil service for £135 to keep the full service history last month. It needed about £1000 of work but he told me about all of that on my pre inspection when I bought it last year and I got him to take a look at the car. Air con had gone along with a fan, and the conv roof needed tweaking... BUT I got over a grand off when I got it and only got round to it when it got warm again!
I've done a little work on it and it seems well put together, my frame of reference is a 944 Lux before, I like German cars!
Get someone good like Phil to do a pre inspection and make sure the suspension has been refreshed as all the keyboard ninjas who say they have rubbish handling either own or have driven a complete dog with s
t suspension thats done 80K miles. They do need to be treated well, but its only important to make sure you have one that the previous owners have looked after so that you don't have to take on a restoration that looks pretty if you know what I mean? Same with the VANOS, just get someone to look at the car and avoid one they say needs work, enough cars out there! If you get one for £4k which is a bit tired to try to save money, and then the VANOS goes bang / handles badly people seem to think it justifies moaning about the model as crap on places like here. Edit. I mean the suspension parts have done 80K not the car. ine has 116K on it and the BMW guys who were bedding in the brakes with a little 10 mile run said it was one of the best handling ones they had been in in a long time.
I think the Evo is worth the £500-£1000 premium, although I have the convertible and so undoing some of the point I guess!
Edited by BluePurpleRed on Tuesday 14th July 15:55
Edited by BluePurpleRed on Tuesday 14th July 15:57
Edited by BluePurpleRed on Tuesday 14th July 15:58
I've just sold my M3 evo, had it for 2yrs but only as a second car. Used it to go to the Ring & a couple of trackdays. Brilliant car & did over 30mpg on a run no problem. I only sold it to get a bigger E39 M5 as i didn't use the M3 enough in the end it just sat in the garage most of the time. If your going to buy one i would be looking at £6-7 K to get a nice one thats had all the suspension done & brakes done, don't buy one thats been chaved up ! If you buy one that needs suspension,brakes etc you will be looking at £1500 just in parts. Inspection 2 is expensive aswell.
Simon.
Simon.
iv just went from a 20vt to an m3 evo...the bmw seems to be averaging about 30mpg with no trouble in mixed driving, mid thirties on easy runs, and even still mid 20s when driving without to much of a mind for economy, ie enjoying the straight six snarl...i really like the bmw but be warned, i dont think its as loveable as the fiat was..but it is a better fast road car, no doubt about that in my mind...
It all depends on the condition of the car you buy.
They aren't "cheap" to run then again they aren't wallet wreckingly expensive.
The biggest bill is likely to be the much publicised Double Vanos failure but most decent specialists can offer you a reasonable priced solution.
Unfortunatly there are many abused cars around these days as sadly the sale price of the car has brought it into the reach of people who can't afford to maintain them.
But shop around, don't be afraid to walk way from dubious cars as there are plenty out there and ensure you get an inspection done by someone who knows what they are looking at.
They aren't "cheap" to run then again they aren't wallet wreckingly expensive.
The biggest bill is likely to be the much publicised Double Vanos failure but most decent specialists can offer you a reasonable priced solution.
Unfortunatly there are many abused cars around these days as sadly the sale price of the car has brought it into the reach of people who can't afford to maintain them.
But shop around, don't be afraid to walk way from dubious cars as there are plenty out there and ensure you get an inspection done by someone who knows what they are looking at.
As said, all depends on what you buy.
You want one with new brakes/tyres/suspension and a recent Insp II. Ignore mileage (to a point).
I got high 30s/low 40s mpg on long sensible motorway runs.
Lots of parts interchangeable with boggo E36s, but some carry the ///M tax - brake disks are £100 each, for example.
Great all-rounders though.
You want one with new brakes/tyres/suspension and a recent Insp II. Ignore mileage (to a point).
I got high 30s/low 40s mpg on long sensible motorway runs.
Lots of parts interchangeable with boggo E36s, but some carry the ///M tax - brake disks are £100 each, for example.
Great all-rounders though.
I found day to day running quite reasonable with good mpg, tyres etc weren't to expencive.
however in 2.5 years I suffered 2 engine failures due to shells spining on the bottom end and a vanos failure. After the second engine failure I had to give up on it which was a shame as I enjoyed the car. I must have got a bad one but when they're bad they are really expencive to run.
however in 2.5 years I suffered 2 engine failures due to shells spining on the bottom end and a vanos failure. After the second engine failure I had to give up on it which was a shame as I enjoyed the car. I must have got a bad one but when they're bad they are really expencive to run.
pitbull turbo said:
would you say that i could run one on say £300 a month for insurance, tax and maintance and say £50-60 a week in fuel if i am doing 350-400 miles a week?
It'll cost you more than £50-£60 for 400 miles, that's the price of one tank. You can get 360-370 out of a tank, but only on a constant motorway cruise. More like 300 max in real life. You should be able to run it on that as long as you don't start upgrading, which is impossible to stop once you've started. Tax is £15 a month, say £50-£60 for insurance, £150 put aside for maintance, servicing, consumables etc and £80 fuel.
Edited by scz4 on Thursday 16th July 10:59
Nice cars ,just got fed up with silly insurance & every tosser in a corsa etc trying to bait you . Make sure you get the suspension checked as can be expensive if its not been done!
Also see how long the current owner has had it & see if he is knowledgeable ie an enthusiast ,should be if he's had it a few years. Don't buy one that someone's only had for about a year or so as they are more than likely trying to pass on a looming bill.
Good Luck,they are nice cars but unfortunately they are becoming a bit chavtastic as they get older.
Also see how long the current owner has had it & see if he is knowledgeable ie an enthusiast ,should be if he's had it a few years. Don't buy one that someone's only had for about a year or so as they are more than likely trying to pass on a looming bill.
Good Luck,they are nice cars but unfortunately they are becoming a bit chavtastic as they get older.
Ive had an M3 Evo for years now... bone loads and loads of miles in it and pretty much abused it and must say its cost me much less to run than the cossie I had before... I can confirm you can realistically expect 30mpg from it (cossie was around 23mpg) and servicing isnt really that bad.
Ive had no issues with mine that you wouldnt have had from a 318 etc and cost no more to fix... serviceing isnt cheap but no more than a skyline or cossie IMO.
Mines high miles and things to look for are knackered suspension and brakes... both are weak points IMO.
Unlike some of the others on this thread, Ive actually found insureance quite reasonable and I insure it for unlimited miles and business use... was around £600 for me every year... so shop around.
Due to the cheapness of the cars now (mine was worth around £3k max) if you can turn a spanner then 2nd hand parts are available quite cheaply so if a major part does go like the engine you can replace it relativelly cheaply.
I think the E36 M3 is an absolute performance bargain and Im so impressed with mine that Ive kept it even after it was written off by a tt who hit it while it was parked... and Im turning it into a track only car... bear in mind I drive a Noble everyday so that just shows how good I think the M3 is.
Ive had no issues with mine that you wouldnt have had from a 318 etc and cost no more to fix... serviceing isnt cheap but no more than a skyline or cossie IMO.
Mines high miles and things to look for are knackered suspension and brakes... both are weak points IMO.
Unlike some of the others on this thread, Ive actually found insureance quite reasonable and I insure it for unlimited miles and business use... was around £600 for me every year... so shop around.
Due to the cheapness of the cars now (mine was worth around £3k max) if you can turn a spanner then 2nd hand parts are available quite cheaply so if a major part does go like the engine you can replace it relativelly cheaply.
I think the E36 M3 is an absolute performance bargain and Im so impressed with mine that Ive kept it even after it was written off by a t
t who hit it while it was parked... and Im turning it into a track only car... bear in mind I drive a Noble everyday so that just shows how good I think the M3 is.Gassing Station | M Power | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff