E92 M3 Q&A

[MWMM3]

I just had a few questions in curiosity of my potential purchase of an M3. I have the money and resources to get one, but I just had a few questions that I had in mind before final purchase. You can list the numbers before the answers. Oh and also, for those who do not care for a few RB questions, feel free to exit before you kill your own mood reading these Q's, as two involve it.

1. How would you guys rank the insurance cost from high to low for a:
E92 M3 (2010-2011)
RC350 (2015)
Audi S5 (2013-2014)

2. How would you rate the reliability of an M3 at around 60k miles if purchased and replaced Rod Bearings right after?

3. If I replace the Rod Bearings is there still I chance it can blow within that 60k mileage period of "peace of mind?"

4. What parts have broken down for you guys and how much did it cost? Also include your car's mileage

5. How would you describe the reliability vs RC and S5? I plan on DDing it and only pushing it once in a while, not every light / freeway entrance, no I'm not interested in a 335i because my mate has one, and I would rather buy a vehicle with performance established so that I would not have to enhance even more besides aesthetics, the S5 is the only exception for more engine mods.

Thanks! Any other information in regards to the reliability costs / insurance costs / owning would be appreciated!

[Mvy]

1) Call your insurance company. Most insurance companies will charge you based on the value of the car. So in order of most expensive to least.
2) Its as reliable as any other german sports car, if not more. Rod bearings is not what I would focus on from a reliability standpoint at that mileage, though they should be done if not done already.
3) yes, engines have blown after rb changes. But its rare, and its all you can do. Change them, dont worry about it.
4) search the forum. Throttle actuators, rod bearings, dme modules, motor mounts are common examples of what you will find.
5) ask on an RC of s5 forum, not an m3 forum. i redline my m3 everyday and have done so for 7 years. Its not meant to be babied, its meant to be driven hard.,

[MrGatsby]

1) Insurance is very cheap for me, 160/month for full coverage and I do NOT have a perfect driving record by any means.
2) Reliability is subjective.. A well taken care of M3 (babied until warm, oil changes every 5k, premium gas etc...) can be a very reliable car. In fact you will find very few issues save for RB and TA.
3) Not sure i understand your question... If you replace the rod bearings, you shouldn't have to worry about the rod bearings.
4) 55k miles, 0 issues so far.
5) No clue

[tlow98]

If you’re cross shopping with the RC and reliability is a concern then just get the Lexus. German cars need a ‘just in case’ fund.

There are no guarantees, except that the Lexus will be dead reliable and 85% as much fun as the M3.

[PKL]

If you can afford to buy an E9x M3 with reasonable mileage, and get the rod bearings replaced ASAP regardless of mileage, then you are good to go. DO IT

[PKL]

I see you're in OC, PM me if you want to talk, I live in Santa Monica and come to OC a lot.

[nlam13]

Originally Posted by tlow98

If you’re cross shopping with the RC and reliability is a concern then just get the Lexus. German cars need a ‘just in case’ fund.

There are no guarantees, except that the Lexus will be dead reliable and 85% as much fun as the M3.

The M tax. Also, according to Malek @ MRF he said main bearings are also defective. Out of 20 cars with blown engines he has torn apart, about 18 of them are from rod bearings, 1 of them is for some miscellaneous reason, and 1 of them is from main bearings. He has done about 400 or so rod bearing jobs at this point.

I've owned mine since April of this year and so far nothing has broken, except for my seat latch to pull the seats forward. Surprisingly it just popped out during the week sometime(I don't daily drive mine). I got in on a Friday after not having driven it in a week or so and the seat latch was popped out.

[New2Roundel]

In my opinion:

Originally Posted by MWMM3

How would you guys rank the insurance cost from high to low for a:
E92 M3 (2010-2011)
RC350 (2015)
Audi S5 (2013-2014)

No idea how they compare as it will depend on how much liability each company feels they are taking on when insuring a specific vehicle. Plus, it will also depend on your record. So with that, i would just call your insurance company and ask for rates. I wouldn't think there would be a big difference for insurance. I'm at like $875/yr for my M3.

How would you rate the reliability of an M3 at around 60k miles if purchased and replaced Rod Bearings right after?

It's hard to say. I have 46k miles on my car, but like anything, it will depend on the specific car. The more stuff you have in the car, the more things that can break. My impression owning my car and having been on this site is they are fairly reliable vehicles. The RBs seem like the most expensive, by far, item to deal with on the car. That doesn't mean that you won't have issues beyond that like needing a ECU (another thread was talking about this), it just doesn't seem very common. At the end of the day, if the car turns out to be a nightmare, you can always sell it.

If I replace the Rod Bearings is there still I chance it can blow within that 60k mileage period of "peace of mind?"

I don't think anyone can tell you 100% one way or the other. Having said that, if you replace the RBs with stock version, there definitely a chance of them going bad. Some other brands on the market, BE in particular, have tweaked the dimensions of the stock RBs and claim to essentially solve the problem. Maybe they have, maybe they haven't. I haven't heard any stories of people with BE bearings having any issues with their cars after installation.

What parts have broken down for you guys and how much did it cost? Also include your car's mileage

I bought the car in 2015 with 27,xxx miles and now have like 46,400 miles. I'm like the 5th or 6th owner of the car, fyi. I had some vacuum issue like a week after I bought the car which caused it to go into limp mode at random times, like on the highway--not fun! But after that, it's been great. I haven't had to replace anything on the car. Having said that, I've flushed all fluids and replaced the rear tires since I've owned it. I also did the spark plugs which need to be changed at every 37k miles or so. Oh, I also needed to replace the battery as well. It went completely dead on me one day.

How would you describe the reliability vs RC and S5? I plan on DDing it and only pushing it once in a while, not every light / freeway entrance

The other cars aren't in the same class as the m3. The S5 and RC350 are 340 competitors, not M3 competitors. So from a performance perspective, the M3 is much better. If you're just going to putter around in the car and not drive it hard, I would skip the M3. These cars are designed to be driven hard--not beaten or poorly maintained, but driven hard. The S5 and RC are much better commuters. The S5 is the torqiest of the bunch and will feel better when commuting. The RC has a pretty interior, but that V6 isn't anything special in this class. It's great for a Camry or versus something like a 4-cyl BMW, but once you move up to 6-cyl+, the RC just isn't compelling. Then again, if you just want something sporty looking and don't plan on exploring the performance envelope of what you own, this might be the best way to go. I think the RC is the lowest risk option when it comes to reliability. I think that would be followed by the S5 (I'm not aware of any issues like RBs or throttle actuators in the Audi).

I think the S5 would probably be the best car for you. It's very nice looking, has a decently torquey motor, and has the nice german solidity from behind the wheel. It's also not a car that asks to be driven hard--or even requires it to be fun. The e92 M, IMO, is designed specifically to be driven hard to get the most out of it. You don't need to do that with even the current car, the M4.

[Redd]

To be honest, the only scary thing are the RB's. Sudden failure can be an expensive affair.

Everything else is just wear and tear. Throttle actuators actually hit low mileage cars more than regularly driven cars. My theory is that the actuator linkages stick when not frequently driven, causing stress on the actuator gears and electronics. Regularly driven cars seem to have less TA issues. Anyway, rebuilds are cheap now and come with lifetime warranty, so there's not much to worry about anymore.

Everything else is just wear and tear. You do get hit with an M tax, but what do you expect of a car that cost that much money when new.

[GT3fan]

The HVAC evaporator appears to be a weak link on e90/92 chassis cars as well and is $3k plus repair.

[neilum]

You're overthinking all this. I get it, I used to do the same thing but there isn't much point to the data you are looking to gather.

Fact is even if you got your answers it has no bearing on what will happen to you, every car is different.

Get a warranty if you're worried about it, or if you have money set aside ~10K for worst case and enjoy it.

I'll also say the Lexus and Audi do not compare to the E9x in any way that matters so my answer is who cares?

[BLANC_e92]

Having owned a 13 S5 I can say that it is a great commuter. Definitely launches harder thanks to Quattro and the interior is built a bit better. I had nothing fail on the car in my two years of ownership but I was honestly bored of the driving dynamics and modifications seemed to be much more expensive versus a M3. The e9x M3 has a much stiffer chassis and is more driver focused. As others have stated they are not direct competitors and rod bearings personally to me are mandatory for piece of mind. The other thing to watch out for are throttle actuators. Other than those two maintenance procedures the s65 is rock solid and there are 200k mile examples out there.

[MWMM3]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I'll take them into consideration for my next car 😎

[Helmsman]

Pls make sure you come back and inform what you ended up with!

[GotV8?]

Originally Posted by MWMM3

I just had a few questions in curiosity of my potential purchase of an M3. I have the money and resources to get one, but I just had a few questions that I had in mind before final purchase. You can list the numbers before the answers. Oh and also, for those who do not care for a few RB questions, feel free to exit before you kill your own mood reading these Q's, as two involve it.

1. How would you guys rank the insurance cost from high to low for a:
E92 M3 (2010-2011)
RC350 (2015)
Audi S5 (2013-2014)

Subjective, your age and driving record dictates your premium.

2. How would you rate the reliability of an M3 at around 60k miles if purchased and replaced Rod Bearings right after?

I purchase mine with 17k miles 2 years ago, now Im @ 69,000 miles so far had replaced both TB Actuators from FCP @ 44,000 miles... my driver side went out...oh well. Its M tax.

3. If I replace the Rod Bearings is there still I chance it can blow within that 60k mileage period of "peace of mind?"

I will doing preventative BE Bearings this coming Summer of 2019 and ARP bolts.

4. What parts have broken down for you guys and how much did it cost? Also include your car's mileage

see above response; in addition, upgraded steel braided lines and also pads and rotors.

5. How would you describe the reliability vs RC and S5? I plan on DDing it and only pushing it once in a while, not every light / freeway entrance, no I'm not interested in a 335i because my mate has one, and I would rather buy a vehicle with performance established so that I would not have to enhance even more besides aesthetics, the S5 is the only exception for more engine mods.

I was cross shopping between an RS5 and E9x M3, a manual was a plus, unfortunately, RS5 didint come in a 6 speed manual, so was a deal breaker for me. The other 2 vehicle do Not belong in same class to compare with our E9x M3...imo

Thanks! Any other information in regards to the reliability costs / insurance costs / owning would be appreciated!

good luck with your search. Happy Motoring