Everything I need to know BEFORE I buy an M3

[AllBlackBimmer]

Im not really concerned about gas, I KNOW these things guzzle gas... I mean, its a V8, what do you expect?
My 328 isn't that great on gas either all things considered... 23/24 MPG in a i6, MT, with only 230HP is not great by any means.

This car would not be my DD... Only my weekend/nice weather/toy car... I would get a cheap-o beater for commuting and regular driving.

I would definitely prefer a CPO M3 off a BMW lot... I will really hold out for a CPO car, unless I find the "perfect" M3 sitting on another lot...

CPO and BMW warranty definitely seem like they are worth every penny, and I wouldn't buy an M3 without one.
... what about the 3rd party warranties... I know some of them are really hit or miss... I'd really have to do my homework if I went with a 3rd party warranty... but like I said, will most likely by an un-mod'ed M3 off a BMW lot.

As far as tracking my car... potentially... I have NEVER tracked a car before. I live in Central PA, and I can't say I even know of any tracks "locally" ...I'd probably have to travel to Philly, Baltimore, DC, something like that? So, even if I really enjoy tracking, it's not like I have a track in my area where I could go every weekend (maybe there is a track around here, im not really sure?)

I would probably either get some type of lessons, or try to "borrow" someone's car that I could do a few practice laps in first. I know I won't buy a M3 and then look to "beat it up" on the track the next day... I would definitely ease into it.

[s85e90]

No offense but your asking questions that have been answered 1000 times before. And I don't get the point of a shitty daily driver. Why not drive the m3? You only live once, I can't see the point in spending soo much on a car to sit in the garage.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by IrishCoffee

So true... that first hit off the crack pipe is all it takes. Then you'll be planning your week around when you're going to change your brake pads and track wheels out for the weekend event.

Agreed every track day I have has a bunch of work that goes into getting the car ready before and cleaning things up after.

[AllBlackBimmer]

Originally Posted by s85e90

No offense but your asking questions that have been answered 1000 times before. And I don't get the point of a shitty daily driver. Why not drive the m3? You only live once, I can't see the point in spending soo much on a car to sit in the garage.

I'll drive my cars how I want, thanks.

If I want a second car that might have more room, more doors, better on gas, and DRIVES IN THE SNOW, that is my business.... so, no offense.

I guess all the guys that don't daily drive their M3s, M5s, Porsche, lambo's, Ferrari's etc. are idiots... sometimes you might not know a person's situation, driving habits, commute, vehicle needs, etc. so please don't assume and criticize when you don't know. I live in the Northeast where we get snow... I don't think driving a M3 in snow is the best option out there.

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer

I'll drive my cars how I want, thanks.

If I want a second car that might have more room, more doors, better on gas, and DRIVES IN THE SNOW, that is my business.... so, no offense.

I guess all the guys that don't daily drive their M3s, M5s, Porsche, lambo's, Ferrari's etc. are idiots... sometimes you might not know a person's situation, driving habits, commute, vehicle needs, etc. so please don't assume and criticize when you don't know. I live in the Northeast where we get snow... I don't think driving a M3 in snow is the best option out there.

Well you're talking to someone who daily drives an m3 almost 1k a week. And my old m3 (slammed with carbon front splitter) was one of the best cars I ever had in the snow. Any car is only as good as the tires on it. Get yourself an e90 as you'll have a 4 door year round fun car. Put the beater money away for savings.

[leemik]

The car *IS* pretty bad on gas.. but if you can afford to buy an M3 you can afford to fill it up. I always give it a little extra throttle when I pass a Prius

Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer

Coming from 328/335 and all the water pump failures... Why not on the m3? Different cooling system and/or pump?

I agree being a NA engine you don't have to deal with all the turbo issues down the road. (After all regular cars go turbo to save gas, watch over the years of all the common turbo problems and turbo related recalls)

I have not driving DCT but already would rather have a 6MT since I've had nothing but manual cars in my life... But agree BMWs manual is nothing to rave about. How is DCT in city driving or stop and go traffic?
My buddy had a e46 m3 and dumped it solely because of worry about the SMG... He thought his was starting to slip.

I def want a 2009 or newer... And not solely for the I drive refresh.

The M3 does not share a lot of parts with the 3 series. It's built to track off the factory showroom. So it has a lot beefier parts. I mean the oil cooler in the M3 is probably as big as the intercooler on a 335. I hate it when people always give the advice "just buy a 335 and tune it." it may be faster in a straight line but it's not the same car at all.

The DCT is a great daily driver transmission. It has so many modes so you should be able to tailor it to your driving style and you can just leave it in auto mode in traffic. Perfect shift everytime. Perfect blip of the throttle too on downshifts. It's nothing like the old SMG. The DCT shifts really smooth and fast. The way SMG shifts, it feels like the motor is going to drop out of the car whenever you shift.

I've driven a Nissan GTR for a little while as well and the DCT is a waaaaaaaaay better transmission than the one in the GTR.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by s85e90

Well you're talking to someone who daily drives an m3 almost 1k a week. And my old m3 (slammed with carbon front splitter) was one of the best cars I ever had in the snow. Any car is only as good as the tires on it. Get yourself an e90 as you'll have a 4 door year round fun car. Put the beater money away for savings.

Yep, the M3 works fine during winter over here as well...

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Yep, the M3 works fine during winter over here as well...

Indeed you can know it , Sweden in winter is no joke !

[///M3Fresh]

Originally Posted by s85e90

I think I fill up about 5-6 times a week @ like 60$. That's at least $ 300 a week, $ 1,200 a month in gas alone!

Makes me fuckin sick to type and read it.

Originally Posted by s85e90

No offense but your asking questions that have been answered 1000 times before. And I don't get the point of a shitty daily driver. Why not drive the m3? You only live once, I can't see the point in spending soo much on a car to sit in the garage.

Well the point of a beater is to change your feelings on how you feel about your above statement

plus he didnt say a shitty daily, he said a beater. A beater to some may also be another (more fuel efficient M car). When I had my E46M i had a E36M 4door as a beater. Then I got a X5 and now a E90M. so its all relative.

going back you your statement on how much gas you claim you put in your car a month, I really hope its worth it financially because I dont think I know anyone that would still daily an M3(s65) if thats how much they were commuting.

[kfc_bucket]

Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer

This car would not be my DD... Only my weekend/nice weather/toy car... I would get a cheap-o beater for commuting and regular driving.

I would definitely prefer a CPO M3 off a BMW lot... I will really hold out for a CPO car, unless I find the "perfect" M3 sitting on another lot...

CPO and BMW warranty definitely seem like they are worth every penny, and I wouldn't buy an M3 without one.

I use my e93 2008 M3 as a DD even during winter and it was amazingly good with snow tires on even in Toronto. Unless you live somewhere really extreme it seems a shame to have your nice ride sitting depreciating it the garage for 4 months a year.

Bought my private but the CPO w/ warranty was transferable to me which gave me peace of mind for the first year of ownership. That being said the car has been faultless so far and seems very solid in general. I was looking at 997.2 era 911s at the same time and even though the IMS/RMS issue was less of an issue on the facelift cars, the failure rate is still shocking. C63s have head-bolt failure issues. e90 M3s seem to be best-of-breed for reliability in it's class.

The idrive on the pre-2009 models suck like everyone says but for me it wasn't worth paying the premium for the upgraded version. I have DCT and it's great for a DD esp in heavy traffic, it's also great when you feel like pressing on you just need to learn how to use it properly.

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by ///M3Fresh

Well the point of a beater is to change your feelings on how you feel about your above statement

plus he didnt say a shitty daily, he said a beater. A beater to some may also be another (more fuel efficient M car). When I had my E46M i had a E36M 4door as a beater. Then I got a X5 and now a E90M. so its all relative.

going back you your statement on how much gas you claim you put in your car a month, I really hope its worth it financially because I dont think I know anyone that would still daily an M3(s65) if thats how much they were commuting.

Make sense financially?? Does any BMW? Life's too short, enjoy what you drive. I'm a car fanatic. My garage is nice than my house (almost). I can't NOT drive my car. Financially I do ok, so I'm blessed and can't complain to be able to afford to drive as much as I do.

[Beemdog]

Originally Posted by s85e90

Make sense financially?? Does any BMW? Life's too short, enjoy what you drive. I'm a car fanatic. My garage is nice than my house (almost). I can't NOT drive my car. Financially I do ok, so I'm blessed and can't complain to be able to afford to drive as much as I do.

While I wouldn't drive some huge commute in an M3 either, here's what I've been noticing with a lot of expensive performance cars: people sit them in the garage and try to keep them "perfect" while they depreciate $30k in about three years. So they're sitting on this car that has dropped 30 thou while only driving it ~10k miles (or less) in three years. That's a lot of value to lose just to have something nice sitting in your garage. For me, if I'm going to have some perfect car sitting there, I want it to be something that doesn't drop like a rock every month (like a classic, hotrod, or collector's car). That shiny new 'Vette or whatever is gonna plummet whether you drive it or not, so might as well get it out of storage whenever you can.

[Sebringjetta]

just to let you know the rod bearings will go bad and your motor will blow up.... according to alot of threads i have been reading lately

[///M3Fresh]

Originally Posted by s85e90

Make sense financially?? Does any BMW? Life's too short, enjoy what you drive. I'm a car fanatic. My garage is nice than my house (almost). I can't NOT drive my car. Financially I do ok, so I'm blessed and can't complain to be able to afford to drive as much as I do.

Financially: Yes as in Gas using the M3, also on top considering youre pretty much putting ~50K miles a year on it( based on your claimed Miles driven), added maintenance/oil changes (hope you dont follow BMW 15K intervals) and tires. Just to name a few.

What I am saying is what you spend on your car in one year most people are doing it in 4-6 years purely based on the amount of driving you do.

If that financially makes sense to you, then great, and God bless dude!

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by ///M3Fresh

Financially: Yes as in Gas using the M3, also on top considering youre pretty much putting ~50K miles a year on it( based on your claimed Miles driven), added maintenance/oil changes (hope you dont follow BMW 15K intervals) and tires. Just to name a few.

What I am saying is what you spend on your car in one year most people are doing it in 4-6 years purely based on the amount of driving you do.

If that financially makes sense to you, then great, and God bless dude!

I'm hoping that my commuting will also drop... we'll see.. Most times I work from home so that helps too, but lately the miles have been racking up. And to be honest, the car has never felt better than stretching its legs on some long high speed highway driving.

[OC3]

Originally Posted by s85e90

I think I fill up about 5-6 times a week @ like 60$. That's at least $ 300 a week, $ 1,200 a month in gas alone!

Makes me fuckin sick to type and read it.

Try 6 mpg on the tracks on for size.

[phrozen06]

Originally Posted by s85e90

Make sense financially?? Does any BMW? Life's too short, enjoy what you drive. I'm a car fanatic. My garage is nice than my house (almost). I can't NOT drive my car. Financially I do ok, so I'm blessed and can't complain to be able to afford to drive as much as I do.

Originally Posted by s85e90

I'm hoping that my commuting will also drop... we'll see.. Most times I work from home so that helps too, but lately the miles have been racking up. And to be honest, the car has never felt better than stretching its legs on some long high speed highway driving.

Just as good as the day I bought it. Oh I have a full tank too and 78 miles a gallon. lol.

[M3 Esq]

I'm getting 8 mpg at the track so I guess I'm not doing it right.

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by phrozen06

Just as good as the day I bought it. Oh I have a full tank too and 78 miles a gallon. lol.

I like it when you post. And you have a black car... Win win in my book

[davesaddiction]

Originally Posted by s85e90

I can't NOT drive my car.

This.