Experiences of an E90 M3?

M

magicgreg

Member
 North East - Yarm
In the pursuit of finding another car worthy to replace my Z4C, I have so far looked and driven a Cayman S, Lotus Evora, Z4MC and a BMW 535D...

The next car on the agenda to seriously consider is the new E90 M3, as a result I am looking for any experiences that people have had of either driving one, owning one or having knowledge of friends that may have owned one...

I'd be looking at getting a used example, spending around the £20k mark, the £32k price tag of a used Evora was too hard to stomach!

Any information on the usual areas of realistic running costs, service intervals, warranty costs, common faults etc etc

Thanks :thumbsup:
 
My friend rushed out and preordered one when they first came out. He'd had 2 CSLs so was expecting this to be at least as good. He hated it and got rid of it after only 3 months. His complaint was that it had too many settings and it used to skip about on B roads. Dare say that wouldn't concern any of us Z owners though :rofl:

Edit: funnily enough I read an interview with Guy Martin and he had the same problem. Traded his CSL for an e92 M3 and realised it was a big mistake on the drive home from picking it up. He traded his for an Aston Martin DBS shortly afterwards.

My friend also hated the gearbox with a passion. A few of the guys on the e90post forum that have had them have also complained about the manual gearbox. However, a few have tried the DCT model and all have said it was fantastic. One owner who got rid of his manual M3 because of the box said the DCT model was like a completely different car. If you aren't considering it, do.

I've been a member on e90post for a few years now and know a few members who have or had M3s. I can't recall any of them complaining about any mechanical issues. One owner tried to buy one recently (eventually decided insurance was too steep), most owners didn't seem to rate the £20k ones. That was a while ago now so they may have come down. It might be an idea to wait a while before getting one. I'd imagine prices will take a bit of a hit when the 4 series is released.
 
So the direction from the above seems to be: ignore the e90 m3 and get an e46 csl instead.

Seen one today and it still has the presence of understated brutality, deffo on my list of potential new* cars to own at some point.

You will lose less money too.
 
Robb said:
So the direction from the above seems to be: ignore the e90 m3 and get an e46 csl instead.

Seen one today and it still has the presence of understated brutality, deffo on my list of potential new* cars to own at some point.

You will lose less money too.
Click to expand...

You will probably make money. These will without a shadow of a doubt be classics. Chris Harris stating it is one of if not the best drivers car of the last 50 years helps.
 
I'd find it VERY difficult to choose between an e46 CSL and an e90/92 M3. The 4.0 V8 is a belter of an engine (not saying the S54 in the e46 is shabby either though) and it's the newer car with more toys, etc. But there's just something about the CSL that appeals - and that's my opinion purely from reviews/comments made about it, I've never been lucky enough to drive either.

As mowflow says, e90post forum would be a good place to start.
 
Thanks for all comments and advice thus far, suppose I need to arrange a test drive to get the definitive answer...
 
I had the opportunity to do around a dozen laps of the Brands Hatch Indie circuit last year in a E92 Coupe with DCT, with a very nice female track instructor. She kept telling me to push harder and go faster, how could I resist ...

The experience pretty much sold me on getting a BMW with a DCT box as our next car, which we did this year with the E89 35i.
 
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