Things you wish you had noticed before buying your M

[m3f_EpDarks]

First time I turned on the headlights... low beam error

Driver side door panel starting to separate

Tiny rust spots

Ding in passenger side

Paint was swirled to hell


All in all I was more concerned w/ the mechanical aspects of the car, still it sucks finding this stuff AFTER the purchase....

[m3f_TomS2]

the only thing that bugs me is the fact that the POs got 183715 miles out of the fuel filter and i foolishly took it out instead of leaving well enough alone.



the fact that the factory brakes dont fit under most 16" rims bugs me too.

[m3f_Shock(/\)ave]

actually buying an e36.

Ouch.

The car.



Should have started with an E30 or my 2002. Would be club racing by now.

Care to explain this one Roland?

the engine

I don t regret a single thing about my purchase at all. There were no surprises at all for me.

I've had absolutely no surprises with my car either, though I haven't exactly driven the wheels off of it since I bought it. I had the car very thoroughly inspected before handing over my money, but to be honest unless the engine was modified by a previous owner for direct exhaust injection I was buying this car.



If anything I wish the purchase price was lower.

[m3f_notopM3]

I wish my wife had had this thing inspected befor paying full asking price. I was in Iraq and this was a "welcome home" gift. Had to replace the rear shock mounts, belts, pulleys, lots of work on the roof...it's a great car now that everything is fixed, but she didn't even negotiate on the price and it did need some obvious work. Also, the M-badge was on the wrong side and it had some cheesie bootleg "Dinan" badge where the M should go. She drove it around for a couple of months like that before I got home.



Oh, I wish it was a manual. Traffic isn't as bad now as it was before I left for Iraq. There, I said it.

[m3f_Roland H]

Care to explain this one Roland?

The M3 is a nice car, and I'm spending a lot of money to keep it nice when I want to track it at the same time. If I had bought a 2002 first, I wouldn't necessarily be concerned with the cosmetic condition as much, and I'd be racing it every chance I got since they are dirt freaking cheap to modify and maintain.



I love the M3, but I wish I had started with a different car at my age and budget.

[m3f_TomS2]

The M3 is a nice car, and I'm spending a lot of money to keep it nice when I want to track it at the same time. If I had bought a 2002 first, I wouldn't necessarily be concerned with the cosmetic condition as much, and I'd be racing it every chance I got since they are dirt freaking cheap to modify and maintain.



I love the M3, but I wish I had started with a different car at my age and budget.

sounds like why i got rid of the 951S and went to the cheaper to maintain M3. maybe not much cheaper, but easier to diy.



wake critter up and tell him im interested in his sways. i just saw the ad today. r comps go on rims tonight and it gets aligned wed. heat cycle the rs wed or thursday. i can pick up and add the sways wed, and it will be ready go to the track saturday.

[m3f_Roland H]

sounds like why i got rid of the 951S and went to the cheaper to maintain M3. maybe not much cheaper, but easier to diy.



wake critter up and tell him im interested in his sways. i just saw the ad today. r comps go on rims tonight and it gets aligned wed. heat cycle the rs wed or thursday. i can pick up and add the sways wed, and it will be ready go to the track saturday.

Sways are gone (I think).

[m3f_TomS2]

Sways are gone (I think).

if not, im cutting the line. if gone then more money for beers and broads!



What I regret most about my M3, and for that matter, every other sports car i've owned, is that I have less money for beers and broads.

[m3f_firedancer414]

When I bought the old E36 I was happy for it to have problems because I was trying to haggle a good price and I knew I could fix things myself as a poor college student.

Clearly -- there were plenty of other things wrong with the car that helped me negotiate it down. Most notably, the car was really dirty, both inside and out, a huge coffee spill in the interior. I knew that I would enjoy detailing it so that was no biggie, the coffee spill is now gone. The driver's seat fold down mechanism was broken and that cost $20 to fix. It's coming up on inspection II and I told him that costs $800. Etc. etc. I just didn't notice how torn up the front bumper was or all the swirl marks, probably because it was so dirty ...

Mine had a number of little items that added up.


1. Had to rewire the power mirrors.

2. Replace lots of broken door card clips

3. Replace transmission selector switch due to massive Coke spill (I think that's what was in there)

4. Replace passenger seat occupancy sensor.

5. Failed OEM subwoofer


And in the course of the first 6 months of ownership:


6. discovered radiator leak at end-tank when doing fan delete mod.

7. Had to un-do fan delete mod when AUX fan failed.

8. Discovered fan clutch had failed once I re-installed the manual fan.

9. New fans all around.

10. Inspection II

11. Lot of time chasing CEL for Large EVAP leak which the previous owner knew about and chose not to disclose. Grr.

12. Tires.

and more ...


1. Both speakers in the driverside door were dead (just turned on the radio and thought, sounds OK, didn't bother to check each speaker individually ...)

2. Pretty sure my windshield wiper fluid is leaking all over my engine bay (just cleaned it this weekend ... hopefully will be able to find source)

3. PO told me that I just needed to replace fuse to fix non-functional power windows and I bought it (oops)

[m3f_Aaron 4.6]

3. PO told me that I just needed to replace fuse to fix non-functional power windows and I bought it (oops)

The classic response. As if the PO would tolerate non-functional windows for a ten-cent fuse and 3 minutes of effort to replace it.

[m3f_Lytheum]

The only thing that bugs me is the rust starting on the trunk panel. The rest of the car is in pretty decent working order and appearance.

[m3f_firedancer414]

The classic response. As if the PO would tolerate non-functional windows for a ten-cent fuse and 3 minutes of effort to replace it.

To be honest, judging by the fact that he probably could have squeezed a few hundred $$$ more out of the car just by taking it to the car wash before he sold it to me ... didn't seem that far out of character

[m3f_e36man]

The paint. He had a respray done on the front of the car and the prep was horrible.

[m3f_Roland H]

What I regret most about my M3, and for that matter, every other sports car i've owned, is that I have less money for beers and broads.

+ effing 1.

[m3f_propchef]

Passenger side mirror not OEM. Ironically, it's the one that still heats.

The shift knob is illuminated, but the cap the PO put on is new and looks great, but is not the transparent one used with the stock knob (light doesn't shine through, but works).

Small imperfections in the paint on the driver's side (I knew it had been repainted, but the panel/door numbers still matched), and the driver's side marker light had been GLUED on. Geesh. It's better now.

Front bumper cover has been replaced.


I was pretty thorough and had a good pre-purchase punch list. Had a lot of things taken care of before I took delivery, right down to a small chip in the windshield. But I guess you can't always catch everything.