Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

Good or bad.?
Avoid smg?
many problems with them?
Have you owned one?

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Good or bad.? meh
Avoid smg? yea
many problems with them? yea
Have you owned one? no

HTH

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Old and dated is the general opinion these days.

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

Amazing..High 6 to the man from Swindon

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

Is it really?

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

i dont come from or live in swindon, but i agree the inhabitants are freaks

leonpoole

Totally. The E46 has been available since 1998. Granted the M3 came 3 years later but it's still the same body style.

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

It's a good raw car, cheap enough now for a thrash about and take to track, get a manual though (less problems) check rear subframe to see if it's rectified if needed.

Could be tempted myself at today's prices

Judley

I've had one for the last 18 months and like it. SMG box is okay and my rear subframe had already been done. Used as my daily driver and occasional visit to the track

Very good value for money right now

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

i will have a look around tommorow.

Judley

Drop me a PM if you have any questions mate. M3 Cutters is also a good source of information.

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

will do thanks for the useful reply.

mellinator2k

I was looking at an e46 ms before i got the blob sti, it is certainly the more classy vehicle. However I would imagine that servicing and repair would be in line with the cost of my alfa gt v6, rather than the cheaper servicing/repair to the sti.
Great cars i bet and i would love to own an m3 one day, no doubt!

Mr-v-limited

I recently sold my 2001 e46 smg, great car and if you can get an smg then go for it they get bad press because of the early m3 1996 smg box which was terrible, but the smg2 is amazing some of the pumps can go but same with anything it's a £2k fix if it does but as soon as you start flicking the m3 through the gears on the paddles its just a joy and if you turn the smg gear changes upto mode 6 I garentee you have never felt anything like it no human can change gear anywhere near as fast. End of the day if the manual was better they wouldn't have put the smg box in the top track based csl model....... Always check sub frame they are no to rust if not treated correctly and could be a costly fix. The 3.2 straight 6 has to be one of the best engines ever made in my eyes and when it reclines at near 8'000 the engine note is to die for!! Fantastic cars glad I can say I've Owned one!

Mr-v-limited

Service intervals are displayed on the trip computer and depending how its driven the miles to go before service are automatically changed ( unless you do a service by time elapsed) again I was into the m3 scene for a while any questions by all means ask!

Mr-v-limited

Also to add smg2 box has launch control featured into it.... Rumour has it the clutch can only take 6 (ish!) launches, truth of that I don't no but if you go and vue one and the bloke is banging on about that feature probs safe to assume the clutch my be on its way out

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

ok thanks for the info.

JamieJerkovic

iTrader: (9)

I had a 52 plate m3 smg, i loved mine if i could have the hatch and one of these i would. Nice comfortable solid car

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

if i decide to sell my subaru i will be on the lookout for one of these

john banks

I liked the looks which are still good, interior, SMG. Brakes wilted but can be upgraded. The reason I sold mine was the awful suspension which couldn't keep the tyres on the road on a bumpy B road, ruined the car on my favourite road, along with the brakes.

hodgy0_2

What sort of money are we looking at for a half decent specimen

Presumably the fuel consumption is on par with a Subaru

Ginola

iTrader: (25)

Fuel consumption is much better on long / motorway runs...

Friend of mine is selling his.. wish I had the cash this thing was monster round Spa. It has all the right bits on it.

http://www.munichlegends.co.uk/compo...5/view,detail/

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I looked at getting one but changed my mind due to too many horror stories and far too many clocked cars, wasted a few quid on hpi checks when people said theirs cars were ok.

They are expensive to mod if you decide to go down that route with say 50bhp costing around £5k and sub frame issues always seem to be a problem so make sure you buy a 2005 year one as I'm sure they revised the sub frame on that year?

I think people just make up their own prices and hope for the best as I saw people selling say 52 plate m3's for £10k and people selling 2006 m3's for the same price. I think it just depends on what people think the better marque is worth? Take your time and you can get a newer model at a good price.

Mr-v-limited

Here is a pic of my 2001 smg2

Gaz7612

I've got a 2002 manual coupe, Its a great car in dry and very interesting in the wet.

Servicing isn't cheap inspection 1 is about £500 inspection 2 is about £700 at an inde.
Servicing is oil change inspection 1 oil change inspection 2. I average one service a year so the servicing isn't to bad really.

Running cost its a daily drive, i do about 30 miles per day average about 27 mpg, which isn't to bad for the car. Tyres aren't cheap but then what good tyres are.

Gurj

Good or bad.? - Generally good, there are some common problems, some which have already been mentioned. Does represent good value for money IMHO (would have had one if I didn't want 4wd)
Just take into account the running costs.

Avoid smg? - From memory the very early ones had the same SMG as the e36, so avoid, however the SMGII was much better and far less fragile. I know of many cars that have them and they have had no issues with it.

many problems with them?
So long as the cars are serviced regularly and looked after they are pretty solid, I don't know all the details, so best to check BMW forums such as M3Cutters and BMWowner.com

Have you owned one? - Sadly not.

HTHs

chrisdicko

iTrader: (21)

I sold my 560BHP STI8 and purchased a 2004 E46 M3 with SMGII.

I've honestly had no regrets. Obviously it's not as fast, but I enjoy driving it more than I did the Impreza (and don't worry about the engine/things breaking). I have no desire to modify the engine this time around.

Zero problems with SMGII. I've only really used the paddles when I went around the Ring and through the Alps.....all the other times I just left it in Auto as I'm lazy, but it works very well.

Mine had some rust on the arches, which BMW UK repaired free under warranty.

Servicing isn't too cheap at BMW obviously, but the specialist are well priced.

MPG is currently at 25, mainly town driving.

Overall, I generally think it's a better all round car, and I'm glad I changed. I will get a E92 next.

JamieJerkovic

iTrader: (9)

Amazing pictures!

jeffwrx

iTrader: (50)

Have owned a e46 m3 for about 1 year now , after haveing impreza's and evo's ,

nice alround car , and like the smg , great fun to drive, smg problems are not as common as people make out , and if you do servicing your self they're don't cost much more to run then a subaru