The Dakar Yellow BMW M3 Sedan we featured late last year is back on offer. If you need a bit of practicality with your M car serving, there are few better formulas than the E36 M3 sedan.
Tag: 3 series
The E46 BMW M3 is a car loved by many enthusiasts but it always seems to me that the love is anything but unconditional. During its six year production run the third generation M3 had its fair share of issues that have led to it being a very divisive car. Many swear that these cars are the pinnacle of BMW engineering before they lost their way, others point to them as a prime example of what happens when a community is in denial. Honestly I don’t fall into either camp, but I can see how both sides would have a valid argument. On the one hand these cars can be your ticket to having insane amounts of naturally aspirated fun and on the other they can drain your savings account faster than a fantasy sports gambling site. As with any used vehicle there are specific years and specific issues you need to look out for: VANOS failure, cracking rear subframes, snapping rear springs and of course the whole SMG unit. Most of these issues affected all years of the E46 M3 but if you got your hands on a manual you could avoid that final one all together. However, there was one particular model that I think warrants consideration despite it being saddled with BMW’s fancy manumatic transmission, the M3 ZCP.
CLICK FOR DETAILS:Â 2006 BMW M3 ZCP
12 Comments
Today’s E30 325i is a well maintained and lightly upgraded survivor that hardly shows its 26 years or 174k miles. It’s not an “is” model but it looks just as good sitting on E38 16″ basketweaves and a lower H&R/Bilstein combo. As is expected on BMWCCA classifieds, the clean appearance is backed up by well-documented care. Overall, it’s a great, driver-quality E30 with a clean look only available in the absence of a spoiler. The only real question here is do the nice upgrades and care justify $10k for 174k miles?
Click for details: 1991 BMW 325i on eBay
3 Comments
Laguna Seca Blue is one of the most desirable colors for the future-classic E46 M3, and today we have an example that will probably spend most of its life parked as a preservation specimen. With just under 10k miles, it’s barely been broken in is priced as one of the best E46s out there. I can’t see anyone spending this much money on such a car and putting any considerable amount of miles on it. Alas, this Ultimate Driving Machine will not be driven, but in a few decades it will stand as one of the finest examples of one of the most venerated millennial sports cars. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this car, as Carter wrote it up back in July 2014 and from a previous seller and in unmodified form in May 2014. It has to be said that the price a year ago seems much more compelling and fitting.
Click for details: 2001 BMW E46 M3 on eBay
6 Comments
Carter’s post yesterday on the 2004 Passat 1.8T Variant got me thinking about rather ordinary German estate vehicles. That Passat was truly a nice find, as it is rare you find a B5 or B5.5 Passat in such great nick. Lightning has struck twice this week it seems, as I’ve come across this tidy 2002 BMW 325xi Touring for sale in Oregon. While it’s not a manual, for most, the automatic would do just fine for a small family hauler.