joseph mitro

I am looking at purchasing an E36 M3 for my daily driver and want feedback on your experience with the car. the M3 forum seemed to be less helpful than this forum with my questions

i understand the water pump issue (metal vs plastic impeller). what other major issues are maintenance problems with these cars? clutch? timing chain? bearings? brakes? tranny?

car is a 96 dakar yellow with 91K miles, one owner (middle aged female driver), good shape, never wrecked; asking $15K

thanks for your help

Epic2112

I think Eclou has an E36. Too bad you guys don't have real M3s.

Now, where's my real Porsche?

CT944

There are no problems with these cars. If the water pump goes, get it replaced. No big deal. Its a $200 repair job. These cars are very well rounded. I have had 50K maintenance free miles so far on my 98. They are "tough as nails".

The E36s are by far a better overall car than the E30s. My friend has an E30 M3 and is always adjusting the valves.......no thanks!

jcheng

I've got a 95 M3, it's a great car -- love the BMW inline 6. If used as a
daily driver, you probably won't have any maintenance issues. If you're
going to use it as a track car, there are actually quite a few weak spots
in the e36. Early M3s have weak valve retainers. Soft tranny mounts
can cause misshifts and hence overrev problems. You'll have to watch
the rear suspension bushings, too. Believe it or not, the rear trailing arms
can actually pull out of the body if the bushings
have degraded. Also there are issues w/ the rear shock mounts, and
if you don't watch 'em, the rear shocks can actually rip through or crack
the shock towers.

For a relatively "mature" forum/list, try http://www.bmw-m.net/.

Good luck. I think getting an M3 is an excellent choice, as long as
you keep on top of things. Of course, nothing has the feel of a 944.

Cheers - John

Epic2112

Well, I think their records can speak for themselves. Which one was more successful? Oh yeah, it's not really fair to compare the E30 to the E36, since the E30 wasn't just the most successful M3, it was the most successful touring car ever.




It is true, however, that the E36 is a lot easier to own. Parts are much more affordable, much easier to come by, and there are a lot more mechs that are familiar with them. That said, I'll never trade in mine, not for an E36, not for an E46, not for anything, but that's just me.

Hoosier Daddy?

I've got a '97 M3 Sedan daily beater I mean driver. J/K the car has been a blast to own. Bought it in Oct. 2001, it has 93k on it now. Like John said, mine's a daily driver no track use and that's why I bought it. I wanted something I wouldn't screw with so I could always put the key in and go. I even bought a "slushbox" so I wouldn't be temted to put it on the track.
Hell, I had to buy this car because my 951 project was snow-balling and it's still in pieces.
I'd sell mine for 15K, I need a parts hauler

85944na

M3's are great cars, my dad is on his 2nd, currently a 98 sedan. A blast to drive, and really great all around, no major problems really, I work at a Bimmer dealer part time and we don't see to many problems with them(that I know of). a 96 for 15k isn't too bad, if it's nice go for it.

special tool

Anyone who is "always adjusting the valves" on an e30 m3 is just looking to impress his friends because he knows how to do it. Tell him to try tightening the locknuts.

skene

Like 85944na, my dad also has an M3. It's a 95, I'm not sure about the miles on it, but it's seen tons of track time. The thing is a blast to drive on both the street and the track with lots of low end torque. The water pump is definetly an issue if you're going to do any track time though. His car blew up a radiator at the track because the plastic one broke. Of course the car was seeing tripple duty with him and two of his brothers driving it at the time. Aside from the trashed radiator, I don't think there have been any major mechanical problems that did not involve abruptly stopping the car with a tirewall. Having said that, watch out for brake fade if you track the car, they're known to do that.

eclou

Areas of concern in order of importance:

0)oil pump retaining nut - needs red loctite or safety wiring to prevent catastrophic loss of oil pressure
1)water pump impeller
2)thermostat housing
3)radiator neck - lasts 50k or 6 yrs
4)lower timing chain tensioner - usually incorrectly diag as faulty VANOS. about 50k miles. Takes 20 sec to change. Need 32mm or 1.25" deep socket
5)rear shock mounts
6)front lower control arm bushings

That's about it for the higher failure items. All are easily self-fixers. All are relatively cheap repairs (less than $500 in parts for all of the above together)

jerome951

I bought a '98 sedan, auto tranny to use as a daily driver. To sum it up, great car. Much more reliable than the 951 and still a sweet, sporty car.

I think the plastic waterpump impeller was only on the '95 model year and was updated after that. I could be wrong, though.

For daily use the car should be fine. Have it checked for the above items, though, in case it was tracked or driven hard. Also have the steering rack checked. I think they use similar ZF racks as in our P-cars. The rack in my M3 was replaced at ~50k (before I bought the car). My P-car's lasted 90k.

You didn't specify, so I'm assuming it's a manual tranny (I think the auto was only offered '97-'99). If it is an auto, make sure the trans fluid has been changed a few times. BMW (actually a GM tranny in the M3) auto boxes tend to last ~100k miles because they come w/ a 'lifetime' fluid that the dealerships and owner's manual say doesn't need to be changed. Yes, the fluid will last the lifetime of the tranny, but the tranny won't last the lifetime of the car. Current wisdom is to replace it w/ factory fluid or Redline D4 ATF at 50k for the first change, then 20-40k after that. If it hasn't been changed, count on replacing the tranny soon.

$16k sounds reasonable if it's in good cosmetic and mechanical shape.

joseph mitro

thanks everybody for all the helpful responses. sounds like a very reliable yet sporty car. i reviewed the maintenance records today and it sounds pretty well maintained. the drive belts have been replaced, and the coolant reservoir was replaced, but doesn't look like the radiator has been replaced (I understand the "neck" is a weak spot).

anyway, let's hope the loan gets approved.

streckfu's

Good luck.