Used M3

[Revenga444]

I just wanted some information on the older M3's. I've been searching for a used car for about 15k and the 1998-99 M3 caught my eye. I saw that I could get one in my price range but I have a few questions.

First of all, how are the cars on maintenance? How many miles until they start needing maintanence? How many miles do the cars last for typically?

Also, how are they for insurance?

And any other information on them as well as how good of a car you think they are.

Thanks

[Dylan]

What's your range? I'd never buy it in the 15-20K range because wouldn't they have fairly high miles? BMW's + high mileage= fun maintenance costs.

[turbodreamswrx]

15k sounds decent for a 98-99 bmw with around 80k miles on the clock. As long as the car was not beat on real hard the car should last high in to the 100k mile range. But just a warning if you blow your motor expect to pay about 8,000 for a new one from bmrparts.com

[01L2Cobra]

The E36 M3 is one hell of a great car. Basic mods area bit expensive but once you get past intake and exhaust its just as expensive as most domestics. Dealer only items can be expensive. I paid over $100 for a battery at the dealer only because no place here in Austin had one. Tires aren’t cheap and since the post 95 cars have wider tires out back you can’t rotate them. Be sure to get it checked out by a good shop, I wouldn’t recommend trusting a BMW dealer. There are a few common problems with the E36 like the rear trailing arm bushings. Some well taken care of E36s have been known to last in to the 200K mile range. The drive line in the E36 M3 is really good just stay away from the GM automatic.

I gave 18500 for my 99 with just under 60K miles and basic Dinan mods.