Wow, short romance
 

Man, after the shortest flirtation in my life with a notion of a car, I think you've all veered me off this 99 w/43k on it. It sounds like a deal, 16,800 asking, dark blue on camel, silver 5sp console, xenons and not much else and owned by a Porsche employee(didn't say what he did there), the rms and other issues may have me looking at Bimmers again.

Opinions?

Enjoy your Bimmer! :cheers:

yeah, the 97 M3 was nice but I had no passion for it-lots of respect though.

Both BMW ///M and Porsche are very nice cars. You pick the one you choose. Eitherway you have a fine, spireted drivers car.

I couldn't decide so I have a BoxsterS and an e30 M3.

Mark.

Asking $16,800? Sounds cheap to me. 16k isnt anything for a car these days. So you may or may not have to spend a little money on an RMS issue, big deal at that price. Is the car beat up? My 99 is perfect had 41k and I paid $20,900. Only thing I dont like about mine is it draws too much attention.

Looked clean at night but will se it again today at the Porsche dealer. Odd the dealer doesn't sell it for him for few $$.

The guy said the carfax was clean but he said he noticed some paitwork on the nose.
My M3 was sideswiped before I bought it(it was disclosed) but carfax didn't show it for 2 years.

Markk, what does the e30 designation mean?

And, is that an M3 in the opening chase scene sequence in The Transporter?

Hi,

My experience with ALL BMWs (owned a '78 320i 5spd.) - Very Efficient - Coldly Efficient - Boringly Efficient - Absolutely NO SOUL! They are Great Cars, but I would Never Own another one...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

It's the 1st gen M3, 88-90ish. The most popular was the e36, 95-99

Sorry but I must disagree. I owned a 328Ci (e46 which is the body model) and it was one of the most enjoyable and practicle cars that I ever owned. It was a blast to drive, held 4 adults, and could carry stuff I bought at home depot back home. I replaced it with an Audi A6 because we needed a larger 4 door (wife's orders). To this day I am sorry I didn't go with a 5 series BMW.

Rob

"Markk, what does the e30 designation mean?

And, is that an M3 in the opening chase scene sequence in The Transporter?"



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Well, I'm not Mark - but e30 refers to the 3-series body from 1983 - 91. The e30 m3 was the first m3, based on the 1986 model. The car gets amazing power out of an inline 4 cylinder engine.

(2.3l-16v I4) - 143kW/195bhp 0-60 mph - 6.9 s. Top Speed: 140 mph
(2.5l-16v I4) - 175kW/238bhp 0-60 mph - 6.2 s. Top Speed: 150 mph

And no, in the Transporter, that's a euro-spec (735i manual tranny) 7 series (e38 - 1995-2001).

@Rob,

I don't think we disagree at all, at least from what you've written. As I said, they are great Cars, cannot fault their performance, reliability etc., in the least. What I am saying is that they are devoid of eliciting any kind of Visceral Response from the Driver. Perhaps it is because they are so predictable, I don't know...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Jeez, don't give up on the Box. Go for it. And offer him a couple thousand extra if the price is too cheap.
We need to keep those prices up!.

I think the entire BMW line are all great cars. Don't really understand what you mean by soul but a M3 ( e46 ) is a pretty good track car. Any M car for that matter is a pretty serious performance car.

They are much better daily drivers, much higher amenities, and fit & finish is much beyond a boxster ( IMHO ).

I currently have a 02 330Ci with 68k of absolute trouble free miles. Still love the car.

I am patiently waiting for the e90 M3.

If at least they knew definitively what caused it, it wouldn't be so anxiety provoking. Out of balance crank, defective block, poor seating of the seal, etc..

Then a failure would be sufficient reason to fix the problem, and maybe install a 3.4L upgrade while you're at it. lol

The old harley shovel head and evo motors had a tendency to "blow by" oil(puke) out their breathers at high rpm's. It was messy. You'd come back from a hard run with oil splashed all over your nice shiny chrome. The "fix" was simple. Install a rubber hose off the breather so it would direct the puked oil harmlessly down underneath the bike. If you were eco friendly you might be inclined to put a small filter at the end of the hose to "catch" the oil. And so everyone lived with and loved that motor. Happily ever after.

Jeffn, if you get a RMS leak, it'll suck. If, you get one. If. You'll still love the
f'n car.

I have a E46 sedan right now as a daily drive.

Very very nice car for what it is!

:cheers:

Currently there are 5 generations of the BMW 3-series. From old to new e21, e30, e36, e46 and the newest / current model e90.

e21 series does not have a M3 model

e30 M3 was the "original" M3 developped for homologation in the DTM end eightees. 4-cylinders 2.3l inline engine producing around 200 bhp (special models go up to 215 and even 240 with a 2.5L engine for the EVO-3 / Sportevo model)

e36 M3 was the BMW Motorsport version of the e36 M3. Great car, no racing heritage. Two versions, normal 3.0 286bhp and evo 3.2 321bhp. Bothl inline 6 cylinder engines.

e46 M3 is the current BMW Motorsport version of 3-series, still based on the now absolete e46 generation. Features a 3.2l 6-cylinder inline engine producing 343bhp. Special CSL version features some more bhp (350+)

As of today there is not yet an M3 version of the current e90 3-series generation. It is expected end 2006 or beginning 2007 I think. Features a V8-cylinder engine with about 400bhp.

Some think the e30 M3 is the ultimate sportscar/M3, especially the last evo version (evo3 / sportevo). If you find one expect to pay 40/50k. Outoff all M3's the e30 generation was the only one specifically designed for DTM homologation. I disagree. They are all great driver cars. Although with all car generations younger cars tend to be much heavier which affect handling.

See

http://www.bmwheritage.com/pages/models_e30.html

Boy, I love to talk about these cars ;-)


Mark.