6 years later....My First E46 M3

Well my love affair with this car is now fulfilled. Got 31 mpg highway coming back from the dealer, my 325 gets about 34-35 high way, not too bad for twice the power Seriously tho, my life might be complete.

2003.5 with 70k miles 6MT



Now, I must replace or zip tie my passenger side window regulator and fix my drivers side mirror glass, as it rattles past 40MPH.

Not bad if you got a good price considering the miles.
After many years of putting it off to be able to own a track bike and do track days. I think I'm gonna get one this year and out the bike on hold. We'll see tho.

Congrats.

Beautiful car

I have a few questions because I'm also looking to buy an e46 M3.

How long did you shop around for this car? What was the price range for the ones you were interested in?

Were you trying to avoid buying a modded M3? I found a few close to me but some were heavily modded, I'd rather buy close to stock.

Congratulations! I've owned my E46 M3 since brand new 11 years ago. If you continue to maintain your E46 M3, it will treat you very well.

Enjoy it and have fun!

Originally Posted by sweetbro858

Beautiful car

I have a few questions because I'm also looking to buy an e46 M3.

How long did you shop around for this car? What was the price range for the ones you were interested in?

Were you trying to avoid buying a modded M3? I found a few close to me but some were heavily modded, I'd rather buy close to stock.

I'm not sure what your budget is. If you are looking for only pristine and well maintained stock E46 M3s, I would check out www.enthusiastauto.com

Their prices are a bit higher than the average used M3 out there. Knowing that they only buy/sell top condition cars may be worth it to you. This is pretty much as close as you're going to get to buying a "like brand new" used E46 M3.

Originally Posted by sweetbro858

Beautiful car

I have a few questions because I'm also looking to buy an e46 M3.

How long did you shop around for this car? What was the price range for the ones you were interested in?

Were you trying to avoid buying a modded M3? I found a few close to me but some were heavily modded, I'd rather buy close to stock.

Originally Posted by flipm3

Congratulations! I've owned my E46 M3 since brand new 11 years ago. If you continue to maintain your E46 M3, it will treat you very well.

Enjoy it and have fun!


I'm not sure what your budget is. If you are looking for only pristine and well maintained stock E46 M3s, I would check out www.enthusiastauto.com

Their prices are a bit higher than the average used M3 out there. Knowing that they only buy/sell top condition cars may be worth it to you. This is pretty much as close as you're going to get to buying a "like brand new" used E46 M3.

If you have patience you won't over pay. It took me 3 weeks of searching, I didn't know really what I exactly wanted, I test drove a couple SMGs, thought it was fun but glad I went for a 6MT.

I paid $19k for the car, it was garage kept and in the past 2 years only 4k miles have been put on it. It was traded in along with an X5 to an Tysons Corner Audi in NOVA. I feel like I got a good deal, but there are several small flaws, I didn't have much maintenance history, but the car spoke for it's self the previous owner had 9 cars (he was in his mid-sixities so it was responsibly driven and a one owner) so money wasn't much of an issue and the dealer said he was the type of guy who just said okay if they wanted to replace something (not sure how true that is but it came with a brand new clutch before the trade in). The things I've noticed with the car is the rearview mirror no long auto dims it's just kind of a gray brown color and you can see fine with it ($100 fix), the window regulator in the passenger side door needs the zip tie DIY so free fix there. The center console it's in the best shape, just things like that, it handles like a dream. Also, the drivers side mirror shakes at high speeds so I have to figure that out.

I was looking to spend no more than $25k on the car, but after taxes and temp tags it came out just over $22k so I'm extremely happy from that stand point. Now I just need to get my college furniture and crap out one side of the garage so it will fit

Cool. Thanks for the response.

I'm in no rush at all, I have a car that runs great and if I happen to find one I like I'll buy it. I'm really in love with the e46 M's... best body style in my opinion.

Originally Posted by sweetbro858

Cool. Thanks for the response.

I'm in no rush at all, I have a car that runs great and if I happen to find one I like I'll buy it. I'm really in love with the e46 M's... best body style in my opinion.

Yup, and it really does help to go see them in person, the pictures of the car I bought weren't very good. I went to see the car with just the intention of a test drive and ended up falling in love. It sounds silly but you'll know the second you drive it's the right car. (I drove 6 before this one).

This was only my second car purchase (I'm 23 and have been driving my 325ci for the last 6 years doing all the maintenance myself). I taught my self a lot about BMWs and screwed a lot of things up the first time on my 325, but then got it right the second time, parts a were much cheaper than for the 325, definitely a great learning experience. Without owning the 325 and doing all the work myself, there is no way I could afford this car other wise. I can afford all the maintenance parts but not the labor, hopefully I'll have as much fun with this car as my other (Still trying to talk my parents into letting me keep two cars...I've probably spent 100+ hours under that 325, it's hard to let go.

Sorry for my rambling, and good luck with your search, I found craigslist the best place to look for cars, usually people list them in hopes of a quick sale or because they are in financial difficulty and must sell the car.

Beautiful car bro the color suit it's style.. I wish I can get E46 M3; Unfortunately I'm currently stuck with my E46 323i sedan that is heavily modded; I want to move on to something else but it is so hard to let go a good car )= how do you people manage to sell your babies after bumping crap loads of money into it and jump into something new ?? my head is such in a jam right now :s

I wanted to buy a 330 CI , a friend said why don't you wait and buy the the M in the end even if you don't do any mods you still have a better car , that's what I did , I love the car

Great looking car. Looks like you've already started with a few exterior mods. What type of corners are those? I'm thinking about ordering some smoked crystal ones from Khoalty soon.

Nice ride........... Nice color.............. I drive the same one!!!! ;-)

Looks familiar. Oh yeah, just like mine. And I also just baught it. Couldnt b happier. I paid a bit more but has 48k. Also I drove for 11 hours to get it. Congrats

Nice ride...

Very nice. I bought my Steel Gray 03SMG in November n I absolutely love it. Great step up from my 330ci. I see that u r in Illinois. I work in Greatlakes, live in Kenosha. Where about r u?

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Awesome color, congrats!
Enjoy it

congrats, just like mine too

You did not get 31 mpg you've got to be mistaken. You need to recalc.

Who cares about mpg's. Drive the car...fill it up...drive it harder.

Originally Posted by ShredM

You did not get 31 mpg you've got to be mistaken. You need to recalc.

Who cares about mpg's. Drive the car...fill it up...drive it harder.

On my drive from New York to Chicago I had the cruise set at 65mph the whole way and the computer said I did 26.5 mpg. Never happened since. Around here mixed drive beetwen expressway and streets it sais 19mpg. I dont know how accurate that is, but thats what it sais.

Originally Posted by TitanSl33pr

Very nice. I bought my Steel Gray 03SMG in November n I absolutely love it. Great step up from my 330ci. I see that u r in Illinois. I work in Greatlakes, live in Kenosha. Where about r u?

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Your M3 is Silver Grey, not Steel Grey. I went to look at it and you bought it before me, the one at Import Auto Gallery.

Welcome to the club! What part of Maryland are you around?