im getting ready to sell the wagon and im looking for a e36 m3....what are some things i should know..years to avoid..best years..etc..and what are the price ranges of these things....ive seen them in 2 and 4 door....anyone give me some info?


thanks

 

Go for a 97+up.

95 no dsc and plastic impellers on the water pump.

Other than that, rear shock mounts. and subframe tearouts..

I heart m3's

 

95's are only good because of the OBDII and respond better to mods. But don't count out the 3.2 models 96+ either. Rear shock mounts, rtabs, the radiator Neck tends to break, sometimes the ac will not work(requires a resistor change in the unit or a new unit if you are not upto the task) Ask whoever you are buying the car from if its had an Inspection I and II done. Check to see if the Oil Pump Nut has been Loctited, if not theres a chance down the road you will try to push your car hard and when you see that oil light come on it doesn't mean you are low on oil, it means your oil pump nut has backed off(when this comes on pull over shut the car off and have it towed or you face damaging the car extremely). Also if you see white smoke come out of your exhaust turn it off as well as this is a sign of a bad head gasket, check the oil cap and the coolant make sure they look normal and that there is no milkshake looking substance. so far thats just some of the things i had gone through with my M3, btw i had a 96

The M3 is a pretty good car out the factory, and very well balanaced, If i were to do it again, yeah i probably would get another M3 if i had money to spend. I really don't want to deal with the M3's maintanance issues as mentioned above. But when things are running good on the M, its top notch. When it craps out on you, be sure you are handy with tools cause you will save hundreds of dollars on labor alone. I bought my M when i was 21 and sold it just recently this past summer(im 26 now) so i owned the car a good 5 years and decided that i really dont want to deal with a car that will have me working on it on a weekend. I'd rather just have a stock car right now and drive with no worries.

 

qft

 

woah woah slow down. 95 has OBDI not OBDII that is 96+.

the resistor you are referring to is the auxiliary fan resistor not tied to AC directly. AC will still work even if the aux fan resistor is toast.

Oil nut backing off isn't as a big of an issue as people make it out to be. Specially if you don't track your car.

I also disagree with working on the car every weekend. Once you do the maintence you should do and keep the car stock it's dead reliable. Once you start modifying then you might run into more trouble but that's true of any car.

 

Yikes @ the misinformation.

 

deeks e36 M3 was fun as heck to drive
my friends e46 m3 smg is fucking badass to drive

i wanna drive samchoon's yellow shoe h:

 

besides the maintenance (i'm working on my suspension right now) the car is excellent.

 

well thats good then....my dad owns a automotive shop so stuff like that i can take care of for free...

 

I didn't find SMG to be that much fun.


I'm sort of looking at E36's too. h: