To Sell The Line Or Not?

[Guest INASNT]

http://www.drive.com.au/used_cars/bmw/m3/m...7&pg=1&pp=6&d=0

[meggala]

get a car with aroudn 100 000 klms to be safe pay the extra for them its worth it then you knwo you 3-5 years trouble free

yes m3's are nice you will loose twice the money if you get an m3 or yoru boss will always want to drive it

cheers

[ferni]

See i'd take a BMW over a Merc any day.... can't speak from experience of owning either.. but i nearly bought a E36 M3...

My mate is a BMW nut... knows everything about them... is about to buy a E39 M5.... ~

From the ones i have been in, i'd say the BMW is better build quailty in general than the Merc... merc is still a nice car, but they are nearly all autos... where as BMW are nearly all Manual

[ferni]

ps that Estorial Blue is horn on the M3

[Guest INASNT]

I would love the convertable M3.

I have always had a soft spot for convertable's especially bmw's, i remembered i wanted to get a E30 convertable ages ago as a run around car.

What would i need to watch out for if i got a 96-99 328 hiline convertable?

[JAMESW]

hell yeah a BMW anyday over a merc.

My brother has a 2003 330ci convertable... Ohh yeah a fkn nice car(but no way you would catch me paying $110,000 for it.)

James.

[SmoothLine]

Denham,

Having driven both mercs and Bmw's in the past, I say go with a bmw... There was a time when mercs were better... late 80's early 90's.

For 50-60k I wouldnt buy an M3, A standard BMW costs alot to keep on the road, a performance one getting close to 10 years old would be a nightmare..

My mum recently sold her 328i Covertable, 1996 model... Again nearly a ten year old car and the bills begin to pile up... Traded for a brand new 325ci (or 320?) and that is an awsome car, fully custom ordered and a sensational car...

I have a 318is 1997 in sydney that my dad uses, 5 speed manual, everything the M3 has appart from the engine, great little car for a run about...

Bottom Line?

BMW before Merc. Later model, even if its costs more on the purchase price, you will save in future repairs.

[Guest INASNT]

My mum recently sold her 328i Covertable, 1996 model... Again nearly a ten year old car and the bills begin to pile up... Traded for a brand new 325ci (or 320?) and that is an awsome car, fully custom ordered and a sensational car...

what bills exactly??

what costs so much to maintain them?

[predator]

lol.. this is all coming from somebody who reckons one of the reasons he wants to sell the r33 is that they are "too common".. and yet you would drive past 50 or 60 bmw's or mercs in one day and not even notice it because they are so common and bland as a slightly richer man's commodore.

as long as you think you are rich denham, thats the main thing

do you have insurance quotes yet? the skyline may be exxy, but the european commodore are not that rosey either. Fuel consumption probably up there too...

[SS8_Gohan]

BMW are more drivers car, period. Aren't C class FWD? Even BMW's 1 class is going to be RWD.

Yeah what bills exactly? Every car has to be serviced regularly and when you are buying a mid-late 90's BMW you don't have to go the expensive BMW service. Sure you might be able to grab a free latte or whatever, but it's not really worth it.

The only expensive thing i could see is the parts. But then again, genunine 'anyone' parts are expensive, be it Nissan, Merc, etc. It's all relative, and relatively, i don't think it costs a lot more to maintain a BMW, and add to that the fact you are buying a very well built car where the chance of something going wrong is a lot less.

I definitely think you will be very happy with a E36 M3 (3.2 ltr)

[meggala]

mercs arent as sporty granted but I prefer their build quality to bmw's

repairs on bmw's are expensive even services once the milage gets high with merc high milage is less of an issue un less its over 280 000 klms then your asking for trouble.

dotn expect a bmw to be as reliable as your stock skyline or as fuel efficent

meggala

[T0nyGTSt]

Mercs are mostly slow, boring, slack handling trucks. Well made trucks though with a good design for maintenance unlike BMW's.

The only reason Mercedes have such a great rep. is that the people who buy them are not enthusiasts so they wouldn't know a good handling car unless it ran them over.

I'm not including AMG specials of course, they're aiight.

All Mercedes passenger cars, excepting the A class is RWD.

I personally have had mostly good experience with the 'normal' cooking line of BMW/Mercs but forget all you know about this because 'performance' German cars are different and while people say their 328i is 'tops', that's because it really is an ordinary motor.

Make no mistake, there are plenty of problems that the M-series has that will never come up in the normal BMW's.

The problems in the M3/M5 are quite well documented.

Oh btw. did you know that in Sydney at least, the BMW M3 is a much higher insurance risk than Skylines?

T.

[meggala]

this was taken from the news group auscars to give you an idea on maintenance on a bmw

Just had some things fixed on the bimmer that apparently needed fixing. The

car has 130,000kms e92 Bmw 730ILwith good service history. I would be grateful if you

guys could tell me if these prices were reasonable.

Labour - Replace defective inlet manifold gaskets $440

Labour - Replace PCV Valve $110

Labour - Replace thermostat housing $110

Inlet gaskets $115

End plate gaskets $25

PCV Valve $116

Inlet block off plug $8.50

Thermostat housing $90

Housing O Ring $9.90

Bottom radiator hose $53

Air intake boot $116

Coolant $37

Workshop supplies $35

Total ~$1265

[GunMetalR33]

Hope you get off there INASNT. I'd be a pi**ed as you if I was in your situation...

M3's are sseeexxxxyyyyyyy.........

[JET-RB]

Denham don't go near the current c - classes trust me on this, wouldn't waste a cent you'll be forever making visits to service, man they are lemons they got a few warranty issues that's nicest way I could put it. If I were you I'd go for the previous model which is a 202 chassis type the C43 amg V8 with the usual amg styling and wheels. I think they around $70 - $80g's

[meshmesh]

INASNT, sorry about the delay in getting back to you... I got a call this avo about a Black 1999 M3 with beige leath and 30'k.. but the asking price is low to mid 50's?? so I'm not sure if that what you want to spend or not??. anyhow see how you go.

[Guest INASNT]

sweet. getting to the top of my price range, but...

got any pics of it?

[SmoothLine]

Denham, it got to the stage where genral maitainence was costing $1k+ each time... Soft-top motor went... etc etc

Anyone who says a euro car is cheap to maintain isnt telling the truth or doesnt really know... Reading about it is not the same as owning one and forking out the $$$

If your serious about buying a nice euro car, look at the later models...

[meggala]

euro cars are cheap to run ifyou keep them under 60,000 klm over that the costs rise

[SmoothLine]

Exactly right megs...

But what are the chances of finding a mid 90's euro with under 60k genuine? Slim...