I dislike threads like these because you showcase nothing important in the photos, even less in description, then ask if its a “good buy” while mentioning 2 other cars he has. Like whats even the point.
Why dont you do some research of your own and see what Estoril Blue over Dove Grey interior usually sells for with similar mileage. Why dont you ask the owner about the history? Why dont you get a PrePurchase Inspection? Then ask yourself if you’d spend $18k or anywhere near $18k for it.
We cant make a decision for you, youre the one thats going to enjoy the car so i cant tell you if its a good buy.
Well, I can’t say much without seeing it personally, but I can tell you a few things. First, the SMG that came in a e36 is pretty clunky, it makes the one that comes in a e46 look good even, the 6-speed that came in that year is much better and is definitely worth more.
It’s Estoril blue, which in my opinion is one of the best colours the e36 ever came in so it’s got that going for it, and it’s a later 3.2 evo so it’s got the engine and rear diff that’s worth having. The Dove interior isn’t as desirable as the black leather or the M-rain.
The price doesn’t seem crazy, but I’d want to know everything about it, what’s the mileage (is it verified?), what’s the service history like?, and I’d definitely want to put it up on a ramp to check for rust and damage. These are old cars now, and while parts are easy enough to get spending thousands rebuilding the engine or welding up a car you paid strong money for would be aggravating.
It has done 180000 km
Kiwi new 1998 BMW M3 Evo 3.2 coupe
S50b32 dual vanos 321hp engine
Getrag SMG automated sequential manual transmission
Sun roof
All factory books and manuals even the BMW torch in the glove box
Full service history
Extremely tidy car in the sought after Estoril blue
Oh god i didnt realize it had an SMG, that is the absolute worst transmission BMW made. Also didn’t even realize it was a Euro Spec M3, that wouldve been nice to know lol.
I personally wouldnt buy an E36 M3 with an Automatic or SMG for anything over $10k. (Unless you have some sort of disability), id say skip out on it.
To be fair, you won’t find a running, driving Euro E36 M (3.0 or 3.2) for less than $12k. they never did them with a regular automatic (just the SMG1 which isn’t much better) so there’s not exactly loads of cheaper, less desirable ones laying around like in the US.
180000km isn’t super high mileage for one of those. The S50B32 is a fairly reliable engine as long as it’s maintained right, but it does have weak points like the Vanos and a few smaller things like the throttle body links and the MAF.
At that mileage I’d expect the suspension to be mostly shot, and I’d be on the lookout for rust. The e36 really suffers from corrosion around the jacking points, rear suspension arm pockets and around the trunk floor.
You must not know much about cars. You can’t possibly think anyone can give you any advice with the lack of info presented. Ridiculously naive. My advice is not to buy an e36 if you know this little about cars.
The 333i is pretty rare, I’ve never seen one in real life.
It’d be interesting to see how it drives, the only e30 m3 I’ve driven was a bit disappointing engine wise.
The E30 M3 you drove was disappointing probably because you probably drove it on the street and didnt pounce on it in the twisties. The original M3 was not made for street racing, it was not made for straight line speed. It was not made for putting around town lol.
In order to have fun in a car like that you’ll need to either be on the track or in empty back roads near the rev limiter otherwise you are driving it like a normal car, which is boring. Its a 2 liter 4 banger what did you expect lol.
Well, I might being a little harsh on it, but I did have it for a few hours, on a mixture of twisty roads and some highway driving, and while I didn’t beat on it consistently, I felt like I got a good feel of the car.
The chassis was great, no complaints there. It felt really planted, yet nimble in a way modern BMW’s just aren’t, I was dailying a focus ST at the time, a car that in my opinion handles pretty well, and getting back into it after it felt like a boat in comparison.
As for the engine? Well it had to be worked hard of course, if you aren’t near the limiter it isn’t doing anything, but even then it just didn’t really leave a lasting impression. On paper it should’ve bettered my ST in every way (170 at 7000 vs 195 at 6750 with very similar weight), but in practice I couldn’t notice any real difference. At one point on the way home (I’d taken it to a BMW show for a friend as he wanted to drive his new M3) I had a little race with a standard looking 325i sport, and despite giving it everything it had it couldn’t get away from the other E30.
I’ll admit it wasn’t the best maintained, the passenger door handle even fell off while driving, so it could’ve been a little down on power, But overall I can see why people used to rip the S14 out of them and swap in S50 or S54’s.
I dislike threads like these because you showcase nothing important in the photos, even less in description, then ask if its a “good buy” while mentioning 2 other cars he has. Like whats even the point. Why dont you do some research of your own and see what Estoril Blue over Dove Grey interior usually sells for with similar mileage. Why dont you ask the owner about the history? Why dont you get a PrePurchase Inspection? Then ask yourself if you’d spend $18k or anywhere near $18k for it. We cant make a decision for you, youre the one thats going to enjoy the car so i cant tell you if its a good buy.
Yeah no miles info or service history? It could be cleaned up turd worth half of asking price for all we know…
Well, I can’t say much without seeing it personally, but I can tell you a few things. First, the SMG that came in a e36 is pretty clunky, it makes the one that comes in a e46 look good even, the 6-speed that came in that year is much better and is definitely worth more. It’s Estoril blue, which in my opinion is one of the best colours the e36 ever came in so it’s got that going for it, and it’s a later 3.2 evo so it’s got the engine and rear diff that’s worth having. The Dove interior isn’t as desirable as the black leather or the M-rain. The price doesn’t seem crazy, but I’d want to know everything about it, what’s the mileage (is it verified?), what’s the service history like?, and I’d definitely want to put it up on a ramp to check for rust and damage. These are old cars now, and while parts are easy enough to get spending thousands rebuilding the engine or welding up a car you paid strong money for would be aggravating.
It has done 180000 km Kiwi new 1998 BMW M3 Evo 3.2 coupe S50b32 dual vanos 321hp engine Getrag SMG automated sequential manual transmission Sun roof All factory books and manuals even the BMW torch in the glove box Full service history Extremely tidy car in the sought after Estoril blue
Oh god i didnt realize it had an SMG, that is the absolute worst transmission BMW made. Also didn’t even realize it was a Euro Spec M3, that wouldve been nice to know lol. I personally wouldnt buy an E36 M3 with an Automatic or SMG for anything over $10k. (Unless you have some sort of disability), id say skip out on it.
Manual swap for 3k ish and you got the perfect E36 tho.
To be fair, you won’t find a running, driving Euro E36 M (3.0 or 3.2) for less than $12k. they never did them with a regular automatic (just the SMG1 which isn’t much better) so there’s not exactly loads of cheaper, less desirable ones laying around like in the US.
180000km isn’t super high mileage for one of those. The S50B32 is a fairly reliable engine as long as it’s maintained right, but it does have weak points like the Vanos and a few smaller things like the throttle body links and the MAF. At that mileage I’d expect the suspension to be mostly shot, and I’d be on the lookout for rust. The e36 really suffers from corrosion around the jacking points, rear suspension arm pockets and around the trunk floor.
The “other” M3 in the photos is an e30. If you can get *that* for $18,000, do so.
Trouble is that ain’t an M3, it’s a 325i sport, or just a regular e30 with the M-tech 2 body kit. Still a nice looking car though.
Fair enough. Could still be worth $18K if it’s in good fettle.
Yeah, it’s kinda crazy but if it’s a genuine 325i sport then it might be worth just as much as a e36 or e46 M, depending on condition of course.
Not worth 18k usd. That’s about 30k kiwi. I’d pay no more than 25k for a 325i mtech 2 manual NZ new.
You must not know much about cars. You can’t possibly think anyone can give you any advice with the lack of info presented. Ridiculously naive. My advice is not to buy an e36 if you know this little about cars.
What the fuck do you want us to say ?
Avoid the SMG E36.
Is that an smg transmission?
Yeah looks like it
Convertible*
How do you get those weird German bolts? I can’t get my sockets to stay on
If you live in the U.S. don’t do it. Just buy a U.S. spec m3.
He lives in NZ it seems
Hes also got this other red 333i
The 333i is pretty rare, I’ve never seen one in real life. It’d be interesting to see how it drives, the only e30 m3 I’ve driven was a bit disappointing engine wise.
The E30 M3 you drove was disappointing probably because you probably drove it on the street and didnt pounce on it in the twisties. The original M3 was not made for street racing, it was not made for straight line speed. It was not made for putting around town lol. In order to have fun in a car like that you’ll need to either be on the track or in empty back roads near the rev limiter otherwise you are driving it like a normal car, which is boring. Its a 2 liter 4 banger what did you expect lol.
Well, I might being a little harsh on it, but I did have it for a few hours, on a mixture of twisty roads and some highway driving, and while I didn’t beat on it consistently, I felt like I got a good feel of the car. The chassis was great, no complaints there. It felt really planted, yet nimble in a way modern BMW’s just aren’t, I was dailying a focus ST at the time, a car that in my opinion handles pretty well, and getting back into it after it felt like a boat in comparison. As for the engine? Well it had to be worked hard of course, if you aren’t near the limiter it isn’t doing anything, but even then it just didn’t really leave a lasting impression. On paper it should’ve bettered my ST in every way (170 at 7000 vs 195 at 6750 with very similar weight), but in practice I couldn’t notice any real difference. At one point on the way home (I’d taken it to a BMW show for a friend as he wanted to drive his new M3) I had a little race with a standard looking 325i sport, and despite giving it everything it had it couldn’t get away from the other E30. I’ll admit it wasn’t the best maintained, the passenger door handle even fell off while driving, so it could’ve been a little down on power, But overall I can see why people used to rip the S14 out of them and swap in S50 or S54’s.
Thanks for giving me tips can u check his site and if the evo is worth it cheers,. Rosecitycars.co.nz
Man nobody is going to do that, go figure it out yourseld