Thinking of Buying a 2002 M3 tips?

[RickDaTuner]

I'm thinking of selling my Car and getting myself a 2002 M3 from down south, can any of the M3 owners on the board tell me your experiences with your cars, and what things to look out for when buying a used one...

I've seen a few for sale in the 32k usd range, but what would be a suitable price to pay for one

thanks

[Weapon_R]

Around 30k USD for an 02 or 03. My brother in law booked a ticket for the end of april to pick one up from down south.

[JAYMEZ]

Haha I was thinking about doing the same thing :rofl:

[Hakkola]

LOL, WTF dude, you just got a new car :rofl:

2002 is the worst year of the M3 though isn't it, motor issues, but i'm sure by now that's been remedied in every example, I'm still not sure if I'd buy a 2002 though, I'd probably get the 03. Just my 2 cents though, great cars.

[///|ndy]

Originally posted by Hakkola
LOL, WTF dude, you just got a new car :rofl:

2002 is the worst year of the M3 though isn't it, motor issues, but i'm sure by now that's been remedied in every example, I'm still not sure if I'd buy a 2002 though, I'd probably get the 03. Just my 2 cents though, great cars.


2001 is the worst year, 02 should be prime.
Nice choice.

:thumbsup:

[Goblin]

^ Still wrong

2001-2002 I would not buy.

03 + and your ok. Too many engine problems and recalls on the first cars. I was thinking about doing the same thing too, going down south to get one and bring it back up..

03 m3 down there, 35-40 K Cad.

Same one up here.... 60-70.


You can easily switch to km's too, do it at the dealer, tell them to activiate the canadian version (km's, drl's, etc.) and get a new cluster.


Also, do a search. There was a topic not too long ago about m3 buying.

[Tuner1]

I would buy a 2001 if the price was right :burnout:

I have many, many customers that own '01 and '02 cars and any issues they've had were taken care of under warranty.

I'd rather have a nice condition '01 with $10k in mods than a stock '03.

Rob

[Goblin]

Putting it that way makes sense, but if the previous owner failed to do the critical recals...

Could cause more damage to the engine.

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by Tuner1
I would buy a 2001 if the price was right :burnout:

I have many, many customers that own '01 and '02 cars and any issues they've had were taken care of under warranty.

I'd rather have a nice condition '01 with $10k in mods than a stock '03.

Rob

Of course you would, you work at Tunerworks, I can't even imagine what kind of discounts you get and what you could do with 10 grand :rofl:

But, I think if I knew the guy paid close attention to his car I would buy the cheaper older car and use the extra money for mods as well. :thumbsup:

[///|ndy]

Originally posted by Goblin
^ Still wrong

2001-2002 I would not buy.



Thats news to me.
I knew for sure the 01's were the worst, but never heard anywhere that the 02's were also troublesome. :dunno:

[rage2]

The engine's got a 9 year warranty or something on the E46 M3's. The problem wasn't really fixed until late MY2004 and newer cars, anything earlier they were still blowing up. The 01's were the worst for blowing up, they went through yet another different batch of rod bearings. This post explains the exact history of the problem (before it was REALLY fixed for good) as well as build dates to avoid.

http://bimmer.roadfly.com/bmw/forums/e46m3/2732224-10.html

If you buy a car without the recall being done, bring it in, get 'er done, and no more worries.

[FatboyTheHungry]

There was a recall that was rumored to coincide with a change in bearing shells around Nov '01. This affected M3's that were delivered into mid 2002.
BMW first thought that this was simply abuse at the hands of the customer over-revving the engine. The onboard computer records over-revving and duration information though and after even some SMG M3's came back broken (over-revving is supposed to be impossible in the the SMG), BMW started replacing motors with no more questions.
It was definitely a design flaw. It was fixed by mid-late 2002, and I believe BMW will still replace bearings on any M3 potentially affected.
I had a 2001 and it was serviced at Leith BMW in Raleigh in mid 2002 as a precaution.

EDIT: My post came too late. Rage's post has all the info about build dates for affected M3's.

[rage2]

Woop, jogged my memory a bit from this site:

http://members.roadfly.org/jason/m3engines.htm

Coles notes version:
Cars affected : Build dates from Feb 12, 2001 to May 22, 2003 (early MY2004 cars).
Recall #1: March 2003. Oil pump replaced.
Recall #2: The real fix. August 2004. Rod bearings replaced.
Extended Warranty: Only covers cars affected, 6 yrs, 100,000 miles (US). Not sure about Canada.



Originally posted by FatboyTheHungry
It was definitely a design flaw. It was fixed by mid-late 2002, and I believe BMW will still replace bearings on any M3 potentially affected.
I had a 2001 and it was serviced at Leith BMW in Raleigh in mid 2002 as a precaution.

EDIT: My post came too late. Rage's post has all the info about build dates for affected M3's.
What did u have fix in 2002? The recalls didn't come out till 2003 and 2004. During 2002, BMW was still blaming owners, charging them 20-30k for a new motor :D.

[FatboyTheHungry]

There were lots of rumours flying at the time, and if you asked nicely (and knew the people), they would consider changing the bearings. There were also a few irate customers that were regulars at the dealership who had other problems - not ncessarily blowing up, but definitely running rough. BMW wasn't making everyone pay for service. Just the ones that they thought they could "justify" and get away with.

EDIT: Based on your info, the bearings what were replaced were probably still the same defective ones if there was a newer design for 2004 model year. Whatever the case, it ran fine until I sold it in 2003.

[RickDaTuner]

can anyone comment on the Frame tearing apart from the Body or the Issue of the rear struts pushing through the rear Unibody constrction?

with the 9 year warranty on these cars, what ever does go wrong will still be fixed for a while longer i guess...

other than those main issues, i think i'll be getting a 2001 and keeping the STi... then i'll have a winter and a summer car lol :thumbsup:

thanks for the help and reviews:werd:

[Weapon_R]

Make sure that anything purchased from the United States is warrantied here in Canada.

[rage2]

Originally posted by RickDaTuner
can anyone comment on the Frame tearing apart from the Body or the Issue of the rear struts pushing through the rear Unibody constrction?
That's an E36 issue, never heard of it for E46.

[///|ndy]

Originally posted by rage2

That's an E36 issue, never heard of it for E46.

Unfortunatley it does affect the E46's also, but it seems to stop at around 2002. Year 2000 sedans seemed to be the most affected, so I wouldn't worry about it being a problem with your M. Here is a HUGE list of ppl with the problem and also alot of info on the issue:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=195602&highlight=subframe

The very last page has a full updated list, its made up of manly year 2000 sedans.

[Goblin]

Originally posted by ///|ndy


Thats news to me.
I knew for sure the 01's were the worst, but never heard anywhere that the 02's were also troublesome. :dunno:


Now you know ;)



Originally posted by ///|ndy


Unfortunatley it does affect the E46's also, but it seems to stop at around 2002. Year 2000 sedans seemed to be the most affected, so I wouldn't worry about it being a problem with your M. Here is a HUGE list of ppl with the problem and also alot of info on the issue:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=195602&highlight=subframe

Yep e46's have it too....


Originally posted by RickDaTuner
can anyone comment on the Frame tearing apart from the Body or the Issue of the rear struts pushing through the rear Unibody constrction?

with the 9 year warranty on these cars, what ever does go wrong will still be fixed for a while longer i guess...

other than those main issues, i think i'll be getting a 2001 and keeping the STi... then i'll have a winter and a summer car lol :thumbsup:

thanks for the help and reviews:werd:

More to the point its called subframe tearing - that will get you most results back on a search.

[BigWill]

problems or not, i still think the M3 is one of the hottest cars around, cant afford one, but yeah, good luck finding a good one