E9x M3

I'm thinking about a E9x M3, probably four doors, flappy paddle. Tell me why I shouldn't.

I nearly pulled the trigger on one this spring.  It was going to be my baby hauler and occasional autocrosser.

Everyone knows about the rod bearings and throttle actuator gears.  Take a look at brake costs and transmission service costs too.  Then look at the regular bmw problems like oil leaks, coolant age, high pressure fuel pumps etc.  I found a mid mile car with a perfect interior and good enough exterior.  I was expecting a significant bill for rod bearings and a choice between doing all the actuators or waiting for a limp mode.  I was not expecting the $7K of other stuff found in the pre purchase inspection.  I could do some of it myself but most of the bill was parts costs and labor costs on specialized machines.

Plan on spending $30K for the car + 2 years of maintenance for a 2011+ sedan.  More for a slicktop and more for a ZCP.  The coupes are about $5K cheaper for buy in but have the same maintenance costs.

My ex bought and DDed one for ~30000 miles. It was a 4 door with the flappy paddles. It gave her no issues at all. She wasn't a fan of the cost of an oil change or all the other crap that the dealer said she needed(but didn't pay for). It was one boring DD. If it's an appliance, think of the E90 as a  stainless Bosch toaster. Looks boring, doesn't do anything special, costs more for no apparent reason.

Some people like the noise they make, to me it was a bit tinny. Seats were comfy on road trips, both front and rear. Transmission was fine. I like that it would shift to neutral when you came to a stop in drive. No creeping until you hit the gas. Like typical 3 Series the controls feel very driver centric. I forget exactly why, but I liked how the cruise control functions on them. Also, it get's like 22mpg going 60 with the cruise on.

Disclaimer: I have a high tolerance when it comes to pain and like BMWs.

These are not cheap cars but they are not that expensive. I know everyone will come out and say they are horrible but most of them have heard it from someone else or are not able to do most work themselves.

I change my brake pads ($125 for the front and $115 for the back)
I do my oil changes, 9 qts.
I will do the rod bearings, about $500 in parts using factory rod bearings (I did my e46 M3)

Its a high horsepower car that went for $70k when new, its not going to be as cheap to maintain as a Corolla.

I owned 2, currently have 1. A 2011 convertible DCT and a 2009 6 speed, both coupes.

• 2011 from 0 to 65k miles:

Never one problem, just regular maintenance. Only one time one of my kids dropped a towel as the roof mechanism was closing the back lid and it got caught, had to take to the dealer for them to fix. No charge.

• 2009 from 60k miles and currently at 110k miles:

Bought this car in 2014 from a Chevrolet dealer in Daytona.

The only two problems so far have been one of the throttle actuators ($360) and so easy to change that I decided to do just one. I did not buy a new one but there is a guy online that replaces the gears that break inside. Much cheaper and they work perfectly. The second problem is that one of the headers has a slight leak at the head, not a huge deal but more of a pain in the butt to change, I have not done it yet ... might do rod bearings while at it. 

Again, I am a fanboy ... but my info is 1st hand. I would buy again. The M4 is probably going to be the last one.

BTW, when the actuators go bad the car will go into limp more and will not rev past 4k rpms + it will have about 50hp. You can see from the pictures below that I still drove the car about 2 or 3k miles with the problem. It was intermittent at first. 

Then again, this is a WAY blown out of proportion problem as they are cheap and easy to change.

This happens intermittently, at first you can restart and it will go away showing everything OK except a few lights:

This is what the dash looks like when they are dead:

I'm not a fan.  Granted I'm up at altitude so that NA motor is taking an 18-20% hit in power but it has no torque.  Even when you rev the whizz out of it, it just feels like it has no power.   Back seats are very small, upkeep is very high.  I like the E46 M3 much, much more.

In reply to docwyte :

I have both, they are very different. I like the e46 more as well as its more nimble. 

My e46 has euro headers and cats (200 vs 400 cell plus a different location) as well as a Supersprint cat back. The e92 is faster. 

The biggest problem is that you can't get a 4 door e46 M3. Closest is a 330 ZHP. 

I should have said that I've driven a two door extensively, I enjoyed it and while it wasn't some monster muscle car it was quick and nimble and a very comfortable place to be. I thought of it because there was one rolling traffic in Toledo today that sounded pretty good. This is probably an exercise in nothing though since I'm probably to cheap to actually buy one. 

I like them. Significantly more refinement and modernity than an E46 which is awesome for daily duty and they're not terribly expensive to run compared to the competition. I know "rod bearings" is a hardened cliche when it comes to these cars but it's not really more expensive to do than head bolts on a C63. The only thing that may give me pause for thought is how much 335i can be built for M3 money, especially with tools like xDelete to vary xDrive torque split from your phone and xHP which can remap the ZF 6AT to be just as quick as a DCT.

Slippery (Forum Supporter) said:

Its a high horsepower car that went to $70k when new, its not going to be as cheap as a Corolla.

I think this is a thing that a lot of people miss in the equation. Also nobody ever factors in depreciation (or the lack thereof). These things have pretty much stabilized so unless you're going to buy a pristine low mileage example and put 100k on it, you're realistically not going to lose much to depreciation, just maintenance costs. And compared to depreciation on anything comparable bought new, you could pay the dealer $2k to replace the rod bearings annually and still come out ahead in most cases.