Bimmer Evolution, blee edition
 

I've owned a modest number of cars in my life, and while I've liked pretty much all of them, I've owned more BMWs than any other marque. And after five-and-a-half years of daily driving a pickup, I found myself needing a "beater" to deal with parking garages and tight spaces. Sure, someone smart would buy an old Civic and use it without worrying about things like subframe-related cracks, rod bearings, or VANOS failures. But I never said I was particularly smart.

After about a month of searching, I found a Jet Black/Gray '03 coupe, 6MT, in Raleigh. Yesterday, fog in Detroit caused a three-hour delay on my flight from Norfolk to New York, where airframe and crew rest issues led to boarding two different planes before eventually getting to Raleigh, five hours later than planned. Gotta love flying. On the bright side, I spent the night with a good friend of mine who I hadn't seen in almost ten years. (NB: He's become a bit of an engine swap junkie...his E39 Touring with a supercharged S62 in it is pretty freaking amazing. He also has a 325iT with an S54 powertrain and M3 suspension.)

I went over the shop today to pick it up. The car is in great shape; very solid mechanically, and pretty clean cosmetically. The engine is quiet and smooth, the suspension is solid. I'd forgotten what it was like to drive a powerful car that can corner; my drive home was worth all of the trouble from the day before. There are a couple of things that need to be addressed, like a cracked windshield (already paid for, getting done tomorrow), some intermittent wiper weirdness (possibly related to the windshield), and an issue with the auto tilting mirror not returning. But other than being paranoid, I could drive this car without doing anything for quite some time.

Not that that'll actually happen. The next big items will be rod bearing and front suspension bushings. After that it's VANOS servicing time. I could probably buy a Civic for all the work I have planned over the next year or so, and I already hear the counterpoints to the S54, but I don't care. This car is amazing.

I still smart from the sale of my '88 M3, not just because of its appreciation curve, but also because it is a truly special car that doesn't come around very often. The E46 M3, while nowhere near as exclusive, is also one of those cars. I wonder if I'll get bored with it...I don't think I will. Here are some photos for memory's sake, along with a shot of the new ride next to the 325iT.

Nice!

Wow ... great story, congrats ... that car is a beauty and that 325 is sharp as well :thumbup:

Sweet M cars

You seem to like black:D

Very cool. Congrats.

Please ask your friend to list the wagon here if he ever wants to sell.

Awesome! As with George W. Bush, I feel like it may be time for me to reevaluate my opinion of the E46 M3.

It looks good in photos for sure. Congrats.

At this point I doubt I'll ever get rid of mine. I will be curious to see the condition of your bearings when you get that done.

Cool! :cool:

Congrats! That looks like a great example, have fun with it!

So, fun. And yeah, we all have sold cars we wished we kept. Right?

congrats on the new car.... and life is full of 'should have' and 'could have' stories.
I let my 2002 go after 28 years of ownership. Do I regret it? Sometimes (when I get nostalgic)... but not when I actually put my brain to work . lol.

Who knows, you may end up with another E30 M3... You just might. :)

Looks great!

Love your past stable. Enjoy the lastest!!

We are all still kicking ourselves for letting that E30 M3 get away. :)

I console myself with the fact that I'd almost certainly have ruined it if I'd bought it.

:lol:

I recently dug out an A/C bracket from that car and looked it up out of curiosity. Apparently it lists for $350 new these days. And mine says "Made in W. Germany" on it somewhere, so it's probably worth at least twice as much.

If I ever find myself in a place of true financial excess, I intend to find another E30 M3. I fear, however, that they'll appreciate disproportionately to my income, and by the time I can actually buy one, there will be some kind of "non automatic driving," non-electric tax on it. And it'll need a new A/C bracket.

so has anyone driven a stock e30 m3 semi-recently and if so does it live up the hype?

I guessing dynamics wise yes but engine leaves things a bit wanting. Obviously I am not expect modern level performance but something reasonable.

Even years ago when I drove blee's car the engine was the weak link by modern standards; compared to then-contemporary cars like the E36 M3 it felt really peaky and low on torque.

I'm not knocking the experience. It's a hell of a lot of fun. But compared to modern engines (esp with turbos and VANOS), it's going to feel like a lot of work for (relatively) little thrust.

Funny, I had pretty much the same thoughts (down to the Bush part) as I was driving back from Raleigh.

I will say that as far as daily drivers go, the E46 M3 is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It's quite tractable and calm around town, but no one will convince me that a GTI or Civic wouldn't be better. It's also a 13.5-year-old car now, which is seriously great, but also old. I've chuckled more than once as I re-learned to hold the turn signal to change lanes, to keep the ignition turned until the engine turns over, and so on. And yes, my years of truck driving have truly dulled my car-driving abilities -- I'm pretty clumsy behind the wheel, and I'm only just starting to pay closer attention to things like potholes and non-flat approach angles.

Everything's forgiven when I hit the on-ramp and let the (warmed-up) engine sing to redline. My E36 was good, my E30 was much better, and this E46 magnifies that experience so nicely. It's a throwback to old-school performance tech, a nod to current-gen comfort, and an example of classic German charm.

...Plus, it's Jet Fockin' Black.

Yeah. That was true in the '80s and it's more true today. IIRC, the S14 had more *peak* HP and torque than any other E30 offering in the US, but you wouldn't know it at low RPM. It was peaky and you had to get it past 4000 to really get going. People have conjectured that the driving experience is what led to sluggish sales. Some of those cars sat on lots for months...I can't even begin to imagine.

The first time I drove one, I had had my E36 for a while, and I was pretty bored as we made our way out of the neighborhood. It wasn't until I could unwind the engine that I understood why the car was so awesome. Track and autocross drivers talk about "momentum driving" with that car because it won't win many drag races, but it's a joy at the limits.

Cool find! best of luck with it

I think that's also why so many people put effort into uncorking the engine. The S14 can make quite a lot more power with a little effort.

Ironically, I don't have so much of an issue with the power. But I'm kind of at a point where the very act of working the engine is what I find most pleasurable. Power doesn't really do a whole lot for me just because there is literally never enough. What I do kind of fantasize about doing, though, is getting a custom bellhousing for a 6spd made so that I can graft on a modern 6spd. More, tighter spaced gears would do a LOT for that engine.

I recognize the irony of this statement as the clear winner of the carmudgeons engine swap leader board.

Enjoy, Blair!

Nice! Congrats.

While driving away from work tonight, I found myself "greeted" by a Civic Si (the '02-ish model) and a GTI at two different times, each one unable to resist revving their engines at me and pulling away after slowing down and blocking traffic in the adjacent lane. :rolleyes:

I'd forgotten all about this aspect of M3 ownership. It takes me back to a day when JST came over to see me flailing away at the rear main seal of my busted S14, and he let me drive his E46 M3 on a brief errand. Back then, of course, it was a current-model car, and the number of stares, middle fingers, and other gestures of gratitude really surprised me.

Oh well. My first "mod" last night was to find the old ///M3 key fob that I used with my '88, and maybe my '99.

Pretty sure my next mod is going to be a catalytic converter. :mad:

I don't recall too much attention, but I do get some questions about debaging it.

:lol:

I hated that shit with the 1M. It was really bad for the first year and a half or so. I had people getting out of their cars at stoplights and taking pictures of me and my car with their phone on a couple different occasions. Hasn't happened in awhile thankfully. Still get the revvers from time to time though. :rolleyes:

I think I'm going to debadge mine as well, right after its first oil change (fingerscrossednocopperplease) and coolant temp sensor change.

Oh, yeah -- the coolant temp. We used the OBD diagnostic menu to monitor the coolant during my test drive, where we found the coolant temp dipping as low as 68 degrees C. Weaver Motorsports (selling dealer, big thumbs up) replaced it for me and I drove home. Now the temperature hovers steadily at 75, going as high as 78 or so before coming back down. Fan clutch seems fine, water pump is not wobbly (and must be working anyway). Infrared thermometer shows surface temperatures of about 85C at the hose inlet to the thermostat, as well as the engine block right next to the sensor. I'm going to change the sensor, which gives me an excuse to remove the intake manifold and clean/explore down there anyway.

This sounds like something I should know about.

Does it show o2 sensor live data?

Unfortunately no, I don't think. You'll need an OBD scan tool for that. If you search for "E46 secret menu" you'll find instructions for accessing the diagnostics. You may also want to watch a YouTube video, as the instructions are probably only clear to a German.

NB: While the instructions all say to hold the Trip Reset button while turning the key to "on," you can access the menu any time the key is in the "on" position by just holding down Trip Reset long enough. You can get there while the car is running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twM7NchxjXI

Just some random thoughts after several hundred miles of ownership:

When JST turned in his E46 M3, I remember some of the reasons he had for disliking it; mostly, it was hard to enjoy in the everyday commuting environment, and it only got to be really fun at really illegal speeds.

I get it. There's plenty of horsepower and torque on tap, but you need to wind up the engine to really appreciate its character. This car is not super easy to drive at low speeds. Takeoffs from a stop are kind of clunky affairs if you're trying to accelerate slowly, and upshifts at lowish RPMs are also ungraceful. Downshifts are weird at low engine speeds, requiring more throttle than you'd expect to match smoothly. For that matter, the shifter (which maybe isn't aftermarket, after all) is not smooth in the first place, particularly when it's cold. Meanwhile, the wide tires and sporty suspension make for loud noises in the cabin, and even compared against other older cars, there are lots of mechanical noises that you have to accept as normal. I mean, it's almost 14 years old, and I'll readily admit to being less than the world's best driver, but I think my observations are valid.

Well, the weather finally decided to be nice to me this afternoon, 80ish and sunny. I very (im)patiently waited for the oil temp to rise as I drove away from the office, ending up at a light with no one in front of me and a 55 MPH speed limit. Windows open, radio off, and a couple of trips to redline reminded me why I love this car so much. Everything just falls into place as the revs go up, including that awesome exhaust rasp.* The clutch feels just right, the shifter slips into place perfectly, downshift blips are a piece of cake, and the car steers like it's reading my mind. Falling back to earth and rush-hour traffic, things still seemed somehow better, as if the car just needed to take a big breath and yell for a couple of minutes. It was a cathartic experience, a very necessary way to blow away the dregs of a trying day at work.

So yes, it's a little high-strung, and it doesn't enjoy tottering around from one city block to another. But I don't care. Hell, my other car is a truck.

*Yes, I seriously love the rasp. I'm curious to know whether a previous owner modified the exhaust at some point to reduce the rasp; my car doesn't seem to be as raspy as others, but it's hard to judge from inside the cabin. I'll figure it out in the next couple of weeks. And if it has been "fixed," at some point in the future I plan to install the Euro headers and cats, which should get rid of the second resonator that comprises most anti-rasp solutions.

Euro headers and cats are less raspy than the US exhaust, as I recall. It's been a long time since I installed mine.

A couple of things that make the car dramatically better to drive:
1) A tune. Either Epic (what I have), or Evolve. A lot of the around town drivability issues are due to crap throttle map calibration. Standard is a little soggy, Sport is undrivable. And they extra torque makes a HUGE difference.
2) A better shifter. Autosolutions is awesome once broken in. I'd probably do the 0% kit today. It wasn't available when I got my 20% kit.

If you're in the DC area, you're more than welcome to try mine out.

Yeah, from what I can tell, the Euro setup is a bit less raspy, but I'll take that trade-off for the significant performance boost. A shifter and a tune are also on the list, but I want to take care of the preventive stuff first -- rod bearings, VANOS, suspension bits, and so on. It's gonna be a little while. :lol:

I thought those were his parting thoughts about his E90 M3.

The E46 is a great GT once you replace the shocks, exhaust notwithstanding. Good, usable and accessible power. My E46 M3 experiences are pretty far removed at this point, but I always felt like the six speed was much more livable than the SMG.

:dunno:

So long as you're enjoying it, who cares? :D

I remember thinking BMW did something after the first year or two of the S54 cars to make the exhaust note less like forks in a blender. I definitely remember later E46 M3s and Z4M coupes sounding a lot less broken to my ears than the early ones.

I don't recall if they changed anything on the M3, but the MZ4 definitely had a different exhaust note

No, the E90 wasn't unpleasant around town, just kind of boring. Or at least not as interesting as the price point suggested.

Got it.

On my test drive if you keep it in first or second tooling around at about 3k then yeah no issues.

Eh...I really like those forks in the blender. Never thought I would. :D