New Car....Again...E46 M3

[Ol’ Tarby]

So I recently sold my Clio, then the Megane as I said I was going sensible for a few months and ploughing some money into the house. That lasted three weeks. I drove my mates last weekend and decided I needed to buy one while I can. I almost bought his, but a few things put me off so I searched for another.

The M3 has always been a dream car of mine, and years ago I could never even imagine owning one. I'm not one for owning expensive items, I'm just Northern and too tight. Granted it's probably worth the same amount as my MPS was years ago, however I owned that at a time where I should of been saving for a house.

Fast forward a few years and we've now been in the house 14 months, money has settled, and I'm not one for saving. So it had to be spent on my previously unobtainable dream car.
So yesterday I travelled home from London after working away and then jumped on a train down to Redditch to collect this..


It's a 2003 SMG
103K
19s
Black leather
Harmon Kardon
Grey
s**t load of history including some eye watering receipts from 2015!

I've only got two s**t pics for now, but once it's cleaned and the weather is better I'll get some decent ones

Plans are:
CSL wheels
CSL boot spoiler
Steering wheel refurb
New head unit to replace the non nav unit
Sort an abundance of interior rattles!
Try and keep it longer than 3 months
Try not to break it
Try not to lose my license

 

[ADS_V6]

Very smart :up:

 

[Daz...]

Nice buy, need more pictures!

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Nice buy, need more pictures!

I'll get round to it at some point mate :up:

 

[Grier]

What is with folk getting m3's. I need one.
Also well played Sir.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

What is with folk getting m3's. I need one.
Also well played Sir.

Do it mate

 

[Poopensharten]

But it only has two pedals?

Lovely James mate. I'd love one too, its just the 50k car running costs that i don't love lol.

 

[Crybert]

Absolutely loved mine. I'll never own a car like it. Enjoy it mate, looks really nice

 

[JackD]

I hate this forum. I can't get away from bloody M3s. I miss mine so much!

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

But it only has two pedals? :wink:

Lovely James mate. I'd love one too, its just the 50k car running costs that i don't love lol.

For the type of driving I'll use it for, and how often it'll be used then SMG is perfect. If it was a daily then it'd have to be manual. Just for the smoother operation of the manual

As for running costs, there's a three invoices from 2015. One is supply only of a SMG pump from a main dealer, the other two are fitting of said pump plus new clutch and flywheel, and then one for the inspection 2. They total £5k! Crazy money!

 

[bloke]

this the one with the stupid flappy paddle gearbox?

 

[botfch]

Looks great, I think the running cost vary quite a lot, my mate had his for 3-4yrs or so and it only cost him a set of tyres.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

this the one with the stupid flappy paddle gearbox?

Yes mate lol I personally love it. Adds a bit of extra character. Harsh gear changes make it feel faster lol

 

[bloke]

Yes mate lol I personally love it. Adds a bit of extra character. Harsh gear changes make it feel faster lol

used one for a bit last year, bloody hated it, they made a bad car even worse :tonguewink: at least it's not a convertible.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

used one for a bit last year, bloody hated it, they made a bad car even worse :tonguewink: at least it's not a convertible.

It takes some getting used to. I still keep rolling back on hills as it doesn't creep like an auto, and I keep forgetting to hold the left paddle to stop it rolling back

 

[imprezaworks]

Spotted your car being an m3 the other day, was going to ask.

Looks nice. Slow?

 

[bloke]

It takes some getting used to. I still keep rolling back on hills as it doesn't creep like an auto, and I keep forgetting to hold the left paddle to stop it rolling back

i ended up setting it to quite a quick/harsh change for it to get remotely usable especially round town. i've just never got along with them, got to rag them to death to get them do do anything.

did a bit of mileage in a Z4 alpina this week and was so much nicer to drive, was how the m3 should of been.

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Very nice mate :up:

 

[Jack!]

As Sure as Night Follows Day - a CS Story.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Spotted your car being an m3 the other day, was going to ask.

Looks nice. Slow?

Dangerously slow

As Sure as Night Follows Day - a CS Story.

True CS progression. Clio to megane to M3 then back to Clio

 

[ForceIndia]

When was the subframe done? Lovely colour, hate the gearbox, shame it's got hk. Got mine from Redditch as well.

 

[ForceIndia]

Get the CSL rev matching done, improves the box (although it's still w**k ). And I'd get the throttle map software, brilliant thing to adjust. Also I'd get the DRL mod done (full beams @30% used as DRL. When you click the headlights on the lights alternate like a police car. People move out of lane 3 surprisingly quickly)

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

When was the subframe done? Lovely colour, hate the gearbox, shame it's got hk. Got mine from Redditch as well.

Subframe was done end of last year. HK is better than non HK and it all actually works

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Get the CSL rev matching done, improves the box (although it's still w**k :wink. And I'd get the throttle map software, brilliant thing to adjust. Also I'd get the DRL mod done (full beams @30% used as DRL. When you click the headlights on the lights alternate like a police car. People move out of lane 3 surprisingly quickly)

It's already got the CSL software mate.

I'm going to look into the coding s**t. My old man and my brother have BMW's so we might share the cost of the stuff to do it

 

[ForceIndia]

Subframe was done end of last year. HK is better than non HK and it all actually works

It is. But it's a motherfucker when something breaks or you want to upgrade, add Bluetooth etc.

Sounds a good one. I spent silly money on suspension for mine, was fantastic.

 

[Euan94]

Looks good. I really fancy one of these at some point, as most do! Was pricing it up when I thought I was getting a pay rise, hence why I don't have one lol!

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

It is. But it's a motherfucker when something breaks or you want to upgrade, add Bluetooth etc.

Sounds a good one. I spent silly money on suspension for mine, was fantastic.

This one's already got a parrot kit installed which lets me stream Spotify straight to if etc so I might not bother with swapping the head unit. Retains a touch or originality then I spose.

What's the throttle map software you mentioned?

 

[Scrooge]

Gay gearbox is majorly gay.









Ps. Homo

 

[clio007]

Get the CSL rev matching done, improves the box (although it's still w**k :wink. And I'd get the throttle map software, brilliant thing to adjust. Also I'd get the DRL mod done (full beams @30% used as DRL. When you click the headlights on the lights alternate like a police car. People move out of lane 3 surprisingly quickly)

How is this done? Any videos of what this looks like when you click the headlights? I had a google but couldnt find anything

 

[Pep]

That's a great buy, still miss mine.

 

[Brad Smith]

Looks a nice example mate very similar to mine. Smg does take some getting used to especially like you say on hills. But I love mine now especially with the update. Adds a bit to the driving I think. I love changing with the paddles. Plans sound good. Look forward to seeing updates.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Looks a nice example mate very similar to mine. Smg does take some getting used to especially like you say on hills. But I love mine now especially with the update. Adds a bit to the driving I think. I love changing with the paddles. Plans sound good. Look forward to seeing updates.

Cheers mate. Who did your steering wheel mate?

 

[Brad Smith]

Jack at royal steering wheels highly recommend. I've had 3 wheels done by him. Massively improves the interior

 

[Jack!]

Needs Turini's.

 

[ForceIndia]

This one's already got a parrot kit installed which lets me stream Spotify straight to if etc so I might not bother with swapping the head unit. Retains a touch or originality then I spose.

What's the throttle map software you mentioned?

Guy on cutters developed a programmer that lets you alter the throttle response map. I had normal throttle as completely linear (as standard it's really unresponsive at low throttle) and then made sport mode slightly more aggressive than standard. Really simple interface, you just plot throttle opening for pedal position, it products a graph and you upload.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Guy on cutters developed a programmer that lets you alter the throttle response map. I had normal throttle as completely linear (as standard it's really unresponsive at low throttle) and then made sport mode slightly more aggressive than standard. Really simple interface, you just plot throttle opening for pedal position, it products a graph and you upload.

Sounds good. I'll look into it. Cheers mate

 

[dann2707]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Legend! What an upgrade mate. My absolute dream car too. How does it drive?

 

[Stefan.]

Nice motors these

 

[riz]

Cheers mate. Who did your steering wheel mate?

Jack did mine

 

[Matt W]

Very cool