162K miles, arctic silver, sedan, 5-speed. Let's say $10K with snow tires, or $9700 without.
I'll have 3 kids as of January. The whole family won't fit in this car. I'm getting an E39, which they will fit in (verified...whew). I'm coming to the realization that with a new baby coming, I wont get to drive the M3 outside city limits except maybe once a month. Staying under 35 mph is not this car's strong suit.
Bad stuff out of the way first: Cosmetics are good, but not perfect. It draws compliments all the time, but there are a bunch of little touchup paint nicks and it looks like either the fender or hood was resprayed at one point. That looks great, but there's a little less blue tinge to it under florescent lights. I repainted the nose panel under the kidneys to get rid of all the stone chips and it's not fantastic. It had some stone chips around the body and trailing edge of driver's door that I ground to bare metal, ospho'd, primered and painted. They're not beautiful, but it's stopped it from rusting. The underside had some surface rust around the jack points where the undercoating got chipped by someone who didn't know those aren't actually jack points. Hit that with a wire wheel, Ospho'd, coated with 2K epoxy primer and then Fluid Film. It's good to go. Headliner is saggy and currently stapled in place, which honestly, I don't even notice anymore. I don't make a habit of looking up in the car. Small hole in the leather on the driver's bolster. Very shallow dent above the bumper at the passenger rear quarter. You might be able to spot it in photos, but I didn't notice it for a full month (and multiple hand washes/waxings) until someone pointed it out to me. I think that's it for cosmetics.
Here is an album with the photos I have at the moment. Second to last shows the driver's seat hole. Other photos show some of the touched up spots.
Now, on to the awesome sauce: Mechanicals are just plain perfect. Purchased in August, this was a car I planned to keep. I am absolutely in love with it. I've put 10K miles on it since August. Multiple 4 to 12 hour road trips with both kids and the wife. This is far and away the best all-round driving car I've ever experienced. Wonderful wonderful wonderful.
The previous owner was another BMW nut that took great care of it. He made the mistake of getting a less-than-perfect one and being stuck with bringing it back to 95%. I took it the next 5%. It's never seen the track. It came with H&R sports, but I swapped those out for H&R OE Sports to gain back the ride height. Koni yellows, powerflex FCABs and RTABs, Pilot Super Sports (lots of tread on the front, and at least the rest of the summer left on the rear), ZHP shift knob, new set of non-angel eye depo euro lights, staggered LTWs in good shape, GC adjustable rear control arms, SPAL electric fan conversion I just completed. If you want the snows, they're Conti EWS and have very few miles on them. The car is a blast in the white stuff. The upgrades are enough to make the car an absolute joy to drive, but nothing that detracts from its usability.
Anything it needed mechanically, it got. I'll let the car's recent maintenance history speak for itself now, by date/miles/job:
7/19/2011 125303 VCG, timing chain tensioner, VANOS rebuild, both cats
7/22/2011 125344 New Tires
7/26/2011 125344 microfilter and spark plug socket
7/27/2011 125344 RR ABS sensor
9/27/2011 125344 door lock actuator, brake light switch
11/15/2011 125344 hood shocks and 34-11-1-157-0337 repair kit
11/17/2011 125344 brake fluid, wheel cover(?)
1/6/2012 130000 pad sensors, expansion tank cap, 32-41-1-097-164 reservoir
1/7/2012 130000 34-11-2-227-670 clip
4/1/2012 134072 radiator hose, fan shroud, t-stat, belt, 02 sensor, radiator
4/1/2012 134072 cylinder head, pressure test casing, vac test valves (OK), milled, timing chain tensioner,
4/4/2012 134072 coolant
7/11/2012 137720 inner fender
7/11/2012 137646 shift linkage seal
7/31/2012 137646 batterfy vent tube
8/25/2012 137646 profile gaskets
11/15/2012 137646 wiper blades, exhaust hangers
11/19/2012 137646 18-11-1-719-444 Flange
4/14/2013 137646 RTABs and SS brake lines
4/19/2013 137646 bumper cover grille, nuts, jack pad
5/7/2013 149685 PSSs
5/20/2013 149685 Undercar shield, ABS sensor, ball joint
5/20/2013 149685 brake disks (FCP)
5/22/2013 149685 brake pad sensors
5/27/2013 150083 Exhaust hangers, brakes
5/28/2013 150083 alignment
7/2/2013 150083 intake manifold (32-41-1-138-419) and return pIpe (32-41-2-228-284)
8/1/2013 152687 Oil
9/7/2013 155500 Starter, Front Right ABS Sensor ,Gasket - Air Temperature Sensor, Intake Manifold Gasket x2, ABS Sensor, Gasket - Oil Filter Housing, Oil Filter Kit, Idler Pulley, Tensioner Pulley, Belt - Alternator, Water Pump
9/21/2013 155500 OE Sport Springs
9/21/2013 156100 Oil Change(5w40 Rotella), plugs
9/14/2013 155900 Oil seperator, two pipes, big gasket. Not installed: VCG set/gromets (was not leaking)
10/4/2013 156500 Power steering pump + ATF. Also installed idler/tensioner pulleys and new belt
11/20/2013 158000 Snow tires+Mounting
11/1/2013 157000 Nose panel paint
11/1/2013 157500 Door speakers
11/20/2013 158000 Rear mud flaps (not installed yet)
11/20/2013 158000 Soaked in Fluid Film Rustproofing
1/15/2014 159000 Headlights
9/30/2013 156200 GROM blueooth dongle
4/10/2014 160500 Electric Fan
12/15/2013 158500 hood shocks
4/26/2014 160700 Oil change
5/2/2014 161000 Clutch bushing
5/2/2014 161000 Clutch stop
5/2/2014 161000 Final Stage Unit
5/2/2014 161000 Clutch pedal
6/2/2014 162000 driver window guide rails, misc small parts
6/2/2014 162000 trim clips, oil filter purchase
I'm going to go cry in my beer now.
