David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
8/17/17 9:09 a.m.
feature_image

A 2002 BMW M3 for $6000? Yes, of course, there is a catch. It has the SMG transmission. It’s a convertible. And it’s been wrecked. Hard.

Can this one be parted out for fun and profit? Its 72,000-mile engine is said to run flawlessly.

Read the rest of the story

Ricky Spanish
Ricky Spanish Reader
8/17/17 3:12 p.m.

I did just buy a 318ti . . . . . .

dannyzabolotny
dannyzabolotny New Reader
8/17/17 4:27 p.m.

You can pull the engine, transmission, and rear diff from this to build a really cool E46 M3 wagon. Maybe convert the SMG into a true manual in the process...

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
8/17/17 5:56 p.m.
Ricky Spanish wrote: I did just buy a 318ti . . . . . .

See. It's time.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
8/17/17 5:56 p.m.
dannyzabolotny wrote: You can pull the engine, transmission, and rear diff from this to build a really cool E46 M3 wagon. Maybe convert the SMG into a true manual in the process...

Or you could do that.

Vigo
Vigo UltimaDork
8/17/17 11:35 p.m.

I've seen a fair number of drivable e46 m3 convertibles in the $8,xxx range on my local CL. I dont know how clean any of them were. Funnily enough, when i was shopping 996s (which is the main reason i don't own an e46 m3 right now) i was annoyed by the preponderance of automatic convertibles on the low end of the market. For an e46 m3, though, I think i'd actually be happy with that version of the car.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ UltraDork
8/18/17 6:22 a.m.

How is the SMG in these? Is it up to competition use, in a rally car for example?

dannyzabolotny
dannyzabolotny New Reader
8/18/17 10:59 a.m.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: How is the SMG in these? Is it up to competition use, in a rally car for example?

I'd say the SMG is best when on a track... in normal city driving it's kind of a clunky mess if you let it do the shifting, but on a track with the shift speed set to 6 (quickest) the shifts are quite snappy and you feel like you're driving a supercar for a bit with the flappy paddles (not that many cars had paddles in 01).

Ricky Spanish
Ricky Spanish Reader
8/18/17 1:47 p.m.

I bought my M3 solely for the SMG. It is amazing when driven in fury.

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt PowerDork
8/18/17 2:07 p.m.

Looks like it can be combined with that Z3 roller in the other thread...

Vigo
Vigo UltimaDork
8/18/17 8:37 p.m.

This recent auction suggests you'd have to do pretty well on your donors to not end up with more in it than you could have bought a decent M Roadster for. Granted that version is down on power and rpm, but it's factory reliable and has resale value.

penultimeta
penultimeta HalfDork
8/19/17 11:18 a.m.

Seems a bit high for a wrecked one. I see SMG M3 convertibles for 8-9k all the time. Add in the $1200 smg hack to make it true manual and you're good to go.

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
xcwBlh3UjgLxdjFwK03TN5B7OqWmH6NBmiK3zetGoC01h10B8mVg6NPGECgD7IdD