I was in an abusive relationship.
I bought a 1997 M3 5-sp 4-door sedan via the CPO program from BMW. It had about 30,000 miles on it but overall seemed in good shape. The E36 M3 has always been a favorite of mine for better or worse. It was more graceful looking than the boxy E30 and had a straight 6 cylinder S50 3.2L DOHC engine. BMWs are supposed to have straight sixes, it is the law. It could do 0-60 in a bit over 5 seconds and topped out at 144MPH due to the computer cutting it off.
I bought it CPO from a dealer with (33,000 mi? it was 3yo) I drove it until it had a bit over 180,000 mi on it. Which if you amortize the repairs works out to about 25 cents a mile ($40K over 140,000 miles as an estimate). That is above the normal operating costs of things like gas, tires, brake pads and so on.
I drove it home, and soon stuff started breaking.
Short list of major mechanical failures: (there were more)
Steering Rack x3 (yes three of them!)
Transmission (failed at speed on the GWB. Flatbed from NJ)
Differential
Rear Strut Towers (both tore out at speed, welded in new tops. Flatbed from New Rochelle)
Ignition switch (left me stranded on multiple occasions before being diagnosed. Mechanical not electrical)
Drivers door window regulator (died in January at LaGuardia airport. Drove home in the snow with a half open window. )
Accelerator cable broke (flatbed)
Rusting from the inside (doors, rear panel) not resolved. Part of decision to sell.
Leak in the evap system (?) (could not find anyone with a smoke machine at the time to determine the issue and resolve it, I could not pass inspection & so between this and the rust I opted to sell the car.)
All 6 coil packs (normal wear items over this kind of mileage I suppose)
HVAC control panel (died. Should have been easy to replace but is coded to the car.)
All in I bought the car in the fall of 2000 for around $33k and spent another $30-odd thousand keeping it running for the next 7 years. The fact that they sold new for $39k (so ~18% depreciation over 3 years) is amazing especially since this car had a 5-speed manual which even in an M-car is a less popular configuration. The repairs average out to another $357/mo above my loan payment. ($30,000/7 years/12 months)
Good Things:
It was a wonderfully capable car. I took it to a pair of track days at Lime Rock Park and it never so much as hiccuped. I drove it there with the stereo cranked and the A/C on, drove 4 x 20-minute instructor led sessions on the big track at ~55-120 mph, and then drove home with the stereo on and the A/C going. The brakes never seemed to even notice I was braking from 120 down to 55 over and over for Big Bend. There were other cars who lost their brakes completely and wound up needing bodywork (drivers were ok). I only changed over to ceramic pads on the advice of other folks who had done more HPD days. Otherwise the brakes were stock. The car is that good.
It was very predictable on the track, like an old pair of sneakers. I used to joke that the car wasn't happy until it was going 80 (at least) and with the benefit of hindsight iI realize now that it wasn't a joke so much as an observation. It never put a wheel wrong, no exciting saves, no runs across the grass. Just fast, capable and composed. You could be forgiven if you forgot you were on a race track winding out in 3rd gear.
Coming on to the back straight at Lime Rock Park. You can see the Lotus I'm passing reflected in the driver's door. This, in a car that had kid seats bolted in back much of the time.
Did I mention the brakes? OMG. My gold standard for brakes. You could throw a passenger through the windshield from the back seat. Until my 911 I never drove anything that felt as solid and stable under braking. My G-body feels like a roller coaster stopping, just other worldly, without the benefit of ABS. My A5 feels nowhere near as competent as either of them; it seems to kick in the ABS much earlier than you'd expect. The M3 had the sort of brakes you expect - and deserve - in a car that can top 140mph.
The song of the DOHC straight 6. Sure, it was the bastard son of the real Euro M3 engine, but it was ours, and it did just fine. It didn't leak, overheat or ever complain. We were lucky to get it at all. Thank you to the BMWCCA for making all the right noises. I hope they are still paying you residuals for cementing the M brand here in the states.
It was very comfortable with power leather seats, good HVAC, good visibility and a decent stereo.
The limited slip along with the Blizzaks I mounted on a 2nd set of Contours meant it was unstoppable in the snow. Really phenomenal. I drove around with a shovel and dug out SUVs just for the looks of shock, and the warm fuzzies of being an ok dude sometimes. "But aren't those really bad in snow?" "Oh yeah, just terrible. Here I have a shovel and we'll have you back on the road in a jiffy".
I never missed a day of work due to weather. It went through everything and anything.
The M3 not taking a snow day. I wasn't stuck here, I was taking victory laps around the block during a blizzard. (photo: Mrs P)
Bad Things:
The super vague shift linkage, especially under power. My Honda Civic put it to shame. My G-d people, get it together. The Ultimate Money-Shift machine?
The suspension was at home on the track and seemingly unflappable. But around town it always felt a little 'fish out of water' to me, hard to read. I never felt comfortable with the limits. Maybe it was the tires? The alignment? Who knows.
Reliability - the E36 M3 broke things that my 1974 Triumph Spitfire has not broken to this day (50 years into life!) Steering racks should not go. Transmissions and Diffs should not go. I was not some kid drifting around town and drag racing & slapping on giant turbos; I was a new father with a real job and if anything, the fact I put >150,000 mi on my original clutch should back that up. I needed this car to commute to work every day.
The ignition switch issue persisted for months because it was mechanical and so it did not throw a code. It was nerve wracking driving places and not knowing if the car would start at any given moment. (People usually buy Triumphs for that kind of stress). And on top of that, I got to enjoy the guys at the dealership look at me like I got dropped a lot as an infant. Yes, I know how to start a car... <sigh>
The rear strut towers failing - I call this out because it was a problem for 3 generations of the 3-series. BMW runs 7 year cycles so that is a problem that was allowed to persist in their road cars for 21 years. Choke on that a moment. The strut mount was only designed to take vertical motion but in practice it wiggled side to side - and so it tore out its mounts. By the time of the E36 there were visible spot welds to drill out in the rear tower - and a factory replacement part for the whole top of the rear strut housing. That should tell you how widespread it was. Mine failed out of the blue on the highway which was a code brown moment as the rear of the car bounced and floated all over the place suddenly at speed. Wheee! It could have been very bad.
OBD-II, not their fault but still a pain. Combined with the "Buss" in these cars, they were difficult for a shade-tree mechanic to work on. The "Buss" was explained as an anti-theft measure and maybe it was? But the upshot was it screwed independent garages and shade tree mechanics. When you need a machine to code parts and that machines costs $150K, I mean lets be real here. And cars are still being stolen in 2024 so did it really do anything?
For example, I tried to replace the HVAC control panel when it died. I went to the dealer and tried to buy one. The parts guy told me I couldn't replace it. Now to me it's 4 hex screws and probably a plug on the back, 5 minutes tops. I puffed up my chest and launched into my "I have built cars from milk crates full of rust..." speech, but he just looked at me like a waiter at a too fancy restaurant. "Ah, Mssr does not understand; zee panel must be encoded...". <sigh>
There is a very funny (well, depending on who you are) Jalopnik article about BMW engines I'll link below. It claims the real issue with the E36 M3 is that the engine self destructs because the nut holding the oil pump sprocket on falls off, stops pumping oil and your engine then dies in a big big way. I didn't manage this issue in ~160,000 miles; but I did break everything.single.other.living.piece of the car. It holds the title of most unreliable car I have ever owned (and I own a Triumph Spitfire!). And that breaks my heart. On paper it is nearly the perfect car. What is that old saying about never meeting your heroes?
Net net, I sold the car, recouping the cost of my last round of repair work essentially. I was happy to get out of it since it was rusting from the inside, and could not pass inspection. It also had 4 catalytic converters that had not been replaced yet and an engine with nearly 190,000 miles on it that would soon need a rebuild. The expenses were not going to level off any time soon. It could easily have run me another $30k between body & paint, the 4 cats and the engine rebuild. Nope.
I bought and drove a 4 door Honda Civic 5-sp for the next 3 years and then a VW Jetta 5-sp after that, to "make back" some of the money I dumped into the M3. I felt so guilty about how much it ended up costing. The Civic was bulletproof, had a wonderful shifter and despite body roll like a fishing boat, it handled just fine. Amazing cars. The Jetta was ok, the 5-cylinder engine was uninspiring, seeming to have no torque peak at all. The shifter was average but it had 4 doors and a trunk and really didn't have any issues while I owned it.
At the end of it's lease, I traded the Jetta in on a new 2014 Audi A5 S-line 6-speed which I still have 10 years later. It's been very reliable and is still smooth, fast and tight after 90,000 miles. It wound up being the last year that Audi sold a stick, so it's holding its value well. The only persistent issue is that the sunroof whistles in cold weather and the bluetooth interface is a bit slow and flaky. It's had 2 actual "repairs" since 2014; part of the belly pan had to be replaced. I tore it off at a winter driving school when it filled with slush (not Audi's fault at all) More recently I had to have the lower oil sump replaced due to rust. Other than that its been oil changes, tires and brakes.
I can live with that.
The A5 at ~90,000 miles.
Links
BMW engines (are not reliable) https://jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit-1784684330
1997 M3 Sedan https://motorweek.org/road_tests/1997_bmw_m3_sedan/
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