Mileage

BigPhil wrote: Nice and the 01's now can be got for mid to late 40's....cheap enough.

Cheap enough .........he says, a bit out of my league anyway if i arrived home in that after paying 40k for a car my life wouldnt be worth living    but wait darling its a M

Edited by lesurely

flyingalexf68 wrote: Yes I've been looking at that one. A lot. Loads of really really nice ones in the UK as well.

Have been looking there myself, working out the vrt, €/£ rate on so many in the last few weeks that my head is starting to spin.I think its not worth it unless you get a good bargin. There is plenty on ebay seen this one E36M3 GT 26/50 he is looking for about £7k

Ok here's the latest, had a look at this yesterday evening http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car& carID=460868 and she seems to be a fine car. Checked everything arches, seems, body work, electrics, doors you get the picture. Left the engine running for ages and she ticked over very smoothly. Went for a spin very straight and solid. It has a full service history, vanos was done at 67k good alloys and tyres, seats in perfect condition the only faults i could find was a tiny blister on one of the wheel arches, the clutch was stiff compared to mine and what felt like a few mils of the floor when she engaged, though you would have to ease the clutch a bit more if felt like my foot was still very close to the floor when she took of (this could be normal, dont know), the air con needs regassing.

So ,,,, going to get a mechanic to check it out.

,,,,,, I think i could haggle over the price.

,,,,,,, Am a little concerned if it fails the NCT what comeback do i have, insurance company would only quote me from now till end of policy 06/11 €93, would not give me an est quote for next year, could that mean that the insurance might go up by almost that amount per 1/4. Any comments or advice

There's a 98 in Autotrader in Limerick for Eur19K, can't paste the link over. In Violet, with 58K, don't jump on the first one that ticks all the boxes that you want. (Not as if I can talk on that one)

personallly i think its a lot of money for that car.

imo before vrt its a €10/11k car

yes

car has to be on irish plates first. you also have to bring your tax book along to a nct office so that they can register it on there system. This takes 2/3 days. After that you can book the NCT.

If your worried about NCT bring a competent mechanic along to give the car the once over. He should be able to see if it needs anything for it.

If the car is on UK or norn iron plates then it should have a current (and ideally recently issued MOT).  If it passes an MOT it should be fairly OK for the NCT.  If i doesn't have a current MOT then ask the vendor to have it done.  If he won't, draw your own conclusions and vote with your feet.  As said previously, this isn't particularly cheap when VRT has to be added. 

As an example, on the UK autotrader site there is a one owner '95 3.0 M3 with 39k miles and full history asking £7995.  That is absolutely the top end of 3.0 M3 money but the ownership and service history mark it out as different.  With mild haggling you'd have that on the road here for €14k.  No vanos worries, no clutch worries, etc. 

Only potential downsides are that it is alpine white and the spec is only moderate.  Provenance, condition and mileage will get you more of your money back when it comes time to sell than the one you have highlighted.  At the age you are considering, condition is way more important than a year younger or newer.

just cos vanos is done doesnt mean it wont go again - many reports on the m forum of guys getting vanos units replaced more than once!!

Also, never believe anyone that tells you that air con just needs a re-gas!  If the gas isn't in there, its gotten out somehow.  All other things being equal, the next gas you put in will get out the same way.

Eamo wrote: just cos vanos is done doesnt mean it wont go again - many reports on the m forum of guys getting vanos units replaced more than once!!

I was told there is a way to clean and maintain the Vanos so its less likely to go. The boys on the M power forum will tell you.