i am going to check one out this coming saturday... yes its only tuesday but i'm excited. i won't get it just yet but i am starting to look. i am just worried b/c a lot of them are out of warranty. i'm only looking 2003 and up. i know a few members on the w203 forum has or own one. what should i look for? what are the common problems? i'm looking at SMG coupe model 03+


i know this is a benz forum but i've been so attached with this forum since i've been on it for so many years i thought i would post here before i post on e46fanatics and get made fun of for not STFF!!! LMAO!!!!

thanks btw

 

Sheldon,

You getting rid of the 4matic??

 

I drove one 2001 e46 M3, all I can say is WOW.
There is one thing I hated was the SMG auto trany. It took for ever between gears. I thought it was broken or a worn tranny, but it was pretty new. I went STFF on the bimmer forum, and I found many members having the same issue. The answer to that was some settings with the electronic timings of the tranny. I think there wasn't a significant improvement. few members suggested driving it "like a stick" meaning between gears pull up your foot from the accelerator and push back once in gear. I tried and it's a lil better. only few members did not experience this.

My bro's 330 with SMG was great, and I couldn't even notice the gear change.
Get a stick if you can. other than that, I don't know so you will have to STFF lol.

 

great car, i had a e46 330ci and few friends with m3 6spd and SMG.. the few problems i see are cam sensor (not bad), and herd of 2 m3 with SMG that needed that replaced, cost around 2-3k parts and labor, and fianll the rear subframe is not up to punishment, if you plan on going cracy get it reinforce, there are kits.

over all they are great cars and fun fun fun to drive. i miss my e46

 

classified section :
https://mbworld.org/forums/non-merce...pe-cpo-nc.html
https://mbworld.org/forums/non-merce...-flawless.html

im in love with the red interior...
are you looking for a coupe or convertible ?

btw one of the best M3's was listed on this forum too :
https://mbworld.org/forums/non-merce...red-black.html

 

I had my 2006 for a little over 2 years. I bought it new and pretty much beat the crap out of it and put about 38k miles on it. I didn't have any problems (except for burning through tires every 15k miles). BMW replaced the clutch for free for me after I had worn it out and BMW maintenance covered everything.

I would recommend trying to find a 2006 (the very last year). Try to get as low mileage as you can. All the cars you will find will be abused, so try to get one that wasn't abused for so long.

Also, if you can, get a warranty. You don't want to deal with any mishaps that may occur. The parts and labor are very costly--if you think the w203 is costly, this blows it out of the water. The car only takes Castrol TWS motor oil which is only found at BMW dealers at about $11 a quart. If you're buying one at over 45k miles, make sure that the services have all been done ESPECIALLY the Inspection II.

no such thing as a 330 with SMG, your brother's 330 had steptronic which IS an automatic with a torque converter. SMG is basically a six-speed with an electro-hydraulic clutch, which you will hear pressurize when you unlock the doors.

you probably didn't know how to drive the 2001 or it was messed up. I'm pretty sure that you just didn't know how to drive it--your sentiments above are a common complaint from people that don't know how to use SMG. SMG takes some getting used to, but when you know how to use it, it can and will shift faster than any human can and more consistently as well.

I hate these comments about SMG. I'm on my second SMG car (the M3 was SMGII and the M5 is SMGIII) and SMG is outstanding--I love it. No Mercedes transmission (maybe the SL63 7-speed dual clutch) comes close to it. If you know how to drive SMG, it's on. The throttle blipping has to be my favorite part.

spyderpig, tell me if this is as "slow" as you remember the shifts were:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5vJ...e=channel_page
(that's a 6th to 3rd gear drop)

Blackliquorish8, good luck in your search. I would advise you to go to M3forum.net and NOT e46fanatics for more information. e46fanatics is comprised of all little kids who are into just bling (kinda like a lot of the n00b w203 owners as of late).

 

correction, there are 330 with SMG, very limited production and usually special order. search online and you will find it. the 330 SMG1 is not totally the same as the M3 SMG2, do a search on the e46 site and you will get a couple of hits of 330's with SMGs. I know some people assumen shiftronic is the same, i know the difference but they do offer SMG1 on the 330.

Not sure where you get your oil but i buy my BMW OEM syn oil and oem filter at 2 local indy shops here and it was always 7.35 per qt, and like 10-11 for the filter, it was like sixty and change. no to bad.

 

interesting, I stand corrected, I didn't know that about the E46. I thought SMGI was only used for a brief time and is pretty rare on the E36 M3. SMG for a non-M E46 must be pretty rare--I'm sure not too many non-M E46 buyers would pay the premium over steptronic for SMG. however, I'm pretty sure that spyderpig's brother did not have SMG and that he confused it with steptronic after reading his post.

as for the Castrol TWS Motorsport (10w60), you got it for $7? the cheapest I've seen it is about $9 from online stores like Tischer. I know the OEM BMW Castrol (5w30) which is for non-M's is about $6 a quart.

 

My friend had an 02 and you can set it to shift fast (extremely hard) when that thing shifted felt like the tranny was going to break. Amazing car and the engine that car sounds great. You'll need to dump a lot of money to get that 333 HP more but it's well worth it. I'm a E36 M3 fan. I love how that looks. I knew a guy he had a wide body E36 M3 and that like

 

thanks for the info guys the one i'm lookin at is 2004 Mystic Blue with grey interior... SMG it only has 36,999 mles....


i dk if it has warranty or not i guessing no...


Nick i'm not sure if i'm gettin rid of the 4matic yet but its just an idea... if i do the M3 is def on the list. i called bmw and asked them if i can buy warranty from them and they said that they have to have the mileage and vin # and they go through FIDELITY.

 

Here you go, this should be of great help:

http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/Vehicles/2002BMWM3/

They've had it for over a year and put 20,000 miles on it. It had a little less than 50k miles when they got it and now it has right at 70,000. The blog is a great read about what it's like to live with the car every day. Enjoy!

 

 

The SMG transmission sucks hugely - I hate it & it's been crucified by every motoring scribe of any note globally. The 7 speed DCT is an absolute joy - stay away from the lousy SMG - go drive both & you will see what I mean. Drove a DCT M3 the other day.

Things are looking up at BMW - no more Chris Bangle so the styling will improve & the DCT is a real drivers transmission to mate with great engines.

 

MBZ Genius and now a BMW Genius??

 

havent done my homework yet but whats inspection 1 and inspection 2???

thanx for the input so far

 

great link i will finsih the readings after dinner

 

any reason an E46 M3 over C32?

 

+1 on the 330i with SMG, I've even seen a E46 325i sedan with SMG. They're VERY VERY VERY rare in the States.

 

I have driven both the SMG II and SMG III on the E46 M3 and the V10 M5, and I've also driven the DKG on the current M3 as well. The main difference I noticed was that the DKG shifted very smoothly in all RPM ranges, while the SMG II and SMG III shift very slowly and not as smoothly when executing shifts in the lower RPM range (if you let off the accelerator slightly on the upshift, this seems to help you achieve a smoother shift). The SMG II and SMG III shift superlatively on the higher RPMs (3000 and up) and since it's an M-car, you should try to drive it in this range more often. If I were to buy an M3 or M5, I would definitely acquire it with the SMG transmission without the slightest hesitation!

I just wanted to clarify, the SL63 AMG does not have a dual clutch transmission. Incidentally, the transmission is actually exactly the same as any normal 7-speed AMG transmission. The difference lies in the torque converter, instead of a liquid-filled torque converter with a propeller and impeller, there are several clutches that replace the propeller and impeller. The transmission still operates as an automatic transmission, it's just the torque converter is a different type of torque converter that employs clutches instead of a propeller and impeller. Again, please note, just because there are clutches between the engine and the transmission, this does not mean that this is a manual car, it's still very much an automatic.

Very confusing transmission on the SL63 AMG indeed.

 

i want a diff body style wanna try somethin different

 

damn... I paid $13/qt for that stuff. (I use it in my ZF6 believe it or not)

 

Nah! - just a petrol head that has the pleasure of driving some great machinery from time to time. Both new Aston Vantage 4.7 & SL63 have me smiling from ear to ear for different reasons.

 

SMG was available for late e46 special order and the Z4, but it's garbage compare to SMGII. might as well get auto.

that said, find a late 2004 to 2006 car with SMGII and ZCP and you are set. don't even think about 2001-2003 cars.

 

Let me know when you drive the Sl65 Black Series

My buddy told me that McLaren and Mercedes don't do business together anymore so they are stopping the production of the SLR. That is why they came up with the SL65 Black Series. I knew a guy who had the CLK63 Black Series till he crashed it. From what he told me the car had no handling (too powerful). I don't know if that's true but I think the SL65 Black Series is a beast. My buddies CL600 is fast enough I can only imagine a 65 and a Black Series at that.

By the way here is something that I heard and was shocked. When I was at the dealer I told the guy who was helping me about the whole story. He said they sold a Black SLR 2 weeks ago. I asked him if he ever drove one. He said he rather take an Audi R8 lool

Have you ever driven an Audi R8 Glyn or anyone? I wonder how that car performs.

 

I suspect the SL63 is the most balanced of the pack. I can't imagine what the V12 must be like. I found the SL63 very balanced & forgiving on track where I could chuck it. On road at respectable speeds it's quite docile. Makes marvelous noises.

I've only driven the base R8 - it's great fun & very civilised. Excellent dynamics compared with most Audi's due to weight distribution. Nice car & pretty. I could live with one.