In the UK I would think a 1 owner 27k mile car would be around £30 - £35k.
I had an E28 non-M5... That model makes you feel good every time you take it out for a drive. It makes other people happy too. age or sex doesn't matter. Lots of curious smiles and nods. The cabin was my favorite part - so much airy feel in the interior because of the huge windshield. I had a light interior color, maybe that helped. I dreamed of getting an M5, but in the end I like rough driving and I wouldn't be (mentally) able to toss a priceless classic like that around. So in the end even a 528i would be enough for my driving style in those models. But one thing's for sure though, cars don't get much cooler than the E28 M5. If you're in to collecting cars then go for it. Feelgood factor is 10/10 for the E28s.
528's are great cars, I've had about 6 of them in E28 form. Here's my very first from back in around 92. Image Unavailable, Please Login
My friends are shooting for BMW right now at the Amelia concours. Pictures and articles should be up shortly. Extremely jealous at some of the things they get to see.
After a lengthy search for a car I finally bought a 1998 BMW M3! The choices were between the E36 M3 and a couple different E46 330's, one of which was a ZHP. I only went to look at the M3 but after driving it and seeing it, the choice was obvious. It had the lowest miles, ran well, and the only light is a brake light but the brakes were just replaced so it should just be the sensor messing up. It is an automatic which is the only downside. I wanted to find a good manual but this car came up for sale and I wasn't going to find anything better for the price. The auto isn't that sluggish and with some throttle input in sport mode it will rev up. I've heard there are software chips I can install to make it better so I will be doing that in the future. Overall I'm very excited to own an M3 Of course I will post some pictures later. It's getting a good detail and cleaning right now Any other E36 M3 owners out there? What are some upgrades/modifications that I should consider?
I love the E36 M3 so congrats, 2 door or 4 door? My '04 E60 525i is also auto but when you put the boot to it "that pig will squeal"!
Thanks Gregg. The auto isn't that bad. Its no manual but the car is still a blast. As for mods, I am going to hold off for now. I am doing some maintenance right now- valve gasket covers, spark plugs, oil change. I am then going to drive around for awhile to get an idea of how the car handles and drives then from there I might do some performance upgrades. I am thinking by that point I might need suspension and might add a brace. For the engine I was thinking of a cold air intake and a couple other small things. I want to keep things simple and not spend too much but I have not set my self a limit yet. The car has two owners and is 87k miles young. It drives well and the engine runs well overall. I couldn't be happier with it. I'm excited to get the basic maintenance done and drive her! They say its supposed to handle well so I can't wait to find out for myself. In all of the Ferrari forums new owners comment that they always go out into their garage just to see if their new car is still there and to get a glance. I have done that a lot today and all I have is an old BMW. I can't believe I actually have an M3. Thanks for all the comments. Now for a couple pictures: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Oh **** you bought MY car!!! I love that color and it's a 4 door (I have a thing about 4 door sedans, call me quirky). Is your VCG leaking? If not don't waste your time. Changing your engine/transmission oil is a good first step and upgrading your intake filter is also a worthy upgrade. I did not go "cold air intake" but I did replace the stock intake filter with a K&N filter. I think I will keep my 525 forever but once it is paid off and the right E34 M5 comes along who knows?
VCG is shot and needs to be replaced. It doesn't leave an oil stain in a parking space but after I crawled under it today with my BMW expert friend it was obvious it needed immediate attention. The only problem with having an M car is that no stores have your parts in stock!!! I will be axiously awaiting those parts. I got it for a great price and expected doing some maintenance early on so it's nothing I didn't expect or prepare for.
Just stumbled on this thread and thought I'd chime in as another BMW fan. My grandfather always had them when I was growing up (back in the pre-yuppie days when they were more of a niche enthusiast car and owners would wave at each other on the road) and I started out with an '05 e46 325, then got an e89 z4, and now have an older e85 z4. They've all been among my favorite cars.
Motul 8100 X-Cess 5w40 and RBF600 brake fluid, AFE intake, Mason (fixed only) strut brace, and then go enjoy it. If you want wheels in the future, go with Apex. Brakes are also pretty lousy in stock form. Stoptech's are ideal, but pricey. Look for a nice slotted rotor and some DTC's. If you really want to spend money fast: Turnermotorsport.com and Bimmerworld.com BTW, don't waste your money on other 5w40 oils. Motul 8100 is superior to all. No lifter tick...ever. Not to sound like an ***. That's just how it is.
Thanks for the advice. The brake fluid is good for now but looked like it might need to be replaced in soon. I'll be sure to check out that brake fluid when the time comes. Is the AFE intake the only engine modification you recommend? Are there many gains to it? It has had the brakes replaced and they were slotted and looked nice. They felt pretty good driving around. I'm not sure what brand they are though. I've already looked on turner motorsports but will explore that more in the future. Good to know about the oil. Thanks Right now it has crap economy tires so I can't wait until those wear out and I get to put something good on there. Thanks for all the input and advice. I'm sure I'll be asking for more help in the future. Since I didn't get any records with the car I'm making sure everything is in good shape before I drive it too much.
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The S52 is a great engine. Don't fret too much about lack of records. With the miles you have, you'll get years of enjoyment out of it. The AFE intake will snag you about 10-15 horsepower. You'll want to run the 3.5" euro MAF, traction control delete throttle body boot (as long as you're comfortable with that). Also, pair all that with an ECU tune. All in all, that will get you 25-30hp. You'll also want to swap over to the M50 intake manifold. The S52/M52 intake manifold is very restrictive. You can maintain OBDII compliance with the Turner kit. The intake manifold itself costs about $50 off ebay. The mod's list is nearly endless.... Cams, intake/ITB's, drivetrain (suspension, subframe, etc, etc, etc), brakes....... Set a budget for mods, and always build the car for the future. For example, if you think you want to run ITB's, then don't waste money on an intake now. Honestly, unless you're going to track the car (and spend $5k on a carbon airbox and standalone), don't waste money on the ITB's. The Turner performance packages would be a great place to start IMO. It's pricey, but well worth it: E36 M3 96-99 Stage 4 Turner Motorsport Performance Package - Turner Motorsport It goes without mentioning that exhaust is a must. It's an E36 after all. LOL. If you need to pass emissions inspections, then headers and a catback. If you don't need to pass emissions, then buy the Active 3" race exhaust with the center resonator. With the resonator, you'll be running about 98-100db's. Without the resonator, you will be at 103-104db. I could go on for quite a while, but I'll let you digest all of that first.
40.000+ views! Never thought this thread would go on for this long. Shows how enthusiastic BMW owners and fans are! Here's for 40.000 more!!
Thanks for all of that. It certainly is a lot to digest! With the AFE intake I get that a new MAF would pair well with that but I do not feel good about the TC delete. Since it will be a DD and will see many different weather circumstances I think it would be best to leave that alone. I still have an ASC button on the console. Is that a different thing? Aside for the basic intake related stuff I don't want to mess with the engine too much. When I decide to go down that path I will most likely PM you but that will probably happen later this year. I know a couple BMW experts who can also assist me with the instalation and guiding me through the plethora of after market parts. Other than a rare auto cross or DE event I can't see myself tracking it that much or pushing the extreme limits of the car to the point where I would beg for more HP and want to really start messing with the engine. Regarding the exhaust, it will need to be emissions compliant. Again since it will be a DD and I will regularly drive on the highway for 3 hours I may shy away from exhaust/header modification. Of course after seeing another M3 at a car show then watching hours of videos on Youtube my opinion might change. I want the car to still be usable and comfortable while still having some good performance at my disposal. Right now it feels like there is a good amount but there can always be more!!! As of now the list seems to be: AFE intake 3.5" MAF M50 intake manifold ECU tune? front brace-Mason better tires once the current ones are worn Motul 8100 oil RBF600 brake fluid This will all start happening in a few months at the earliest. While looking through it my friend advised me not to do any performance upgrades for 8months- drive it around and get a good baseline so I know what I have and I can identify problems when they arise. Thanks for all the guidence. Its amazing! BMWs are great and I can never see myself without one.
Very welcome. Always happy to help out a fellow E36 owner. First off, before I get lost in thought... A good ECU tune is the "Shark Injector" found on Turner's website. It's a DIY install that takes fifteen minutes, and you don't even have to crack open the ECU--just plug the unit into the OBD port in the engine bay. If you are worried about adverse weather, then it's no problem to leave the TC in. Yes, TC is the ASC button on your dash. If you want to maintain emissions equipment I'd reccomend the following (when you're ready of course): Shorty style headers and a Borla muffler. Very nice sound and very mellow. The Active race exhaust is my favorite E36 exhaust (I only have racer E36's), but the Borla/Shorty setup is by far my favorite for street use. Good sound and no drone. Glad to hear you want to spend some time getting to know the car. They're wonderful on or off track. One thing to keep in mind... If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are braking and turning: the E36's in general have a bad tendency to lock up the front wheels. Don't know why, especially seeing as they have ABS, but they do. Best thing you can do is take it to an autocross this spring/summer so you can figure it out. Feel free to PM me all you like. It may take me a couple days to respond, as I'm not on here that much, but I will get back to you. Cheers and enjoy the M! Ricky
Thanks for everything. You will have a PM. Now back to the regular BMW discussions. Thanks for letting me derail the thread it for a few posts
I would not toss a bunch of money on na mods for the s52. The ones already listed are about as far as I would go. Have you thought about a manual swap?
The mods I listed are as far as I'll go. Let's see if I even make it that far. I have not considered a manual swap. I don't really want to swap transmissions. It's more work than I want to do and I wouldn't want to spend the money on that.
