Hey guys, Have not been here for awhile (I've been too busy finishing school) but I thought that I would check back in and say hello to you all. A few posts ago (my posts) I was asking about the specs of buying a Ferrari 348. Well, it turns out that it would have cost me too much to own the car due to the amount of driving that I do (I drive around 20,000+ a year, the insurance would have killed me, not to mention up-keep), so instead I bought a BMW M3. My new ride is now a 1999 Estroil Blue M3 (E36) with 28,000 miles on the clock. I know that its not a Ferrari but it IS European (no more Japanese cars here!) and it hauls ass, plus it looks really good. I would like to post a photo of it, but I'm having problems with this website (any help?). I know a few of you guys in Southern California have M3's, so I would like to know if any of you can help me with a "few" modification questions (like exhaust systems, rim sizes, ect . . .). Well, nice to be back and I hope that I can make it to a few of the Cyrstal Cove meets (it seems that there are no BMW's there, I just have to show up and support BMW). Cheers!!!
Congrats on your BMW. I'm sure it's a fine car - especially since it's not a Bangled design. Unfortunately, I recently bought a Mini and the BMW/Mini dealer experience has been so bad everywhere I have gone that they've managed to sour me on the entire BMW brand. Idiots. Hopefully you'll get better treatment owning an M3.
Congrates! E36 M3 are great cars. You will love it. You can see my website for more BMW reference, also there's a supercharged E36 M3 in the "COMPARISONS" section: www.Jimmy540i.com
Great, thanks guys! Jimmy540i.com: Thanks for your link, lots of good stuff on there. It will come in handy. As far as service goes I'm not concerned, one of my good friends is a BMW tech, so it is like having your own personal mechanic.
Interesting. I have a mini, as do a few other so cal F chatters. I have had nothing but excellent top of the line service. Then again I investigated 5 so cal dealerships and pretty much know the ins and outs of all of them. Good luck to you in the future.
No problems here either....BMW or Mini. I got the Mini from Alexander. They flatbed out a loaner whenever I need service. I have purchased 3 cars from them. Class act DL
Thanks! Well, maybe if I had been willing to fork over the 6K "market adjustment" when I bought my MCS or if I still had my BMW, it would be different. Or, maybe I have unreasonable expectations. But I've owned cars from lots of makes and have never had such consistently lousy service from dealers. I even used to own a BMW and never had a complaint about the dealers back then. Unfortunately, none of the BMW dealers I used to go to currently have the Mini franchise. (Sorry Sting - I didn't mean to hijack your thread!)
Here's a website that I think may be helpful. http://www.m3forum.com/ Congrats on the car, I'm thinking of getting an e36 m3 sometime in the future as well.
911Fan: No worries man. Thanks for the links guys. Now, how do you post pics on this website from yahoo photos? Anyone know?
Ordered car per my spec, waited 9 weeks, paid MSRP and got a set of floormats for free. Sorry to hear of your troubles.
E36 M3s remain the best of the lot. VERY VERY good cars...you will get 10k more miles out of that block w/o toucihing the head... --Dan
congrats on the car. I have a slightly modified BMW E36. Here are some pics: http://www.jonsibal.com/jon009.jpg http://www.jonsibal.com/jon010.jpg You can see more info in my site www.jonsibal.com And if you're interested in doing force induction, here is the registry for Boosted Bimmers- www.boostjunky.com
My friends bought a brandnew 2002 325ci (was new in 2002) and had so many problems with it.....when he went over a bump or something his corner blinker near the headlight would break off and pop out....he lost two of them....BMW replaced them with a bit of hagling.......his rubber seal around the driver door window came loose and started to hang down, he had it replaced by BMW......but it left a bad taste in his mouth........he traded it in for a 2005 C240 sport mercedes
jonsibal: NICE CAR!!! That looks great. It has an E30 M3 look to it. Once again, thanks for the support about the new car and for the links. If you guys want to take a look at my car it can be found here: http://photos.yahoo.com/nmaino6 Thanks again.
Congratulations on your purchase, I have a 99 Estoril blue E36 M3 as well. PM me if you have any questions on mods.
Fine choice in motors! I looked for and E36 in Estoril last year, and in the end I gave up looking as all the cars that I looked at were very tired or overpriced.
