1998 BMW M3 coupe review from North America

The CD changer shorted out and reads "error" and will not eject to return my CDs. There have been minor electrical problems, including burnt out bulbs in the odometer and the right bulb in the instrument cluster. Like all BMWs, this one lips brake rotors, but I found an inexpensive conversion to slotted rotors that fixed the problem completely, costing me only $410.00 for rotors, pads and sensors.

This car is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It actually took me a little while to get used to the power band, which starts off relatively tame, but kicks hard around 3000. It feels somewhat similar to a turbo setup. The handling is incrdibly balanced and with the brake mod, stopping is excellent. Actually, stopping is excellent on the stock brakes, you just have to replace them as they get lipped. Operating costs are not that bad at around 26MPG highway and the real time fuel consumption meter under the tach really lets you know how the gas goes when you turn the car loose. All in all, this is probably one of the most reliable and inexpensive sports cars to own and maintain. It's also forgiving enough to accept novice drivers; I've taught more than one person to drive stick in it and they had no problems. The only real drawback is that parts are not cheap, or at least M3 SPECIFIC parts are not cheap. Many of the systems are shared with the standard 3 series allowing you to interchange parts as you find them.