Faults:

Some awful person painted the rear diffuser the body colour, so I immediately purchased a factory black one from BMW Solihull where I work.

Apart from that nothing, these cars are perfect to run, use, race or even cruise in!

General Comments:

The BMW M3 is one of those cars every enthusiast wants to own at some point in their vehicle career.

The power, comfort and reliability are what made these cars very very hot, and on any enthusiasts wishlist.

They made several rare M3's E36 including the GT and the GT2, and The Individual made from the Evolution models. These all came with rare colours such as Estoril Blue, Dakar Yellow which I have, Imola Red (GT2) and Fern Green (GT).

Power figures were 286bhp for the M3 and 321bhp for the EVO M3, although the figures from a lot of previous discussions and banter were the M3 was making more like 295bhp, and the Evolutions were struggling to make 311bhp.

My version is a limited edition Dakar Yellow coupe 95 last edition on a N registration with 75000 miles FBMWSH. Has full black vadar leather, carbon roof and polished motorsports. Really is breathtakingly beautiful.

I haven't modded the car, apart from the roof and getting the wheels repolished, it's pretty standard apart from a straight through DTM TUBI exhaust from previous owner, rollers at work make the car at 307bhp, which is very very reasonable for just an upgrade of an exhaust.

I've had the car about a month, and love it to pieces, it handles so great and it's so fast for a light BMW, as all the new ones are heavy and bulky!

No one can deny also that the proper M3 interior were a nice dark leather with the famous vadar seats, as they set this car off.

You always have unwanted attention with thieves wishlist cars, not to mention Scoobys and Evos up your backside trying to get you to bite, but believe me, whilst they await their turbo to kick in, these cars are at 100mph accelerating still hard!

Buy one.

Faults:

Warped rotors - bad install by previous owner.

Leaky calipers.

Leaking head gasket.

Faulty coolant sensor - replaced 4 times.

Cracked radiator overflow tank - common, known issue.

General Comments:

Despite the issues, this car is amazing. I bought it used, but well taken care of by the previous owner. The car was definitely in need of a little engine TLC due to the previous owner's financial limitations, but once the wear and tear issues were resolved, the car was perfect. I expect it to run well past 200k miles. It's a great daily driver and still gets heads turning.

Faults:

A/C Compressor clutch rattles when using A/C.

Rear differential 'chatters' during tight turns at low speed - especially when the car is 'cold'. I heard that this is normal. I'll have to see if changing the differential fluid will take care of this.

Idle fluctuates between 600 to 1000 rpm when the engine is cold. Sounds like a leaky vacuum line? However this problem is intermittent.

Valve cover gasket starts to leak.

On-Board-Computer screen pixels burned out.

Paint and clear-coat don't seem too durable. Easily chipped, especially on the forward section of the hood and on the front bumper. Before I installed the bra, I can almost spot 2 new stone chips every time I drove the car out of town.

General Comments:

I bought this car in Arizona from its second owner. When I got it, it has 69,000 miles. The previous owners really babied this car. Other than some stone chips and one small ding, I can hardly find any cosmetic flaw with the car. It's 100% stock and I plan to keep it that way. The engine pulls strong and the car handles like a dream.

Apparently the original owner didn't check any option box when he purchased this car in 95. Cruise control is there, but that's it. But hey, less things to break and worry about.

More on the engine:

Someone said that to love the E36 M3 is to love the S50 inline-6 engine. How true! The engine is so relaxed and yet power is ready anytime you need it. It sounds awesome too under acceleration. My one complaint: It needs more low-end torque (Even my previous car, a 1992 Camaro with a 305 engine, pulls harder at low RPM). But over 3500 RPM it really comes alive.

Handling:

As I mentioned, this car handles great! It communicates really well with the driver. Very predictable as well. The Limited Slip helps the car gain traction under hard acceleration. While I'm perfectly happy with the ride-and-handling of this car, some passenger complained about the hard seats and harsh ride ~ I live in Michigan and unfortunately smooth road is not a luxury we have around here.

Highly recommended! For a lot less money than a brand-new compact car, you can get one of the best sport cars ever made.