[Shea-bird]

OK so a buddy of mine from a part time job is selling his '02 M3. He is a BMW/car guy who takes great care of his rides and goes to a top area euro indy mech.

the car has 118k. Exterior is beautiful, and the Interior is very well kept as well.

I ran the carfax last night but before that my friend told me he thought the engine/trans was replaced around 67k. My first inclination was the rod bearing went, or something of that nature. so I pull the carfax and it says the transmission was replaced, no speak of the engine.

The car runs great. we took it on a 30 min test drive the other day. but it seems like a lot of repairs were done at a very early time from the looks of carfax.

here are a few that caught me by surprise. BTW, it was serviced at BMW dealerships regularly until 94k when my friend bought it.

25k- clutch replacement
35k- alternator/generator replaced
45k- sunroof frame and sunroof replaced

around 55-65k transmission replaced, engine power train computer module checked.

2 months later- steering column replaced


is this normal maintenance on these cars to replace major parts like this??!

the carfax report checks out with no major damage, etc, etc.


I just want to call BMW and find out of the service actions/recalls have been completed. Otherwise the car seems impeccable

My friend did all fluids at 100k. fuel pump/filter and a few other small things. I am ready if purchase and am prepared to change out whole cooling system very shortly


anything else???

THANKS

[m3816]

two ways to look at it. lots of parts have been replaced so you are better off, Or the car was assembled Friday afternoon.

[Shea-bird]

Exactly what I was thinking...got all the bad parts off the car.

What makes me feel better, is that my buddy has had the car for over 2 years with no problems. if the service actions check out I think I am go for it

ohh, he's asking 13,900

[PenguinQX]

That's a LOT of major parts that were replaced, definitely not "normal". To give you an idea, I'm still on my stock clutch at over 60k miles w/ a supercharger.

However, if your buddy has had the car for 2 full years w/ no issues and has maintained the car properly, sounds like there's nothing to worry about?

[EYEHAVEYOU]

Seems a bit excessive to have all those parts replaced, again could be a good or bad thing.

Have the car properly inspected somewhere. Make sure they check the subframe mount points for cracks. At $13,800 it's a very good price, just keep in mind the maintenace cost is commesurate with a $50K car. Also check when the last valve adjustment was.

[Shea-bird]

Those were my thoughts...maybe paranoid early owner???

It ran and sounds like a beast. He takes it to a rep. mech and takes very good care of it

the fact that it was serviced at dealerships before he bought it also makes me feel a bit better.

just got off the phone with one of the previous dealers and he checked the bmw online site and said there were no open recalls or service actions on the vehicle. Even though its over 100k, it would still show correct?

he even said a software update was done fairly recently in PA, which must have been my friend.

so I am looking at a vavle adjustment at some point soon, cooling system, and reg maint. it seems.

[Shea-bird]

Originally Posted by EYEHAVEYOU

Seems a bit excessive to have all those parts replaced, again could be a good or bad thing.

Have the car properly inspected somewhere. Make sure they check the subframe mount points for cracks. At $13,800 it's a very good price, just keep in mind the maintenace cost is commesurate with a $50K car. Also check when the last valve adjustment was.

Thanks!, the service rep I just spoke with said the last vavle adjust on record was at 75k. I have to find out if my friend did one recently or not. otherwise that is something that has to be done ASAP. Yes I do realize the residual costs add up but I am willing to deal with that. I figure if I can get through with replacing a few key components in the near future it should last a while.

[Foo2rama]

If your buddy had it for 2 years and it was fine then go for it. All of that being repaired that early is pretty odd. it may have been driven really hard, really poorly, friday afternoon car, or paranoid owner.

But again if someone had it for 2 years with no issues then I would say it should be ok.

[CAN HAZ M3]

You get what you pay for... I hope it works out for you. Mine didn't...

[RedM3/4]

do you have all maint records from BMW? If they won't give them to you, they might bring them up and answer questions. Shocks/struts, fcabs, rtabs done? almost time for a second set of bushings unless done recently.
Is it an SMG tranny? If so, especially early days, they were clueless how to work on them and wholesale replaced trannies, clutches, etc. Kind of the same on sunroof; usually the shade comes off track, less than $100 DIY, but under warranty, they probably just replaced it. If not an SMG, a clutch at 25k likely says the car was beat to death in it's early years.
However, if records are good and PPI checks out, I'd not be overly worried about repairs that happened long ago; if not properly done they'd have failed by now.
Have you looked at other cars, priced similar ones, done an Edmunds.com eval? Not trying to steer you away, but always start with some objective comparisons.

Describe all fluids? Brake, coolant, power steering, tranny, diff? Great, did he use BMW OE fluids? Or oil change, topped off brakes, washer fluid and radiator like a Valvoline quickchange place? 10W60 TWS oil?

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