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M3 evo

z1000

By z1000
in Scottish Scoobies

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aaron_mckay

aaron_mckay

Posted
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As in the E36 evolution model? Great car by all accounts, drove fantastic. Wouldnt touch one with a barge pole though. The Twin-Vanos that BMW used for the car was faulty as hell and quite regularly goes. Needless to say  its not cheap to fix, from recollection about #1000 for each vanos.

 

A quick look around the Autotrader you'll see plenty of ads along lines of 'Vanos replaced 5000 miles ago etc etc'. Some have had two, others more. Its a known problem to BMW and they replaced loads under warranty. Rather worryingly there didnt seem to be direct correlation to mileage covered. They just went!

When i done some research into them as i was thinking of one, general consensus all round was get the E36 M3. All BMW's normal reliability with the minor sacrifice of some ponies.

z1000

z1000

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I was only looking as i may have a chance to swap my landcruiser for one.

It apparantley has just had a service and has no vanos issues but not sure if they've ever been replaced but everywhere i read about them this is mentioned and i know a local guy who just spend over a grand on his.

Guess its just an expensive gamble if it buggers up after a mon.th

spooks

spooks

Posted
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E36 M3 Evo is a great car that is starting to show its age but its still class, yes its well know the Vanos GEARS (not the unit) start to get noisy but in most cases this is only a noise and rarely causes issues with loss of power.

Not much really goes wrong with them, rear trailing arm bushes, front wishbone bushes etc but overall pretty bullet proof. If you can go for one with a service history just after its had an Insp 2 service [:)]. Service and repair costs are rediculous (and trust me the techs dont benefit from that) but it makes subaru costs look like chicken feed.

E36 M3 Evo GT is IMHO the best of the bunch with the best looking rear spoiler, better seats on most and a few other wee touches as well as better resale value.

Now if you can I would get a E46 M3............ thats a whole new ball game altogether

Lemme know if you need any info/help

sheep

sheep

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Tommy t-cut on here just sold his to buy his scooby and it was a cracker i am sure he would also answer any question's you have, i am sure his had the limiter removed and could reach silly speeds but was rather tail happy on roundabouts[:)].

 

scoobyseller555

scoobyseller555

Posted
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Tommy t-cut on here just sold his to buy his scooby and it was a cracker i am sure he would also answer any question's you have, i am sure his had the limiter removed and could reach silly speeds but was rather tail happy on roundabouts[:D].

 

........................almost as tail happy as his new subaru[:)]

Gav

sheep

sheep

Posted
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Aye but i think he is still scared of the scooby < pressing the rear demister to select low boost >[:)]

And the worried look on his face when he thought he broke it last night!

scientific steve

scientific steve

Posted
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i had one, 4 door, boston green

LOVED IT, only bad thing was i had to buy a wee fiesta for running in winter when it snowed, it's also a bit interesting in the wet

have managed to get it wheel spinning in third going up the hill out of aberdeen :)

you can play about to your hearts content and then just pootle about and the car will take it all in its stride

sit in 4th and you can go from 45 - 120 (on a closed road)

it feels planted on the road, even though it's rear wheel drive, and you can feel when it's going to let go

even when it does you can control it with the right foot

i would go for it, but then i do like beemers [:$] 

 

 

z1000

z1000

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I've had a couple of E30 325's and one was a sport with a slip diff which was very interesting in the wet but also great fun [:)]

This one is tech voilet with grey vader interior, the only thing i'm not sure of is the walnut trim but i'm sure that can be changed.

What are they like to run ? mpg etc £600 service just done and that was at an independent so certainly aint cheap.

scientific steve

scientific steve

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on the onboard computer i could see about 28mpg when sitting at about 80-90 ish

and when you floor it it's like any other car, thirsty !

the one i had had a full bmw service history and i kept it going, so servicing and bits were a tad expensive

but how often do we change the oil and bits on scoobs?

WUZ

WUZ

Posted
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but how often do we change the oil and bits on scoobs?

Some of us more often than others........................................some of us haven't changed their Oil in a year..................then again there hasn't been an engine in the car to put Oil into[:)]

lessels

lessels

Posted
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i sold my scoob,had a few other cars,pulsar ect and got an m3 and wouldnt look back.i steered clear of the evo because of the said vanos problems and got the 3 litre single vanos "bombproof" engine.286bhp right out the packet with no turbo to wory about?as for the servicing,in my opinion,if you buy a 5-10 year old car,you would be far cheaper servicing it your self and forgetting the stamps,wont make much difference when come to sell and you will save hundreds every service.they aint as quick as a modded scoob but you wont break it.

z1000

z1000

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Going for a look tomorrow [:o] The only thing i'm not keen on is the walnut [+o(] a bit pipe and slippers but suppose its all the same when doing donuts [:)]

To be honest i would have bought a beemer ages ago but the missus was adament about the scoob and i just hope i'm not hooked on turbos and 4 wheel drive.

tommytcut

tommytcut

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owned an m3 evo for 4 years never had any problems with it.oil changed every 3-4 thousand mile,brake fluid, water,p/s fluid all checked regularly. serviced regularly (by myself) any major probs it went to the garage,only time it seen a garage was when i lost it going round a roundabout (or not) and ripped off the front spoiler. the car was an N reg Estoril Blue with 23,000 miles,sold it with 49,000 gen milage all receipts.would probably still have it if ralley6 and co had not talked me into a Scooby. still have some spares if anyone interested ie backbox, droplink, n/s foglamp

z1000

z1000

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Well i've gone and done it i'm now the owner of a purple beemer and it feels pretty good just cruising along but when the vanos kicks in boy does it go [:o]

Not had any scary moment yet but below 4000rpm it's pretty civilised and controlable.

I'll get some pics once its dry and i've given it a good wash and polish.

  • 2 weeks later...

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