I just recently bought my first BMW. I picked up an Estoril Blue 1998 M3 coupe with 59k on it. I've always like the E36 M3s the best and have wanted one since they came out. It was a one owner and apparently sat quite a bit, although it apparently sat outside as the exterior is rough, but the interior and mechanical are in great shape. I've only had the car a month or two now, but I have to say that I'm sold. I will probably always have a BMW from now on. They just handle and feel so good to drive.
Nice M3. The clear lenses make it stand out more with this color. The exterior doesn't look rough at all. Did you give it a great polish after purshasing her?
Unfortunately it only looks clean from the distance. Get up close and you see paint variations and lots of dents and dings. It will need an overall paint job at some point. The exterior just was not taken very good care of. It came from the New York area so I'm assuming the previous owner probably parked it outside a lot and used public transportation hence the low mileage. I intend to "restore" it back to original shine as much as possible.
Good luck with it. Maybe with some ding king/paintless dent removal and elbow grease you might not need a full paint job.
Agreed. Certain products can work wonders at restoring the finish without repainting. Besides, a good paint job (not a cheap Maaco job) could cost over 4 grand! Do you really want them to strip out all of your interior and exterior panels and wiring just to paint the car? No. I think you should try restoring the finish instead of repainting it... ... unless you want to enter the car in concours. A beautiful M3, by the way. How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking?
I got it for around 14k out of state. I looked for a quite a while for an Estoril with no luck. The few I could find where overpriced and had lots of miles. This one was actually a one owner, just needs some TLC and the low mileage was a bonus.
I'm thinking of an E36 M3. Probably won't happen right this second, but I wouldn't mind having one. I have always owned 5 series and the xi fell on our laps last year. I have only test driven two M3's and they were both 98's. They were very fast . All of my bimmers are the poor man versions!
