This £30k BMW E36 M3 Is Another Sign The Car World's Gone Mad

Yes, someone really is selling an E36 M3 Evolution for almost £30,000. The worst part is, they're not alone...

14 Oct 2016

This £30k BMW E36 M3 Is Another Sign The Car World's Gone Mad

This is without a doubt one of the nicest E36 M3s I’ve seen for sale this year. The paintwork - the sought-after Techno Violet shade, by the way - looks to be immaculate, it’s apparently rust free, and it has done just 39,000 miles. Hell, even all the wheels perfect - either the three previous owners have all been very careful near curbs, or the rims have been refurbished recently.

The price for this slice of E36-shaped near-perfection? £28,995. Wait, what?

Yes, damn near £30,000, for which you could get an extremely tidy V8-powered E92 or - as a quick search in the classifieds confirms - a super-rare E36 M3 GT.

It doesn’t come as much as a surprise; prices of ‘modern classic’ cars like the E36 M3 are on the up, which means lower mileage examples are often put up for madly ambitious figures. In fact, we also found a ‘regular’ 3.0-litre E36 M3 with around 20k on the clock which is up for £29,940.

That’s a bonkers figure, especially since low mileage isn’t necessarily a good thing. 40,000 miles over 18 years - and most certainly 20,000 over 22 years for that 3.0-litre example - could indicate a car that’s spent a lot of time sat around. If you have any mechanical sympathy, you’ll know that cars generally don’t appreciate being sat inactive for long periods of time.

Our advice? Budget about half the price tag of this car, and go searching for a tidy, slightly higher mileage example. This E36 looks amazing, but it’s not £30k amazing.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

I thought european M3s has headlight washers? or is it an optional extra of the M3? wait I thought if you buy an M3 you’ll get the whole package? non-european here, help !

So what you’re saying is that changing hoses, gaskets and other standard wearables on a low mileage car is worse than getting a high mileage car? (Yeah, that is mechanical sympathy…) Also that this “perfect condition” car is at it’s initial price point 20 years after production is a bad thing? Sure, I too would like to have an M3 for 6k then put another 8k in it and still have a lemon.