The BMW E90 M3 - The long term Oppositelock Review

"E90M3" (e90m3) 10/02/2017 at 12:05 • Filed to: E90 M3, OPPOSITELOCK REVIEW

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First of all, before I get started with my review, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! There have been dozens of other reviews, so there is no reason to redo some that has been done before. No, I plan to focus on what it’s actually like to live with, what it’s been like to maintain, and what it’s been like to drive after three years of ownership.

Before we get started on that, let’s talk about the about the actual car itself. My car is a 2011 model year with an October 2010 build date. It is finished in Space Grey Metallic over Black Novillo Leather, and has the following options:

Metallic Paint - $550

Convenience Package - $2,900

Cold Weather Package - $1,000

Premium Package 2 - $2,500

Moonroof - $1,050

Satellite Radio - $350

Manual transmission - $Free.99

Add all those together, along with the base price of the car, $55,400, a destination charge, $875, and a gas guzzler tax, $1300, you get a car with an original MSRP of $65,925. That’s not exactly what I would call cheap. In fact, cheap is not a word that should be associated with this car.

Yes the window sticker has seen better days.

Cost seems like the perfect place to start. Now that the E9X M3s are down into the 20s some of you maybe salivating over the prospect of owning the only M3 with a V8. Before you do this, you have to be ready for those repair bills.

Maintenance

We might as well get this one of out the way early, and we might as well start with the elephant in the room: throttle position actuators. The S65B40 is the screaming V8 that comes standard in all E9X M3s. It has 8 individual throttle bodies. Just look at those glorious throttle bodies:

Now, take note of what is in between the bank. For those of you who haven’t had your S65B40 go into limp mode, you might be unaware of what these these are. They are the throttle position actuators; the E9X M3 has an electronic throttle, much like pretty much every modern car, my 1997 Explorer had an electronic throttle. They take the input from the throttle position sensor and turn this signal into the motion of opening and closing the individual throttle bodies. Now this part contains plastic gears. These gears wear out. This causes your throttle bodies to not open and close correctly, which then puts your car into limp mode, much like this:

When this happens, you need a new throttle position actuator. You might be thinking, oh they can’t be that expensive. Well, there is no easy way to put this, they’re $1100 , each. Just for the part, don’t forget labor. My first one failed at 24,833 miles and the second one at 36,116 miles.

While we’re on the subject of premature failures, apparently my thermostat had also gone bad. BMW of Tulsa fixed this when they took care of my first throttle position actuator. Luckily, that was only a $50 part.

Other than those two major hiccups, it’s been reliable. It reliably eats tires. I got a little over 24k on the original tires, Bridgestone Potenzas, and after only about 18k my Pilot Sport 2s are begging to be replaced. Fortunately, rear tires should be less than $300 a piece.

Oil changes take 9L of unicorn blood 10W-60 oil. At the dealer it costs a little more than $200; however, don’t forget to throw in that extra bottle of oil for top ups. I hadn’t experienced this problem until December of 2016 when I was in the middle of rural Alabama and my car tells me that we need more oil:

Other than this one time, my car hasn’t seemed to burn oil. I usually try and go about 7000 miles between changes. This time the oil had seen over 7000 miles. I topped it up and continued to drive until it’s annual oil change in March of 2017. Now this is when we talk about the other big maintenance item on an E9X M3, rod bearings.

Apparently they were a poor design and may people had seen premature failure. If not caught earlier enough, they could cause catastrophic engine failure, apparently it’s only around a $2,000 job if caught early enough. This leads to a lot of E9X M3 owners having oil analysis’s done on their cars. Likewise I figured I should have the same thing done:

It came back very clean. I should note, the oil that was analyzed had seen 9,606 miles. Remember how I mentioned that my car was a late 2010 build date? Well this is important because apparently in late 2010, they changed the rod bearing design. Doing some internet researching it seems that there haven’t been too many new cases of rod bearing failure.

Fuel Consumption

Economy? What is that? I get around 15 MPG per tank. I think in the entirety of my ownership I’ve gotten over 20 mpg on a tank a total of 3 times. This thing just drinks gas. In Atlanta rush hour traffic my mileage would be in the very low double digits. On straight interstate driving, I get around 18 MPG. Maybe I’m just a terrible economy driver or maybe that S65 just begs you to keep it in gear a little longer.

The Engine

There is just something special about this engine. I know some engines are objectively and subjectively better, but there is just something incredibly special about a V8 that screams all the way to its 8300 RPM redline.

It sounds fantastic, even still coupled to the stock exhaust. Put the windows down in a tunnel and take the S65 to its redline and you’ll understand.

To get any performance out of it, you have to grab it by the scruff of the neck and wring it out. It wants to rev. Once you’re about 50, there is a gear to keep it screaming above 5k. I find myself downshifting when I get off the highway on an offramp and get it back into third at 60, and just nailing it because I know the engine just wants to scream.

Steering

There is no other way to put this, it is phenomenal. It’s got this thing called servotronic which adjust the steering; basically it makes the steering feel the same at 10 MPH or 100 MPH. It just feels so right, there is a reason people have bitched about the steering in the new F80, it’s because the steering is so much better in the E90. Drive my E90 M3 and E92 328i back to back and you’ll understand why even a 5% difference here and there add up to so much more. The E92 328i isn’t a bad car, buy any measure, but put it against the M3 and the 20k price difference really shows.

Practicality

It’s got four doors and a large trunk. There really are no everyday situations that are flummoxed by the E90 M3. Unless there are 300 miles between gas stations, then yeah, take a differnt car. It’ll take four people in comfort and still scare the shit out of your passangers.

It’ll also eat up the miles. There have been several occasions I have put over 700 miles on the car in a day. It’s taken them in stride. It’s very comfortable to cruise in. On TX-130 Toll, the road with 85 MPH speed limits, it’ll cruise at over 100 MPH in 100°F weather all while blasting the AC and act like it’s nothing. It’ll even return 18 MPG. I drove from Corpus Christi to Tulsa on a June day and it took it all in stride.

Styling

I love all the little difference between the E90 M3 and a regular E90. The mirrors, the flared arches, the power bulge, the quad exhaust, the front air damn. Just all these little things add up. My phone is littered with random picture of my M3. There really isn’t a bad angle on this car.

After three years do you still want it?

Well, I did my due diligence and went and test drove both a DCT M4 and a 6MT F80 M3. I got back in my car and drove home with a massive smile on my face. The newest M3 is faster. 425hp is a damn lie; unless we’re talking about wheel horsepower. It is way faster than my car. Does that matter? No, the E90 is more fun to drive, has way more feedback. That auto rev match downshift was cool, but it’s not as rewarding as it is when I nail a downshift in my car.

So why the hell do you DD a 328i then?

Like I said, the E90 M3 is not cheap car. A differential oil service in my M3 costs $175 in unicorn tears oil alone. It drinks gas and eats tires. Yes it’ll eat up the miles, but at a cost. I’ve put 15k miles on my E92 328i in 6.5 months, something that would cost way more in the M3. If anything, having another E9X makes me appreciate my M3 more. It makes me realize how special my M3 really is.

In Conclusion

The E90 M3 is an incredible car, and if you can afford it and want one, get it. I would recommend a one owner low mileage car, like mine. It might not be the fastest car money can buy, but even years after it’s gone out of production, it might be one of the best.

random001 > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 12:16

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Why is your car so quiet?

#abarthlife

E90M3 > random001 10/02/2017 at 12:19

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It’s getting an exhaust, one day.

random001 > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 12:22

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Cute muffler!

#abarthlife2

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 12:46

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So, just for the hell of it(and because if I ever manage to get that promotion to the big building, I’ll buy one of these), and it looks like there is a guy in the UK that sells new gears for the actuators. He claims they are better, but even if they are only just as good, it’s $244 for new gears or $283 for gears and new mosfets(since apparently stripped gears sometimes blow out the mosfets on the PCB). Either way, even if it only lasts as long as the factory gears it’s a huge savings in trade for some sweat spent on the repair/rebuild.

Here’s the link: http://www.rebuild.org.uk/buy-replacement-kit/

E90M3 > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP 10/02/2017 at 12:48

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I have heard about people rebuilding them, that’s my plan if they go out again.

DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 12:53

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I love these kinds of reviews, good job!

So apparently a new M3 starts at what the sticker price for your car was. So does the new M3 feel $10,000 dollars (or more!) better in comparison?

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 12:56

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I’ve always had good luck with the BMW aftermarket rebuild parts. I’ve done my VANOS unit, Xenon headlights(the reflectors in mine have a tendency to yellow and get burn marks with age), and recently my DISA valve, and both have gone extremely well. It’s great that there is basically a cottage industry built around creating upgraded rebuild parts rather than having to get a whole new unit

Chariotoflove > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 12:58

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I hear two memes about german performance engines. One is about the precise German engineering. The other is about how expensive and unreliable these high strung engines are. These have always seemed contradictory to me. If BMW can make such a brilliantly engineered engine, why can’t they also make it reliable and affordable to maintain?

E90M3 > DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back 10/02/2017 at 13:01

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Thanks! I always enjoyed writing these reviews.

You get a lot more standard. It does feel 10k faster, the rest of it is about the same as my car. I’m a little biased toward the E9X cars, but the F80 isn’t a bad place to be.

E90M3 > Chariotoflove 10/02/2017 at 13:02

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Other than the TPAs, it’s been reliable. There are plenty of them out there with well into the 100k mile range.

Chariotoflove > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 13:09

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So if there are so many around, why are parts so expensive. It can’t be just because they are foreign.

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 13:18

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What is the website that you can find out when your car was built? And does it work on minis

E90M3 > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/02/2017 at 13:28

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You can look on the sticker on the side of the door, production is located there. I used http://bimmer.work/ to decode my VIN, since a Mini is also a BMW, there should be some sites out there.

E90M3 > Chariotoflove 10/02/2017 at 13:29

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They only made 50,000 E9X M3s, think about how many more F150s and Civics are out there.

dannyzabolotny > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 13:30

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Have you always had your car serviced by a mechanic/dealer? If you do the work yourself that makes the cost of ownership much lower. And lots of parts can be fixed versus replacing them, like the throttle actuators— you can replace the gears inside them which saves a small fortune.

Rod bearings are fairly easy to do if they need to be done. You just support the engine from above, drop the front subframe, and then you have pretty good access to the oil pan and rod bearings. I did the rod bearings on my 2000 M5, it was pretty easy and only cost about $700 in parts.

The old saying about BMW’s still holds true— you either need to be a DIY mechanic or have money to own one out of warranty.

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 13:31

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Great review! 9/10 times I prefer 2 doors but the rarity of the E90 M I think helps, and the design is quite muscular, very good looking. Something about the 2 door E9x M doesn’t really stand out to me. The new M4s also look very good.

Chariotoflove > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 13:33

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I somehow thought there would be more.

E90M3 > dannyzabolotny 10/02/2017 at 13:44

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I’ve never been in the position to actually work on the car myself. When the first TPA went out, I was 700 miles from home, and I had out of warranty BMW money. I also don’t completely trust myself to do some jobs. Like rod bearings, I’ll take it to someone. I don’t have the money to replace the engine if I mess it up.

It needs brakes, which I plan on doing myself.

E90M3 > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash 10/02/2017 at 13:47

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Thanks!

I don’t think the E92 M3 is a bad looking car, I just think the proportions on the E90 look that much better. It was certainly one of the reasons I got the E90 over the E92. That, and for some reason I always wanted a sedan. I think it has something to do with my first car, a 1997 Ford Explorer Sport, being a two door. Ironically, every other car I’ve owned, besides my M3, has been a coupe.

Nothing > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 13:52

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Cool write up. My neighbor in my previous neighborhood had one. De-catted, supercharged. When he first bought it, I thought...that’s a cool car. Time drove me to hate it. He DD’d it, which is fine. However, he religiously started it, revved the snot out of it, and then let it idle every damn day for 20 minutes, exactly. He also let it run for 15 minutes upon his return, exactly. I’m pretty positive he set a timer on his phone.

Our houses shared an alley, so his house was the one directly behind our house, and the garages are on the alley side.

I hope someday to find that car that I truly enjoy getting in and driving.

E90M3 > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/02/2017 at 14:09

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http://myminivin.com/ Looks like this might be what you’re looking for.

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 14:11

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Yup that’s what I’m looking for. Thanks

LongbowMkII > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 14:14

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It almost makes me want an M3! Almost. There is something magical about high strung n/a engines. Turbos are faster and better in many ways, but I’m never entranced by them (in factory form).

need to get that S2k paperwork sorted

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Nothing 10/02/2017 at 14:15

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Don’t hate the car. Hate the guy. No reason for the warm-up and cool-down he was doing...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 14:20

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Nice write-up!

On revised rod bearings (as of March ‘15)

Currently of the 47 entries:

22 are 2007/8/9/10 cars from a total production of 15203 cars @ an ave miles at failure of 61,500.

25 are 2011/12/13 cars from a total production of 15053 cars @ an ave miles at failure of 25,800.

The change in rod bearing spec occurred sometime around July/Aug 2010 (probably for the 2011 MY)

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=935368

Nothing > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/02/2017 at 14:41

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Oh, completely understood there. The guy was absurd.

Dru > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 15:36

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Man I love your car But hot take: I’ve always thought the e9x was ugly as sin. But the m3 treatment makes them gorgeous.

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/02/2017 at 16:06

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Ah, I wonder how many total failures there were and how many were caught early enough. I do believe that mine got the new rod bearings. I didn’t know about this when I bought the car, so I kinda lucked into that one.

The M3 was the first car I’ve bought, it was a learning experience, to say the least.

E90M3 > Dru 10/02/2017 at 16:24

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I hated the pre-LCI e90.

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 16:49

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Is the 4 door a little shorter in overall length? I think a shorter car with hips like those those quad exhausts all come together nicely for sure...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 17:00

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I’m pretty sure all of these were catastrophic failures...

I honestly don’t think the new ones are any better than the old ones when it comes to failures. The change was really just to get rid of the lead; it doesn’t seem like they changed actual tolerances or anything else. My uneducated hypothesis is that the issue is somehow related to improper assembly (over-torquing bolts?) - this would explain how two sets of rod bearings with the same mileage on them can look so much different. I’m hopeful that, since I’ve made it this far, I’m one of the lucky ones. [knocks wood] May still get them done as some point down the road - we’ll see.

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/02/2017 at 17:02

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Yeah who knows, could be several reasons. I’m hoping that I’m good, my oil analysis came back pretty clean.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 17:06

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Always a good sign! Mine looked great at 80k.

I’m guessing a lot of guys who drive these can help but push them hard before the oil is actually warmed up, and clearly, that’s going to contribute to the problem.

Vicente Esteve > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 18:55

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Very informative, excellent review.

Discerning > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 20:55

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I’ve been dying to see if my Q50 is quicker in a straight line than an e90 M3.

I heard mention of Atlanta. I too live in Atlanta...

E90M3 > Discerning 10/02/2017 at 21:01

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Living down in Chatham county now.

It would probably be pretty close, I’m not the best at launching my car and it likes to spin the tires.

Discerning > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 21:04

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I have an open diff and 225's in the rear. lol. I’m hoping to break 400whp soon, but I can’t find a dyno downtown to see where I’m at today.

E90M3 > Discerning 10/02/2017 at 21:06

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Hmm, then it might be interesting. I’ve got 265s in the back and an LSD. I’m actually surprised that your tires are that size. The rubber on the front of the 3 series is that size.

Discerning > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 21:16

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The new Q50 is available in two trims essentially: RS400 which has 245's in the back I think and non-sport, which comes with 225's.

I have the luxury non-sport. Only makes 300hp stock, but I have a tune and I’m running E30. Burger tuning made 415whp with a little less boost than me and running E30 on 91 octane. My current setup feels quicker than my old C5Z from a low roll. The torque comes on strong and the 7 speed is actually pretty quick.

Hoping to get wheels to accommodate 255's all around soon but I’m undecided on what kind would look good. Can’t even decide on the style just yet.

If anyone returns my calls, I’ll hopefully have some numbers before the end of the month. Guess no one wants to take my money just to put my car on the rollers for 15 minutes. lol.

I got this car for a pretty good deal and the intention was to just daily it and look for a side project (S30 or something like that). But I’ve already got the tune, looking for wheels and tires, and I know I’m going to go with unreasonably grippy and loud pads when I need to do brakes. Suspension is tempting, but I don’t want to lose the supple ride on the streets of East Atlanta and downtown.

E90M3 > Discerning 10/02/2017 at 21:21

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If you want to drive up to Alpharetta, there are some shops up there. I know my friend had his subaru tuned by Top Speed back in like 2010 or 2011.

I don’t blame you not not wanting to modify the suspension, ATL roads can be rough at time. Also understand the auto, few times I sat in traffic in the M3 killed my left leg. If I had found a job there I’d probably gone for an auto E93. I took my dad to the airport and was like we’re taking your car, I’m not sitting in traffic in the M3 when I have an auto car to drive. He’s got a DCT 135is.

Discerning > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 21:26

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I used to daily a C5Z with an aftermarket clutch from East Atlanta to Cobb Parkway area (new braves stadium location) every morning. Oddly enough, as tired as my left leg would be, my right knee and ankle would ache. Having to constantly gently tip into the throttle and get on to the brakes was killing my joints. Leave room to drive like a responsible person and 10 people butt in and you go nowhere.

I still miss having a manual though.

I might go up to Vengeance racing if I go OTP. They did work on my C5Z before and they have a pretty top quality shop. Though I might get some strange looks from some of the customers when I pull up in an Infiniti sedan. lol

Discerning > E90M3 10/02/2017 at 21:34

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I nearly got an E90 M3 in stead of the C5Z I had, but the manual really didn’t like to shift at high rpm and WOT. It would cooperate about 50% of the time. The other times, it was like I was missing the gate but I was definitely placing it correctly. Granted, they aren’t cars for the strip, but I was still surprised. Does yours ever do that?

E90M3 > Discerning 10/02/2017 at 21:39

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I have to turn DCS off if I really want to shift it hard otherwise traction control kicks in. Turn DCS off and it’ll shift no problem at high RPM and WOT. I regularly shift at 7k+ RPM. I will say, when I got the car the shifting was very sloppy. I took my car to BMW for an alignment and I think the tech noticed this and tightened up the shift linkage. Not sure if the bushings had gotten lose or something. It shifted so much better after that. Because I had gotten the car like that, I had assumed that was how it was supposed to be.

Azrek > E90M3 10/03/2017 at 08:16

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Good review. I bought my E92 M3 brand new and designed for me in 2011. It is like a first girlfriend for me. It is perfect as I don’t know anything better. My B5 2001 Audi S4 was pretty amazing as well, but this thing is just beastly.

I have to take it in tomorrow as my car went into limp mode twice, but restarting it fixed the problem...at least for now. I am still under Warranty, thank Amin Ra.

My warranty expires on Halloween and there is a part of me that stares at the 60,000 miles and wonders if it is time to get a new beast in the form of a hot hatch crossover like a Macan or similar. I want the offroad ability, but don’t want to give up the drivability of the car.

E90M3 > Azrek 10/03/2017 at 12:04

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Thanks! I wish I had the opportunity to get mine new. I was still in school when they went out of production.

It’s hard to find something else that offers all that this car offers.

Azrek > E90M3 10/03/2017 at 12:22

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Yeah, I find myself yelling at all the rental cars I get. They are soulless POS. I accuse it of being broken or built by monkeys.

I also told a BMW dealer that because of their massive change in design, they lost me as a future client. Their current lineup, save the M2, just sucks to me. And the M2 weighs more than my car?

I always explain my car as the Millennium Falcon. It is mine, I love it and treasure it. I know the qwirks, I can make .5 past lightspeed and I know a few maneuvers.

AfromanGTO > E90M3 10/06/2017 at 16:07

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Nice review! I wonder if you have bumped into Casey yet with his V8 M3? He’s up in the Pooler area too, and his just got out of the body shop.

E90M3 > AfromanGTO 10/06/2017 at 16:42

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I have not. The only person I’ve met here with an M3 also lives in my apartment complex and his name is Connor.

AfromanGTO > E90M3 10/07/2017 at 15:44

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That’s surprising. Casey works at Gulfstream, and had a white 4 door V8 M3, and now has a silver 2 door V8 M3. If you happen to bump into him tell him you know Afroman with the GTO. We went to high school and freshman year of college together. He went to school in Texas, and came back to the Savannah area.

E90M3 > AfromanGTO 10/08/2017 at 09:47

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Know if he goes to cars and coffee or anything like that?

AfromanGTO > E90M3 10/09/2017 at 16:19

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I don’t think he does. My friend Daniel is one of the people who host it. Run what You Brung racing that has shows in Pooler is Brandon’s thing. He has a Mustang.