Who has got $13.5k lying around and needs a manual E91? 

"E90M3" (e90m3) 03/29/2019 at 09:37 • Filed to: unnecessary car shopping with E90M3

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Today in unnecessary car shopping with E90M3, we find !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Shifty boi

I quite like the interior color, and it looks like its held up well over 8 years and 127k miles. If the pictures are to be believed, this car looks remarkably clean.

I wonder how many coils this car has gone through

At $ 13.5k it is a bit much for an 8 year old BMW with almost 130k on it, but since not many people bought manual wagons new, they seem to retain a substantial premium over their automatic brethren .

functionoverfashion > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 09:45

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gimmegimmegimmegimmegimmegimmegimmegimme

A friend actually sent me a link to another manual BMW wagon today. An E46, manual, sport package, awd, with 100k. $4,700. I’d buy that in a second. If I was necessary car shopping, that is. 

Azrek > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 09:51

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I do! But don’t want... ...I have a job gap coming up...ugh...

Also, how do you deal with folks who have the same car as you, but tricked out to the gills? Dude with the same color M3 as us beat his way through traffic to get to me and discuss the car and went to the Carwash with me. He had roughly 20k in mods done to the poor M3 and up to 500+ HPs.
I think my normal stoic face failed me as he explained what he did to the poor M3.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 09:55

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Silver with grey interior hurts though

E90M3 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 03/29/2019 at 10:00

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It’s not really silver, it’s a dark grey. Same color as my M3.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 10:01

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Theirs d oesn’t seem to photograph as well as yours

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 10:02

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“...xDrive”

Ugh. I’ve been looking for an E46 touring or an E91, and 90% of them are AWD and it makes me want to hurl.

UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy > Azrek 03/29/2019 at 10:03

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What do you mean by dealing with them? For me, most Fo ST owners have full modded cars or at least bolt ons and question me constantly why I won’t mod mine. I simply explain I want to spend my money on other things and don’t feel the need to modify it, I’m perfectly happy with how it is as  stock and reliable (with a warranty)

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 10:06

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Was your picture edited in any way? Your body color looks waaaay better than the wagon pictures.

Azrek > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy 03/29/2019 at 10:09

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It was like getting hustled...as they had all these parts, bits and recommendations to my car. I am very stoic, so I just stood there. Can we just discuss why we love our cars and not chase getting that extra +5Horsepower?
The E9X M3 has 414hps. It is kinda silly how powerful the car is and how fast I destroy tires on my daily drives. 

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy 03/29/2019 at 10:11

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To be fair the FoST loves mods. My friend has hers making 400+ ft/lbs at 2500 rpm. I'm not convinced it's not a diesel.

E90M3 > Azrek 03/29/2019 at 10:12

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I haven’t really met anyone with a modded E9X, I don’t really mind it as long as people take care of it. It seems like those engines will take a decent amount of boost. However, since you can get a turbo M3 from the factory , it doesn’t really make sense to do an aspiration conversion on an E9X.

E90M3 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 03/29/2019 at 10:13

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I think it might be down to the lighting, since my picture isn’t edited in anyway. 

E90M3 > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney 03/29/2019 at 10:13

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Yeah, but since no one bought the 6MT RWD wagons new, this is what we’re left with.

WilliamsSW > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/29/2019 at 10:17

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40 0 ftlb at 2500?? Impressive!

Is torque steer an issue?

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > WilliamsSW 03/29/2019 at 10:20

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Yup. Excuse the ghetto phone crop, her name's in the graph title. I haven't asked but I would imagine torque steer is an issue. Tuned for daily driving and autocross so not much gain on the top but a super meaty low end.

ttyymmnn > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 10:21

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Who has got $13.5k lying around and needs a manual E91?

Looks like I’m one out of two.  

WilliamsSW > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/29/2019 at 10:25

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Looks like there’s 400 lbft down around 2100 or so even.

I’m with her, I love having a shitload of torque down at the bottom. I’m sure that’s a lot of fun - I have a bit more torque than that, but my car weighs 4400 lb.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 10:50

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I really don’t want to hear your logic and reason.

BreakMyWallet > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 03/29/2019 at 10:55

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Overcast is the best light for shootin’ outdoors. The wagon seems to have been shot in bright sunlight, which is a lot harsher

BreakMyWallet > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney 03/29/2019 at 11:03

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Went three months carless before I found my E46 touring. That said, there’s a fair amount floating around if (a) you’re willing to travel to get the correct one and (b) if you want a manual, you’re ok with waiting a long time and paying a premium or converting an auto car.

UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/29/2019 at 11:28

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It loves mods but also loves to leave piston #1 back at the last stop light too

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > E90M3 03/29/2019 at 12:43

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ah gotcha, just awesome photographing conditions it is!

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > BreakMyWallet 03/29/2019 at 12:43

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Yeah, good observation!

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > E90M3 07/24/2020 at 19:10

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Replying to an old post I know. Thought I had your email somewhere but couldn’t find it... So a 2006 E91 325xi 6MT just popped up for sale a few blocks away from me. Asking $6k - that’s impulse buy money for me right now . I’ve never even seen a manual E91 in person before. Looked it over from outside, seems clean, but no idea of miles.  How terrible of an idea is this?

E90M3 > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 07/25/2020 at 11:02

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I think you should have my phone number, my name is James and area code is 770. If you don’t, feel free to send an email to e 90m3oppo@gmail.com; that’s my handshake email, I’ll respond with my real email. If you do send me an email, just let me know as I don’t check that account frequently.

Now the car; 6k seems like it could be a fair price, but that really comes down to miles and options. If it’s a single owner with under 150k miles on it, I’d say that’s probably a great price. The main problems with these cars, that I’ve had are the coils failing and the gaskets leaking. I’ve had two coils fail on me, but that’s a pretty easy fix and due to engine location, that’s a pretty easy thing to take care of yourself. Gaskets are a different story, head gaskets seem to be solid other gaskets like oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gaskets were leaking so much oil in my 3 that it was burning oil on the exhaust manifold. I had those replaced in early 2018.

I’ve heard the earlier N52s had VANOS problems, but I heard that was also rectified in ~2007, so I haven’t investigated that too much. They also electronic water pumps that apparently fail 75-100k miles. Mine is original to my 3 and it’s got 93k on it. It looks like a pain in the ass to replace, but I probably should soon and a kit is only ~$400.

So, it’s not a terrible idea if it’s in decent shape. I’ve put 53k miles on my 328i since I got in in March 2017 without issues besides the coils and gaskets. I did nail a rock and need a new rim and tire but that wasn’t the car’s fault.

If the wife is on board, then this might be a fun car to have for a little. I’d check it out in person, if I wasn’t all the way across the country. 

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > E90M3 07/25/2020 at 11:07

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Thanks! I do have your phone number.  That must be what I was thinking of.  I’ll drive back by and ping the owner.  There’s been a lot of people looking in the window but I’m guessing a lot of them bail as soon as they see the stick.  Wife is onboard.  She loves European wagons and almost bought a Jetta wagon when we got the Outback.  She still doesn’t know how to drive a manual despite us having at least one consistently since 2010 but said she’d learn if I bought this.  Would be temporary - We are both all in on a Bronco once you can get one for sticker but that’ll be a year or two. 

E90M3 > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 07/25/2020 at 11:11

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Might as well ping the owner and go from there. Feel free to text, and sounds like you’ve got a plan! 

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > E90M3 07/25/2020 at 13:24

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Thanks again! So it has 198,000 miles. That’s... a lot.  And it has out-of-state tags.   I’m gonna have to probably sleep on it a day here. Even for a temporary thing that’s getting above what I really feel comfortable with. But its still kinda tempting just because it’ s so rare.

E90M3 > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 07/25/2020 at 21:57

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I think it’s worth around 4500 with those miles. Might be more if it’s in fantastic shape. Did you speak with the owner? 

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > E90M3 07/26/2020 at 00:12

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I didn’t. My wife vetoed it when she heard 200k. :(  Said it wasn’t about the money and more about it was more just that anything with that many miles risks being too much of a project to keep on the road.

E90M3 > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 07/26/2020 at 12:15

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Aw man! Well, there are others out there, just gotta keep a more active look out for one.