2006 BMW M3

[Jake]

After the white E36 convertible was totaled thanks to some high flood waters and a bit of idiocy, I took a look at the state of my automotive union and realized I needed to do some test drives to figure out what I really wanted next.

There was talk of buying nothing. I just moved walking distance to a Metro station, so in theory I could Metro to work and drive my truck when I need wheels. That thought lasted about four days, as I decided shoving my face in a stranger's armpit is a less than pleasant way to commute home every afternoon. Driving the truck daily was tough - it averages 13 MPG in city driving and is big enough that parking in Arlington and DC is a hassle. So, I did need (and want) another "daily."

Rex was kind enough to start a thread where all of you can make a bunch of crackpipey suggestions that I largely ignore. It did get me out on some test drives though, with serious thoughts about a few other cars.

After driving some stuff and thinking 'bout some stuff, I ultimately realized that another BMW is what I wanted. My first thought was a 330ci, figuring it'd be a repeat of the white 'vert... cheap, easy to own, reliable, etc. Of course, I test drove one and it was exactly that... aka, boring as shit. It made me sad to drive because it drove like the white car, but with less of the "cool factor" that a 20-year-old BMW with cracked bumper and bent BBS's can only have.

On the way home from that 330ci test drive, I realized that shit, I'm 27 and have wanted an E46 M3 for a while now, I'm financially in a position to buy one, and the cars aren't getting much cheaper nor am I getting any younger so fuck it, that's what I'm buying next.

I decided on only blue paint, really didn't want a gray interior, refused to buy an SMG, and preferred a convertible but would have considered a coupe with sunroof. Test drove a few locally and started putting feelers out on forums. I figured a drive to get the car would be "easy enough" so long as I didn't fly to California.

The probably stolen Mystic Blue one
I found a Mystic Blue on Cinnamon 'vert in Brooklyn and called the seller about it. I was supposed to go up this past Monday to buy it, but he completely ghosted me after we made all plans. The car had smoked taillights, awful wheels and North Carolina tags on it, and the seller really didn't want to accept a cashier's check ("Cash only man, I don't trust banks") so while I was sad for the missed opportunity of bright blue paint, I was not sad to miss a day trip of traveling to Brooklyn to be mugged.

The one I bought
The seller found me on E46Fanatics and said he had a Carbon Black/Cinnamon convertible (6MT) and an Imola/Black coupe (SMG). Obviously, dibs on the 'vert.

Joey and I had been discussing all of these potential purchases (while trying to keep a secret from most of you clowns) and both thought this one was a good candidate to become mine. The only caveat was that it was in Richmond.

Richmond, Indiana. Which is a lot farther from home than Richmond, Virginia.

Some quick math at work revealed we could fly out and drive the car home in one day if we timed everything right. So, I started talking to the seller and asked what he was doing on Saturday, October 15th. And I bought some plane tickets.



The Purchase
Buying one-way plane tickets for a Saturday flight on a Wednesday means you're at the mercy of the airline as to the price you'd pay. Each ticket was going to be $355 hock: which made the trip kinda not worth it. Thankfully, I had some leftover points on a credit card and got our two tickets for the sum of $11 in tax. Trip is now worth it.

We each took an Uber from our homes to Reagan Airport and met in the lobby at 7 AM on Saturday, for an 8:15 AM flight to Dayton, Ohio. After a breeze through the strip-down-lift-your-arms-turn-and-cough TSA line, Joey grabbed an OJ and I found some coffee. We boarded a German-made bus that took us to the Miata of airplanes, operated by Air Wisconsin, don'tchaknow.





Our flight was easy... only 18 passengers meant everyone got their own row to stretch out. The flight lasted maybe an hour. We were at the airport's Starbucks enjoying another drink 10 minutes before our scheduled landing time.







I texted Don, the seller, and told him to meet us in front of the airport... which is small enough to have the parking structure across from the terminal. Joey noticed the Avis sign hanging in a window and I mused about what I could rent for $39 a day if this M3 sucked and we had to get home.

He pulled up with his girlfriend behind him in a white Ford Escape. He hopped in with her and gave Joey and I the M3 so we could test drive as we followed them to his bank, back in Richmond, IN - about a 45 minute drive due west. We made it to the bank with nearly an hour to spare before they closed at noon. The car was as represented, so I bought it!







Don took us back to his place, two blocks away, to get the rest of the paperwork and a few spare parts for the car. My goal was to be on the road by noon, and at 11:50 we pulled away from Don's house, with Joey's address entered into the car's navigation system and Waze on our phones.



The Drive Home
We stopped to fill the tank before leaving Indiana, with our sights set on Columbus, Ohio for lunch at Chipotle. We did this first leg of the drive with the top down, and figured after the novelty of the convertible wore off and the food comas set in, we'd do the rest of the drive with it up. Less wind noise and buffeting = more energy for the drive.







After Chipotle, Joey took the wheel and pointed the car east on I-70. Traffic was light all day and speed limits were 70 mph for the most part, which meant we could make some serious time. I fiddled with the crappy FM transmitter I bought for this trip (the car only supports FM and CDs stock) and took some photos. Both of us had the idea of "just get home" versus trying to meander and sightsee, so our only pit stop was in Morgantown, West Virginia to refuel and change drivers.



The stop at the Sheetz in Morgantown was brief, just enough time to refuel, clean the windshield, and grab some energy drinks before I hopped in the driver's seat and we pressed on.



Semi-trucks were blowing our doors off when we were doing 75-80, minivans were hustling at 85, so we uh, kept up. :thumbup: Miles kept ticking by and the car was a peach, very happy to just sit there at whatever speed all day long.







Waze and the car had both estimated an 8:15 PM arrival at Joey's place in Ashburn, and we pulled into his driveway at 8:18. Right on. Snapped a few photos of my new car with his E36 M3 and I headed to Alexandria, top back down and seat heater on high.



I made it home right around 9:00 - put the roof up, took one final photo and walked up the stairs for some leftovers and a cold beer, shaking my head in disbelief that I was back home after being in Indiana the same day.



Joey deserves a HUGE amount of kudos and thank-yous for coming with me on short notice to make this happen. It would have been a crappy trip to take alone but going with a friend made it a lot of fun. Counting the Uber rides and flight, we covered over 1,000 miles and six states in roughly 14 hours. Pretty crazy. The whole trip felt very Top Gear esque and I wholeheartedly recommend everyone else do this once in their lives (at least). Great experience.

The car, tell me about that

• 2006 BMW M3
  
• Carbon Black over Cinnamon
  
• 6MT
  
• 126,500 miles as of parking it last night
  
• E92 M3 (?) 19" wheels with newish tires
  
• Xenons, heated seats, park distance control, headlight washers, Harman/Kardon audio
  
• Eibach lowering springs
  
• Feels like some sort of short shifter
  
• Warranty for the next year or 12k miles (seller bought a 4-year warranty when he bought the car and it can transfer to me)

I'm swapping out the black kidneys for chrome thanks to Mr. Felton - I prefer the more contrasty look of chrome against the navy blue paint. The steering wheel has some heavy wear at the top so I am trying to buy a nicer one. Should be cheap from someone building a racecar. The driver's seat bolster has a small tear, as they all do. The passenger seat has a tear from a knife when the car was broken into about six months ago. Joey found a leather repair kit that will fix it easily.

Other than those couple of cosmetic things, it's in really good shape and drives very well. The PO hit a semi truck chunk of tire on the highway and had to have the bumper, radiator, foglights and engine fan replaced. He took it to EAG for that work. All other maintenance has been done at the local BMW dealership.

Pretty pumped about this new "daily beater" of mine... I'm sure she'll see some pace car laps and autocrosses to break up the monotony of being a strict commuter!

[WRXtranceformed]

Very choice and nice work on the trip timing! As someone that flies constantly, it's rare that plane trip timing works out as expected (unless you fly into the boondocks like you did). Normally I would say "eh be careful of a high mileage German car" but it sounds like it was well taken care of and sorted by the previous owner, has some warranty left and with the short commuting distances up there you probably won't put much mileage on it anyway! I can appreciate the work that goes into finding a good example of a particular car you want, I had to work out some ridiculousness to get my old Jag from a dealer in Wisconsin. Looking forward to updates on this one!

[*insertusernamehere*]

Yaaassss. Love the color combo. That's what really makes it for me. It's not just another e46 m3. Gives it a nice flair. Ballin man!

[ispoonwithmugen]

So killer. Almost convincing me on getting an E46 M3...

[Senor_Taylor]

So cool! I can't wait to do something like this. I can't wait for you to scare a freshmen to death on a cruise up 33 real soon. Since you have the latest model year E46, is there anything better about it than other M3s people in MM have had?

[.RJ]

is there anything better about it than other M3s people in MM have had?

Jake can drop the top and let his chest hair flow in the breeze

[Senor_Taylor]

is there anything better about it than other M3s people in MM have had?

Jake can drop the top and let his chest hair flow in the breeze

So you're saying my Miata is better than an E46 M3? I've always suspected that was the case...

[Jake]

Since you have the latest model year E46, is there anything better about it than other M3s people in MM have had?

Minus the chest hair bit, I dunno. The 2003.5-2006 cars had LED taillights and I believe came slightly more well-optioned. They were also, in theory, less affected by the rod bearing and subframe issues, although from what I know an S54 is an S54 and all the trunk floors are made of tissue paper.

[Beej]

Super jelly of the Cinnamon. What an awesome color to look at every day. :thumbup:

My New M3 Route From OH was from Cincy to Norfolk, so I wonder how similar they were. I'm sure you were more focused on the car than the roads, too.

2003.5+ rod bearing thing ain't a theory. Before that was a guaranteed asplosion - after, the jury is out. Ima Blackstone and chill until at least 150k. Trunk floor...you're spot on. Funny how few cars have actually fallen apart, though.

Anyway, super duper approve of the purchase! And on top of that, successful long distance purchases of cars restores my faith in humanity a bit. Cheers man. Just say no to black grilles.

[davej]

[youtube]FPQlXNH36mI[/youtube]

Nicely done, guys! In all honesty, I was looking forward to the NYC car and hearing what happened after you woke up in Jersey, missing a kidney; but this was pretty good also. Congrats on the new beater.

[D_Eclipse9916]

2003.5+ rod bearing thing ain't a theory. Before that was a guaranteed asplosion - after, the jury is out. Ima Blackstone and chill until at least 150k. Trunk floor...you're spot on. Funny how few cars have actually fallen apart, though.

Replace your rod bearings. As someone who has done a shit ton of them on multiple early/late motors...replace them.

My mom's M3 had the recall done at 30k miles...and when I pulled them, they needed replacing again. It's $317 shipped through the group buy, but a lot of labor (most shops charge $1500-2k for the job). For a street car every 100k is fine.

Shit I bought a stupid expensive electronic torque wrench for all the rod bearing jobs I was doing. :lol: (have 2 more before the end of the year already booked)

[CaptainHenreh]

Replace your rod bearings. As someone who has done a shit ton of them on multiple early/late motors...replace them.

My mom's M3 had the recall done at 30k miles...and when I pulled them, they needed replacing again. It's $317 shipped through the group buy, but a lot of labor (most shops charge $1500-2k for the job). For a street car every 100k is fine.

Shit I bought a stupid expensive electronic torque wrench for all the rod bearing jobs I was doing. :lol: (have 2 more before the end of the year already booked)

Remember kids: Subarus are junk.

[Goodspeed]

Congrats on the purchase! So I see that "Carbon Black" is really the darkest blue that ever was? Those silly Germans

[D_Eclipse9916]

Remember kids: Subarus are junk.

Fun "ain't" free :lol:

[ScottyB]

very choice Jake! i'm really not a ragtop guy but that's a sharp-ass car. so glad you didn't do the brooklyn color combo either, the black on tan looks so perfect.

my sister lives in Indy so i've been out that way a couple times from VA or GA and i totally get how far of a drive that is. it really is nutty to think you can pound breakfast, jaunt on over, buy a car and jam back in time for a late dinner on your couch. bravo for taking a big 'ol shot of "F it i'm going" and doing a cool adventure.

all of you can make a bunch of crackpipey suggestions

just think, you could be driving a Grand National right now!

[SlimKlim]

1.) Flying is at least 1000x better when I get an extra seat to spread all my crap out and I can shove my feet under the seat in front of me into what would've been the next guy's legroom.

2.) Our pilot knew what we were doing. I swear he hit the throttles to take off a bit more aggressively than usual.

3.) Indiana is really far from Virginia

4.) The car is quite content to cruise at [REDACTED] until it runs out of fuel, and then do it again.

5.) S54s have no torque. None. Overtaking on an Ohio highway by slotting down three gears felt a little bit like entering the nuclear launch codes and turning two keys at the same time. It's still getting into its groove as you cross 7000rpms.

6.) About halfway through my ~220 mile driving stint, I started doing some of the weird shit I do with my car. Like rubbing the dashboard apologetically after a particularly jarring. Towards the end of my stint, after a couple 3rd gear pulls, I realized I'd fucked around and fell in love with what was supposed to be a one time fling. I could only manage a resentful glare at my cars as I passed them in the garage.

bravo for taking a big 'ol shot of "F it i'm going" and doing a cool adventure.!

Last week we thought it might be smart to bring a toothbrush/change of sock/undewear just to plan for the unexpected. Then we decided fuck that defeatist shit. DC or Bust. :thumbup:

Remember kids: Subarus are junk.

But E46s don't look like they were designed by Fisher-Price so there's that.

Replace your rod bearings.

Too much work. Time for LS swap. :thumbup:

[Jake]

Congrats on the purchase! So I see that "Carbon Black" is really the darkest blue that ever was? Those silly Germans

It's metallic navy blue, really. That said, I put "Black" on the registration because that's what BMW calls it.

DMV was an easy process this morning, just need to take it for an inspection now.

It had tinted windows that I feared would be too dark to pass. I grabbed a razor blade yesterday morning and figured I'd see what I could do with a little patience. To my surprise, each window peeled right off in one big sheet. Some aerosol adhesive remover took the glue off easily, too. All is well, although I'm pretty sure the damn windshield is tinted, too. You can feel the ridge of tint up in the corners. So, removal of that (and subsequent cleanup) is tonight's project - then I'll find a sketchy gas station and get a sticker slapped on 'er.

[Jake]

5.) S54s have no torque. None. Overtaking on an Ohio highway by slotting down three gears felt a little bit like entering the nuclear launch codes and turning two keys at the same time. It's still getting into its groove as you cross 7000rpms.

Oh, yeah, this. The motor is really happier when you're beating on it.

[RawrImAMonster]

What are we up to? 4 E46 M3's in MM now, I think.

Congrats on the purchase. They are a lot of fun. I recommend putting a second factory resonator in section 1 to rid yourself of the typical rasp these cars have. That's pretty much the cheapest option.

[SlimKlim]

Oh yeah and 7.) Punk music is best music when you're trying to make time on a road trip.