Hi, Im looking to get a 2006 m3. I would like to ask for your experience (new and certified preowned owners) regarding repairs and upkeep in a year of ownership...2 years of ownership so on and so forth.
The reason i ask this, Is because this will be my first car and I wanna know what ill be spending to keep the car in great condition.

also do you guys feed yours super or regular fuel? any difference in engine wear and tear or any noticeable difference in performance?

thank you very much.


future m3 owner

super or i use 94.

This is your first car? Maintenance will be pretty easy though, all the kinks have been worked out through the last 5 years or so. Just keep up w/ reg maintenance and you'll be fine.

cool, jesusfreak.

Yeah this will be my first car M3bimmer. I plan on gettin it early january loaded and I plan on adding a hardrive with access through the console somehow to access mp3 files and movies.

You just helped me out alot, with your comment about maintenance. I figured the repairs would be steep, but i have heard beemers are built extremely well. :D

BMW will tell you to change the oil every 12000 miles.... Use your good judgement on this... Have you ever heard of a breakthrough in everlasting oil??? No... They just say this to make the cost-of-ownership of these cars seem cheaper as a marketing scam... My oninion, go out and buy yourself some of that expensive 10w-60 from the dealer and change it religously every 3000-5000 miles between service intervals(depending how u like to drive)... Given the history of these motors blowing up(although yours is probably been rectified) it would be in your best interest... All in all, my only problems with the car so far is the dreaded window trim on the inside of the car... There's a piece of velvet that lines the door frame that ALWAYS break apart..... If you garage your car this shouldn't be a problem... But if its gonna be kept outside, you'll be at the dealership pretty often for warranty service...

BMW will tell you to change the oil every 12000 miles.... Use your good judgement on this... Have you ever heard of a breakthrough in everlasting oil??? No... They just say this to make the cost-of-ownership of these cars seem cheaper as a marketing scam... My oninion, go out and buy yourself some of that expensive 10w-60 from the dealer and change it religously every 3000-5000 miles between service intervals(depending how u like to drive)... Given the history of these motors blowing up(although yours is probably been rectified) it would be in your best interest... All in all, my only problems with the car so far is the dreaded window trim on the inside of the car... There's a piece of velvet that lines the door frame that ALWAYS break apart..... If you garage your car this shouldn't be a problem... But if its gonna be kept outside, you'll be at the dealership pretty often for warranty service...
12 k miles or 1.2k miles? :eyecrazy

How long is the warranty service? ! year 2 year?

Is this trim under the competition package option?

How much does the trim cost without the warranty? 100$??

sorry for all the questions, I just wanna be well informed. :help

the window trim is on all these cars.

BMW will tell you to change your oil every "15,000" miles, not 12k and changing it at 3k is just plain wasting your money.
If it helpy with your piece of mind then go ahead, but with the new Synth oils which actually bet better with some age you would be changing the oil when it was just hitting it's fullest potential.

however.com, 15k is a bit of a stretch.
many of us split the difference and do an oil change at 7.5 k.

not sure what the warranty on the 06 will be, but on the 03 it was 50k or 4 years. with 6years 100k on the motor.
earlier models had a 3/36 limit.

the window trim is on all these cars.

BMW will tell you to change your oil every "15,000" miles, not 12k and changing it at 3k is just plain wasting your money.
If it helpy with your piece of mind then go ahead, but with the new Synth oils which actually bet better with some age you would be changing the oil when it was just hitting it's fullest potential.

however.com, 15k is a bit of a stretch.
many of us split the difference and do an oil change at 7.5 k.

not sure what the warranty on the 06 will be, but on the 03 it was 50k or 4 years. with 6years 100k on the motor.
earlier models had a 3/36 limit.
awesome info, thanx :buttrock

I thought it was every 15K as well.

I'd like to hear from someone who's only been having their oil changed every 15K or close to that for a few years, how it's working out or if they've noticed any problems.

If you drive your car harder, say take it to the track and stuff it would be better to change the oil more often?

Iguess that doesnt apply to me, since i believe i will only be putting like 10k on it a year. Since i wont be driving it hard and putting 15k a year on it, i assume changing the oil every six months is better? Or should I stick to the 7.5k that Cowboy bebop ( your sig is crazy :) I cant wait to get mine :D )stated?

I plan on buying the car, not leasing it or selling it ever. I plan on doing some media mods to it, as long as i dont have to butcher anything to it. I will be working with a pc team thats very good at integrating systems and wiring. They do websites and hti stuff too, not really into the car thing. Theyre just doing me a favor.

Check this out:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rsportscars.com/foto/07/m3gtrstreet01_engine.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/bmw_m3gtr.asp&h=375&w=500&sz=56&tbnid=LQ3cEErot6AJ:&tbnh=95&tbnw=127&hl=en&start=20&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dm3%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c lient%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official_s%26sa%3DN

cool, jesusfreak.

Yeah this will be my first car M3bimmer. I plan on gettin it early january loaded and I plan on adding a hardrive with access through the console somehow to access mp3 files and movies.

You just helped me out alot, with your comment about maintenance. I figured the repairs would be steep, but i have heard beemers are built extremely well. :D
i got this for movies, and i have my ipod conected to it, i get full menu from my iPod on the screan, i love it, its def. my favorite thing in the car.
i also have 2 subs pushing 1000+ wats :buttrock

i got this for movies, and i have my ipod conected to it, i get full menu from my iPod on the screan, i love it, its def. my favorite thing in the car.
i also have 2 subs pushing 1000+ wats :buttrock
thats pretty cool, 2k watts!! :eyecrazy :eyecrazy Thats some crazy sound!! How much for the subs if you dont mind my asking? Do you need a private power supply for the sound system?

I was thinking of just getting the hk sound system from bmw. I dunno if i should spend more money into that area yet. I think that my focus is to have a library of tracks easily accessible and tints as soon as i get it. rims and other stuff after.

Does that 9inch screen fold in or is it always out like that?
I dunno if that will be something i would want, since it would cover the nav.

Ijust moved out east to the island. So i REALLY need the nav out here. Iwas raised in queens and know it like the back of my hand. Im lost out here. :D

Does that 9inch screen fold in or is it always out like that?
I dunno if that will be something i would want, since it would cover the nav.
:D

You wouldn't be able to have stock nav and do what he did as the nav screen fills both upper positions.

You wouldn't be able to have stock nav and do what he did as the nav screen fills both upper positions.
I know. I really have a couple of options, though i wouldnt really care if i cant have vid screen in the cockpit. As long as i can have access to a hardrive in the back, through say a small lcd wired remote ill be cool. As long as its a neat job. Im getting it done for free, but i will not allow it if i have to butcher the car.

I know. I really have a couple of options, though i wouldnt really care if i cant have vid screen in the cockpit. As long as i can have access to a hardrive in the back, through say a small lcd wired remote ill be cool. As long as its a neat job. Im getting it done for free, but i will not allow it if i have to butcher the car.

You can get an adaptor to hook up an Ipod direct to the factory radio/controlled by the factory buttons. That's what I did and it works (ok, but not beautiful) with the stock nav. Basically it does enough to get the songs playing, but the interface isn't the hottest. Supposedly it's better with the non-nav system.

You can get an adaptor to hook up an Ipod direct to the factory radio/controlled by the factory buttons. That's what I did and it works (ok, but not beautiful) with the stock nav. Basically it does enough to get the songs playing, but the interface isn't the hottest. Supposedly it's better with the non-nav system.
hmmmm, what don you like about it?? Hows your '05?? pros?? any cons??pics?

Long access times when looking for songs?
I have been looking around but i have not seen anything that works with the navi system. If the guys that are gonna hook me up cant do a clean install, Im just gonna can the idea. :(

What i was looking forward to doing would only work with a car without navi. I have 2 months to find something that will work, if i cant i just gotta see what ils can do for me............

As soon as i get my whip ill post some pics.

hmmmm, what don you like about it?? Hows your '05?? pros?? any cons??pics?

Long access times when looking for songs?
I have been looking around but i have not seen anything that works with the navi system. If the guys that are gonna hook me up cant do a clean install, Im just gonna can the idea. :(

What i was looking forward to doing would only work with a car without navi. I have 2 months to find something that will work, if i cant i just gotta see what ils can do for me............

As soon as i get my whip ill post some pics.

http://www.densionusa.com/icelink_info.htm is what I'm using.

Pros:
-I've got my ipod mounted in my trunk and it works through my stock system
-It charges the ipod while it plays

Cons:
-It's easy to access the first 5 playlists. After that you can get to them but it takes some work.
-The lettering changes sizes from large font to small font. A minor issue but kind of annoying

One solution people have is to mount the ipod upfront, either in the armrest or a cradle on the dash. You can then control the whole system from the ipod as usual, making it much simpler. I wanted mine mounted in the trunk, so I'm dealing with it as is. Still worth the money, but like I said, not perfect.

This pic: http://www.densionusa.com/images/bmw_interior.jpg is from their site and show the icelink in use with a Nav system.

i use to use my iPod w/stock unit it sucked, with the flip out screan you can see everything on the screan all your iPod menu i mean all, exept photos.
i think its better to get after marked unit, than stock navi, but you can only use one function at the time, eather you watch DVDs or use nave, i dont care about navi, so i got a unit that just plays DVDs (i drive alot so...) and its touch screan.
about my sub, its 1000+ wats not 2000+, i got it for cheap, i got it for cost +5%, so i saved alot of money on it,and i did the instal w/my friend.
1000+wats is more than enough :buttrock

looooks sweet

How much did that unit cost, if you don't mind me asking.

also do you guys feed yours super or regular fuel? any difference in engine wear and tear or any noticeable difference in performance?



The grade of fuel is determined by your compression ratio. The octane rating is how much it resists exploding due to heat. You'll see deisel is quite low (they don't even use spark plugs) as your compression ratio increases the PVT (pressure, volume, temperature) states that when you squeese a gas it heats up (why they dunk scuba tanks after a refil) Eventually this gets highenough to make the gas explode of its own accord (flashpoint) (dentonation, which creates knock) which damages the engine. So with our high CR, you should use at least 91 octane (per the owners manual). Your car computer will then adjust the timing to get more power (or more safety if it detects knock) out of it.

How much did that unit cost, if you don't mind me asking.
you can get it for about $800 now, i paid $1000 + instal $200

The grade of fuel is determined by your compression ratio. The octane rating is how much it resists exploding due to heat. You'll see deisel is quite low (they don't even use spark plugs) as your compression ratio increases the PVT (pressure, volume, temperature) states that when you squeese a gas it heats up (why they dunk scuba tanks after a refil) Eventually this gets highenough to make the gas explode of its own accord (flashpoint) (dentonation, which creates knock) which damages the engine. So with our high CR, you should use at least 91 octane (per the owners manual). Your car computer will then adjust the timing to get more power (or more safety if it detects knock) out of it.
that clears that up......:buttrock