2002 BMW M3 Coupe - Blk/Blk - SMG - Premium Pkg - Xenons - 18" - LED Tails

You know that feeling when you absolutely love a car and can’t imagine ever selling it, ut then the day finally comes when it’s time to move on? That’s my situation. With that said, ere’s the story about this amazing car….

I am a life-long BMW owner. I have literally owned nothing but BMWs since I was 16. My first car was a 1984 318i, hen a 1993 325i, nd then this 2002 M3 which was my absolute dream car at the time. Unfortunately, ecause I live in Arizona where the weather is always warm and sunny, recently decided to buy a convertible, o I’m now on my 4th BMW – a 650i convertible. Based on this new arrival, t is sadly time for the M3 to find a new home.

I bought my M3 on eBay in January 2005 for $37,500. At that time, he car had 40,000 miles and it was still under an extended warranty which expired at 50,000 miles. The first owner leased the car when it was new from Stevens Creek BMW in the San Francisco Bay Area. When the lease ended, he car was acquired by a broker in San Diego who posted it on eBay. I bought the car from the broker and brought it home to Phoenix, rizona where it has spent the last 11 years. The car has been garage-kept every day since I bought it.

I have the original window sticker which shows the following info:

Base car price - $45,900

Carbon Black Metallic paint - $475

Premium Package - $3,200 (includes power moon roof, ower seats w/ driver’s memory, ain sensing wipers, uto headlights, appa leather)

Bi-xenon headlights - $700

Navigation - $1,800

Harmon-Kardon Sound - $675

SMG Trans. - $2,400

Total - $56,795

The current mileage is 126,959 and because I now have the convertible, am no longer driving the M3.

Over the past 11 years, he car has been extremely reliable…with just a few minor issues which I’ll explain here. As a BMW fanatic, have always treated this car extremely well….lots of washing/waxing, lways changed the oil on time, tc.

Maintaining a BMW can be expensive, o here’s a summary of all the work that has recently been done (in reverse order starting with the most recent stuff):

126,000 miles – The auto-dimming rear view mirror broke (the internal LCD fluid broke and caused bubbles inside the mirror glass). This is a very common problem with E46 M3s. The mirror was replaced and is 100% perfect.

123,000 miles – Replaced “salmon” relay (part of the SMG transmission). This is another common issue with M3s.

122,547 miles – Dealership replaced passenger airbag pursuant to a recall from BMW. Also replaced brake fluid and rear differential oil (car was experiencing a noticeable “thunk” noise from rear diff when putting it into reverse). Dealer diagnosed this as a problem with the differential and recommended replacing the oil as part of a service bulletin. The noise (which is intermittent) is still present, ut much less noticeable.

120,000 miles – Water pump failed. Replaced pump, asket and thermostat with new BMW OEM parts. Also replaced both serpentine belts and upper and lower radiator hoses. Refilled car with OEM (blue) BMW antifreeze. Car has never overheated, ut cooling system is now good for at least another 100k miles.

115,000 miles (approx) – One ignition coil failed (car has six – one for each cylinder); replaced dead coil with a lifetime warranty unit from Autozone. These are cheap – less than $40 each – and very easy to replace.

112,000 miles – Windshield replaced due to rock damage (common problem in AZ).

105,000 miles – Factory subwoofer amp failed; replaced amp.

100,000 miles – Replaced rear trailing-arm bushings. Also replaced both rear wheel bearings, ll four brake discs/pads, nd driver’s side front wheel bearing.

102,000 miles – Clutch replaced at BMW dealership – total cost $2,898.38. Ouch.

77,266 miles – Car displayed an error message which indicated one of the two catalytic converters had failed. I initially replaced all spark plus to see if this would help (it didn’t). BMW dealership replaced one catalytic converter under extended emissions warranty. Years later, MW issued a service bulletin which said this type of error message was likely just a software glitch, o replacement of the catalyst was probably not necessary.

72,000 miles – 4-wheel alignment done at dealership

70,000 miles – Factory FM radio stopped working; replaced with new BMW part - $544.00

Other than these specific items, have done various routine maintenance such as changing the brake rotors about every 30k miles (I hate it when you step on the brake pedal and the wheel shakes due to a warped rotor). Also, have recently done several minor repairs such as:

-- Replaced the broken tabs on the sliding moon roof sunshield inside the car (not part of the moon roof itself)

-- Replaced front ashtray lid with new OEM part (this cost $100 but the old lid was scratched)

-- Replaced other small interior trim items

-- Replaced both front kidney grills on hood….they had broken plastic retaining tabs which caused the old ones to be loose

-- Replaced broken fog light

-- Removed front seats for super-deep carpet cleaning

-- Recently replaced floor mats with original M3 mats

The car’s interior is in extremely clean condition – MUCH better than most cars. The driver’s seat (which can look very worn on a car this age) actually looks great. Not perfect, ut probably 8.5 out of 10. The passenger and rear seats look nearly showroom new.

All 4 tires are matching Continental Sport Contact M3-specific tires. Rears have around 60% tread; fronts about 15%.

I upgraded the rear tail lights with LED units. I still have the original factory tails, o you will get both just in case. I am also including an E46 service manual.

Although the car has received lots and lots of TLC, t is not perfect. Here are the known issues that you should be aware of:

1.) The original factory navigation CD drive stopped working. This drive holds the car’s navigation data – this is a CD player located in the trunk of the car, OT the one that plays audio CDs. As a result, hen you try to use the navigation feature, he car displays an error message that says there is no navigation CD in the drive (even though the CD is present). This makes it impossible to use navigation, ut it does not affect the use of the screen’s other functions. The NAV CD drive can be replaced with a used unit for around $500, ut I would not recommend this – the entire NAV system is outdated technology from 15+ years ago. Instead, much better option (other than just using your phone with Google Maps) would be to replace the entire head unit/screen with a modern updated unit which you can get for around $600-800 (Google "Avin Avant 2 Navigation System").

2.) The stereo unit in the dash includes a cassette tape player behind the NAV screen. The tape player does not work. However, he car has a 6-CD audio changer in the trunk which works perfectly.

3.) The NAV screen has a very minor scratch on it. The scratch is so minor it’s hard to see with the screen on. However, ather than replacing the original screen, s noted above you could replace the entire factory unit with an updated unit for roughly the same price. If I was keeping the car, hat’s what I would do.

4.) The car still has its original SMG pump. Currently, his is working fine and the car starts, uns, nd drives perfectly. However, ll M3s with SMG transmissions will eventually have their pumps fail. When it happens, his repair is very expensive – around $4k from a dealer or maybe $2k from an independent shop. Again, he car is currently fine, ut you should be aware of this.

5.) As noted above, he rear differential sometimes makes a “thunk” noise when shifting into reverse. This does not happen all the time, nd it is not a big deal…the clunk noise does not occur during normal driving. It’s just something that I noticed because I am extremely picky. It also sometimes happens when starting from a complete stop after backing up. I was concerned this could be related to a cracked rear subframe (a common issue with all E46 BMWs). However, he dealer inspected the car and said it was not a subframe issue – they said it was coming from the differential itself. This car has the original diff with 127k miles on it, o this unit is probably nearing the end of its life. My guess is that the differential would probably continue working fine for another 20-30k miles, nd maybe longer, ut in a high-performance car like the M3, iffs have a limited lifespan. You can buy a quality rebuilt differential for about $1,500 online, nd they are not hard to replace (I have done it myself in an earlier car). Just something to be aware of.

6.) The rear window tint has developed a long, kinny bubble. You’ll probably want to remove/replace the tint.

7.) Other than the water pump which has been replaced, ll of the car’s other accessories are original. This includes the power steering pump, /C compressor, lternator, nd starter. Currently, ll these items are in 100% working condition, ut just something else to consider – you may need to replace these original items in the future.

8.) BMW digital odometer displays are known for having bad pixels. My car does NOT have any bad pixels in the display, ut it has a different issue – the contrast level in the odometer and surrounding screen (located below the tach and speedo) is slightly weird - it seems too bright at times. This is a VERY minor issue which doesn’t affect the car at all. I am simply mentioning it in the interest of full disclosure.

9.) All four shock absorbers are original to the car. They currently seem fine, ut at some point down the road they may need to be replaced.

10.) All four wheels have some level of curb damage. This happened before I bought the car….I assume it’s due to the car’s time in San Francisco. Despite the cosmetic imperfections, he wheels ride nice and smooth on the freeway – no shake/shimmy/vibration.

11.) I have never replaced the driveshaft “flex/Guibo” disc (because there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it). The Guibo disc is a normal long-term maintenance item which should probably be replaced on this car within the next 12 months or so.

12.) I have three keys for the car – two remote entry and one small valet key. Unfortunately, ne of the remote keys has a dead battery so the remote unlock doesn’t work. The other remote key works fine.

NOTE -- lots of people want to know about dings/dents/scratches. Here's the answer - the car has almost 127k miles, o it's got a few imperfections. The driver's side is almost flawless....no dings/dents, nd only some extremely small scratches. The passenger side has a small but fairly noticeable ding right in the middle of the door (looks like another car opened its door and hit the passenger side right in the middle). The metal is NOT dented; there's just a vertical scratch in the paint (see photos). There is also a small dent (smaller than a silver dollar) in the rear passenger side quarter panel. There is no paint damage, o you could probably have this dent removed by one of those paintless dent repair services. There is also a very small dent on the roof near the windshield on the passenger side. This is hardly noticeable (photo looks much worse than it appears in person). Again, his could be repaired by a paintless repair service. Finally, he hood has some minor rock chips at the front (not a big deal). No dents at all on the hood, ut there are two drops of what looks like tree sap or maybe spilled clearcoat that dried cloudy? This never bothered me, ut the new owner may want to consider repainting the hood if you're really looking for 100% perfection.

Please contact me for additional photos/questions.