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Anyone owned '01-'02 BMW M Coupe?
- Thread starter Wraythe
- Start date
I'm going to tell you this...
Unless you have some money stashed away for an engine rebuild, don't do it.
Unless you have some money stashed away for an engine rebuild, don't do it.
No, but my big bro had a E39 M5, and several my my clients had E46 M3's, most of them had to dump the car because of the engine failure.
In fact, my big bro had to sell his M5 of only 68K miles on it for ten grand because the variable valve timing failed and the repair bill was $10 grand quoted by the dealer.
BMW is notorious for having engine failures on their M powered cars. That's why most people lease those cars and give the car back before the time bomb explodes. Usually around 60 to 80k miles.
Google it, you'll find a lot of information on it.
- Joined
- 4 September 2008
- Messages
- 906
I've had 7 m cars and none have had engine failures. With all due respect, that's the biggest load of BS I've ever heard. And all of my m cars had over 100k when I sold them. One e39 m5 had 175k and never had a major problem. I actually just sold my 2003 e46 m3 with 127k. Ran flawlessly.
If you mistreat any car the engine will go to shit. These cars last forever when maintained properly. The only things you have to worry about on some are a noisy vanos system or on the smg cars-the pumps going out or something related to them.
E46 m3s and e39 m3s are some of the best performance bargains out there.
Ps. I LOVE the S54 m coupe. That thing is sick. Again, An s54 will run forever if maintained properly. When you see things on forums, you have to think. Only a minority of owners are on forums- so its not really a reliable source of the whole range of cars.
If you mistreat any car the engine will go to shit. These cars last forever when maintained properly. The only things you have to worry about on some are a noisy vanos system or on the smg cars-the pumps going out or something related to them.
E46 m3s and e39 m3s are some of the best performance bargains out there.
Ps. I LOVE the S54 m coupe. That thing is sick. Again, An s54 will run forever if maintained properly. When you see things on forums, you have to think. Only a minority of owners are on forums- so its not really a reliable source of the whole range of cars.
- Joined
- 4 September 2008
- Messages
- 906
I believe the e39 M5 had the V8 but I understand what your saying. I have spent many hours researching the S54 engine. From what I have reviewed, that engine is near bulletproof as long as you stay under 7,600 RPM
The s54 is very bulletproof and one of the best engines ever made IMHO. Your research was worthwhile.
Thank you for your comment. Due to its rarity, its been hard for me to personally speak with owners. I did not want to ask this question on a BMW forum for obvious reasons :wink:
Just make sure to get the rod bearing recall taken care of and you'll be fine. BMW did it for free for m3 owners and not s54 m coupe owners.
There are a few things that irk me about the m coupe but those can be fixed for cheap. I.e. seating position, glove box drooping and the lag you feel due to the switch to drive by wire.
I'm on my 3rd m coupe and 2nd s54.
2002 laguna seca blue.
Good luck on your search
There are a few things that irk me about the m coupe but those can be fixed for cheap. I.e. seating position, glove box drooping and the lag you feel due to the switch to drive by wire.
I'm on my 3rd m coupe and 2nd s54.
2002 laguna seca blue.
Good luck on your search
You have the year and color I want!
What color is the interior? I've been told the S54 M coupe owners didn't qualify for rod bearing recall due to BMW lowering RPM to 7,600. Is that what you understand? Cost wise, how much will I need to pay to replace rod bearings? Thank you for your feedback :smile:
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I had an 02 while it was still under warranty for about a year. Overall, I really enjoyed the car. I had a z3 before that and considered it a great upgrade.
About 500 miles before the warranty went out (35,500 miles, bumper to bumper was 36k, drive train 50k IIRC) I brought it into the dealer because the rear end was making a noticeable thumping sound when the clutch would disengage.
I picked the car up from the BMW dealership in North Houston a week and a half alter and almost fainted when I saw what they had done to the car. The thumping sound was the diff going out. Several parts connected to it also had unusually high degradation, including the throw out bearing, and the dealer replaced all of it no questions asked.
The bill was over $12,000 (covered under warranty). The tech said another few thousand miles and the rear end would have given out completely. I sold the car within 30 days. I do not know what portion of the repairs would have been covered outside the 36k basic warranty. The diff probably would have been covered through 50k, the rest I am glad I did not have to find out.
Maybe it was terrible luck or the previous owner beat on it, but even the possibility of a $12,000 repair scared the hell out of me. The PO was in his mid 60's and was the 1st owner. I drove the car hard but not blow-the-rear end-at-36k-miles hard. Perhaps what scared me the most was how nonchalant the dealer was - they didn't dispute the repair or anything - they acted like it was an oil change and a tire rotation! 500 miles later and I would have had that bad boy up on jack stands for the next 2 weekends.
Awesome cars (one of my favorite drive trains although the shifting action left something to be desired) but when things go wrong you better be ready.
About 500 miles before the warranty went out (35,500 miles, bumper to bumper was 36k, drive train 50k IIRC) I brought it into the dealer because the rear end was making a noticeable thumping sound when the clutch would disengage.
I picked the car up from the BMW dealership in North Houston a week and a half alter and almost fainted when I saw what they had done to the car. The thumping sound was the diff going out. Several parts connected to it also had unusually high degradation, including the throw out bearing, and the dealer replaced all of it no questions asked.
The bill was over $12,000 (covered under warranty). The tech said another few thousand miles and the rear end would have given out completely. I sold the car within 30 days. I do not know what portion of the repairs would have been covered outside the 36k basic warranty. The diff probably would have been covered through 50k, the rest I am glad I did not have to find out.
Maybe it was terrible luck or the previous owner beat on it, but even the possibility of a $12,000 repair scared the hell out of me. The PO was in his mid 60's and was the 1st owner. I drove the car hard but not blow-the-rear end-at-36k-miles hard. Perhaps what scared me the most was how nonchalant the dealer was - they didn't dispute the repair or anything - they acted like it was an oil change and a tire rotation! 500 miles later and I would have had that bad boy up on jack stands for the next 2 weekends.
Awesome cars (one of my favorite drive trains although the shifting action left something to be desired) but when things go wrong you better be ready.
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That is another thing to check for. The rear subframe. There are quite a few cases of the rear subframe tearing where the diff is connected. There is a kit to address this but I am not going to get it since my car has 17k miles. This car will be a garage queen and never tracked. I know resale on my specific car will only increase as long as I leave it stock so I won't put the kit on unless it needs it.
wraythe
My interior is black and gray. I couldn't find a blue and black. The car I was trying to get was a steel gray with red and black interior with sunroof delete but it was sold to someone else (only had 6k miles).
Rod bearing recall will run around $1200
The sites that are very helpful for this particular car are bimmerforums and bimmerfest. Roadfly used to be a good source until it died. Also, google ron stygar for any DIY if you do get the car. Did you know there is a website that tracks m coupe listings?
wraythe
My interior is black and gray. I couldn't find a blue and black. The car I was trying to get was a steel gray with red and black interior with sunroof delete but it was sold to someone else (only had 6k miles).
Rod bearing recall will run around $1200
The sites that are very helpful for this particular car are bimmerforums and bimmerfest. Roadfly used to be a good source until it died. Also, google ron stygar for any DIY if you do get the car. Did you know there is a website that tracks m coupe listings?
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- Joined
- 17 August 2010
- Messages
- 559
Here we go again
Another case of my big bro had it, my next door neighbor had one,
my German shephard drove one!!!
Soooo much garbage spewing from people's mouth
It's as disgusting as other threads that spew so much False info about an NSX because their great grandma once owned an NSX and they remember oil changes costing her 2,000 each time.
Z
Another case of my big bro had it, my next door neighbor had one,
my German shephard drove one!!!
Soooo much garbage spewing from people's mouth
It's as disgusting as other threads that spew so much False info about an NSX because their great grandma once owned an NSX and they remember oil changes costing her 2,000 each time.
Z
Just because your friend lucked out doesn't means other don't. Let's just say if 1 out of 10 fails, do you really want to take that chance for a used BMW that is 10 years old? Or even one out of every twenty. It's a ticking time bomb with a repair price tag of a used Honda Civic.
Most people don't even want to do that with a used Civic.
I personally know three cases on the E39 and E46, and that's out of the 10 or so people I know who owns those cars.
http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...5560l0l87965l11l11l0l0l0l0l132l1039l10.1l11l0
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=vanos+failure&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Lots of references on Google and Youtube.
Most people don't even want to do that with a used Civic.
I personally know three cases on the E39 and E46, and that's out of the 10 or so people I know who owns those cars.
http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...5560l0l87965l11l11l0l0l0l0l132l1039l10.1l11l0
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=vanos+failure&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Lots of references on Google and Youtube.
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I talked to my friend with an S52 and he said the S54s are great. He also said to have you look at this website.
http://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/
http://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/
I went to a BMW dealer today. Unofficially the '01-'02 had no S54 bearing recalls. Officially, run the VIN to check for recalls.
The service manager told me the reason the RPM's were changed from 8,000 RPMs to 7,600 RPM's is due to placement in //M model line up. His example was you don't want the cheapest //M model to spank the more expensive //M models (M3, M5 and M6).
As per rear suspension, the service manager stated he had seen several //M coupes with this issue however they were track rats. A street driven //M coupe will not have this issue.
Is there anything else I should be aware of? Thank you goes out to all of those posting a comment
The service manager told me the reason the RPM's were changed from 8,000 RPMs to 7,600 RPM's is due to placement in //M model line up. His example was you don't want the cheapest //M model to spank the more expensive //M models (M3, M5 and M6).
As per rear suspension, the service manager stated he had seen several //M coupes with this issue however they were track rats. A street driven //M coupe will not have this issue.
Is there anything else I should be aware of? Thank you goes out to all of those posting a comment
Thank you! I monitor this site daily =)
I went to a BMW dealer today. Unofficially the '01-'02 had no S54 bearing recalls. Officially, run the VIN to check for recalls.
The service manager told me the reason the RPM's were changed from 8,000 RPMs to 7,600 RPM's is due to placement in //M model line up. His example was you don't want the cheapest //M model to spank the more expensive //M models (M3, M5 and M6).
As per rear suspension, the service manager stated he had seen several //M coupes with this issue however they were track rats. A street driven //M coupe will not have this issue.
Is there anything else I should be aware of? Thank you goes out to all of those posting a comment
It's obvious you like the car - pick one up and give it a shot. it's one of the great GT sports cars.
That being said, my M3 had never been auto crossing, much less at the real track. I did drive it hard as I mentioned up front, but it's not like I launched it 50 times. On top of that, I do not see BMW casually replacing major rear end components if it the issue only occurred with 'track rats.' If I was BMW, I sure as heck wouldn't.
Edit - I had an M3 not an M Coupe. Somehow I managed to miss that throughout the entire discussion. I had a z3 prior to my E46 M3, does that count? :smile:
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Payam - When you say it just needs proper maintenance what exactly does that entail? Last I checked the list of things that needed to be replaced at the proper suggest mileage intervals were $$$. It's like you have to pay to play when buying a BMW. Not saying that's bad but it's not a Toyota.
I bring this up because i'm in the market for a 25k daily driver and been looking heavily into the E46 M3. You can find good, high mileage samples for say 14-20k of which i'd save the rest for maintenance expenses. Then I get to thinking.. why not just buy a FR-S and buy a car under warranty.
I bring this up because i'm in the market for a 25k daily driver and been looking heavily into the E46 M3. You can find good, high mileage samples for say 14-20k of which i'd save the rest for maintenance expenses. Then I get to thinking.. why not just buy a FR-S and buy a car under warranty.
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