10 years to the day - M3 ownership

[MParallel]

They same time flies. Well they didn't lie. Can't believe it's 10 years to the day I went over to Germany to collect my M3.

May 8, 2013






It's has been fun and I hope to enjoy it for many years to come. 16.000km (10k miles) driven, with most coming in the first 5 years. And just shy of 95.000km (60k miles) on the odometer.

SMG has been without problems *knock on wood*. Although I do frequent bleeding of system and relearning of clutch bitepoint to minimise ware.




May 2023






The car was very well equipped. Added the few bits that were missing (carphone, H/K sound system, Radio Professional, lumbar support). Wood trim replaced for carbon from the M3 GT and then a bunch of OEM+ mods including paddle shifter that really makes the driving more fun.

The car itself became 25 years old last March.

[Jim E.]

Congratulations!

[Westopher]

Nice! I'm coming up on 11 years this summer. I've put about 75k KMs on in that time though.😉

[Bimma360]

Congrats! You definitely need to drive it more haha.

[Nate047]

Drive that thing more man, can't take it with you. I bought my e36 in April 2016 and I've put about 30k miles on it.

[MParallel]

It's not only about wanting, but being able to. I'm not gonna take it out in the rain. No fun in that and it's been raining a lot!

It's now a little before reaching 95.000km (about 60k miles) and I just want to keep it under that 'magic' 100.000km mark for a couple of years.

[Kthree]

It's has been fun and I hope to enjoy it for many years to come. 16.000km (10k miles) driven, with most coming in the first 5 years. And just shy of 95.000km (60k miles) on the odometer.

SMG has been without problems *knock on wood*. Although I do frequent bleeding of system and relearning of clutch bitepoint to minimise ware.

Beat me! 13yrs and 13,000kms here 😄 Sadly, i've probably only done <1000kms on street, rest has been to, from and on-track (multiply by 10x in that case?)

On the SMG front, i've never understood the hate. I've repaired 4 motor/pump assemblies (mainly the motor rear plastic housing overheat distortion issue + seals etc) and once its working properly on test drive its actually really good in my experience, paddles would be even better. Also done a handful of manual conversions and it made/makes me a little sad doing it 😂

Yours is mint though, AW is the best

[MParallel]

...On the SMG front, i've never understood the hate..

Well, yes and no. If you Google around on the topic, there iisn't all that much info and what you do find, is mostly horror stories about gearboxes not getting in gear and huge repair bills.

And that is then taken for gospel or something. Like these stories apply to 100% of the SMG cars.

You're not gonna find people posting topics like "yet another day wothout SMG problems".

If you look at the dates of these topics, most of them are from around the late 90's, early 00's when the system was new and even main dealers had no clue how to diagnose faults and repair them. I have read stories about complete new gearboxes being installed because gear x couldn't be selected, when all that was broken, was the bowden cable that wasn't set correctly (which is the mechanical interlock preventing the box going in reverse at 155mph in case a computer glitch might give that command).

Luckily there is tons more info out there and I also know some other guys with SMG cars and its tech holds no secrets. It's pretty well designed with proper parts, but also has its weak points. Like you already mentioned, the plastic insulators on the motor is the biggest and having that thing sitting right next to that hot exhaust manifold doesn't help. Neither does that little heatshield. But as with any electric thing like a starter engine/alternator, these can be rebuild for peanuts and you're good to go for many years. It will be better than factory.
But not every owner is on forums and such and lack all that info. People had their pump unit replaced (which now is nearing 4000 mark) because the pump failed. Only for SMG3, BMW sells the motor as a separate part. The motor is the same as old Range Rover ABS pumps, with a different flange.

Another thing is the pressure accumulator, that was 200 when I replaced mine in 2014, is now a eyewatering 2000 (two thousand) which is nuts. Although I spoke to an old employee of the manufacturer and this model isn't any off the shelf item (of which there are many). BMW ordered a batch a few years ago and they basically had to remake the tools. Hence its price. And they were so 'smart' to not supply it with a refill valve.
But luckily they can be refilled. I'll be testing a refilled unit this summer if all goes to plan.

Now that SMG2 is also getting old, turns out that isn't without its faults either. No 'salmon' relay or oil tem (or pressure) sensor problems on SMG1.

I literally ever had one SMG error and that was when 3rd gear was skipped. This was in 2013. I hooked it up to my laptop, showed a gear position sensor error. I cleared the fault and it has never returned.

Speaking of which, there was a recall the replace the gear position sensor's connector as its location allowed for weather influences to have the pins corrode and give all sorts of erronous errors. The recall replaced the stock pins for gold plated contacts. Cars from 4/98 have this from factory.
I haven't checked mine to be honest, but I *think* it has been replaced (mine's from 3/98) as the recall also called for replacing the 25A pump fuse for a 30A one. Which I found was done. And unless some previous owner was so stupid to put a 30A fuse where a 25A should be fitted, this must have been done on purpose, hence the recall. (I actually found the fuse before I learned about the recall and I was like, who ever puts a higher rated fuse in!). So I put a 25A back, untill I read the recall.

Fun fact: BMW never bothered to update the fusebox's cover, so this still has 25A fuse listed on the little diagram.

[Kthree]

You're not gonna find people posting topics like "yet another day wothout SMG problems"..

Like finding a post on anything that works as intended, no one reports when everything is fine

Works fine for 20yrs
*no maintenance ever*
fails one morning
"tHIs cAR iS a PiECe oF sHIt"
*posts on every forum to tell everyone how shit it is*

[BLCKSTRM]

I've owned mine for 13 years and 146k MILES. Sitting at 266k right now. No one can believe I have a BMW with that kind of mileage. Given how I drive it the whole car should a smoking pile of wreckage.

Subtract various mistakes (brass pivot pin anyone?) and obvious abuse and this has been more reliable over more mileage (and harder driving) than either Toyota I ever owned (timing belt on my Camry broke before the maintenance interval twice; '84 pickup - the infamous Top Gear indestructible truck - went through 3 engines over our 80k miles of ownership) and than either GM truck (94 Silverado needed a new tranny at 100k; 2010 Escalade has had the heads off twice and then had to have the whole motor rebuilt).

I'd welcome the undeserved reputation, but we're far past the point where it kept used prices low. Now I just find it a shame when that false reputation stops people from driving them.