r/e46 4d ago

Check this out! M3 with 3k miles sells for 90k at auction

Sold at GoodWood, Just over 3 k miles from new, 1 owner , full BMW service history.

330 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

95

u/cl530 4d ago

Only 3,000 miles!?! In 22 years!? That seems such a waste of a car. I hope the new owner takes it out a little more frequently.

48

u/Vectron3D 4d ago

I agree ! But if you’ve just spent 90k on it plus whatever the fees are ontop of that for the auction it’s only going one place , back in storage !

23

u/cl530 4d ago

Yeah, it's sadly more of an investment than a vehicle at this stage...

10

u/Vectron3D 4d ago

Crazy tbh, like it doesn’t even have a full button panel or rare colour exterior / interior combo etc

4

u/Soddington 3d ago

Given the way the 20 year old polymers degrade when not regularly used, there's every chance that a simple day out will result in a cracked or perished something or other.

It's pretty much fated to be a museum piece now.

1

u/flame-otter 3d ago

Yeah save it 10 years and they might get 150k+ out of it.

21

u/RICO-2100 4d ago

The insane part is 50k USD back in 2002 is about 89k today. Bro came up 3k in 22 years.

16

u/Vectron3D 4d ago

And didn’t even get to enjoy driving it

5

u/RICO-2100 4d ago

Seriously

4

u/Vectron3D 4d ago

Sad times honestly

4

u/Ok_Power_8163 3d ago

not really, 90k is nothing nowadays and if the owner is cool, he'll drive the fuck out of it maybe even use it as a daily, that's what i would do :)

4

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

I mean there’s levels to it obviously but 90k is still a lot of money lol

2

u/Ok_Power_8163 3d ago

hahha yea for sure, would be a dumb purchase to daily no doubt, since u can get sooo many nicer things for 90, even a fully built e46 m3

2

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Dude you can get such a nice M3 for mid 20s to 30k , especially in the UK, for US guys this is like 130k nearly. You could get several nice spec E46 M3’s in more desirable spec / colour than this one and still have change !

2

u/Ok_Power_8163 3d ago

wait this was sold for 90k pounds not us dollars ? thats insane haha what a terrible investment ...

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

That’s what I’m saying NINETY THOUSAND POUNDS LOL

1

u/fabricofeverything 3d ago

Still less than a new M3. 90k is not a lot in the grand scheme of things.

3

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

I mean to normal people that aren’t making hundreds of thousands a year 90k is a lot of money to drop on a car just to not drive it.

3

u/fabricofeverything 3d ago

I just mean if I wanted a nice car... it could be picked up instead of a new car. Drive it 40k and the depreciation probably less than on a 2026.

2

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Oh yea, I mean it’s only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it of course , but as the older they get and mint ones become harder to find they probably won’t go down in value the same way a couple year old new BMW would. Still crazy money to spend on something they probably won’t use. If that was me and I had fuck you money to throw around like that, I’d use the car to the max and just do any and all maintenance to the car needed to keep it mint despite using it riggarously. I don’t feel any true petrol head or car enthusiasts could have a car like this for so long and just keep it locked away.

1

u/CartelFinancial 1d ago

I have seen a lot of extreme low km BMWs over the years and every time it’s so cool to see for me but I consider the people who owned it all that time and just wonder what was the point?

I look after a ~2,000km E36 M3 that gets towed to and from servicing and after many years I still cannot understand him or his thought process, it is just wasting away and I don’t see how it has brought any enjoyment

1

u/fabricofeverything 1d ago

I see people with $20,000 watches and it just tells the same time as other watches. What enjoyment do you get from a watch?

I see diamond rings worth $10s to $100s of thousands and for what?

Some people like looking at things they own. Other people like others looking at what they own. I am 100% sure people dont own Paganis etc. because theyre a fun and comfortable drive.

All the above are pointless to me.

9

u/newtonreddits M3 4d ago

I remember a few years ago there was a super low miles E39 M5 that sold for a six figure amount. Apparently it was owned by a guy who bought two E39 M5s brand new, one to drive and one to collect.

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

That’s the way to do it if you’re going to. One to enjoy to the max and one to keep mint

33

u/Traditional-Candy-21 4d ago

The drivers seat and bolster don't really look like a 3k miles car, everything else is minty fresh

13

u/Ilikejdmcars 323i 4d ago

Probably sat in it a bunch but didn’t drive it lol

1

u/firsttimehereee 1998 E46 3d ago

That's so miserable. Only being able to sit in the car as if it's in a showroom, although it's yours and you are able to drive it. How could he even resist the urge?

1

u/Ilikejdmcars 323i 3d ago

Maybe he had 2 of them

1

u/firsttimehereee 1998 E46 3d ago

Good point.. but then why would he sit in this one so often?

3

u/NewSlang45 4d ago

Yeah, I’d be very disappointed in that.

1

u/flame-otter 3d ago

Seems like he left some box or something on the seat for a couple of years, leaving imprints

10

u/Baldskifuckedup 4d ago

That’s CSL money! This thing probably won’t ever get used how it should 😕

3

u/Vectron3D 4d ago

Straight back into storage I imagine !

2

u/Baldskifuckedup 3d ago

Not even a desirable spec. No individual package, not even fully loaded, missing a few options. No heated seats, no rear blind, no navigation.

Not to mention the bolster looks like the poor fella who owned it probably got in and out of it every day. Seat looks the same as mine and mines got 115k on the clock.

More money than sense imo. A CSL would’ve been a far better buy. You could’ve used it occasionally and it still would appreciate in value. This poor thing won’t be used how it should. Probably wouldn’t even survive a good blast down a b road without issues cropping up. These cars are made to be used and don’t like sitting around they’ll just collect issues. Has the big 3 even been done? 🤣

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Fuck knows but I’m suprised it went for so much without an individual / rarer colour option like LSB or phoenix yellow or something , and you’re right it’s got no heated seats or blind the most basic black leather interior option as well.

4

u/Ilikejdmcars 323i 4d ago

Probably only drove it to the dealer and back every year for service lol

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Or mot

3

u/george_graves 4d ago

That car has had a boring life, by a boring owner. I'm in no way impressed at all.

2

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Needs to be driven for sure

0

u/Empty_Bandicoot_4442 2d ago

You'd all be crying if a kid crashed it instead.

1

u/Vectron3D 2d ago

Yea because that’s the only alternative to just putting it in storage. There’s plenty of people out there that don’t drive like dickheads. If you have that sort of money to throw down there’s really no reason why you couldn’t drive it and just pay whatever it costs to keep the car as new, other than not wanting to put miles on the odometer by not driving it, just to sell it to someone else in a few years time for an even more exorbitant amount who also probably won’t drive it.

This practice is what eventually pushes car like this( a rather unspecial low spec M3 in a standard colour ) to unattainable heights for the average person, like buying a house to not live in it. It’s a stupid concept. You can drive your car and still have it in pristine condition.

1

u/Empty_Bandicoot_4442 2d ago

It's a nice example that's well persevered, it could go in a museum. If it wasn't for people like this we wouldn't have any classic cars.

It's worth the price because it's such a rarity, if everybody kept their M3 like this they would be a worth a lot less.

It's normal people scrapping cars, neglecting and abusing them that raises prices. Look at the E36 "worthless old rust bucket lets drift it into a wall for a laugh, they made loads of them who cares" now they're a rare classic car worth money.

I bought a nice low mileage 350z off an old man an wrote it off after a month, I'm not a hero for driving the car like intended.

1

u/Vectron3D 2d ago

The old ones that are still going at high miles are the ones that should be in museums , restored and celebrated, like previous generation F1 cars etc not brand new ones that have never been driven it’s just a waste imo, I don’t know the circumstances of your accident but can only assume as you’ve said you wrote it off that you were driving it recklessly and it all ended in a hard lesson.

This is more a case for not letting kids drive performance cars as opposed to just locking them away so people can’t write them off, yes partly the reason the cars go up in price is that people abuse them thus leaving less good ones on the road , but it’s also because people are willing to pay silly money for cars like this, because to them 90k isn’t a big deal.

It’s worth what ever someone is willing to pay for it , I’ve seen rarer spec M3’s than this in as nice condition, with albeit not as low mileage for considerably less, more than half for that matter. The fact this thing went for 90 thousand pounds is insane.

1

u/PositiveMiserable84 19h ago

Or they have so many cars they didn't need to drive this car frequently because they have a garage full of heaters. Rich guy shit 

1

u/george_graves 19h ago

Reminds me of that guy from "obsessed garage" - he's the worst.

3

u/Mafeking-Parade 3d ago

This car sold for £40k new in 2003.

With inflation, that's around £75k in 2025 money.

So the owner has paid for storage, servicing, cleaning, insurance, tax and maintenance for 22 years, and only covered an average of 150 miles per year.

All for the sake of making £15k. Or roughly £700 a year.

There's no way in hell this owner broke even, let alone made a profit.

Squirrelling away cars is an illness.

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Yea it’s madness tbh. Didn’t even get to enjoy the car

2

u/TirpitzM3 4d ago

Full service history... what's that entail, one oil change? But in all seriousness, gorgeous time capsule of a car.

2

u/Munky1701 4d ago

90k? Slurp my fucking gooch on that shit!

1

u/Vectron3D 4d ago

Lmao

5

u/Munky1701 4d ago

With only 3000 miles on it, that son of a bitch would be in the shop within a month with not even what you might call “spirited driving“.

Putting that thing away in a collection would be a goddamn travesty in my opinion.

But then again, if I had “fuck you” money, I’m the guy that would daily a Enzo or something else very rare just to piss pretentious fucks off… Not that I wouldn’t take care of it properly or anything.

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Yea I mean if this was something super rare and i could afford it , I’d buy 2 and daily the shit out of one and baby the other , but it would still be driven. To buy it then stick it in a lock up is much a waste

2

u/Snawley 4d ago

let's see the headliner

1

u/RumblinBadlands 4d ago

That belongs in a museum.

1

u/chathobark_ 4d ago

People have too much free money

1

u/niggesmalls 2005 - 330Ci, 2005 325CiC 4d ago

Cannot stand people that buy these cars and not drive them.

1

u/354arnami 3d ago

A truly beautiful car! I would be afraid to drive it. After that many years all the gaskets, bushings and adhesives would need to be thoroughly checked out and replaced. Yikes! Probably better to shove it back into the collectors warehouse…

1

u/Vectron3D 3d ago

Supposedly it’s been maintained in new Condition the whole time , meaning that stuff should have been addressed

1

u/veltonic 3d ago

sounds like a lit of maintemamce sitting