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It was purchased by the owner for $3,000
The BMW M3 E46 Generation from the early 2000s was arguably the last iteration. It maintains the original philosophy of putting emphasis on handling rather than straight-line speed. Let’s take a look at what a high mileage example can do on a Dyno.
Because the SMG transmission was defective, the owner purchased it for $3,000 Instead of replacing the polarizing system, the owner converted it to a manually, which brought the total investment in M3 to approximately $5,000. The car has logged 173,000 miles.
He also made some performance modifications. The car now has headers without catalytic converters. It also has an ECU tune and a K&N intake. According to the owner, the M3 now produces 355 horsepower (265kilowatts) at crank, as opposed to its original output of 333hp (248kW).
The M3 does two runs on the Dyno: one in Sport mode and one in regular mode. At 7,250 rpm, the M3 produces 284.89 horsepower (212.4kW) and 238.43 pounds-feet (3323.3 Newton-meters), at 4,500 RPM. The BMW produces 289.48 horsepower (215.9kW) at 7,250 RPM and 240.78 lb/ft (326.8 Nm) at 4,530 RPM in Sport mode.
If the 355 horsepower at the crank is accurate, then the drivetrain loss in first runs comes out to 19.75 percent. This is reduced to 18.46% by Sport mode. These figures are consistent with what we would expect, considering that a loss of about 20% is normal for rear-drive vehicles.
The BMW may need some serious maintenance. After each run, the tailpipes emit a lot of white smoke when you release the throttle. According to the owner, it is possible that the piston rings are in their last days. To assess the health of his powerplant, he plans to perform a compression and leakdown test. It’s also due for an oil change.