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Re: reliability?
well to be 100% honest with you for 15k you will not find an E36 M3 with 90k miles. if you do, its either coz the condition, and reliability suck. I bought my 95 M3 with 50k miles on it for 17.9k 2 years ago, and I havent had any major problems yet.
95 M3 was the first year that they built them with the E36 body style, it has a 3.0L inline 6 cylinder engine and it has 240hp with 227lb.ft torque, and it has the OBD I. they came in automatic or 5 speed. came in either sport or luxury pkg. no traction control.
96-99 M3's had the 3.2L engine with 240hp 6 cylinder and it had about 235lb/ft torque. the 96 had the same front nose as the 95's, but in 97-99 they changed them. the 97's were the first year they introduced the sedan models, the 96's also came in sport or lux pkg, in 97 sport pkg was only available, and it came with traction control. in 98, they came with sedan's also, but thye had the choice of making it automatic or 5 spd, and the color options were different. 99 M3 the last year of the E36 bodystyle, it came in automatic or 5 speed, no sedans were available, only coupes, but they did come in convertibles.
So if you are willing to spend no more than 15k for an M3, your out of your damn mind, especially for an E36 you can get the E30's which were the first M3's built, they have 221hp with a 2.5L engine 4 cylinder, and much lighter. but they dont handle as well as the E36's. The avg price for a stock M3 with less than 90k miles will be 16k, even ppl with more than 90k miles sell their cars for that much, and the only major problem with the M3 motors, is that if the engines were not properly maintained when it reaches 100k, then the engine does not perform as well. and dont even think of even rebuilding the engine, it costs to much, your better off buying a different M3. make sure that when your buying one, to check the cooling system, the alternator, the A/C, the vin# (to see if it has been in an accident) on coupes there should 2 on the hood, 2 on the trunk, 1 on each side of the doors, and 1 on the front windshield, and most definately check the clutch, drive it uphill and keep it in third gear, if it stands under 2500RPM then the clutch is very weak, and its going to cost around $1000 to fix including labor (depending on how much ppl charge for labor). Maintaning M3's is a costly job, that if why you find the right seller who has meticulously maintained their M3's so that you dont have to spending your hard earned money on major repairs cars. Before buying your M3, its going to take driving and looking at least 100 M3's before you find the right one, and if you get a car with a good record, and maintained very well with low miles, and no known problems, and buy it at a good price, go for it! hope all of this information helped out a lot.
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