Cost increase per day/mtn/yr from 335i to M3

[TripleBlack]

Hi everyone, looks like I'll be selling my E93 335i to give way to a step in maturity for a short while.
I'm going to buy the cheapest run about I can and keep my head down and throw all my cash at a decent home. Hopefully, I should get about £14-16k for my spec seeing as its been rare to find anything close on the market for years and I'd liked to sell before the next gen convertibles come out.

I hope to get an E93 M3 to make up for the loss to my ego as soon as my plans work out ... but looking at the market now... finding the right spec and colour to suit me might take a while.

I've just been doing some browsing on the 'upgrading to M3 from a 335i' criteria but I'm not finding any real answers to the only concern I have, and that is the cost difference in daily usage.
Can anyone give me an insight into how much more they were spending to run the M3 as compared to the 335i they had before?
Thanks

[KTM4Me]

Hi there. It looks like your request for info has fallen on deaf ears, so I thought I'd give you some ideas, based on my M3 experiences

The biggest daily increase will be in petrol costs, as most people will run on their M3's on 97+ octane, which is already another ~8p/litre. Then there's the actual MPG which, even if you're light footed, will be in the low 20's. That's a lot of drink in anyones money

Then there are tyres and brakes (disc's, not just pads), which you will definitely need to replace more frequently. LSD's do have one down side

Servicing is more expensive, but as that's based on 20k miles/24 months, you can at least save up for the big event. Most standard components are common across the range, so just as expensive

However, all these pale into insignificance when you boot it and get it sideways

[Craigy]

Just get the car.

If you can afford it, but are just trying to justify it, then stop trying to justify it.

If you can't afford it then you probably can't afford the 335i either.

I'd imagine you'll be alright.

[hugehead]

Originally Posted by KTM4Me

Servicing is more expensive, but as that's based on 20k miles/24 months, you can at least save up for the big event. Most standard components are common across the range, so just as expensive

oil/micro filter service is 15,000miles or annually, brake service is every two years, spark plug change is every third oil service or 37,000 miles .

If your good with a spanner then just service the car yourself , then the M3 is very cheap to run (petrol excluded ) !

[TripleBlack]

Thanks all, the 335i has been a dream to own cost wise. I was just wondering if owning an M3 becomes a shock to the bank at any point.
I'm already paying £400+ on road tax so thats going to be alright and I doubt insurance will be much of an issue with my 11 years no claims.
And if I'm at the petrol station every 10 days as it is, a weekly visit shouldn't be that bad.
With all the write ups I've been reading about owning an M3 I think it will be worth a small increase in expenditure.

I do plan to take a mechanics course next year... so lets see if that saves me some costs in the long run.

[dar2008]

The increase in running cost will mostly depend on your mileage. Rear tyres are only good for 10k. I used to put the higher octane petrol into my M3 for it's first couple of years, but have just used 95 for the last three years and don't see any noticeable difference.

[TripleBlack]

Originally Posted by dar2008

The increase in running cost will mostly depend on your mileage. Rear tyres are only good for 10k. I used to put the higher octane petrol into my M3 for it's first couple of years, but have just used 95 for the last three years and don't see any noticeable difference.

Well they wont be runflats tyres so that would offset the price a bit.
I guess I'll just go ahead with it all.

[Craigy]

Originally Posted by TripleBlack

Thanks all, the 335i has been a dream to own cost wise. I was just wondering if owning an M3 becomes a shock to the bank at any point.
I'm already paying £400+ on road tax so thats going to be alright and I doubt insurance will be much of an issue with my 11 years no claims.
And if I'm at the petrol station every 10 days as it is, a weekly visit shouldn't be that bad.
With all the write ups I've been reading about owning an M3 I think it will be worth a small increase in expenditure.

I do plan to take a mechanics course next year... so lets see if that saves me some costs in the long run.

From my limited pre-purchase research, the biggest regular expenses (outside gas) are tires and brakes. Brakes especially if you do a lot of aggressive track days. Also oil changes are more than usual with the special Castrol 10W60, but not that significant.

I haven't had mine long enough to give you any personal experience though