I'm going to tell you this...
Unless you have some money stashed away for an engine rebuild, don't do it.
This is true with any high performance engine but thank you for your words of wisdom.
Did you own one?
No, but my big bro had a E39 M5, and several my my clients had E46 M3's, most of them had to dump the car because of the engine failure.
In fact, my big bro had to sell his M5 of only 68K miles on it for ten grand because the variable valve timing failed and the repair bill was $10 grand quoted by the dealer.
BMW is notorious for having engine failures on their M powered cars. That's why most people lease those cars and give the car back before the time bomb explodes. Usually around 60 to 80k miles.
Google it, you'll find a lot of information on it.
I believe the e39 M5 had the V8 but I understand what your saying. I have spent many hours researching the S54 engine. From what I have reviewed, that engine is near bulletproof as long as you stay under 7,600 RPM
I've had 7 m cars and none have had engine failures. With all due respect, that's the biggest load of BS I've ever heard. And all of my m cars had over 100k when I sold them. One e39 m5 had 175k and never had a major problem. I actually just sold my 2003 e46 m3 with 127k. Ran flawlessly.
If you mistreat any car the engine will go to shit. These cars last forever when maintained properly. The only things you have to worry about on some are a noisy vanos system or on the smg cars-the pumps going out or something related to them.
E46 m3s and e39 m3s are some of the best performance bargains out there.
Ps. I LOVE the S54 m coupe. That thing is sick. Again, An s54 will run forever if maintained properly. When you see things on forums, you have to think. Only a minority of owners are on forums- so its not really a reliable source of the whole range of cars.
Just make sure to get the rod bearing recall taken care of and you'll be fine. BMW did it for free for m3 owners and not s54 m coupe owners.
There are a few things that irk me about the m coupe but those can be fixed for cheap. I.e. seating position, glove box drooping and the lag you feel due to the switch to drive by wire.
I'm on my 3rd m coupe and 2nd s54.
2002 laguna seca blue.
Good luck on your search
I had an 02 while it was still under warranty for about a year. Overall, I really enjoyed the car. I had a z3 before that and considered it a great upgrade.
About 500 miles before the warranty went out (35,500 miles) I brought it into the dealer because the rear end was making a noticeable thumping sound when the clutch would disengage.
I picked the car up from the BMW dealership in North Houston a week and a half alter and almost fainted when I saw what they had done to the car. The thumping sound was the diff going out. Several parts connected to it also had unusually high degradation, including the throw out bearing, and the dealer replaced all of it no questions asked.
The bill was over $12,000 (covered under warranty). The tech said another few thousand miles and the rear end would have given out completely. I sold the car within 30 days.
Maybe it was terrible luck or the previous owner beat on it, but even the possibility of a $12,000 repair scared the hell out of me. The PO was in his mid 60's and was the 1st owner. I drove the car hard but not blow-the-rear end-at-36k-miles hard. Perhaps what scared me the most was how nonchalant the dealer was - they didn't dispute the repair or anything - they acted like it was an oil change and a tire rotation! 500 miles later and I would have had that bad boy up on jack stands for the next 2 weekends.
Awesome cars (one of my favorite drive trains although the shifting action left something to be desired) but when things go wrong you better be ready.
I'm going to tell you this...
Unless you have some money stashed away for an engine rebuild, don't do it.
I went to a BMW dealer today. Unofficially the '01-'02 had no S54 bearing recalls. Officially, run the VIN to check for recalls.
The service manager told me the reason the RPM's were changed from 8,000 RPMs to 7,600 RPM's is due to placement in //M model line up. His example was you don't want the cheapest //M model to spank the more expensive //M models (M3, M5 and M6).
As per rear suspension, the service manager stated he had seen several //M coupes with this issue however they were track rats. A street driven //M coupe will not have this issue.
Is there anything else I should be aware of? Thank you goes out to all of those posting a comment