Dry-stored but kept in good running order for last 7 years
The Background
Since it was first introduced back in 1986, originally as a homologation model for motorsports, BMW's M3 has become the default choice in the sector. Every brand which comes up with a car of this ilk has to make an M3-beater – and they invariably don't succeed.
While all have their place in the pantheon of road car greats, the E36 generation you see here might have a solid case to be the best. The first of the straight-six M3s – which have powered all but one generation since – it was the car that came to define BMW as “the Ultimate Driving Machine”.
This M3 Convertible was first registered on New Year's Eve 1997 – quite a day to be picking up a new, bright yellow, £40,000 performance car! Although it's not totally clear where it was first registered, the early MOTs and dealer stamps suggest it was near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, but it pretty soon made its way up to Scotland where it has remained for much of its life.
Clearly well used across its previous seven owners, the M3 racked up over 90,000 miles in its first decade on the roads – close to 9,000 a year – before use tailed off a little in recent years. The current owner picked the car up with 102,000 miles in December 2014 as an investment, and for much of the intervening time it has been dry-stored other than for the occasional drive and some maintenance.
The Paperwork
There's quite the binder of paperwork with the M3, dating back to previous owners and bills running into the thousands – the very nature of running an M car! You'll find a few wear-and-tear items, and some more significant invoices; a relatively recent major service, along with replacement of the clutch and master and slave cylinders nudges over £1,500!
In addition there's MOT certificates dating back to 2002 and running up to the present day – the last test was just two weeks back and it was green ticks all the way, with no advisories.
There's original service handbooks, stamped all the way up to just under 100,000 miles, and the original owner's handbook too. In addition the car comes with some Tracker paperwork, though the system is not active at present.
The Interior
Despite relatively compact dimensions by modern standards, the M3 Convertible is a four-seat car and actually room in the back isn't all that bad. We wouldn't want to spend long journeys back there, but short trips and for kids it would be just fine.
All four seats are in excellent condition, the rears particularly so, with the black leather barely showing any marking anywhere. Naturally the seat with the most mileage is the driver's seat, with some characteristic leather crackling reflecting the 102,000 miles. Two small patches of scuffing, on the entry-side seat back bolster and cushion bolster, reflect the high-traffic nature – all the ins and outs – but it's no larger than a pound coin in each case and doesn't penetrate to the material below.
The carpeting is in excellent condition throughout, including in the actually pretty impressive boot. As well as holding a full-size spare below the floor, there's also the original toolkit, first-aid kit, a warning triangle, and the battery is back there too. Considering that the roof has to take up some space, it's not a bad load area.
Much of the cabin is original and in great condition too, with every button and switch we tried perfectly happy to fulfil its function. There's an aftermarket Sony Xplod head unit with removable fascia, and a Tracker is fitted but not currently activated.
The Exterior
In one word: yellow. Dakar Yellow II, to be exact – a bold choice, and one which suits the M3 perfectly. As you can see, how yellow it is depends on the angle and incident sunlight; we were looking at the car quite late in the day, and under the more orange sun it seems deeper than when it's in the shade.
A good poke around the body didn't reveal any areas to concern – in fact we could barely pick out a remnant of a bug splat. You can spot that the car is a facelift model from its kidney grille, which is slightly more pointed towards the outside top corner on both sides than the first car, and protrudes more; the styling of this particular item causes much division in the E36 M3 community.
The convertible roof is largely in pristine condition, with two very small scuffs in the fabric on each side on the outer C-pillars. They are so small that the owner had to draw our attention to one of them, and don't seem to affect the weatherproofing at present. The rear plastic screen is also in excellent condition.
All four wheels are almost spotless, and there's a fifth full-size spare in the boot which has a little more signs of wear to it but still presents pretty well. The aluminium finish is almost as good in direct sunlight as the paint! Finally the lighting and badging is almost all as new, with a little fading and cracking on the bonnet roundel.
As far as we can tell, there's nothing to cause any concern in the car's driving manners. Out on the road it certainly seems to go as an M3 should – and sound like it too – and there's no wisps of anything unwelcome from the twin-exit exhaust even under load. In particular there's no hint of any of the noises associated with VANOS issues.
All six of the forward gears and reverse seem to select without drama, and the M3 is perfectly happy manoeuvring around a tight car park – the recent work to the clutch system can be credited with that.
Though we haven't seen the car pushing the edges of the performance envelope, the brakes operate well and without any noises of complaint, and the suspension dealt with speed bumps with as little drama as you'd expect from the definitive daily-driven performance car. The owner describes the car as “a joy” to drive!
It's a well-kept example of the original straight-six BMW M3, in a stunning colour, with a convertible roof. What's not to like?
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More about buying with us
1997 BMW (E36) M3 Evolution Convertible
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