Why I Bought My E36 M3 Lemon Plus Your Frequently Asked Questions Answered

Many of you will have seen the video above where a friendly bloke called James from Munich Legends looked over my recently-purchased E36 M3 and tore it a new one.

There were minor issues like weak gas struts and a less than horny horn, plus more concerning issues including perished suspension components and a metric truck load of something I’m already too damn familiar with…RUST.

Looking through the comments both on YouTube and on the site, there are a few frequently asked questions (FAQs) that I hope will clear up why I bought this car, as well as explaining why I’m a moron. Here goes…

That’s a great question. The reason why I went to see the car solo is simple. I’m an idiot who was blinded by a nice body, sweet sounding engine and an owner who seemed to be 100 per cent genuine (little did I know that the MOT the car had sailed through earlier that week was definitely not legit).

I did check all the arches for rust, and because these were clean, my time checking the underside of the car was minimal. I placed more focus on the engine and gearbox components (the car was stone cold when he started it up) and failed to see the bigger picture. The fact that the anti-roll bar did not knock once during my test drive tells me that something must have been wedged in place to hide the noise.

With hindsight, I would have brought a more mechanically-minded friend with me or would have taken the car to a place like Munich Legends for a pre-inspection report. This costs about £100 and would have highlighted the issues. All £3500 worth.

The plan at the moment is to get the car back to factory spec with a few minor upgrades. I’d love decent coilover suspension, a set of road/track tyres and maybe a freer-flowing exhaust. But as for more major upgrades like boost and a cage, the answer’s no (unless I win the lottery, in which case I’ll go mental with it).

I’m actually half German, and was brought up bilingually by my awesome mum. My German isn’t at the standard I want it to be at, so no, I won’t be doing any videos in German. Sorry, ja.

It was just you, yes.

I can’t comment on cars in Michigan, but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my previous MX-5 experience, it’s that rust likes to kill cars from the inside. I’m dreading the day (soon) when the full extent of the rot is revealed, but I’m prepared for the worst.

Reason for the E36 is simply preference. I prefer the smaller dimensions, the look/style (shock, horror!), and the fact that they’re getting more and more rare. I see a lot of E46 M3s, and while I know they’re superior cars in most ways (I even said so in our M3 generations video), I just like having a car that I know is a dying breed (probably because of rust).

I also used to own an E36 328i Sport and always promised myself the big daddy when money allowed.

Bro, do you even CT?

It’s open to interpretation, but yeah, that sounds pretty accurate.

They were retrofitted for the purpose of the video. I’ve since removed the bulbs and indicator stalks (they took a long time to find, actually) for weight reduction. And because we superior BMW drivers don’t waste time on indicating.

No matter what video we put on YouTube, one thing’s guaranteed: people always ask about Phil. I can confirm (and I know that all you beautiful CTzens know this already) that Phil is here to stay. He’s my daily, the most fun car I’ve ever owned, and there is plenty more to come. This Tuesday, I’ll be back in the Moss Europe bay with Ethan and my buddy Gareth to fit a new clutch and a Torsen LSD. Then, the brakes will be upgraded. Good times.

This one’s not so much a frequently asked question, rather a comment that I think will go down in history as one of the best things I’ve read on YouTube. For those of you who don’t know what this comment refers to, the guy who checked Colin over was called James Blackwell, and he showed me an amazing seatbelt hack that everyone here with floppy seatbelts needs to do immediately - check out 2:07 in the video!

I think that just about sums up the questions I’ve been asked most on CT and YouTube, but if there are any more things you’d like to know/see, then let me know below in the comments section.

Something I’m really excited about is racing Phil and Colin against each other on a track, seeing which is faster in a drag race and fixing the M3 up to beyond its former glory. I hope you all join me on this M3 adventure!