Hello all, and Potential purchase......

[E30M3SE]

New to the forum so first and foremost hello to all.

A friend is looking to buy a CSL and we are going to look at this CSL (http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2300807.htm) tomorrow, with a view to do a deal if all is well and everything pans out.

Does anyone know anything about this car, belonged to a member or any member know its 'history'?

Any assistance much appreciated, if PM's on the subject are prefered please feel free to do so.

TIA.

[DazBlackCSL]

Don't know the car, Im sure one of us will know something and be along soon with some info ;)

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search and purchase :thumbs:


New to the forum so first and foremost hello to all.

A friend is looking to buy a CSL and we are going to look at this CSL (http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2300807.htm) tomorrow, with a view to do a deal if all is well and everything pans out.

Does anyone know anything about this car, belonged to a member or any member know its 'history'?

Any assistance much appreciated, if PM's on the subject are prefered please feel free to do so.

TIA.

[mattCSLnut]

New to the forum so first and foremost hello to all.

A friend is looking to buy a CSL and we are going to look at this CSL (http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2300807.htm) tomorrow, with a view to do a deal if all is well and everything pans out.

Does anyone know anything about this car, belonged to a member or any member know its 'history'?

Any assistance much appreciated, if PM's on the subject are prefered please feel free to do so.

TIA.
You are aware that this is a NON Air Con CSL despite the Ad text saying it has A/C... look at the pix of the interior dash/centre console ... no A/C ... I wonder what else is not as described :whistle:

[E30M3SE]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

@Matt, I had noticed that it does not have climate/auto A/C, but thought it had the 'normal' A/C.

Am I wrong in thinking this?

[glendog74]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

@Matt, I had noticed that it does not have climate/auto A/C, but thought it had the 'normal' A/C.

Am I wrong in thinking this?

Welcome E30M3SE :thumbs:

Cars without climate control simply have the old fashioned heater matrix, i.e. no aircon.

The car will be lighter without aircon of course ;)

[Bounce]

Welcome to the register matey,as said, no air con means no air con.;)

[mattCSLnut]

@Matt, I had noticed that it does not have climate/auto A/C, but thought it had the 'normal' A/C.

Am I wrong in thinking this?

In a word... YES
BMW E46 M cars, CSL included either have Climate Control or NON C/C or Manual A/C, manual ventilation only, maily on CSL only as I'm yet to see a regular E46 M3 without C.C.
I hope this makes sense :thumbs: and WELCOME to the fold :beer:

[Bounce]

In a word... YES
BMW E46 M cars, CSL included either have Climate Control or NON C/C or Manual A/C, manual ventilation only, maily on CSL only as I'm yet to see a regular E46 M3 without C.C.
I hope this makes sense :thumbs: and WELCOME to the fold :beer:Whats manual ventilation then Matt,winding down the window.:hahaha::hahaha: All stock E46 M3s have Climate control.;)

[mattCSLnut]

Whats manual ventilation then Matt, winding down the window.:hahaha::hahaha:

Only if you're Cornish :blalalala:

Ventilation that requires manual operation of analog control levers/knobs that pull/push manual linkages instead of pressing an AUTO button on CC and letting electronic sensors and actuators work it out for you, you Numb Nuts ;) :hahaha:

[E30M3SE]

LOL..... applies if you're 'Indian' as well............ ;)

Well leaving to go and look at it shortly, could be a wasted 4 hr round trip, will report back finding.:thumbs:

Thanks all for the warm welcome.

[mattCSLnut]

LOL..... applies if you're 'Indian' as well............ ;)

Well leaving to go and look at it shortly, could be a wasted 4 hr round trip, will report back finding.:thumbs:

Thanks all for the warm welcome.
Good luck with it :thumbs: and let us know if there are any other typos in the Ad ;) :hahaha:

[funtime]

Good luck mate, hope it's not a wasted trip but there's plenty out there at the mo so don't feel pressured to buy it! ;)

[dr.sticky]

A very warm welcome to you, as already mentioned, there are plenty about just now so don't feel like you've got to grab the first one you look at.

Took me 4 months of looking at everything from overpriced lemons to overpriced minters until I found " The One " :hahaha:

Looked at 9 and finally bought the 10th from Oxfordshire, which involved a drive of 560 miles to view and the same a month later to collect :bigcry:

I'd say condition is more important than mileage unless its going to be a garage queen :whistle:

[E30M3SE]

An update for those interested.

Where to start???

The car does have climate, the interior picture in the ad is not of the car for sale, and it has done 58.5K miles not 56K.

Bodywork wish the car looks to be 'honest', some stone chips to the leading edge of the bonnet and front wings and the rear arch flares. All paint looks to be original with the exception of the front bumper which they have had painted for stone chip and their painter has done a poor job of the colour match but on pointing this out to them they said that would be redone.

All the glass is BMW marked and the windscreen is original, carrying all factory stickers, although does show some scratches.

Base plate of the N/S door mirror was bubbling at the leading edge which would also be sorted.

Rear bumper has been 'bumped' and left the paint a little crazed in a small area.

One thing that I did notice was what looked like a laquer line in the passenger door shut about 10mm down from the 'CSL kick plates' (there was evidence of water under the laquer on these plates, are they expensive from the dealers?), very neat, very straight and on checking the other side it was evident there too, and both sides were very uniform in where they started and stopped, is this 'factory'?

No squeaks, rattle knock, moans or strange noises on the test drive, pulled well, changed gear smoothly, felt quite tight, induction flap worked (two steps in induction roar), rev'd round with vigour, however had quite a bad vibration that started at 55ish MPH and disappeared at ***, also had a severe pull to the left, alignment?? Both of these issue would be investigated and sorted.

Paperwork wise, it has the advertised # of previous owners, wore a private plate SPO *** at some point in the past, has current HPi, the original sales invoice, invoice for all the servicing except the running in service but this is stamped in the book, (am I correct in thinking the 1200 service was FOC, therefore would not have an invoice?) and all the past MOT's with the advisory sheets, last one was for N/S rear tyre getting low which is now on the wear humps and would be replaced with a matching tyre, all tyres are Goodyear F1 asymmetics

The worst aspect of this car is the interior, the steering wheel is F£%ked, we are talking bits of foam showing through the alcantara, both front seats are showing signs of wear, from seat belts and on the bolsters and the rear seat area also shows some wear which I guess is from a child seat being put in the back, but again these items would be taken care of by their upholstery guy, how it would all look once done I don't know.

Not having seen or been in a 60Kish car before, last CSL I was in was on a track day at Goodwood and it had 20 odd K on the clock and the only wear on that car was a bit of the black rubberised bit on the steering wheel coming off, I am note sure if this sort of wear to seats and steering wheel is normal. ??

Also the black leatherette on the rear passenger door card has worn through on the front edge where it meets the carbon section. Again this would be sorted out.

Wheels have been poorly refurb'd at some point and need redoing, this would not be done.

There is a deal on the table that is being considered.

If anyone could check their car re the 'laquer lines' I have refered to above it would be much appreciated.

[glendog74]

IMHO, the car sounds like it hasn't been cared for particularly well despite it's average miles. Paintwork marks and stone chips are quite normal but the other signs of wear seem excessive.

New kick plates are the best part of £100 each iirc.

The vibration could simply be a wheel out of balance but could also mean a slightly buckled wheel...

The pulling to the left would concern me and sounds like either the tracking is out or worse that the brakes may be binding... The brakes are expensive to sort, particularly if the callipers need replacing.

The interior wear you describe confirms my thoughts that the car has not been cared for... Not acceptable imho. A new steering wheel (without trim pieces) is £905 including VAT!

Sorry to appear negative, but unless they are sorting out the majority of issues and offer you a very attractive price then i would continue your quest for a CSL somewhere else...

All IMHO of course. :whistle:

Rob

[AlexGTT]

Agree with Rob. Exterior stone chips, etc. are perfectly normal but my car is 65k miles and has none of the wear you saw. It's lovely inside and there's nothing new or replaced either.

Unless very attractively priced I'd look again. There will be better ones out there.

[E46CSL]

A

Unless very attractively priced I'd look again. There will be better ones out there.

+ 1.. Often it's better long term to up the budget a bit and get a well sorted car that does not need any work doing to it.

[E30M3SE]

Yes, this is pretty much the decision that was made after seeing the car........... it is not the 1.

Just back from looking at a black one in Potters Bar, same sort of mileage, interior much better same about the rest of it.

[Matt]

My CSL is up for sale if you are interested, if i click donate then i can post details in the 'Trading' section...

[E46CSL]

My CSL is up for sale if you are interested

Nice car:thumbs:

[E30M3SE]

My CSL is up for sale if you are interested, if i click donate then i can post details in the 'Trading' section...


Does look like a lovely car, it is a shame you are not looking for a E90 335d as a px.

There is an advert going live for the 335d later today, hopefully it will sell quickly then we may be in touch.

[Matt]

My CSL is up for sale if you are interested, if i click donate then i can post details in the 'Trading' section...

Ok no probs, how do I donate ? Was wondering how to advertise the car here !

[funtime]

Ok no probs, how do I donate ? Was wondering how to advertise the car here !

Top of the screen, green Donate button ;)

Lazy option (http://www.cslregister.com/forum/payments.php)

[Matt]

Top of the screen, green Donate button ;)

Lazy option (http://www.cslregister.com/forum/payments.php)

Have you just put that there ??!!

[funtime]

Have you just put that there ??!!

What do you mean? I'm not a mod so I can't do anything other than post! :hahaha:

[Great Pretender]

An update for those interested....

Hello chap :beer:

As others have said, the car sounds poorly cared for. Either that or it's hiding many more miles than the odo indicates. I was once rather concerned to learn that the speedo sensor can simply be unplugged from the back of the diff which on a mileage sensitive car like the CSL is an option some scumbags might take...

Either way, wear to the extent you describe is not acceptable when there are plenty other similar mileage cars around for your budget. My car has done approx 1k less than the CSL you went to see and the interior displays no signs of wear whatsoever other than to the wheel rim, which is to be expected. Albeit not to the point that it's wearing through to the foam padding! Again this makes me suspicious that the car's 'lost' some miles somewhere, if you see what I mean.

Obvious signs of paint are a concern also. Naturally I would anticipate some paint on a7/8 yr old car, but I'd expect this to be done properly. Cheap repairs would make me worry about anything else that's been skimped on...

As for the drive; well the car should feel as solid as a rock at speed. The pulling under braking is definitely not normal.

What tyres is it wearing? This is always a give-away as to the mentality/pocket of the previous owner or seller. IME the car drives so much better on the Cup tyres and the only substitute I'd accept is the PS2 frankly.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on.

As has been said also, it sounds like this car isn't for you. Personally, I think you should look to buy one privately as at least you'll get an inclination as to how the car is treated by the owner, rather than some slick salesman who will tell you all the BS he can to get whatever lump of turd he's mistakenly bought off his forecourt! Sorry, I'm getting cynical in my old age.

Either that or find one in the AUC network like I did and pay for the peace of mind of a years comprehensive warranty and knowing that the car's been properly prepared. Given their nature, these cars take a lot of punishment and bits tend to wear out around this age/mileage. Mine had £4k worth of prep work for example, just to sort things like damp rear shocks, new rear box and other bits and bobs. I'd not normally advise this, but I find BMW's AUC scheme to be pretty good.

Horses for courses I guess. Make sure you see a few though.

[E30M3SE]

Toying with going to see the 55.5k mile SG that Nick Johnson has for sale,

http://cdn.images.pistonheads.com/aimg/2241/2241906-1.jpg

anyone been to see it already or know anything about it??

TIA

PM if you wish.


:thumbs:

[danp]

In a word... YES
BMW E46 M cars, CSL included either have Climate Control or NON C/C or Manual A/C, manual ventilation only, maily on CSL only as I'm yet to see a regular E46 M3 without C.C.
I hope this makes sense :thumbs: and WELCOME to the fold :beer:

The above is clear as mud to me ;-)

On a CSL surely it's either:

1. Climate Control (computer controlled air con)
2. Normal heating/cooling (i.e. no air con - lets call this "manual ventialtion".. the system you used to get in a boggo 316i)

You seem to list 4 options? (CC, non CC, manual a/c, manual ventilation) ... not even sure what option 2 is? (non CC)

[mattCSLnut]

The above is clear as mud to me ;-)



Let me re literate... just for you ;) :hahaha:

There are 3 air ventilation options on all BMW E46s except the CSL which only had 2 air ventilation options

1) Normal heating/cooling system without C.C. or A/C (i.e. no Air Con of any kind... think CSL without any Air Conditioning :thumbs: or poverty speck 316i 4 door :clown:

2) Manual Air Con with manual ventilation (never an option on the CSL but was available on run out model E46 badged as ES ( instead of SE or SPORT) and some Police speck E46s

3) Climate Control ... as per E46 SE, SPORT speck and CSLs with Air Con :thumbs:

I hope this clears the mud ;) :hahaha: