[Bmwe46forlife]

Hi everyone - just joined this forum.

A little back story - I used to own a 01 laguna blue e46 m3 6 speed. I LOVED the car. I owned it from 2006 to 2016. Sold it in 2016 because it was getting expensive to maintain and to be honest, I was getting sick of the color.

Recently, I have had this desire to buy another e46 to keep forever. I really miss driving it, especially the manual 6 speed.

I live in Canada and I came across a white BMW m3 e46 with 113k KM. This is the equivalent of around 65K miles. So yes, very low mileage. BTW, I love alpine white, its my favorite color on this car. The car looks so nice!

The thing is, the car does NOT have the typical binder of maintenance records showing that the car was meticulously maintained. When I read people talking about buying these e46 in 2021 or 2022, its all about finding a "clean" one that has been well taken care of.

Lets suppose this previous owner did NOT baby this car. LEts say he just did the standard oil changes every year and thats it. If this car passes a Pre purchase inspection with no major issues noted, would you consider this to be "clean"? I am aware of the big 3 and the owner has said that none have been done. He also said that there is no warning signs showing that these 3 things need to be fixed right now too.

There are lots of cosmetic flaws on the car which are easy to fix. My biggest concern is whats the likelihood of me buying this and having tons of things to replace? Things like suspension parts, engine parts, etc.. For now, lets exclude the big 3.

One thing I am envious of forum members is that everyone seems to have such a good understanding of car mechanics - I dont know any of this stuff. I dont even know how to do an oil change.

Would really appreciate some insight. Thanks everyone