[Witney]

One of the reasons I stayed away from M-cars (second hand!) in the past was the specialist servicing requirements and very expensive consumables.

Many forum members are beating a track to the M-cars, assisted by the discounts and the finance offers, but does anyone know the true servicing cost uplift?

Or is it simply the case that the BMW servicing package you can buy ticks all the boxes anyway. How does it compare to the F30 service pack?

Just curious....

[Tengocity]

It's not that much more, and unless you do mega high miles then I doubt it would be the decision maker.

What could get expensive is if you indulge in oversteer regularly, and then you'll be buying new rear tyres every few months.

The big difference for me is that driven in rush hour traffic i reckon I'll get close to 30mpg from current M4, compared to more like 20mpg in the previous gen M3.

[creepy coupe]

Insurance hikes and yearly subscriptions to tracking devices is a consideration.

[dopper99]

If you buy new, they are not that expensive to service at all, for the first 2 years.
Mine was about 20 months old and about 14K miles and only had the running in service when I sold it. I think the next service after that (approx 16-18K miles) is around £300-£400 but the service after that is the killer at £900-£1100 depending where you go. This is because it needs the labour intensive spark plug change.

The biggest killer running these cars is the fuel consumption, especially if you've come from a diesel. Expect a maximum of just over 300 miles to a tank on a run but typically much less if hooning it or driving around town. And putting premium petrol in gets expensive.
But if you are not doing too many miles then this is less of a problem.

[Pobsey]

Brake consumables are a fair bit more than your standard F3X even the blue caliper brakes

[dopper99]

I've also read a BMW lithium battery is around £800 although you can no doubt get an aftermarket one cheaper. But hopefully you wouldn't need this for a few years!

[stefan4]

Originally Posted by Witney

One of the reasons I stayed away from M-cars (second hand!) in the past was the specialist servicing requirements and very expensive consumables.

Many forum members are beating a track to the M-cars, assisted by the discounts and the finance offers, but does anyone know the true servicing cost uplift?

Or is it simply the case that the BMW servicing package you can buy ticks all the boxes anyway. How does it compare to the F30 service pack?

Just curious....

service packs are s**t these days anyway. But obviously the running costs will be more, but from what I have read, not insanely so. obviously you have RIS @£300 or so, road tax is the same as any other decent bmw now with the new structure, insurance was a couple of hundred more, tyres I think are about the same ish (assuming rft replacement on a standard f30), fuel will obviously be more no doubt and consumables - buying from new means it's a good while before you need to worry about these (unless you track it) but pads aren't stupid after looking at pagid replacements which are much better for track work apparently.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

Insurance hikes and yearly subscriptions to tracking devices is a consideration.

The insurance for mine was £160 to add to my existing policy!

Albeit that was just till the end of November. Even still, pro-rata that means less than £500 and thats for 15k miles per annum inc Business usage. So I really don't think the insurance is make or break.

That is also without a tracker, but if that was to become mandatory for most insurers then you're right, and this would be a definite consideration.

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

The insurance for mine was £160 to add to my existing policy!

Albeit that was just till the end of November. Even still, pro-rata that means less than £500 and thats for 15k miles per annum inc Business usage. So I really don't think the insurance is make or break.

That is also without a tracker, but if that was to become mandatory for most insurers then you're right, and this would be a definite consideration.

When I had my M3's there was only a choice of two companies who didn't insist on a tracker. Admiral and the other I can't remember. Guess what, their premiums were proportionally dearer.

[Wills2]

I can probably give you a decent steer on this, over 80,000 miles the car has cost in terms of servicing and tyres around £5000 or 6.25p a mile, fuel has cost £16,551 (ish) or 21p per mile, to fuel it, service it and put tyres on it 27-28p per mile.

[scottc]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

When I had my M3's there was only a choice of two companies who didn't insist on a tracker. Admiral and the other I can't remember. Guess what, their premiums were proportionally dearer.

Had both of mine with direct line and no tracker required, my C63 doesn't require one either

As for running costs fuel was the main thing although now I have the c63 I would say the m4/3 was good on fuel

Only other thing was tyres, I had to punctures in 1000 miles and it cost me £500

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Wills2

I can probably give you a decent steer on this, over 80,000 miles the car has cost in terms of servicing and tyres around £5000 or 6.25p a mile, fuel has cost £16,551 (ish) or 21p per mile, to fuel it, service it and put tyres on it 27-28p per mile.

If it isn't too much hassle could you break down that £5k on tyres and servicing a bit more by any chance?

[lethbridge]

I took service pack as at £1000 it will be cheaper for me due to the miles I do and it suited me to add to the 0%. That's my first 50k or so covered and the next service at around 55k will be an oil change. The next big bill service shouldn't be until it's done 70k miles. Insurance is slightly less than my 335d with LV - no tracker needed. Tyres are same price as on my 335d although I'm assuming I'll get through perhaps twice as many.

Fuel will probably be the biggest cost difference but I've no issue putting Sainsbury/Tesco 'super' fuel in (totally unconvinced by the need to spend a fortune on vpower with no notable benefit on a modern engine like the S55) - my first fill at Sainsburys was actually cheaper for 97RON than it was for Diesel but I'll be doing about 10mpg less. So in the grand scheme of buying an £80k+ list car the run costs are entirely predictable and manageable as long as you keep it on warranty (as it would seem the turbos are at risk at the miles I expect to do).

[dopper99]

This is one of my best runs when I had the M3......

Here, I've driven from North Wilts to the Midlands via the Fosse Way, all A roads, no motorways, 4 up in the car and simply sticking the the speed limits. Normal driving, no crazy overtaking.

On the way up there........ 79 miles at 33.4mpg

Overall on the day 28.2mpg for 222 miles. This was also some town driving in with this and the odd blast. A potential 350 miles from a tank.

You wont get this all the time, but it shows what an M3 is capable of if driven steady.

In contrast, driven back and forth to work about 4 miles each way, I used to get around 19-20mpg.

[OneExtra]

The M5 will average 25mpg driven on all road types and 31mpg if just on a motorway. The 530D averaged 43mpg

Insurance is £100 a year more than a 530D at £450 including business use, tax is a lot more at £540 verses £150 for a 530D

Tyres are similar in price

It's had a service before I got it so nothing needed for another 12 months

In 12 months it will need a warranty extension which I guess will be about £1000 a year

I estimate when the warranty runs out it will cost about £170 a month just to sit on the drive (tax, insurance, warranty)

It's my hobby though and I don't really buy much else

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

If it isn't too much hassle could you break down that £5k on tyres and servicing a bit more by any chance?

5 services, 3 sets of rear tyres and 2 sets of fronts, what I haven't had to do yet is change the disks and pads I think that will be £1500 at least but not sure.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Wills2

5 services, 3 sets of rear tyres and 2 sets of fronts, what I haven't had to do yet is change the disks and pads I think that will be £1500 at least but not sure.

That's pretty reasonable going, and probably less than I forked out on regular servicing and consumables on the 335d.

[OneExtra]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

That's pretty reasonable going, and probably less than I forked out on regular servicing and consumables on the 335d.

You probably will drive the 335D a lot harder than the M4

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

That's pretty reasonable going, and probably less than I forked out on regular servicing and consumables on the 335d.

The tyres seem to last forever with my driving profile the additional set of rears is due a puncture as well, without that I'd have only gone through two sets.

[dopper99]

I think I changed my rears at about 13-14K miles but they still had 3mm on them. But was desperate to get the very grippy PS4S tyres on. Best thing I ever did.
Front still had loads left on them.

[JNW1]

No experience of the latest M3/M4 but my E46 M3 wasn't actually that expensive to run (and I had it for 4.5 years in which time the mileage went from 5k to 70k). Servicing was obviously more costly than for more mainstream BMW's but considering the performance and handling tyre wear and fuel consumption weren't that bad and insurance was quite reasonable too.

If personal circumstances and requirements were different I'd certainly be looking at an M4 coupe given the deals available at the moment and to anyone in a position to proceed and wavering I'd say just do it!

[MackM4Comp]

Originally Posted by Pobsey

Brake consumables are a fair bit more than your standard F3X even the blue caliper brakes

The pad wear is very good, expect much more mileage out of them than the cardboard pads they put on a standard 3/4 series