Used Car of the Day: 2003 BMW M3 Convertible

by Tim Healey

Published: March 8th, 2023

used car of the day 2003 bmw m3 convertible

It's spring, the weather is getting nicer, so I figured why not feature a convertible today?

This one is a 2003 BMW M3, and it's a stick.

This six-speed manual Bimmer has a tick over 105,000 miles on the clock, has apparently been well-maintained, and is in Kentucky. The asking price is $17,000.

It does have some minor cosmetic damage and the convertible hardtop needs some work with the headliner. Oh, and the TPMS light is on. There are some minor mods -- including a short-throw shifter -- but the car is mostly stock.

The car has heated seats, Snow Belters. The link below has the CarFax report.

Give it a look-see here.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

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5 of 24 comments

28-Cars-Later on Mar 09, 2023

"and the convertible hardtop needs some work with the headliner."

Which will likely require many thousands of dollars to remedy.
To anyone reading, if you like these find a better example for a bit more coin. Anyone buying example this is going to be immediately $7-10K in the hole before recon.
8/10/22 $22,000 26,674 3.7 6G/A Silver Regular Northeast Pennsylvania
3/2/23 $20,500 *69,659 --6CY/A Blue Regular Midwest Chicago
1/17/23 $13,400 75,865 4.26 G/A White Regular Southeast Atlanta
12/7/22 $9,900 94,626 3.06 G/6 Blue Regular Southwest Dallas
9/14/22 $10,750 99,012 2.66 G/A Blue Regular Southwest Denver
10/31/22 $13,400 106,712 3.26 CY/M --Regular West Coast myCentralAuction
10/12/22 $8,200 121,402 2.56 CY/A-- Regular West Coast myCentralAuction

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- See 1 previous
- 2ACL on Mar 09, 2023
  
  "Which will likely require many thousands of dollars to remedy."
  Maybe. Watching my father swap out a hail-damaged hardtop from a Lexus SC 430 with little more than patience and garage tools leads me to believe that a determined DIYer can do this. Sending it to a specialist will definitely cost more, and knowing me, I'd tack on more still by asking for a preventative maintenance evaluation and having the additional work done depending on the likelihood of future failure.
  That said, I think you have a point in suggesting patience of those not looking for a project straight away. These cars are rare but aren't in danger of being wrecked or tuned into endangered status like any number of mainstream sport compacts of that time period.
  
  Like
- 28-Cars-Later on Mar 09, 2023
  
  Lexus != European marques. The SC430 likely has the best overall design and materials of any hardtop convertible in the period, and even a swap of it may require realignment or resetting of the sensors. Now go and do the same with Zee Germans or even Volvo (MKI sources a German made roof, ask me how I know).
  
  Like
MaintenanceCosts on Mar 09, 2023

The headliner is not some kind of complicated mechanism. Plenty of DIYers have refurbished the headliner on these hardtops. Even professionally done it won't be "many thousands."

The hardtop is rare and has a lot of value on its own.

Like Reply
- 28-Cars-Later on Mar 10, 2023
  
  You know more about BMWs than I so I'll take that as true... the many thousands come in when the roof malfunctions but that's any Euro 'vert.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Tassos You can answer your own question for yourself, Tim, if you ask instead"Have Japanese (or Korean) Automakers Eaten Everyone's Lunch"?I am sure you can answer it without my help.
Tassos WHile this IS a legitimate used car, unlike the vast majority of Tim's obsolete 30 and 40 year old pieces of junk, the price is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. It is not even a Hellcat. WHat are you paying for? The low miles? I wish it had DOUBLE the miles, which would guarantee it was regularly driven AND well maintained these 10 years, and they were easy highway miles, not damaging stop-go city miles!!!
Tassos Silly and RIdiculous.The REAL Tassos.
Lostboy If you can stay home when it's bad out in winter, then maybe your 3 season tire WILL be an "ALL-SEASON" tire as your just not going to get winters and make do? I guess tire rotations and alignments just because a whole lot more important!
Mike My wife has a ‘20 Mazda3 w/the Premium Package; before that she had a ‘15 Mazda3 i GT; before THAT she had an ‘06 Mazda Tribute S V6, ie: Ford Escape with a Mazda-tuned suspension. (I’ve also had two Miata NAs, a ‘94 & a ‘97M, but that’s another story.) We’ve gotten excellent service out of them all. Her 2020, like the others before it, is our road trip car - gets 38mpg highway, it’s been from NC to Florida, Texas, Newfoundland, & many places in between. Comfortable, sporty, well-appointed, spacious, & reliable. Sure, we’d look at a Mazda hybrid, but not anytime soon.😎