Re: <e36> 95 M3 production questions....

[Carlos Lopez <clopez95m3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Eric wrote:
>What makes a 1995 M3 an "early" version?  What VIN numbers should I
>stay away from? I'm in the market for a 95 M3 and remember hearing
>things about the "early" M3's as far as problems and such...

Phheww! I'm tired of typing but I'll take a crack at this one too...

This is more of an overview, and keep in mind I'm talking about US
versions.  I also wouldn't bet anything on the months I'm about to
quote you.  OK "early" versions, there were about 40 or 60
pre-production M3's made early in '94 (guessing Jan., Feb., maybe
March).  With production versions starting after that.  Early models
did not have the OBC, traction control, arrows on the seat adjustment
or the HK stereo, possibly other features.  The early ones did not
have the nutserts needed for the X-brace installation, but you can add
those.  One more feature that showed up about 1/95 was the coded
driveaway protection, and sometime later in '95 the Luxury version
popped out (wood, different front valence, HK stereo, etc.)

If I were shopping for a 95 M3 I'd get the newest possible.  For one
the warranty is about to runout on all 94 prod. cars, and two, at
around 10/95 they supposedly have the updated valve spring retainers. 
One good thing about the early ones (sort of) is that they have tilt
steering wheels.  Supposedly they didn't meet some unbelted passenger
crash test standards so the feature was removed.  I always wear my
seatbelt so no problem.  Also, before the introduction of the LTW with
their hand picked motors making too much horsepower, guess where these
motors ended up? Yep on earlier ones.  Most LTW's are 9/95 to 10/95
prod., but don't hold me to that.  Hope this helps you with your
choice if not I just wasted more bandwidth than ever. :-)

Carlos
95 M3 6/94 prod., heated seats, sunroof, no arrows on seat, no OBC, no
traction control, no coded EWS. 
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