Used Car of the Day: 2003 BMW M3 Convertible

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

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

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.

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5 of 24 comments
  • 28-Cars-Later 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


    • See 1 previous
    • 28-Cars-Later 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).


  • MaintenanceCosts 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.

    • 28-Cars-Later 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.


  • NotMyCircusNotMyMonkeys so many people here fellating musks fat sack, or hodling the baggies for TSLA. which are you?
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Canadians are able to win?
  • Doc423 More over-priced, unreliable garbage from Mini Cooper/BMW.
  • Tsarcasm Chevron Techron and Lubri-Moly Jectron are the only ones that have a lot of Polyether Amine (PEA) in them.
  • Tassos OK Corey. I went and saw the photos again. Besides the fins, one thing I did not like on one of the models (I bet it was the 59) was the windshield, which looked bent (although I would bet its designer thought it was so cool at the time). Besides the too loud fins. The 58 was better.
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