I haven’t driven my coupe in almost 3 weeks. Winter is here in Colorado, and there has been snow on or near my favorite roads the past few weeks. While I don’t plan on parking it until spring, I know my opportunities for a good drive this winter will be few and far between. Therefore, I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on how best to winterize my coupe. Here are some of the winter storage tips I’ve come across.

At the BBQ, parked in the sun next to Glenn's pristine steel gray coupe, it became apparent I had some swirl marks. The previous owner of my coupe works for Adam's Polishes, so I assume they were not left from him, but it did spend almost 3 weeks at a dealership and there's just no helping cars there. Colby told me he'd polish it for me if I brought it up to his house in Cheyenne the next day. I couldn't pass that up, so I told my wife I'd be back in a "few hours" and headed up around 11 AM the next morning after church.

My apologies for the lack of updates. My new coupe arrived safe and sound on Thursday at 1 PM. I’ve been driving it about every free moment since including a 4:30-6:30 AM drive through local canyons the following morning. I think it’s even better than I ever imagined it could be. I’m very glad I held out for just the right one. I can’t stop staring at it and look for excuses to sneak out to the garage. It was definitely worth the wait!

The saga continues… Monday afternoon I received word from the dealership owner that the truck was fixed and headed this way. The driver called and said he planned to drive as far as possible Monday night, hit it hard on Tuesday, and should be here by Wednesday. It’s not going to happen, but it’s not really his fault this time. He just called to let me know a couple hours ago he was randomly selected for an Inspection 2 at a weigh station in Iowa and they found a couple minor things he has to fix before they’ll let him continue. He said things should be straightened out soon, and he’ll be on his way again.

The following story may be hard to fathom, but believe me, I’m not creative enough to make it up. It all started when an independent transport driver, contracted in the past by the dealership I bought my coupe from, overheard them saying they needed to get a car out to Colorado. He told them he could pick it up as soon as it was ready and could do it cheaper since he was headed this direction anyway. The dealer knew my budget was stretched and I wanted it as soon as possible(we split the shipping cost 50:50). They knew and trusted the driver from past experiences but because it was a long trip verified his insurance through the VIN number on his truck, double-checked that his license was up to date, etc. and everything checked out fine.

Although Justin Cornelison is from my neck of the woods, he’s currently working in Dubai which gives him access to the U.S. forbidden, S50-engined M Coupe. Here’s his comparison of his recently purchased coupe to the E39 M5 he previously owned:

First off, where do I start? These are two completely different cars, with two completely different purposes. I am fortunate enough to have owned both cars (separately), first the M5, now the M Coupe.

Don Eilenberger has had the fortune to own some very nice cars over the years including his current S54 M Coupe. These include a Volvo P1800, a Jaguar XKE Roadster, an E36 M3, and an E46 M3 convertitble. Here's how he thinks they compare to his coupe.

Taka recently purchased (stole) this beautiful black sapphire metallic 2001 M Coupe and is fortunate to also own a 2005 Corvette in millenium yellow. In his words, here’s how they compare:

The Corvette is a lot of fun to drive, but in a very different way. I think the car is more suited to use at a road course, especially if it’s not too tight, so you can really stretch the car’s legs and use that V-8 for what it’s worth. It’s definitely a lot faster than the M- having another 85 hp and only 200 lbs. would do that. My car has long tube headers, exhaust and will eventually have an intake and a tune, so I’d say it probably has a tad more than 400hp- I could feel the difference in power output even with the stock tune when I added the headers. I also never had traction issues with the stock manifolds (esp. with 305 Bridgestone RE-11), but I do now that I have the headers installed.

While most of us are searching for the perfect color combination, there are many other things to look for in an M Coupe. To start, look for a complete set of maintenance records, so you can judge the car’s service history and verify its mileage. A Pre-Purchase Inspection by a mechanic knowledgeable of these cars is also a must regardless of the coupe’s apparent condition and mileage. Any inspection should include the usual checks for engine compression, cosmetic flaws, body and chassis corrosion, accident damage, malfunctioning accessories, etc. There are many things specific to the M Coupe that should be checked as well. The list below encompasses most of the common issues you should be aware of and have checked out when looking to purchase an M Coupe.

Last week, I came across a 2001 Estoril Blue M Coupe in Richmond Hill, ON, Canada that besides its great condition and very low mileage did not appear otherwise significant. The seller makes mention that this particular car is one of twelve pre-production S54 coupes. I had never heard of such a thing and decided to see what I could find out.

For quite a few years before a full scale M Coupe was a financial possibility, I searched high and low for a 1:18 scale model to complement my model collection. Being the picky buyer I am, the normal cosmos black store sold UT model didn’t cut it for me. I wanted the silver model. For a while, I wasn’t sure this model even existed. My only evidence was a single photo posted on Car Domain, but that was enough to keep me going. I eventually found out that it did exist but could only be purchased through dealers and there obviously were not very many of them.

In the four short years of BMW M Coupe production, there were essentially 3 different versions produced (6 if you count right hand drive and differentiate the European S54).  The first and most common is the North American S52-engined car.  Produced in 1999 and 2000, these cars produce 240hp and 236 lb/ft of torque.  This is the same engine as found in North American versions of the 1996-1999 E36 M3.   Europeans – as they did with their version of the E36 M3 – were offered the 321hp, 258 lb/ft S50 engine.  For 2001 and 2002, both North America and Europe received the 315hp S54 engine from the 2001-2006 E46 M3.

I’ve spent quite a few years compiling a list of sites that would hopefully cover nearly all currently listed M Coupes for sale.  Here it is in the order I see most potential.

With the arrival of the Z4 M Coupe in 2006, many people and even some auto publications have relabeled the 1999-2002 M Coupe the Z3 M Coupe.  This is not technically correct.  While based on the Z3, the name from BMW was simply “M Coupe”.  Before the M Coupe and Roadster arrived, BMW M models of the time were named according to their series.  BMW probably could have named it the MZ or MZ3, but they chose to name it simply "M".

I've been working to collect most of the video reviews of the M Coupe. They seem to be added and dropped from video services frequently, so let me know if you find any new ones or if any of the links are broken.

The BMW M Coupe may be one of the few cars where you may not want a sunroof.  Sunroofs came standard on the M Coupe with the option being a “sunroof-delete”.  Very few dealers ordering for their lots wanted to de-content their cars, so very few have this rare “option”.  It’s been reported that only 16% of coupes are sunroof-deletes (452 of 2858 to be exact).