Check out the spate of acidity here:
http://members.roadfly.com/jason/m3engines.htm
http://www.mfailure.com/

The Ultimate Detonation Machine?

As far as I can tell, not one of the abused 2003 Cobra engines or TL engines has grenaded - one guy claims over 100 drag strip launches in his S/C 2003 Cobra with Lightning pulley dynoing 550 rwhp with power shifts. Wait until these guys find out how BMW stands behind their engines. BTW, BMW is doing what I posted a while back about engine forensics - they dump the telemetry en every grenaded engine for "abuse analysis". You just gotta love it.

 

Did you want the vids on www.mfailure.com? I've heard sewing machines sound better than the 1st one. The 2nd one was a neat track scene. The M engine blows on an uphill straigh away in a cloud of white smoke. The Porsche driver brakes and avoids him. The third video I didn't understand. Maybe they were trying to show the old spots from the blown engine. What's wrong with the Ms engines? Is it just some model years? Sorry I was too lazy to read all the posts. I've got a friend looking for a used M3.

 

Old story and exaggerated. My friend has a 2001 with 25,000 miles that has had 0 problems. The S2000 had its share of engine failures as well. In fact, I know of two that detonated on tracks here in Northern California.

Most of the engine failures are in certain build months. Just make sure your friend finds out which and buys a car with a different build date. Preferrably, after the bad months (10/01 and 11/01 I believe).