Patch notes
Every release since September 25, 2026, newest first: what is new, what was fixed, which facts in the guides were corrected, and whether any score moved.
Latest release . 12 releases since September 25, 2026; 2 moved scores. Every score change is explained in full on the Method page.
The final Guide Score, the best year to buy, and which M to buy
Every Guide Score moved to the final method, one all-time score from 1 to 100 with the cost to own a year beside it. Each car page now says the best year to buy, a new page picks the three cars that fit what you want one for, and the full report is $49.
New
- Each car page says the best year to buy and why, and the years to think twice about and what they cost, each with its source. E46 M3
- Which M should I buy? Pick what the car is for, a budget and how much repair risk you accept, and see the three cars that fit best, with their cost a year and their chance of a big repair bill. Which M should I buy?
- Four pages for four kinds of buyer, a first M, an upgrade, a dream spec and a family car, each with its cars and budgets; the home page leads to them. A first M
- A page for dealers who sell M cars, about a plan to show a free full report on every M car they list. It is not built yet, and the page says so. For dealers
- Two buttons count interest in features that are not built yet, following a car you own and checking a collector car's spec, and each says plainly that it is not built.
Improved
- The full report is $49 for one car, $99 for three and $149 for a 30-day pass. Checkout opens soon, and nothing can be charged yet. What's free
- The car report shows the asking price plus two years of likely costs at the top, leaves a spec field you did not give out of the spec score instead of counting it against the car, and asks about records that take a fixed fault out of the budget. Check a car
- Value and the deal moves the price range for model year as well as miles, where the comparable cars show a clear step between years, and says each part of the move. Where they do not, it moves for miles alone and says why. Check a car
- Comparable cars for a Competition now count listings that name no version where BMW's US lineup settles it: every 2019 to 2021 M2 was a Competition, and the G80 M3 and G82 M4 Competition came only with the automatic. For a 2016 to 2018 M3 or 2016 to 2020 M4 Competition, where few listings say it, the ones that do not say are counted too, each marked, and the report says so before you buy and that the range may sit a little under a Competition's. Check a car
- Compare has a model-year picker on each side, and on a phone the verdict comes before the race, which opens with a button. Compare
- A car page follows the model year you pick, from the top of the page down. G80 M3
Fixed
- A listing asking under $1,000, a stand-in for "call for price" rather than a real price, no longer counts as a comparable car. Check a car
- Value and the deal no longer says the rest of the comparable cars were listed in the last 30 days when none of their listings gives a date, and it calls them comparable cars throughout. Check a car
Guide corrections
- E46 M3 and E39 M5: each guide gains a short box on what changed by model year, and the wanted options and colors follow the cars collectors seek out; on the E46 the Competition Package is the one option weighed. E46 M3
- G80 M3, G82 M4, G83 M4 Convertible and G87 M2: the crank hub line says what the evidence supports, and the 2026 bearing shell bulletin is called what it is, a delivery stop with no repair. G80 M3
- X3 M and X4 M: each guide's opening names both the weak spot owners report, the rear differential bolt, and the costliest fault to budget for, transfer case shudder. X3 M
Scores
- Every Guide Score moved to the final method: one all-time score from 1 to 100 for each generation, built from seven parts with a source behind every figure, and the cost to own a year beside every score. How we score has the dated note with what changed and why. How we score
Earlier in October 20266 releases, no score moved
The full report on the site, with checkout opening soon
The full report is on the site for any car the report can price against comparable cars for sale. Checkout opens soon and nothing can be charged yet; the free report keeps the verdict, the Guide Score, the two-year budget and the costliest faults. The race film now loops, with a Pause button and a timeline you can drag. No score moved.
New
- The full report is on the site: for a car the report can price against comparable cars for sale, it adds the car's price against them with an offer sheet to print, two years of work item by item, an inspection sheet with what a pass looks like, and questions for the seller. One car is $29, three are $59, a 30-day pass is $89. Checkout opens soon, and nothing can be charged yet; the free report keeps the verdict, the Guide Score, the two-year budget and the costliest faults with prices. What's free
Improved
- Before the full report, the free report says how many comparable cars priced the car; where its asking price sits among them is in the full report. The terms now say what the full report is, what it costs, and that all sales are final. Terms
- The race film loops while it is on the screen, holding the finish a moment before the lights come on again. A Pause button stops it, and the line under it is a timeline you can drag, with the race's moments still marked to jump to. Rankings
Speed and security
- Pages with a race film load lighter: the film loads only once the page has, and never on a phone's home page, where the race is not shown. On Rankings, the race's first picture comes with the page.
The Guide Score race as a film, studio films on seven car pages, and one clear way to check a car
The race on the home page and on Rankings now plays as a short film of scale models racing one lap at night, with each car's place over it and the race's moments to jump to. Seven car pages gain a short studio film of the car, the home page and the report say plainly what a check gives you, and engine faults priced at the cost of prevention now say what a failure costs. No score moved.
New
- The Guide Score race on the home page and on each Rankings era plays as a short film: scale models of the cars run one lap, filmed like a race broadcast, and still finish in Guide Score order. Each car's place rides over it, and a line under the film lets you jump to the start, the main passes and the finish. Rankings
- Seven car pages, the E30, E36, E46 and E92 M3, the F82 and G82 M4 and the G80 M3, have a short studio film of the car under the short answer, made with a 3D model in one of the car's factory paints, which the caption names. The photo at the top of each page stays. M3 E46
- The credits page names the makers of the scale models used in the race films and the car page films. Where a car has no model of its own, it races as a similar car in its own paint, and the race says so. Credits
- A report's Value and the deal now prices the car against comparable used cars for sale across the US: the same model and version, model years evenly either side of its own, and miles near its miles, each listing linked to its seller. Where fewer than five turn up, it says so and judges nothing. Check a car
Improved
- The home page says what a check gives you: paste the listing or the VIN of any used BMW M or M Performance car for its known faults, what they cost and what to check, all sourced. Checking a car has one name everywhere, Check a car, and the report page opens with the question every buyer asks about the car in front of them. Check a car
- How we score explains model years with the Z3 M Roadster and M Coupe, whose 2001 and 2002 cars, with the S54 engine, score differently from the earlier ones. How we score
- The privacy policy says how a visit that arrives from one of our ads is counted: under that ad, with nothing that identifies you, kept only in that browser tab. Privacy policy
Fixed
- The note under the full report, which is coming, lists only what it adds. It no longer lists the two-year costs the free report already shows, or a price watch that is not built. What's free
- Guide Scores that count up as they come into view could stop short and stay wrong, such as 40 for a 97 in the home page's list, when the page changed beside them. Each score now counts once and always ends on its real figure. Home
- On very wide screens the photo at the top of car pages, reports and comparisons could cut the car off, showing mostly sky. The photo area now grows with the screen and keeps the car in frame. M3 G80
- On phones, the race film shows the whole race. When it first went live it showed only the middle of the picture, with the places away from their cars.
Guide corrections
- On the engine faults where our figure was the price of preventing the fault, not of fixing it after it happens, the figure now says so: the S55 crank hub and the rod bearings of the S54, S55, S62, S65, S85 and S63 engines, and the E39 M5's timing chain guides. Each of those, except the S55's rod bearings, adds what a failure costs, from a used engine before fitting to a specialist rebuild, with its source. M3 E46
The new BMW M era, real photos in every list, and a plainer ownership risk
A new section on the BMW M cars people argue about, from the big-grille M3 and M4 to the XM and the hybrid M5, with both sides of each argument. Every list now shows each car's real photo while the race runs drawn cars, the light and dark switch says what it switches to, and the ownership risk says its range in plain words. No score moved.
New
- The new BMW M era: each new car against the one it replaced, the case for and against each, BMW M's sales through the arguments, and the cars still coming. The new BMW M era
- Cars not yet on sale, such as the electric M3, the next gas M3 and the M350 that replaces the M340i name, get a card in place of a score, showing which kinds of evidence exist so far. Each will be scored once it is on sale here and road tests are in.
- Four new guides: whether to buy a G80 M3 now or wait, why the M3 and M4 got that grille, the XM used, and how heavy the new M5 is and whether a used buyer should care. Guides
Improved
- The F80 vs G80 M3 and F87 vs G87 M2 comparisons now answer the looks question, with sources, and four comparisons link to the new guides.
- Every list shows the real car: the rankings, the best M cars of all time, the budget lists and the home page's budget finder each show the car's own photo, while the race runs each car as its own drawing. Rankings
- The light and dark switch is one button that says the mode it switches to, and the new mode spreads across the page from it instead of snapping.
- Ownership risk says its range in plain words (for example, somewhere between sound if looked after and needs a budget), and lists the faults not yet known as counted as possible.
- The full report, coming soon, now says what the free report already gives and what the full report would add, with four ways to buy: $29 a car, $59 for three, $89 for 30 days and $149 for a check by a person. It is not built yet and nothing can be bought; pick one to hear when it is ready.
Guide corrections
- The G80 M3 guide now says a gas M3 follows the electric one, as the head of BMW M has said, and the M340i's history adds the M350 xDrive.
- The XM guide now gives Kelley Blue Book's current value for a 2023 XM, about $60,000, in place of an older figure. XM guide
Real cars on the race track, prices near you, a two-year budget on every car, and rankings by the right years
The rankings race now runs real cars on a real-looking circuit, every car leads with what a typical example is likely to need over two years, and a ZIP code shows live asking prices of cars for sale near you. Each era of the rankings lists only cars from its own years, car pages load faster, and a new page sets out what is free and what is coming. No score moved.
New
- What's free: one page that says what the site gives away, what an email gets you, how the site is paid for and what is coming. What's free
- After a car's known issues and in the report's last steps: where to get a history report, an inspection and a code reader. They are suggestions; none of these links pays this site.
- The full report, coming soon: an offer sheet to print for the seller or your inspector, and a 30-day price watch, at $20 a car or $45 for three. It is not built yet and nothing can be bought; ask to hear when it is ready.
- Listing alerts, coming soon: tell us the car, a ZIP code and a top price, and yours starts the day alerts begin sending.
- Keep a report: copy its link or email it to yourself. Nothing is stored and no sign-up is needed.
- Prices near you: set your ZIP code on a car page or a budget list and see the asking prices of cars listed for sale within 100 miles today, with how many and the range, the cars themselves with a link to each seller, and whether each is a good deal against the others. Where fewer than five are listed nearby, the guide's national example prices stay and say why. These are asking prices, not sale prices. M3 G80
- Two-year budget: the rankings, the budget lists, the best-of list and every car page now give what a typical example of that model year is likely to need over two years, such as $4,000 to $8,500, with the one fault to watch and what it costs. It is the car report's own likely costs for a typical car at normal miles for its kind; the report checks a real one. How it is worked out
Improved
- Rankings: each era lists only cars from its own years, each at its best model year in that era, so a car sold across two eras appears in both at the right year. The year filter offers only years the cars were sold.
- Every rankings row says what its ownership risk comes down to: the one or two faults that decide it and what each costs to fix. Rankings
- The race track now leads the rankings and runs beside the best M cars of all time on the home page, and the head-to-head race leads the compare tool and every side-by-side comparison. M3 vs M4
- Pages move as you read them: scores count up to their figure, car drawings draw themselves in, and sections rise into place. With reduced motion turned on, everything shows at rest.
- The home page shows an example report before you paste anything, and the report answers the usual questions beside its form: is it free, what is kept, and what it does not replace. Check a car
- One spacing, heading and panel style on every page, and Check a car, free in the header everywhere.
- The rankings race runs real cars: each car is its own photo on a circuit with kerbs, a start gantry and a chequered line, with a leaderboard beside it, and every rankings row shows the real car. The head-to-head race on comparisons uses the same circuit look and a proper start light. Rankings
- How we score: the worked example keeps its finished worksheet in view and lights up each step as you read it, instead of emptying between steps. How we score
- Light mode has more depth, with white panels on a cool blue-grey page, and a faint wash of the M colors moves slowly behind page headers. With reduced motion turned on, it stays still.
Speed and security
- Car pages no longer look up listings in the background; the normal miles a year figure is our labeled estimate. Site libraries are up to date.
- Car pages and the rankings now load from a ready copy, so they appear sooner, most of all on phones.
A new look, a report on the car you're looking at, rankings by era, and fault corrections
Paste the car you're looking at and get a verdict in plain words, what it is likely to cost and what to check, with where every figure comes from. Each car page now opens on the car, with everything that was here further down. The rankings open on the current era with every era a tap away, a new page ranks every M car of all time, and we corrected fault entries against their sources. No score moved.
New
- Check a specific car: paste a dealer listing link or a VIN, or type its facts, and get a verdict in words, how its options compare with others of its generation, its rank among its kind, likely costs over two years, its warranty and BMW's free fixes, and what to check before you pay. Check a car
- Paste a vehicle history report or BMW's window sticker into the report and it reads them: accidents, owners and gaps in service from the history, and the options and the original price from the sticker.
- Each car page opens with what the car is, its score and rank among its kind, its ownership risk, the years to buy and what they ask, and our estimate of the miles a year that are normal for it.
- Side by side for the twins buyers weigh most: M3 against M4, X3 M against X4 M, X5 M against X6 M, M240i against M2, and E46 M3 against E92 M3, with where they match underneath and where they really differ. M3 vs M4
- The best used M cars under $30,000, $50,000 and $75,000, from the guide's example listings, each with the risk and score of the model years that fit the budget. Under $50,000
- Rankings by era: Current (2014 on), Modern (2000 to 2013), Classic (before 2000) and All time. Each era is ranked among its own cars, with the count shown, and the sort, tier and model year filters work inside it. Rankings
- Each car page says where the car ranks in its era beside its all-time rank.
- The best BMW M cars of all time: every generation ranked by its best model year, grouped by era, with two or three sentences on why, its ownership risk word and a link to its guide. The best M cars of all time
- Find a car: type a model, a chassis code or a year in the header to go straight to its guide.
Improved
- A new look: each car page opens on the car, its score and one action, and the home page on the paste field, with every section that was there before further down. Where the faults behind an ownership risk are named, each is on its own line.
- Buyer checklists name BMW's 15-year, 150,000-mile coverage where it applies: the engine coolant thermostat, the fuel vapor purge valve and leak module, the grille air flaps and the M550i's charge air coolers. The first X5 M and X6 M checklists add the free front driveshaft recalls.
- Current M2, M3, M4 and M4 Convertible checklists: check by VIN that BMW's engine software recall is done and, on 2026 cars built in set months, the main bearing campaign. The M3 and M4 coupe checklists also ask for the repair order. M3 guide
- M3 (2021 on): the 2027 M3 CS with a manual gearbox joins the specs that hold their value.
- M4 Convertible (2015 to 2020): BMW now covers the rear drain repair for 15 years or 150,000 miles, along with water damage to the rear window regulators and motors, the amplifier and the sound unit. The guide and its checklist say so. M4 Convertible guide
- i4 M50: the drive power entry names two BMW bulletins on drivetrain warnings.
- The car report opens with everything at a glance: likely costs, the asking price against others, the spec, the ownership risk, the warranty, BMW's free fixes and what to check before you pay, each one tap from its section. Check a car
- Screen readers now hear each score with its name first, such as Guide Score 97, and every page can be used from the keyboard alone.
- Car pages put the answer first: who should buy it, who should think twice and the faults to check now sit right under the photo, and on a laptop they stay beside the guide as you read.
- Shorter lists: the best M cars of all time and the budget pages show one row per car, with the reasons a tap away, and the home page drops sections that repeat other pages. The best M cars of all time
- Check a car opens on one box for a listing link or a VIN, with an example report beside it, and a report now leads with that car's own model year score. Check a car
- Light mode has its own design on every page, and every first visit opens in dark mode; a choice you make is kept.
Fixed
- A recall's repair now reads Free (recall) at a BMW dealer everywhere: car pages, the VIN check, the report, the problem pages and comparisons, where some said the cost varies or showed none.
- How we score: the example of a car whose model years score differently now uses the Z3 M, whose 2001 and 2002 cars really do score differently from the earlier ones. How we score
Guide corrections
- Normal miles: car pages and the report counted new cars for sale at dealers, which made recent M cars read about 100 miles a year and called ordinary mileage very high. New cars are now left out, and a figure too low to believe falls back to our labeled estimate.
- Compare: a price gap is never stated larger than it is, prices within about 5 percent read as about the same, and gaps between examples of different model years name the years.
- Recalls: where NHTSA's list cannot be read, car pages, the VIN check and the report now say so instead of showing none, and 30 cars whose recalls NHTSA files partly or wholly under the base model's name (the X5 M, X3 M, X4 M and i5 M60 among them) now say so: on the car page, and on the VIN check and the report for the model years it applies to, with the link to check yours by VIN.
- Owner complaints: 41 car pages whose complaints NHTSA files partly or wholly under another name, the base model's (the X5 M50i's under the X5) or another for the car itself (the E46 M3's under M3 Coupe and M3 Convertible), now say where, and that those complaints are not in the count, with where to read them at NHTSA.
- E92 M3: the rod bearing entry no longer says outright failures are rare, which no outlet, specialist or BMW document says. It gives the replacement interval BMWBlog advises and the share of owner complaints to NHTSA that describe a bearing failure. E92 M3 guide
- X5, X6 and X7 M50i: the oil use entry no longer names valve cover leaks, which none of our sources report on this engine, and its repair estimate rises from $1,500 to $4,000 ($3,500 on the X7), the middle of a parts seller's price for valve stem seals. The front differential entry says every complaint we could trace comes from a V8 car, and that owners of 2022 and 2023 cars report it too. X5 M50i guide
- E60 M5 and E63 M6: the throttle actuator entry now says where its claims come from: BMWBlog finds replacements common at higher mileages, and a seller of rebuilt units says every original fails in time.
- M240i, M340i and M440i: the carbon cleaning interval now follows its source, and the high pressure fuel pump entry no longer calls failures a known item on high-mileage or tuned cars.
- M235i, X4 M40i (2016 to 2018) and 1 Series M: the charge pipe entry no longer says it fails most often on tuned cars.
- E46 M3: the SMG pump repair is about $3,200 fitted, up from $2,500, from a parts seller's price for a rebuilt unit. E46 M3 guide
- X3 M and X4 M: the coolant entry names BMW's bulletin on a false low-coolant warning, where it said there was none.
- XM: the tire entry no longer gives a tire size we could not confirm.
Ownership risk beside the Guide Score
Every car page now shows an ownership risk in plain words, from trouble-free to ruinous, right under the Guide Score: what is known to go wrong, how bad it is and what it costs, read from a sourced list of each car's known faults. It is not a measured reliability rate, and the Guide Score is unchanged.
New
- Ownership risk on every car page, under the Guide Score: one of seven words for what owning the car tends to cost in known faults. The page explains the two words people mix up: costly is big bills you can plan for, and high risk is a severe, common fault with no dependable preventive fix. E46 M3 guide
- Each reading names the faults that decide it. Where no fault is common, the page names what the reading rests on and how often each fault is known to happen. Two words mean the evidence sits on the line between them, and the page says how the readings split.
- Where a car's record is still thin, the model is new, or the car is old enough for age-related wear, the page says so. Where the risk changes by model year, engine, gearbox or drive, the page gives it for each. A newer engine with a short record is read no better than the engine it replaced, and the page says so. M340i guide
- Each car page lists BMW's free fixes for that car, its safety recalls and service campaigns, with a reminder to confirm each was done.
- The rankings show each car's ownership risk beside its scores; the order is unchanged. The downloadable scores file has two new columns, ownership_risk and could_be. Rankings
- This page: notes for every release since September 25, 2026, newest first.
September 20265 releases, one moved scores
One budget on the home page, and single-year cars
The home page's budget now drives both of its tools, and a car sold for a single model year shows that year.
Improved
- Home page: one budget sets both the car finder and the value map, priced by typical asking price, and the headline score's explanation is easier to tap. Home page
Fixed
- A car sold for one model year shows that year instead of a range like 1988 to 1988. E28 M5 guide
How each score adds up, and a clearer Compare
Car pages show beside each Guide Score how it adds up, and Compare puts its reasons before its winner.
Improved
- Car pages: how the Guide Score adds up now sits beside it, opening on the part that holds the car back most, with a reason and a source for each part.
- Compare: the verdict and the side-by-side table come before the head-to-head race, so the reasons come first. Compare two cars
- Score a listing: the listing score explains how it is worked out. Score a listing
- Rankings: the credit a car earns for having no weak side gives its reason in plain words. Rankings
Fixed
- Compare: a car with no example listing says so, instead of showing a listing score of 0.
- On phones, the rankings' model-year picker is one scrolling row again, the rankings circuit labels are readable, and the value map table fits the screen.
Guide Scores explain themselves
Every Guide Score and its three parts say what they measure and open a short explanation.
Improved
- Every Guide Score, and each of its three parts, names what it measures and opens a short explanation.
- The S55 crank hub guide leads with the answer and lists its sources. S55 crank hub guide
Short answers first, and easier reading
Car pages and Compare open with a short answer and end with a next step, the header and footer are new, and pages load faster.
New
- Car pages open with a short answer and end with next steps, phones get an action bar, and a shortlist keeps the cars you save in your own browser.
Improved
- Compare opens with a short answer: what the higher score costs, then a next step. It adds a typical asking price and lists each car's known issues most serious first, then costliest. Compare two cars
- The home page finder leads with the best car in your budget.
- A new header and footer, and small print that is easier to read. The footer lays the site out in the order a buyer works: choose, check, read.
- The N63 V8 guide leads with the answer. N63 guide
- Links shared in messages and social apps show the site's card and name.
Guide corrections
- The i4 M50's recall details and the X3 M50 checklist are corrected, and the lineup ends the M340i, i4 and iX at the 2026 model year.
Speed and security
- Pages load faster, and security is tightened.
A new look, guide corrections and score updates
The site gets its own design and motion, four problems the guides missed are added, and several Guide Scores move.
New
- A redesign: the site's own type, panels and motion, with rankings that reorder as you watch and car photos that carry into each car page.
- A value map of every car by typical asking price and Guide Score, on the home page and its own page. Value map
- Compare adds a head-to-head race and a pillar-by-pillar comparison, car pages a map of known problems and a model-year slider, and Rankings a circuit where the top cars lap at speeds set by their scores.
Improved
- Guides open with a short version and a list of contents.
Guide corrections
- Owner complaints to NHTSA, checked against BMW's bulletins and recalls, add four problems the guides missed: a fuel tank leak on the F80 M3 and F82 and F83 M4, a passenger seat sensor that can switch off the air bag on the E60 M5 and the 2018 M550i, and the E92 M3's battery cable recall. Three problems are re-rated.
Scores
- Tuning headroom joins the driving score, the M240i's market demand follows resale, and the fuel tank fault is added to the 2016 M2 and the M235i. These and the problems above move several scores; the Method page lists every headline score that moved. Method page notes
Score and guide changes before September 25, 2026, including the guide's growth to every M and M Performance generation sold in the US, are in the dated notes on the Method page.