I don’t feel as though I use the car much. I currently don’t use it to go to work (I walk – take note eco-warriors!), and there have been no car orientated adventures to the continent or domestic circuits, yet I note with alarm that it has covered over 2,000 miles since last month’s report. Upon reflection I’ve decided my surprise is due to two things: firstly covering distance is easy and stress free, so full marks to the wagon there. Secondly, I’m quite forgetful – I now recall a quick weekend trip to the Lake District for some hiking which was a good 800 miles. I presume the hill climbing exertion damaged my brain.

Still, you don’t need to read yet another article enthusing about BMW’s diesels, so let me convey instead my somewhat controversial attempts at “improving” the car. Being an early face-lift, the car was supplied with the original E46 sport “MV1” style alloy wheels. While I quite like them, the previous owner appears to have regularly ground them along unsuspecting kerb stones, so I turned my mind to either refurbishing or replacing them. I realised I’d need another set of wheels to allow the car to be used while any refurbishing was taking place, and so opted to replace to prevent any downtime.

There are a large variety of options available in the world of alloy wheels. The aftermarket candidates ranged from the horrific in appearance to the horrific in expense, but I did find myself drawn towards some offerings from BBS. However, I’d always rather stay with BMW if there’s a suitable option, and courtesy of a fellow forum member, I’ve managed to secure a set of MV2 alloys in excellent condition. These are the wheels that my car would have been supplied with had it been a few months younger, and so I feel they bring the appearance of the wagon up to date. Despite being exactly the same size, the new wheels appear to be larger because the spokes reach right to the edge of the rim, and let me tell you: I’m extremely relieved to discover that they’re a damn site easier to clean!

This left me wondering what to do with the original wheels. I’ve chosen not to sell them, as I’ve got space to store them, and a spare set is always useful for the odd drift day at a closed circuit. Or indeed, in the event of a puncture I’m sure I’ll be grateful to have them around, given the pathetic properties of the space saver. The purchase of the MV2s has meant that a professional refurbish of the originals isn’t an option in the near future, so I thought I’d try my hand at a DIY job instead.

Determined not to bite off more than I could chew, I spent a leisurely afternoon watching an F1 Grand Prix while sanding down the worst kerbed MV1. Lots of washing, sanding, washing, sanding and washing later, Jensen Button had secured his first F1 victory and I’d eroded most of my fingertips and created a horrendous alloy filings mess on the living room floor, but I did have a fairly smooth wheel.

Next I needed paint. On the way out of the house to Halfords to buy some, I noted the white wheels on our other car (a Peugeot 106 Rallye). White wheels, eh? I figured it was worth a try, so spent £15 on a couple of cans of white primer and gloss. Four sessions of spraying over the course of the following week saw the first wheel complete. I’m quite pleased with the finish – getting a deep coat of gloss is hard without getting any unsightly “runs” – but I’m not so sure that the decision to have the wheels white was correct. These wheels are only going to be for track or “occasional” use; I’ll be interested to hear any comments, no matter how outraged!

I’ve also elected to revert the car’s kidney grilles back to the standard chrome finished items. I quite like having the option to swap items like this – it means I can subtly adjust the smart or sporty appearance to suit the occasion!

An update on the ongoing saga of the iPod connection. I’m relieved to confirm that the Connects2 box is doing exactly what it says on the tin, but I am missing the playlist switching functionality of the crazy Dension units. I’ve therefore decided to attempt to relocate the iPod from the boot to the centre console, so that I can use the controls on the iPod. The relevant cables are only just about long enough, but long enough they are, so an afternoon with the rear seats out saw the system re-routed accordingly. I still need to feed the cable under the carpet across the top of the transmission tunnel to the rear of the centre console, but I think that’ll require the front seats out and therefore the battery disconnected, so that will wait until the next free afternoon.

So now I can switch playlist and access all other iPod features from the driver’s seat, and of course the volume and track skip buttons on the head unit and steering wheel still work. The iPod however was a bit lost and “on display” in the void left by the removed phone cradle (the car came with one, which was awful, so I removed it to gain cubby hole space). Another friendly forum member has given me the top surround for my centre console void, which goes some way to covering the iPod, and certainly smartens up that area of the car. I’ll have to wrangle with a dealer over a roll cover and cup-holder inserts in the near future.

I’ve also mounted the DVD player’s remote infra-red eye in the front of the centre console by the DSC switch, so the remote control can be pointed far more instinctively at the screen, rather than uninstinctively over one’s shoulder towards the boot to control the in-flight movies.

More mundanely, having covered some 11,000 miles since its last service (an Inspection I), I’ve had to put a litre of oil in, which I’m told is normal and certainly isn’t too inconvenient, but it is a litre more than I have had to put in either previous M3 between (the admittedly more regular) services.

Having discovered some BMW antifreeze in the garage, I’ve changed the coolant. The job took about an hour, but would have been more brief had I not become confused by the intercooler at first. Can you imagine my surprise when I took what I thought was the coolant radiator’s bottom hose off and found it bone dry?!

The impending oil service is apparently due in 1,500 miles. I hope I’ll do less than that in the forthcoming month and so won’t be relaying that unavoidable tale of woe in the next report, but time will tell!

Total mileage: 90,752
Mileage since last report: 2,061
Cost this month: £520 (all “upgrades” – wheels and paint)