To throw in my $0.02...

For raw speed, get the Evo. Out of the box the Evo is going to be faster than a standard '01-up M3. What the M3 offers is more refinement, better feel, and probably would be initially quicker around a road course with a rookie driver (they are cake to drive). I had to make the same decision, and I traded off the look and lux of the M3 for the outright pace of the Evo.

To counter some of the statements on this thread:

* The M3 isn't going to cost much more to maintain than the Evo, and will even be cheaper at first as it comes with free maintenance for 50k miles
* Mods on the M3 are around the same price as the Evo. The reason Dinan is so expensive is that it comes with a factory-level warranty. It's like buying Ralliart stuff.
* Modifications will not close the gap on the cars. Dollar-for-dollar, the Evo will get much faster than the M3. The difference once again will be refinement. The M3 will remain benign, whereas the Evo will be harder and harder to drive.

Think about what you really want to do with it, and then buy the right car for the purpose. The only mistake I made is that I race the M3 and the Evo is my daily driver. I need to sell my race car, build the Evo to be a monster SCCA ITE racer, and buy an E46 to drive to work every day.

 

The M3 is nice. But I like the Evo better. Cheaper, faster (with few mods), more fun. .02

 

I know which I'd rather have for style and everyday driving. But, I like to mod stuff to the extreme and can't have both, so I stick with the EVO.

 

You can't take an M3 to the mountains to go snowboarding... However, I will break the M3 off in a drag race.

 

I didn't decide ider, that why I got both "M3 ZCP".
I sold the evo 8, it was an 03 no MR. Next year I will get the Evo 9 MR to be prepared for road racing.

Both cars are great, on the Evo, you sacrifice luxury for for a low cost performance.
I will tell you something, I really miss the AWD, but I'm having funn with the bimmer..
If you get the M3 , get the ZCP.
Another comment, " The brackes on the ZCP are way better than the Evo, When I was on the Track, I allways had problems with the EVO, I did everything, custom brake ducts, brake lines, rotors, pads, but I allways ended loosing some brake"

here some images:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=149651

 

ALL OUT PERFROMANCE=EVO. POONTANG MAGNET=M3. Those M3 are crushing!!!

 

CRUSHING^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^DOPE ON A ROPE^^^^^^ POONTANG MAGNET^^^^^^^

 

If it rains and you dont have an umbrella...You can chill in the rear wheels. Look at the lip on those. CRUSH

 

Are you talking about an E46 M3 or a used E36 M3?

 

These cars really are different. I had the choice of getting a used one (which would have been cheaper than my MR) and I ended up just getting the MR because at my time in my life i dont care about niceness. Im young, and I dont want to drive around in my BMW looking like I have something to prove. Although I sadly often get that look when im in my evo, go figure

either way, the m3 is a dead sexy car. In my top 5 favorite realistic cars for sure.

 

It's simple

Performance + luxury = M3

Performance = Evo

You cannot make an EVO luxury, gotta remember that.

M3 for sure, I love my EVO, love the boost, the handling, the room but M3 is just on a different level. If you serious on modding the car hardcore then M3 is going to hurt your pocket a lot more than an EVO.

My friend just dump 2G in his M3 for an exhuast. But the attention you get from driving a M3 are ppl at all ages.

 

Have to disagree with you on the price of modding an M3, much more expensive...for example greddy Ti exhaust is 1K, gruppe M Ti exhaust for the M3 is $2500. cams for an evo are about $550, M3 about $2000. suspension and brake stuff is much more comparable in price though.
-Also having tracked both cars, I would say the evo is easier car to drive because it of the all wheel drive, and balance that leans towards understeer. the M3 is by no means trecherous, it is just more "nuetral" stock: more power-on ,and trailing throttle oversteer.

 

If you have the money.......M3

 

Most exhausts for an M3 are under $1k. The GruppeM stuff is unnecessarily expensive for the power gains it delivers. You're just paying for brand. And for cams, you're getting screwed at $2k when you can get Schricks for $1k. Suspension bits, driveline, brakes, etc are all comparable. Wheels and tires are identical as the sizes for both are the same.

I didn't mean to imply that the M3 is treacherous. In stock form both the Evo and M3 are pretty easy to drive. The M3 has just as much of an understeer tendency as the Evo when driven at 10/10ths, although you certainly can use the throttle to rotate the car at will. I would say that the M3 is easier to get most of it's ultimate pace out of (a problem we see at the driving schools with rookie drivers, right before they stuff the car). The Evo requires a really different driving style from front or rear-drive cars to go really fast. I've never driven a car that reacted so well to an aggressive style.

That said, when you do tune them both to the nth degree, the M3 will be easier to drive -- the suspension design and geometry is more forgiving, and a naturally aspirated motor like the S54 isn't going to have that instant-on throttle that many seriously tweaked turbo motors have. But you're giving up pace for user-friendliness.

 

I know you're talking about an E46, but I loved my E36. It was so smooth and handled on rails. For the suspension I added swaybars, konis, Eibach race springs w/ adjusters, x-brace, strut brace, and billet rear shock mounts. It was tough to see it go after the wreck, but that's the way it is.

As far as modding, yes, the E46 will be more expensive. I was setting up to do a custom turbo for around $5,500. I looked into cams, but the cams alone were $1200 and the install was another $1000. Add titanium retainers/springs and you're looking at about $3,000 for 250rwhp on the E36. BMWs are definately not cheap to modify, but I haven't really been around the evo enough to get a good feel for the mod costs.

Here is a shameless plug for my M3 .... rest in pieces