Many people will raise an eyebrow at this, but I'm contemplating selling my 120k mile E92 M3 (it's in very good shape and has been reliable) for a stock Evo 9 MR in silver.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the V8 engine and the creature comforts are nice and it hauls bananas on the twisty back roads but I would like to get back into semi-regular track days and while the M3 is perfectly capable, I'm hesitant to do so with this car. Reason one is because it's so nice, and number two, the cost of consumables ($800 for front rotors, $400 for pads), extra tires that won't chunk ($1k+) adds up fast with this one. Some people go through rotors in half a dozen track days with track worthy pads that don't fade, which is why BBK's are so common with on the E92 M.

Pic for you all:

The Evo would replace my M3 as my daily driver, but my wife has a new RAV4 Limited, which is refreshing after driving sports cars. We also have a 3 yr old daughter, and the M3 couple works well enough but 4 doors wouldn't be bad.

I test drove this particular Evo 9 twice and initial tooling around town impressions was that it was comfortable enough. BMWs have ruined me. I dig the seats. The stereo blows (this is a non-sunroof car, just the way I want), but figure I can update that at a later time. Then I took it through some a local twisty road and the experience was unworldly. Steering was light and the car changed direction with ease. My M3 handles good but this was night and day! It was also fun on marginal-at-best Fuzion tires and unsporty ceramic long life pads. The car also wiggled around a little under hard braking, which also added to the excitement. Only mod I think this Evo has is an ARC RE rear strut tower brace.

It's silver, 6-speed, shifts smoother, has a new Phoenix Friction HD stage 2 clutch, pulls hard, and appears in very good shape. But it has 100k miles. Compression test, cold, was 130 across the board. No smoking, idled great and pulled well. Thoughts on real-world value? Is $20k too high?

 

its really hard to estimate value without a pre-purchase inspection. Which you should have done by a shop familiar with evo's or at least with the Turbo AWD platform. Its a couple hundred bucks that could save you thousands and i really cannot recommend having one done enough. There are many, many little things that could fly under the radar if you don't get these cars in the air and know what to look for.

 

interesting - seen a lot of the reverse move, 8/9s into e9x m3s but not too many the other way around. I'm definitely considering adding one of these to the stable though (adding, not replacing)

 

So let's say that everything checked out and the car needed nothing. Is that a $20k car?

 

if the PPI comes back clean, the paint/body looks good, complete service records, then yah 20k seems plenty reasonable to me.

 

I used to track a E36 M3, the Euro version with lots of suspension mods, sticky tires etc and I was slightly faster than an all stock E92 M3 (non sticky tires ) at the time. for the next year, the E92 M3 guy got into a Gallardo ( all stock) , I got into an Evo IX ( suspension mods, sticky tires ). We were both way faster, with the E9 being faster than the Gallardo. the E92 M3 wouldnt even be close. Again not apples to apples as its modded Evo vs stock M3.

 

I love the E92 and E46 M3's. May very well be my favourite cars to drive. I really love my Evo, and she does well on the track and is a ton of fun at night and in ****ty weather but I can't wait till I go and buy a new daily.

 

The E92 M3 is by far my favorite car I've driven yet, such a fun experience! And that white is gorgeous! My buddy has one same color with all the carbon accents as well, and it is super fun to drive. As for the Evo, what the car is worth is relative... Sure KBB or NADA might not value it at the listed price, but we all know those prices don't mean much whenh it comes to cars like this. If you are willing to pay $20k for this car, then do it. You certainly can find a cheaper Evo, but if you think this is "the one", go for it.