or you can save even more money and get your self a modded Civic or Camaro thats faster than both for 1/3 the price...

It's not always about straight line speed. A 335 would never give you the linear power delivery of an N/A 4L V8 revving to 8500 RPMS, or the much improved handling and feel of the M car.

It's like comparing the Lancer RalliArt to the Evo. Sure, the Lancer can be modded to be just as fast if not faster than the Evo in a straight line, but its not possible for it to have the SAYC or the all aluminum suspension bits and wider track.

yes. I believe he meant going should be interesting as it is gonna probably cost him quite a bit.


Anyway, I say if you are interested then you should go for it. It's a fun experience and you might either discover you love it or hate it. Either better then never knowing. (oh and the clutch change on the X is gonna run you like $1500 and way earlier then at 60k miles. So i don't know if arguing that the BMW costs an arm and a leg more then the X in service is legit.)

Eh, I think it depends on what you're talking about. I'd take an E92 M3 over an E92 335i any day, but I think an E92 335i is a much nicer car than an E46 M3. Prices for a clean example of each is similar (2006 vs 2007), and with the money left over, you can put $4k into the 335i for the Quaife full replacement and a tune. I have a friend with a competition package 2005 E46, and while its a nice car, the power is tepid. We paid about the same, my new car and his used car. I think if we throw money at both and did a track day, I'd get way more bang for my buck and be a lot faster with upgrades (differential).

That said, E92 M3 > all.

yeah the E92 did 8.05 on Nurburgring
I love that car.

the E46- E36 M3 did 8.22 on Nurburgring.
the E92 335i did 8.26 on Nurburgring.

The E46 M3 is more powerful than a 335i and better handling stock for sure, but 4 seconds on an 8 minute track with a 33HP handicap and an open differential is not very much. To make it interesting, you can increase a 335i by 70+ whp by only adding an inexpensive tune. While that would not be much of a benefit in an autocross, the effect it will have on a high speed track like the Nordschleife is profound.

I love M3s, but when I cross shopped E46 and E90 the first time, the 335i made a lot more sense due to the fact the chassis is a bit improved and the overall build and quality of the car is a lot higher. These N54 cars have open differentials for a reason.

There is no knocking the E46 M3, though, because its a wonderful purist car through and through.

WHP and how fast you go on a straight line mean nothing when it comes to a real sports car... look at JGTC cars... none of them are over 400whp... you think you will be able to keep up w/ them on a track lol... If all you care about is drag racing (hardly racing if you ask me, and it seems like you do...) then yea... it wont matter which you pick... if you care about pulling excess of 1 G as you go into a turn... get the evo... /thread

LOL... have you seen people drive the ring? the best drivers in the world have a time difference of over 20 seconds in the same car in back to back laps... its not like those times are gospel.. its just how fast someone has gone through them. I am positive both cars have a lot more time to cut down...

i posted these numbers, because all from the same driver on same track .
The name is Horst von Saurma. So try to be as fair as it can be.
Also all 3 time came between October(1) and December (2).

Good info to have!

2 different purposes. It comes down to what type of driving you want to do. Mod potential goes to the Evo based on value and options. Other than that, RWD versus AWD, and nicer interior versus evo interior

I would go with e92 M3 over both, 335 or Evo X . Especially with 0 or 0.9 % rates, free $$$ .. Base coupe of course with cf trim ... Don't need fancy crap. Base model M3 is good enough for me

I've had to delete several "looking to trade", etc. posts in this thread from the OP, who does not have sufficient priviledges to access the private/FS forums.

Due to that, I'm shutting this one down as I'm tired of policing this thread since his posts are outside the rules.