I blow the doors of my buddy's modded E46 M3 (closed track of course) but I still think he goes home with the trophy. It's a beautifull car with an excellent balance of performance and luxury. I love those adjustable side bolsters, the fit and finish, feel behind the wheel, etc. Obviously you'll most notice the things you DON'T have with the Evo...which is always the lack of cabin noise for me...but in the end it's just a better car and that's why the price reflects that. As somebody mentioned earlier though, cost of maintenance is obscene. So are the cost of mods. He's spent close to $4k in performance mods for 12-15whp. We can do that and more with a $50 MBC.

 

i went from evo to e46 m3 then back to evo 9

 

Your comparing apples to oranges. Luxury car to Sports Sedan, RWD to AWD, and most importantly naturally aspirated v6 compared to our smaller turbo'ed 2.0L inline 4.

In all aspects the creature comfort of a luxury car is going to surpass the fit and finish of our humble but amazingly powerful sport sedan, the Evo. On the downside of luxury ANY damage to the car seems to cost ridiculous portions of money, for example a buddy of mines m3 had the tail light assembly go out on their wing (the LED's) and the cost to replace the unit was nearly 1000 dollars from the dealer...

In the end your just going to have to ask yourself what you really are looking for.

Economy rocket sedan OR luxury sport car

Obviously this being a Evo forum your going to see people leaning toward a evo..

 

I would love to get an M3.
It's a beautiful car.

 

+1 on that
the new turbo 335ci is going to be a monster aswell. more juice than a m3 and boost. but i still love the m line up from the 30-36-46 they are great machines and are capable of greatness. the m3 gtr is a monster as well as the m3 cls. if u can get a m3 and keep the evo

 

M3 is awesome car, but I'd never get a single performance car like M3 in a used form.. might be just me.. stick with you current machine (evo)

 

can you explain why please.

 

I went from 1992 Dodge stealth R/T twin turbo to 2003 Evo 8 to 2000 Audi S4 to 2005 BMW M3 than to Evolution 9 MR. I just love change but i really messed up getting rid of the M3 biggest mistake of my life. I love my evo but the feeling of the M3 driving on back curvy roads is the feeeling of heaven. When ya really learn how to drive the M3 to the limit it will stick right there with a Evo, stock ofcourse. Go with the M3 you wont regret it. But if you have the money keep the Evo and get an E36 M3, a 1995, the best year they made you can have that thing through turns faster than you ever dreamed in an Evo. The E36 has perfect power and handling distribution. Good luck its a tough decission.

 

The M3 is nice but compared to even a "stage 1" evo it will feel a lot slower. The evo also handles a lot better. But the M3 has a much nicer interior and is a very good looking car.

 

make sure you get one with a warranty. i have had far worse experience with bmw than with mitsubishi service. tried 3 different bmw dealers and all 3 broke stuff doing service, then claim it was that way when i dropped it off. riiight, i just did not notice the broken windshield, mangled rim, broken a/c, etc...

on the other hand, if you want good service you can buy a lexus and drive 15 mph

m3 is fun, but i like my evo better

 

The only mods you need to do on a e46 ///3 are the shocks (Ohlins or Motons), SRF and PFC01's. The car dances on a track! Quite remarkable!

DO get a warranty, the car always has something wrong going on...

Then again, do the same on your IX and you'll run away from an E46 with the same mods...

Or just wait for the X!

 

M3 = Gay

 

sell your evo so someone deserving gets it ,than enjoy the m3

 

^^^adolescent and unintelligent remarks like that would make me not want to be associated with this group.... unfortunately, there are guys like this that own M3's as well. They are everywhere.

 

I knew a few bad apples would post.

Thanks for the positive posts, I'll let everyone know what I do after I test drive a m3 coupe this thursday