I put my S2000 up on craigslist just for kicks at a high price and earlier this week received a trade offer for a 2005 M3 with only 25k miles on the odometer.

Arctic Silver, 6 speed manual, uprated H-K stereo, leather interior, manual adjustment seats, no sunroof. I'm curious enough that we're going to try to meet up sometime soon.

Do you guys think this is a good trade? FYI my S2000 is an '07 with 56k miles in excellent condition (torn top though, which is about to be replaced) and a warranty valid to 100k miles.

 

Trade, sell the M3, buy another S with a couple extra grand in your pocket

 

A car with that much mileage is worth north of 24,500. Especially with 6 speed, no power seats, and no sunroof. these BMW nuts will eat that $h1t up.

 

 

Not familiar with the market in your area, but in the southwest your car is worth 19-19.5k with the top patched/fixed. Move that up to 21-22.5k if it has new tires/clutch/top etc. These are sell the same week you list it prices, of course you could get more.

I have a feeling the E46 with that low of miles is worth close to 25k. In Texas it would cost you ~$1,200 in sales tax to register the new beamer and you'd end up paying another ~$1k in tax if you sold it and purchased another car private party. Again, that's for Texas. Those costs would probably kill the arbitrage for me. You could certainly sell the M3 a year or two down the road and get back into a later model AP2 without losing money.

 

I'd trade and drive something different for a while

 

Hmm, sounds like a really good deal for you.

You should get someone who is very familiar with S54s to inspect the engine. I would not be surprised if the owner is trying to dump it because the motor is on its way out.

 

This is what I would be worried about.

Reminds me something I heard a few years back, goes something like, "When you buy a used car, your essentially buying someone else's problems"

Of course there are circumstances that make this not true a lot of the time, but

 

true, especially on E46Fanatics.

OP, check for things like a torn subframe, the VANOS unit.

 

If you get an unusually "good" deal on a car, there is a high probability there are issues you are not aware of. I've had my fair share of vehicles and I am extremely suspicious when someone is selling a motorcycle/car more than a grand under what I would sell it for if I owned it. In general, I think Japanese cars with <60k are usually trouble free as long as they are inspected. Can't say the same about BMW's and double that for any M versions. I have posted about my (5 figure repair bill) e46 experience when the car was still under warranty.