Hexagon would probably have asked £90K for it

 

I probably agree. The E46 chav wagon concerns me.

But its probably the best fast family car out there. We need something with a decent boot, back seats, something pretty strong but also when i'm in it alone i can have some fun. Depreciation doesnt matter if you keep it a long time. If i spend £32k on an 09, keep it for 10 years (had the S that long) it wont hurt me that much.

If you swap cars a lot they dont make sense imo, you lose >£10k per year over first 3 years.

The list price for that daft blue one is £74k

 

I can see a CSL or decent manual E46 M3 going up in value a fair way down the line. CSL prices have been rock steady for a couple of years, and as less good ones become available I think they could see their original sale price in the distant future.

The E46 will probably be seen as the last of the true M3 engines, and I can't see an E92 being worth too much for a VERY long time.

On the plus side, the E92 is an amazing bit of kit, and at 30k an absolute bargain. But I agree it will keep dropping.

I just can't believe anyone in their right mind would pay £74k for a car which will be worth 30k very very quickly.

 

Why do you think that about the engine? i'd think that would be the view of the v8 as the last NA M3

 

The fact that it's a V8 I guess has never sat too well with the M3 purists.

 

Bit of a misconstruction; the car is so huge now, it can be likened to a taller, uglier 840 without the trick suspension.

M3s should be tiny & top-heavy with a slanty four-banger, if you want to be 'purist'.

 

Feck em, i prefer it to the e46, even the csl with its remarkable residuals.

Tis heavy tho, only drove the 335 so far and that didnt feel heavy

 

I probably agree. The E46 chav wagon concerns me.

But its probably the best fast family car out there. We need something with a decent boot, back seats, something pretty strong but also when i'm in it alone i can have some fun. Depreciation doesnt matter if you keep it a long time. If i spend £32k on an 09, keep it for 10 years (had the S that long) it wont hurt me that much.

If you swap cars a lot they dont make sense imo, you lose >£10k per year over first 3 years.

The list price for that daft blue one is £74k
[/quote]

The concept is good but I think using an M car for 9 years is going to be very expensive as the car ages

The S is nothing like as complex and expensive to maintain and I suspect you'd run out of enthusiasm for the one M car long before you reached 9 years - there'll be so much other interesting stuff out there to tempt (RS Audis, AMG Mercs, later M cars etc)

I baled out of my M5 after just over 4 years (planned to keep it for five) and when the car had just turned 100K

It was running perfectly at the time but I could see the future and the combination of depreciation, running costs and repairs simply didn't add up

I think CSL prices will be strong in the future but only for garage queeens - and such cars have no appeal for me

 

You could be right Gad, having never owned one i guess i've no idea.
V8 is one of those itches and the m3 will make a good car to transport sproggo + stuff, at least in theory . Missus' Golf is always rammed even for a short trip so not big enough, we clearly need another car as big as the vec but not as boring

In 5 years anything potent will be taking a dive value wise, i think, as they hide behind a mock green agenda to squeeze revenue from us petrolheads. I do think cars are getting more abstracted from the driver in general and this, maybe just for me, could be the last in a line of that breed of drivers M car.

I'm not into classics and it will do some miles and be required to be reliable transport for a trip or two into france.

So 400+ bhp, nice interior.. Maybe it wont have that longevity like the S in which case i'll suffer a pretty big hit but i always go into a car purchase thinking it could be money down the drain, they're not good assets in the main. i'm with you re garage queens, it needs to get used and it will. At a grand for a set of rubber it wont be hypermiling though .

NB I notice a lot of the sub 3 series have the 19s and similar bills, that would hack me off.

 

I had a look at CSLs and they are asking for mid twenties on a 70k miler. Weren't they about £70k new?

The only ones that are going to raise in value are the sub 30k milers that will be driven maybe once a year at a show.

The M3 GTS will retain it's value, but then it was daft value in the first place.