so ive been thinking the past few days of selling my s2 and going with an e46 m3. ive been reading bmw forums and all that about their reliability/cost,everything.

does anyone here have personal experience from switching from the s to the m? regret it/encourage it?

thanks

 

I went the other way, from an E46 M3 coupe to an S. I'm pretty 50/50 on the switch. The s2000 is more fun to drive but can get cramped/tiring on longer drives. I love the convertible for the s2000 but hate the road noise (I think the E46 m3 vert looks nowhere near as good as the coupe). But here is a run down of my personal pros and cons of each:

S2000
-Fun factor
-No loan/car payments (a lot cheaper)
-Driving top-down but still looks good with the top up
-Maintenace and reliability, nothing can touch Honda in this department
-Small and cramped
-Not as many gadgets/amenities
-Gearbox is to drool over
-Pure sports car
-Gas mileage (27 mpg)

E46 M3
-Bling factor
-I think it still looks better/more aggressive than the E92 M3
-Supposedly reliable (6 MT, SMG is another story)
-But high $$$ to maintain reliability
-Fast and lots of torque in a luxury coupe package
-Forever classic look, yet unleashes and drives like a beast on command
-Sport button! Doesn't add power but it's fun sometimes
-Decent gas mileage for a car of its caliber (20-23mpg)
-Aggressive offset wheels and a drop on coilovers = OOOOO LALA!
-If you care, most females (and surprisingly some males) don't know or care about an M3 vs a normal 3 series
-Aftermarket parts, expect to spend 2-3x times more than s2k parts. (Exhaust sans any piping will cost you upwards of $1k used).
-Extremely comfortable

Sorry for making this so long but if I could, I would ultimately have both cars. I like them both in their own way, but if I had to choose, I would go with an M3, if you can easily afford it. Maintenance is the only PITA, but oil doesn't have to be changed as often. Every 25k miles you have to get a valve adjustment which will cost you $1k to $2k depending on where you get it done. Basically, if you can afford it, do it. The E46 is a great car and will always have its place in history like the s2k. To me, the car payments and maintenance wasn't worth it for me at this point in my life. Hopefully in a few years I can jump into a well kept one. Not a fan of the E92, E46 all the way!

 

thanks alot man for your input, it helped me out alot. i have a car payment on my S right now. if i decide to go with the m3 it will be like $20 more per month. really the only thing im worried about is reliability, i dont want to have to worry about having to drive from point a to b.

 

I think the point of emphasis is the cost of maintenance/repair of the M3. It is steep by comparison to the Honda.

Outside of that, it boils down to personal preference of which you'd rather drive. Either way you decide, you win my friend.

 

If the m3 you getting doesn't have warranty, you need to worry about getting from A to B.
I had both M3 and Big turboed B6 A4 18t.. gotta deal with maintenance.
Every weekend was challenge... thus I sold them and got s2k and now..
I'm so WOT everyday w/o worry. If anything happens I can call up couple of my bros and push this thing..
soooo superleggera...

here is the final decision that I made
JDM = Buy used in good condition mod it and beat the shit out of it.
EURO = Save all the $$$ for mod and lease NEW upper class sports model.
such as M5, S5, AMG Series... and beat the shit out of it.
and return it 2 yrs later.

 

awesome guys thanks for your input, think ive come to my conclusion- get an m3 with warranty and some aggressive wheels haha, we'll see how it goes

 

ditto to everything except for the MPG on the M3, i get about 16-18MPG

STAY AWAY FROM SMG. its only good for spirited driving and sucks for city driving

 

Can't you put it into Auto for city driving?

 

yea i am staying away from that, all i see is complaints about it

 

yes u can put it in auto for city driving but its still a manual transmission, it doesn't feel the same as an auto, it take a while for it to actually shift from 1-2-3-4 (unless u got it on S5 or S6 but then it'll be shifting at 4.5k-5rpm which is not a bad thing)