Hi,

So I've been contemplating selling me '04 530i with 80k miles and buying a '02 M3 with 60k miles off craigslist. The 530i is a M54 engine so it's a bit underpowered and is pretty much stock besides the Orion v2's. I was wondering if it was worth it and if anyone else has done this before. I know maintenance for the M3 will be more but the one on craigslist seems pretty well maintained. Any opinions?

 

why to have any doubts, when you made such sweet swap. From "heavy" 5er to beautiful E46 ///M3. C'mon man - except more expensive maintenance - I would be happy as small kid

 

UNLESS you have a family and need a 4 door sedan, go with the E46 M3. It's an AMAZING car. My all time favorite M3 hands down. Just classic BMW. I highly suggest you go drive one and you'll be sold without a question. The looks, handling, acceleration, etc. Everything is so balanced and feels fantastic.

Your 04 530i is a very nice car. Definitely more grown up and would be the better ride to take people out to dinner, movies, and your clients around town. But if those things aren't that important to you, the M3 is a far more fun ride.

 

Heres the craigslist ad: BMW 2002 E46 M3 Coupe - Rare Only 63,000 miles

I thought it seemed fishy that it had only 60k miles and was selling for so low. Anything I should be on the look out for in terms of repairs or problems on an m3 with 60k miles?

 

That M3 looks pretty clean, but I would opt to go for the 2003.5 and up, and get a stick if you know how to drive one.

2003.5 and up has the LED tail lights, shark fin antenna, rod bearing issue addressed and some other updates.

The SMG gearbox is really nice when it works, but they are troublesome once it starts to fail on you. It's just another item on the car waiting to fail, not sure when, but it will somewhere down the line.

Also you want to lift up the rear spare tire cover, and check on the rear subframe, there's a recall on that.

That's just my thoughts.

 

Looks dope --- do it!

 

Go for it!!!

 

Make sure the rod bearing recall was performed, if applicable to that car's VIN.

 

LED tail lights are easy to replace. Same with shark fin antenna. Also, as long as the rod bearing recall was done (along with other recalls), the car will be perfectly fine.

The car looks very clean.

 

I will only use argument number 2 from this article. :-)

7 Reasons Why You Might Not Want To Own An E46 M3 (Part 2) - Car Throttle