[WanaM]

Get a manual and have fun with it! https://www.autolist.com/bmw-m3#make...&year_max=2007

I love the responsiveness of these cars, really well balanced, just have it pre purchased inspection.

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by AndyX5d

I had an 05 E46 M3 vert. It is one sexy looking car, that's where the highlights ended for me. I personally didn't enjoy the car. You had to really wind it out to get the power out of it. To me if you want a car for track days then it's great, if you want a street car it really disappointed me. I had the SMG and it was terrible, then came all the potential issues. The VANOS bolt issue and the subframe issues really had me worried. Then there was the $13 a liter special oil you have to use. I'm not sure if that oil is still that crazy, but it was when I had the car. All this led me to only own the car for 18 months and about 5 of those were winter and the car was left in the garage under a cover.

I agree, the S54 isn't very torquey at all so I do unwind every time I drive it out but that is actually why its fun! I don't commute with any of my cars so whenever I drive them, its purely for pleasure. I romp on all of them and the best part is the stark difference in power delivery of the S55 from the F8X seems to rev both faster and delivers tons more torque at the same time vs. the S54. Surely it is superior to the S54 even tho that was a real race engine. The S55 gives up nothing hahah.

I totally get the looming disaster of the vanos, rod bearings, and subframe cracks, but you know what, that is why I got a vert, SMG, and an 05. All the issues are addressed for the most part and like any car, you gotta just take your chances. Forums really overblow issues and for the most part, all those issues have fixes. I got the car so cheap that its all budgeted in already. The 10W60 oil I get for about $9/L by using Lubro Molly and plan to change it every 7500 miles to keep it fresh tho I don't even think I will drive it that much in 12 months but I'll do the annual changes anyways.

Here is SoCal, I get to enjoy this practically year round so its the perfect weekend/evening car