A 4 door auto e46 is a much better proposition than the equivalent e90 in that price range for a few years of reliability.

Oh yeah, and the car smells like a 40 year old lady with fan girl problems and poor life choices.

E46 aint cheap nowadays. You've seen my maintenance spreadsheet and while not everyone has the same needs as mine, most of the maintenance there was pretty general for a 15 year old car at the time of purchase.

If that's what they're looking for why specifically an E46/E90? Up the mountain for normal people would suggest a need for AWD, but BMW xDrive isn't the greatest. If I wanted BMW xDrive, I would go with F chassis models.

Driving around Vancouver, an E46 will get you around 12-15L/100KM. Not worth imo. You'd have to do a bit of maintenance to get it to around 10L/100km. I'm willing to bet that not many E46s on the market have had the VANOS and DISA valve rebuilt.

3-5K over a 5 year ownership period -> go buy something else. Per our previous conversations, some people count tires as maintenance. A set of tires will run you 2K already.

If the debate is between E90 328i or 320i, I'd go with the 328i any day. The motor in the 320i is questionable in both E46/E90. In terms of "reliable" E chassis motors - M54 or N55.

They will run the 18" china tires for $600 summer and $400 for winters. Assuming the car didn't already come with 60-70% + tires.

Once the maintenance costs > $5K purchase price, they'd scrap the car. Ideally they want it to run for 1-2 years. Treat it as a $200/month lease for 2 years with a $1,000 cash-back when you sell it!

Seems like the $5K E90's are the way.

But why the bmw or Mercedes ? Can’t be an enthusiast… otherwise they would want a Manuel. Plus enthusiast are assholes and would never take shopping advice. They all know more than everyone else.

Must be like my friend. She didn’t want to be seen in a plebeian Corolla or civic. So instead she elected for pain

Anyone gone to the Porsche Experience Center in LA for a driving experience (https://www.porschedriving.com/los-angeles/on-the-track)? I'm taking the kid to Disneyland in May and thought about going over to PECLA to drive a GT3. It ain't cheap ($1300USD for 1.5 hours) but I'm not sure I'll otherwise get a chance to drive a GT3 in a private setting like this.

Here's a video I've seen about the experience filmed during COVID so it's all lead/follow stuff - I'm told the instructors sit with you now: https://youtu.be/-3FQ_XsRfZA?si=pbfVx1L8uupCtXP-

Been to PECLA, but I only sprung for the Cayman GTS 4.0. Still more than enough car for me. I saw a bunch of guys not used to high power cars being very ginger with GT4RS/GT3, and I smoked their times on the mini-autocross course that they have. My instructor and I also ended up getting a point by from a guy in a 911 Turbo lol. The kick plate skidpad exercise was my nemesis - I had no problems with the other portions haha.

Completely amazing experience, I learned so much from having the instructor there and basically giving me instant feedback. The road course is a little small, I don't think a GT3 could stretch its legs there properly. PEC Atlanta uses part of the Atlanta Speedway, that would be so awesome. For the time that you get, I think it is a great way to get to learn a car and also improve your driving skills.

I parked the wife at the restaurant on the second floor, it's really nice, plus the butter is shaped like Porsches.

All E46s in this range these days are mostly neglected and will probably need $5K-10K+ in basic catch up maintenance if your friend can't turn a wrench and doesn't have a space to work on the car.

E46s are great hobby cars for people like me who have a garage with the necessary tools, other daily drivers in the fleet, and a lot of patience and time.

Thanks! The GTS 4.0 is more than enough car for me as well but the idea of driving a GT3 is appealing as I don't see any other time in my life that I'd get to drive one (unless I win the lottery) - sorta a meet my hero kinda thing. I think if I didn't go for the GT3 I'd still stick with a 992 as I've had more seat time in a GTS 4.0 than I have in a 992.

If budget allows, consider the GT4 vs GT3 experience ; AFAIK it's double the price of the GT4 experience alone.

I recommend this because driving a GT3 Cup kicked my ass - it takes a LOT of adjustment to driving style and was very very humbling.

I would still like to drive the GT3, but I want to do it on a big track - so I'm waiting until I can somehow get to PEC Atlanta and do it there. Plus they have a bigger, longer, new more technical course to play with.

PEC Atlanta meet, anyone? :suspicious:

Or the Barber Porsche Experience - that's another one that's a step above PEC IMO.

Porscbe Barber Motorsports Experience

https://www.porschedriving.com/track...ck_desktop.jpg

Can anyone recommend a brand of slip-on spacers? Probably looking at either a 3mm or 5mm spacer.

There's also the Canadian performance training courses: https://trackexperience.porscheexperience.ca

It's at Area 27 this year but only the higher level courses - you have to go to Mosport for the 1 day entry level one. Including travel it's about $3500-4k to do it. That's a consideration for me - I put that off a couple years ago and rented the GTS 4.0 for a few days instead. Once the 1 day course shows up at Area 27 I'll be there for sure.

Mainly preference for interior, it's either a clapped out E90 or a 2006-2010 Civic/Corolla with 250-300,000+ KM with cloth seats for $5K. Or a 1990 - 2005 model with lower KMs.

Probably better value to drive a E90 to death, or spend $6.5-8K for a well sorted civic.


This one, if it drives for 12 months, you already got decent value lol.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...f-b33d4b79cffb

Yeah, not many decent cars for $5K. Told them to up the budget to $10-15K, get something better sorted like a low KM 2011-2014 BMW/Merc/Audi.

General debate if it's better to spend $5K cost + $5K Maintenance for a 3-5 year ownership or $10-15K + ??? on a better platform.

It's funny cuz the 8G civic might have paint delamination/pourous engine block, 7G civic will have failing AC/transmission, and the 2.4?L Camry will have piston ring issues.

IMO treat the BMW as a disposable 1-2 year car if you're not counting on the car to get to work; buy like a 3 pack or something.

I would go E90 - cooling system, automatic trans, interior plastics, etc are more robust.

11-14 Audi might not be better (EA888 issues) and BMW N20/N55 have timing chain/bearing issues.
V6 MB and Audis the only one that are ok as long as 4MATIC doesn't blow up.

5 grand is pretty hard nowadays. Why not just lease a Tesla then ? It’s like 500-600 bucks a month with zero down. At least you can get 10 months out of that 5 grand and pay little to no gas money.

They WFH and will treat the car as a commuter to groceries, friends house, and take it to hobbies.

No collision / comprehensive. Pure beater, a 2024 Civic lease is $450/month. So the BMW only needs to last < 9 months to be worth its price. Anything longer and you're coming out way ahead. Treating it as a annual ski pass.

Yeah and you're paying a premium for the reliability so you're almost $6-8K deep for a 7-8G Civic. That's almost 2 beater BMWs at $4k!

Nobody wants to drive a 7th Gen civic anymore.

https://www.tesla.com/en_ca/model3/design#payment
It's $625/month after taxes for 48 months + $11K Downpayment. So close to $900/month + you're locked in. Can't drive the BMW into Yaohan when you wanna get rid of it for something else.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...5&__tn__=!%3AD

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...5&__tn__=!%3AD

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...d-148a389daf65
^
Has brakes and tires!

I like this logic.
In the states, I recommend the 4XE Wrangers to everyone.
$300/month lease for 18 months, cheap on gas, and top comes off

Was just chatting about this in a diff chat - buyers expecting some level of prestige and adventure these days ... reliability not as important since we work from home

bronco/tacoma/g wagon/rivian/911/sprinter van got hella waitlists and markups

while buying something reliable (even a blcak Model Y these days) is giving uber driver/i commute from teh suburbs and live with my parents

H&R I've used on every car I've had since 2002. Make sure they are hubcentric.

if it's just to get groceries, go spend $2500 for an e-bike :lolLUL

Ditto on H&R. I've been running them on multiple cars over the years.

It might be cheaper just to take evo or whatever every time they wanna go out vs paying for gas / car / insurance. Things that are close by can be accomplished with a e scooter or an e-bike as mentioned.

Plus I think the Tesla is cheaper than that if they were to get full 9k rebates. I think it’s around 600ish