Quote:
Originally Posted by TRDood
I am in the market for an E46 M3 as well, just that I have almost ten years of driving experience and this will be my weekend car (pleasure use)....edited...My question is... at the age of 25, decent income, should I save up for property or waste money on a car that I DON'T NEED?
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With that price tag and the fact that it will be a weekend car, there is no point in getting one. You either sell your current car and buy the E46 as a daily driver or save your pennies for a rainy day.
You'll have to set aside a good buffer of money for repairs and preventative maintenance. Spending the $20K+ for one plus the potential repairs, nevermind Inspection II, will set you back a pretty penny...and that's being conservative. And you're right. Most owners will dump these cars at 90k KM on the dash.
Most of the cars you find on Craigslist usually don't have the critical repairs/maintenance done on them so be prepared to throw in an extra grand or two on that. And SMG? No thanks. The manual gearbox is much more reliable and enjoyable.
The M3 is a nice car but would I buy for the sake of a weekend car? No. It would be a daily driver. Being an M owner, albeit not an E46 M3, I'd save up my pennies instead. Driving this car in the city sucks. I would have been more than contempt with an E46 325i or 330i ZHP. I've insured two cars at once (my MR2 and Alfa Romeo) and at the end of the day, all that money you pay for insurance goes to waste because one car ends up being "a weekend car."