M3 Quandry....

[NicoG]

I currently have an E30 Sport Evo and an E92 330d Sport.

I basically never drive the SE and the (fully-loaded) 330d costs me a fair wack through work. Whilst its all-inclusive hassle-free motoring with no insurance or repairs etc etc to pay, it works out at about 4K/year with a new car every nine months...

My question is, with the plummeting e46M3 prices (look on here or autotrader if you haven't already..) I'm thinking about getting rid of both and snapping-up an E46. Have the E46's got further to go in the near future, or will they bottom-out soon?

My daily commute is about 8 miles e/w, hence I never drive the SE as the oil doesn't even get warm, so fuel not really an issue...

My thoughts are that I could buy an E46 and after three years when I'd have shelled-out about 12K for new BMWs through work, the E46 would still be worth at least half what I paid (I'm looking at 10 -12K...) and wouldn't be dead money....

Another way of looking at it is that I could get rid of the 330d and buy (I know it seems outrageous to say it) ''throw-away'' E36's at about 3.5K a pop....

It's a crazy situation with these cars now is it not?

Looking forward to hearing the views of the PH populus.....!

Cheers - Nico

[dan101smith]

You'll still have the same problem of not getting the oil up to temp in an E46 M3 as you do in your E30...

I'd say go for it. A £10k E46 M3 doesn't have that much further to fall at the moment, so you're relatively safe.

I'd heartily advise against "cheap" E36s - they very rarely work out to be that cheap overall.

[E36GUY]

YOu have an e30 sport Evo.

Which is doing nothing but appreciate at the moment. Keep it and look after it.

[chippy17]

E36GUY said:

YOu have an e30 sport Evo.

Which is doing nothing but appreciate at the moment. Keep it and look after it.

agreed do not get rid of e30, a good investment right now IMO, and take it from me you will regret selling the e30 within a minute of it driving away

get an E36 I would say, hugely underrated, just do your homework before buying

Edited by chippy17 on Friday 19th December 17:10

Edited by chippy17 on Friday 19th December 17:11

[duff]

NicoG said:

Another way of looking at it is that I could get rid of the 330d and buy (I know it seems outrageous to say it) ''throw-away'' E36's at about 3.5K a pop....

Cheers - Nico

To get that £3.5k E36 anywhere near decent is likely to cost another £2k IMO and probably some big bills on a regular basis - for all the hassle I wouldn't bother. Also I'd steer clear of the bottom end of the E46 at £10k and go for a nice spec'd, lower mileage and slightly newer one at £13-4k.

Oh, and keep hold of the E30 too.

[derin100]

If you decide to sell the Sport EVO (and it's a really good one) get in contact with me. Not for me to buy it...but just the other day someone contacted me through my website wanting to buy one. He sounded very serious and seemed to be prepared to pay VERY, VERY good money! Certainly judging by the price of the one he was seriously considering in Germany! I could put you in contact with him.

[gizlaroc]

Another way to look at it is this.....

You can finance an E46 M3 for less than you pay in company car tax on the E92 330d, so ditch the E92 and get an M3 whilst keeping the E30.

At least you have the M3 at the end, whether it is worth £3k or £7k there is something to show, which you don't have when you give the government your money each month.

[oatz]

I say, donate your SE to me as a leaving present

[phatgixer]

'Quandary'

[Faz_ITR]

gizlaroc said:

Another way to look at it is this.....

You can finance an E46 M3 for less than you pay in company car tax on the E92 330d, so ditch the E92 and get an M3 whilst keeping the E30.

At least you have the M3 at the end, whether it is worth £3k or £7k there is something to show, which you don't have when you give the government your money each month.

Of course that can be done, however a finance package doesn't come with insurance, RFL, servicing, maintainance etc.

But to the OP, why replace a fast-becoming appreciating asset with a depreciating asset?

[mat205125]

A CSL and a push bike is the way to go

[gizlaroc]

Faz_ITR said:

gizlaroc said:

Another way to look at it is this.....

You can finance an E46 M3 for less than you pay in company car tax on the E92 330d, so ditch the E92 and get an M3 whilst keeping the E30.

At least you have the M3 at the end, whether it is worth £3k or £7k there is something to show, which you don't have when you give the government your money each month.

Of course that can be done, however a finance package doesn't come with insurance, RFL, servicing, maintainance etc.

But to the OP, why replace a fast-becoming appreciating asset with a depreciating asset?

You're missing the point, the car tax pays for the E46, the car allowance he will receive will pay for warranty, insurance and fuel.
Plus you have an asset at the end, agreed it will be worth sod all, but more than your company car is worth to you.

Plus you can keep the E30 and be no worse off.

To me it is a no brainer.

[evosport]

E30 M3 Sport Evo v E46 M3, one will continue to increase in value, one will lose more and costs more to run.

Easy keep the SE.

[Faz_ITR]

gizlaroc said:

Faz_ITR said:

gizlaroc said:

Another way to look at it is this.....

You can finance an E46 M3 for less than you pay in company car tax on the E92 330d, so ditch the E92 and get an M3 whilst keeping the E30.

At least you have the M3 at the end, whether it is worth £3k or £7k there is something to show, which you don't have when you give the government your money each month.

Of course that can be done, however a finance package doesn't come with insurance, RFL, servicing, maintainance etc.

But to the OP, why replace a fast-becoming appreciating asset with a depreciating asset?

You're missing the point, the car tax pays for the E46, the car allowance he will receive will pay for warranty, insurance and fuel.
Plus you have an asset at the end, agreed it will be worth sod all, but more than your company car is worth to you.

Plus you can keep the E30 and be no worse off.

To me it is a no brainer.

Agreed and understood, in my defence there is no mention from the OP that he would recieve a car allowance. A lot of companies don't offer an either/or.

But also it was late when I posted...and I was tired

[NicoG]

gizlaroc said:

Faz_ITR said:

gizlaroc said:

Another way to look at it is this.....

You can finance an E46 M3 for less than you pay in company car tax on the E92 330d, so ditch the E92 and get an M3 whilst keeping the E30.

At least you have the M3 at the end, whether it is worth £3k or £7k there is something to show, which you don't have when you give the government your money each month.

Of course that can be done, however a finance package doesn't come with insurance, RFL, servicing, maintainance etc.

But to the OP, why replace a fast-becoming appreciating asset with a depreciating asset?

You're missing the point, the car tax pays for the E46, the car allowance he will receive will pay for warranty, insurance and fuel.
Plus you have an asset at the end, agreed it will be worth sod all, but more than your company car is worth to you.

Plus you can keep the E30 and be no worse off.

To me it is a no brainer.

Thanks all for the replies. I probably haven't been so clear about how the company car works: I work for BMW and the car is through a scheme. It's NOT an allowance as such, nor is it compulsory. I chose to pay the money each month and be on the scheme. I used to run an E34 525 Sport which was the daily car, It was great but starship mileage and after two consecutive 600 pound MOTs, I got the calculator out and came to the conclusion that., factoring everything in including motion lotion, it was only £100/month more expensive to be driving a car with a list price of £42K,replaced every 9 months. The reason I didn't borrow 12K and get an E46 M3 was because I don't want to be in debt, however, a monthly payment of about £330 is easily enough to pay off 12K over 5 years, and frankly my current payments amount to the same thing!

I reckon I'd do it if interest rates were slightly more realistic w.r.t the base rate. Natwest for example want 8.9% on that amount with the base rate @ 2%.

When I got a graduate loan a few years back, I got 7% on 5K with the base rate at about 4.5%. So, it just pi$$es me of to pay such a margin, but with 'US' having pumped so much money into the banking system of late and the pressure to pass this on through mortgages, I guess the banks are fast running out of ways to extract urine from me, maximising margins on other types of borrowing...

Merry Christmas to all of you..

Nick