E46 M3 Evolution vs E46 M3

[iguana]

bennyboysvuk]I loved my E36 M3 l said:

Me too, she was a cracker, i was a tit to sell it on. Did I tell ya engine finally gave up? Had seen some action tho! Must have seen 50 odd trackdays all over Europe & 140k odd mainly v hard road miles, anyway its just been sold on again at wait for it £10k!

[bennyboysvuk]

iguana said:

bennyboysvuk]I loved my E36 M3 l said:

Me too, she was a cracker, i was a tit to sell it on. Did I tell ya engine finally gave up? Had seen some action tho! Must have seen 50 odd trackdays all over Europe & 140k odd mainly v hard road miles, anyway its just been sold on again at wait for it £10k!

You know what? Looking back, I should never have sold it either! I'm sad to hear the original engine blew. That almost brings me physical pain to hear that. But selling for £10k! £10K! That's epic money for that beautiful car.

Gratuitous pic:

[Captainawesome]

I owned an Evo 9 FQ-360 and an E46 at the same time. Sold my Evo a couple of months ago. The m3 does everything the evo did and so much more. They are far more rewarding cars to drive. I found the Evo boring at legal speeds as they are just so bloody capable of going round corners at warp speed. The Evo cost me about twice as much in 1 year of ownership compared to the M3 and the fuel consumption was attrocious. Noisy, loud, uncomfortable and attracted the wrong sort of attention everywhere. Police automatically assume you are going to be breaking the law, every spotty teen in a corsa will try to goad you into racing and it will break.

Perfect if it is a weekend toy but if you have to live with it the E46 M3 is the way to go.

It does everything well and I have found it to be an immensely good car, far an away the best I have owned. Just a very good balance of power, handling, comfort and usability. Although some may say it has an image problem in my experience this is bks from people who can't tell a tt in a chavved up 325 from an enthusiast in a lovely M3. I can fit my wife, daughter and all associated gubbins for a weekend away into it and cruise in comfort or go out on a sunday morning for a blast and can do that either with precision or in a cloud of tire smoke.

Performance wise I had a play with an E46 M3 when out in my Evo and there was just a ball hair in it up till about 120 and then the BMW started to pull away.
Don't listen to the nay-sayers who say you can't drive an M3 fast in the rain, you can, it just requires a bit more thought, care and skill.

I have never driven an E36 but IMO they are starting to look very dated whereas I think the E46 still looks very good. I found the M3 to be economical enough to use every day and running costs so far haven't been that horrendous. The Evo however burnt a hole in my pocket to the tune of thousands.

My last point would be that neither the Evo or the E36 have the S54 under the bonnet. That engine is a peach and a half.

For me this isn't a hard choice. An Evo and an M3 are completely different cars.

The M3 gives you a choice of what car it is, the Evo will always be just an Evo.

Just buy the M3, you won't be disappointed.

[Captainawesome]

Neil_M said:

Brakes wise, I found both have great brakes.

..

Really???

I have braided lines and super duper fluid but sill find they fade very quickly under heavy use. I would say the brakes on the E46 are the only weak link. I have a supercharged M3 with k-sport 8 pots on the front and porsche turbo brakes on the rear and the difference is night and day. The next upgrade due on my standard M3 is definitely brakes (after the supersprint exhaust and evolve carbon airbox go on ).

[Leins]

Captainawesome said:

Evo vs E36 vs E46 stuff

I agree with nearly everything you've said, except for the E36 looks, as to me they're getting better looking with each passing day. While they'll always be slightly below the E30 and E46 in terms of desirability for me, I'd still love one, either in //M or Alpina form ideally

[VinceFox]

Leins said:

Captainawesome said:

Evo vs E36 vs E46 stuff

I agree with nearly everything you've said, except for the E36 looks, as to me they're getting better looking with each passing day. While they'll always be slightly below the E30 and E46 in terms of desirability for me, I'd still love one, either in //M or Alpina form ideally

E36 looks have been associated with poor ownership for a long time and are only now starting to emerge from that. I think people are viewing them more with fresh eyes now.

[Captainawesome]

VinceFox said:

Leins said:

Captainawesome said:

Evo vs E36 vs E46 stuff

I agree with nearly everything you've said, except for the E36 looks, as to me they're getting better looking with each passing day. While they'll always be slightly below the E30 and E46 in terms of desirability for me, I'd still love one, either in //M or Alpina form ideally

E36 looks have been associated with poor ownership for a long time and are only now starting to emerge from that. I think people are viewing them more with fresh eyes now.

Dated yes. Bad looking no. An ac schnitzer E36 M3 is on my bucket list. Fantastic cars.

[iguana]

Benny, not just different engine, but gearbox & dif too, exhaust& brakes naturally now big aftermarket set, interior long gone, suspension on 3rd set up now etc etc.

[Leins]

Captainawesome said:

Dated yes. Bad looking no. An ac schnitzer E36 M3 is on my bucket list. Fantastic cars.

Aha, dated in a good way then!

Yep, wouldn't mind a CLSII myself

[bennyboysvuk]

iguana said:

Benny, not just different engine, but gearbox & dif too, exhaust& brakes naturally now big aftermarket set, interior long gone, suspension on 3rd set up now etc etc.

Gearbox and diff too? What did the owner go for? It's so nice to hear that my old M3, well the shell anyway, has a new, more exciting life on the track.

Do you have any pics of it in its current guise that you could share?

[mu0n]

Sorry to bump an old thread (I didn't want to create a new one).

I will be soon on the hunt for an M3. I am/was adamant on an e36 m3 evo, but firstly, finding a good one these days seems nigh on impossible! Anything that looks half decent is ridiculous money. Secondly, are they money pits at this age? Especially for a daily, albeit not many miles, driver?

I am not too keen on the e46... it's a bit too garish for my liking and it has been tainted by a lot of idiots buying them, but their current pricing is attractive.

[Shaoxter]

mu0n said:

Sorry to bump an old thread (I didn't want to create a new one).

I will be soon on the hunt for an M3. I am/was adamant on an e36 m3 evo, but firstly, finding a good one these days seems nigh on impossible! Anything that looks half decent is ridiculous money. Secondly, are they money pits at this age? Especially for a daily, albeit not many miles, driver?

I am not too keen on the e46... it's a bit too garish for my liking and it has been tainted by a lot of idiots buying them, but their current pricing is attractive.

Take your time, they're old cars so might be a while before you find a decent one at a decent price. Also the ones in good condition might be kept off the road in winter, I'm sure there will be more available later in the year.

Apart from rust, they can hardly be called a money pit compared to modern M cars. Even a VANOS rebuild is pretty reasonable these days (and E46's might have that issue too).

[Jim1556]

Shaoxter said:

Take your time, they're old cars so might be a while before you find a decent one at a decent price. Also the ones in good condition might be kept off the road in winter, I'm sure there will be more available later in the year.

What he said, take your time and find a good one!

[evojam]

The good old E46 M3 vs E36 M3 debate,it's been done too death now on various BMW forums.Both are ultimately fine cars,it's a personal thing,if your looking at buying either just do your homework well,know what to look for and touch wood you'll end up with a car that'll give many years of fun.

[MOTK]

OP asks about e36 m3 evo vs e46 m3, cue loads of random posts regarding mitsubishis. What's that all about?

[NelsonM3]

mu0n said:

Sorry to bump an old thread (I didn't want to create a new one).

I will be soon on the hunt for an M3. I am/was adamant on an e36 m3 evo, but firstly, finding a good one these days seems nigh on impossible! Anything that looks half decent is ridiculous money. Secondly, are they money pits at this age? Especially for a daily, albeit not many miles, driver?

I am not too keen on the e46... it's a bit too garish for my liking and it has been tainted by a lot of idiots buying them, but their current pricing is attractive.

Re: Money pits. Sort of. If you buy a good one you'll still need to maintain it to a high standard if you want to keep the value high and it's still an M3 car after all. I've averaged £3500 a year on my EVO and i'm still going.

For me the E36 Evo M3 is the last analogue M car. Much more fun that my E90.

[nevm3]

I've had both, my E36 Evo was a really clean car in vgc but never got the urge just to take it out for a blast, on 2nd E46 and to me totally different car, enjoy driving it so much more, praps I'm a closet poser because E46 looks like an ///M car? A little off topic but had E36 325tds(chipped) at same time and loved it!(explain that one!) Now got e46 330d(chipped)nearly M3 performance with 35+mpg on long very quick runs real Q car.If had the room would be tempted with E36 M3 saloon as can see them being a good investment.