Talk me down (E46 M3 content)

I'm this || close to picking up an '04 M3 'vert, black on black, SMG, in very good interior and good exterior condition, with hard top, for summer fun and 1-3 HPDE per year. The thing that's holding me back is 120k miles on the car, which appears to have been well-maintained but has the original radiator at least and no service records. A local former BMW dealer tech gives it the thumbs up, and it drives very nicely. I drove my last E46 328i from 100k to 168k miles with only two major issues, both coolant system related - overflow tank split and ironically the water pump I put in for preventative maintenance failed. Yes, a coupe is better for HPDE but I can only find sunroof models and they're a tight fit for my head, and the price is certainly right on this one. Why shouldn't I buy this?

i say buy it, although i would rather have a manual, but if the price is right go for it.

pigeon wrote: Why shouldn't I buy this?

I would say because it has no roof and no one on earth knows how to fix an SMG car but in both cases I would be projecting my own personal preferences.

If you dig it... there really isn't any reason not to.

Knowing little about their durability, maintainence requirements or repair/replacement costs, I would do as much research on the SMG as possible before pulling the trigger.

Do it......

I say go for it, it's one hell of a fun car even missing a pedal and a roof.

Worst case scenario:

• you grow tired of cowl shake and general floppiness
• SMG takes an expensive E36 M3
• purchase 318ti
• install S54 and 6 speed transmission sans the SMG parts plus regular shifter/slave cylinder
• drive sideways until you have a stroke from smiling too hard

'Verts and track days don't mix.

Coupe and track days are a OK.

I'd rather have a Boxster with a roll bar. Or a C5 Vette. Or my RX7. :)

since you're asking us for help, that really means you've already made up your mind and really are asking for our blessings

Do it if you love it, but if it were me I'd have to get a laguna seca blue coupe with a manual=]

I would wait for the coupe too.

Don't let the cooling issues scare you. If you do the work yourself.. it is only a couple hundred bucks

There are essentially no HPDE sanctioning bodies who will allow convertibles w/o roll bars which pass the "broomstick test".

If you don't have a 'vert and need a track day car - buy a nice Miata and a built e36 M3 coupe. Same money, each one better at what it does than a single Swiss army knife.

IIRC when I looked at the purchase of a Miata for HPDE purposes, I noticed that the SCCA PDX regs will allow one with a factory hardtop w/o a rollbar.

I'd still wait for a coupe, the combination of convertible and SMG doesn't make for that great a track car.

motomoron wrote: There are essentially no HPDE sanctioning bodies who will allow convertibles w/o roll bars which pass the "broomstick test".

Broomstick test?

mad_machine wrote:

motomoron wrote: There are essentially no HPDE sanctioning bodies who will allow convertibles w/o roll bars which pass the "broomstick test".

Broomstick test?

Driver's head must be 1" below a broomstick placed across the windshield header and the top of the roll bar.

My local PCA region allows 'verts as do a couple other track day organizations that run at Watkins Glen so long as the hard top is on, so I could get my track time in. Of course if I were really smart I'd just rent the Spec Miatas that SCDA has for $895 for my track time.

I daily drove a Miata for 3 years, I want something with power. E36 M3s locally run 8-10k and this car is about 15k. I'm still not decided.

If I go coupe I'll have to add seats to get a bit lower (I know there's a pair of Recaros with side mounts for E46 coupes in the 20xx classifieds right now) due to how I fit. I could get a coupe with 97k miles and lots of track time but a known service history for $16k but it has some rust starting that would need to be addressed, then add in $1k for seats plus some other minor issues it has and it's a bunch more money.

I've been pretty hot and bothered by E46 M3s lately--although I like mine in competition-package flavor with no sunroof--I've been seeing more of those around lately.

look what i found:
01 laguna seca blue coupe 6 speed manual