Talk me out of making a mistake... E93 M3 vert

First, a little background- 

- Have owned a BMW for at least 20 years now, and am proficient in BMW-ese. 

- I have an adequate shop, tools, and lift and do my own mechanics/maintenance for the most part. 

- I currently rock an E46 wagon that I love, but was always going to be a stop-gap to my 'forever' project/long term car. 

- I live in bumpkinville with an awful driveway and lots of snowy winters, so my 'fun car' never sees winter or inclement driving days. 

I've always said that an S54 swapped E30 convertible is my 'goldilocks' car.  Competent speed, and a perfect sunny day beach cruiser for a family of 3.  

Enter yesterday, when a slightly sketchy 'BHPH' car lot I drive past has a silver 2008 M3 hardtop convertible that gave me a bit of unexpected whiplash while sitting on the lot.  I inquire this morning, and it's exactly the spec I want-  non-iDrive, 6 speed, black, sport package.  100k miles, clean carfax with 2 owner southern history and dealer serviced up to October 2021.  It was "bought at auction", per the dealer, and comes with an already done PPI from a loacal German specialty shop.  It's priced at $24k.  I can't find anything that low online in this market that isn't completely busted out, and the car itself is a solid 5' clean. 

While this isn't an S54 E30 vert, it's pretty damn close, and definitely financially affordable for me. 

Am I dumb to pull the trigger on an overcomplicated, 14 year old, 100k mile, hardtop german convertible as my Summer commute/fun car?  I understand the performance drawbacks of the vert, but damn to I miss my Miata in the summer on warm days...  And it'd  be awesome to have it as a fun car that my wife and daughter would actually want to ride in, which my wagon as constituded, very much does not. 

Sounds like an awesome deal. On the other hand, the downside of an e90 m3 are magnified in a vert/family wagon. Pushing the limits of an e90 takes a serious amount of speed, so I think a $12k 335i convertible would probably give you 95% of the enjoyment.....

I would LOVE an e90 m3, but mainly because it would be a hoot on track and DD'able, if it was strictly a DD it is known to be hard to rev out on the street versus something with more torque like the N55. 

Some colleges cost $24k a year. Just look at it as a $24k learning opportunity. Do it. 

One-model-only V8 M3 + stick shift...there's a tiny chance it might appreciate, but with 100k on the clock, probably not. I'd much, much rather have a V8 BMW than any of the TTI6 cars that came after. Send it.

I'll preface my comments with the fact that I'm a huge BMW fan. I've owned ~15 at this point, including many M cars, one of which was an e90 M3. It was crazy good. It was an absolute rocketship and sounded amazing. It had all the bolt owns and was awesome. I'd highly recommend one. The downside is that it was hard to experience it on the street, because they are so, so capable. I think a 'vert would be fun though, because it would be less about all out speed.

My son and I recently autocrossed his 128i and there was a guy there with his e93 M3. He was driving the ever-loving snot out of it and it was awesome to see/hear. He was one of the faster cars there!

Meant to add...I've owned 2 e46 wagons and dearly miss them! My dream car is that with an s54!!

In line for the E46 wagon assuming it has 3 pedals in it!

Have you driven an E90 M3? My ex had a DCT sedan that I put many hours behind. That engine leaves at lot to be desired around town. Very rattly and unhappy at low revvs and you can feel that it's optimized for upper RPM running. But get it up in the revvs and damn....

buzzboy said:

Have you driven an E90 M3? My ex had a DCT sedan that I put many hours behind. That engine leaves at lot to be desired around town. Very rattly and unhappy at low revvs and you can feel that it's optimized for upper RPM running. But get it up in the revvs and damn....

Very true. It's the S2000 of the //M3's. My IS-F feels like a torque monster relative to that car. 

Welp, against my better judgement, I went to check it out in further detail today and go for a test drive.  It needs tails as both were weathercracked, and has a sizeable door dent that I'd want fixed, but otherwise it's insanely clean.  New OEM valve covers and all filters and oil looked good.  
 

The test drive only further cemented my decision-  maybe it's because I'm driving an anemic 180k i6, but it felt plenty fast stoplight to stoplight for my needs... and the sounds... holy mother of all that is Bavarian the sounds... I'm gonna offer a thousand off in the morning or they fix the tails and drivers door dent, but in reality I'm probably taking it.  I just can't get the sounds out of my head.  
 

some pics-

That was easy

Y'all are terrible disablers!!! 
 

Fantastic color on it.

Boy is that pretty!  I occasionally think of doing just this.  I have resisted so far.  This is not helping.  Please keep us updated on ownership.

Didn't the salesman say there is somebody else very interested and you better act fast? I thought that was SOP. 

OHSCrifle said:

Didn't the salesman say there is somebody else very interested and you better act fast? I thought that was SOP. 

This is for sure not a good lot, so I don't think the sales guy honestly cared enough...?  If it didn't come with a PPI and a stack of maintenance records, theres a 0% chance I'd be interested based off of the garbage on his lot around this car... Even still, it's  giving me pause, just because the dealer gives off some seriously shady vibes.  E.G. It's got an Active Autoworke exhaust without resonators or plugs installed, and it's LOUD.  In Georgia, I'm sure it's not an issue, but there's no way a reputable shop is passing inspection on it up here in NH.  I mentioned this to him, and he just said that he'd include lifetime inspections and that he'd "get it done for me".  There's definitely a camper behind the shop that looks like it's definitely lived in by someone... 

The dealer sends out 10/10 red flag warnings for sure, even without pressuring me into taking it home...  

Nice car, go for it! I had the same car in the same color with red interior, mine was a 2011.

Currently have a 2009 6 speed with 105k miles. Only problems have been alternator which I got from FCP euro and it was a simple change and one of the throttle body motors. The TB motor took all of 3 hours and it was a simple rebuild, cost was around $300.

I am thinking about doing the rod bearings next. On the early ones, the material of the bearings is such that an oil analysis will not tell you much about their condition.

I've been lusting after these for years because it's one of very few "modern" platforms you can get with a V8, stick, and four doors.  Purely based on research and absolutely no real world experience they seem to nickel and dime you less than the turbo sixes of the same era, but there are a couple of expensive items that seem to commonly need servicing on that engine.  IIRC the bearings are too tight for the recommended oil weight.  I've heard a lot of people replace them with a more appropriate spec as insurance.  Also the plastic throttle body gears can break.  There is a metal replacement that's available, but that job may be $1-2K per side if you're farming it out.

That said, I have no idea exactly how common these problems really are.  Maybe someone here with actual ownership experience can chime in.

Slippery said:

Nice car, go for it! I had the same car in the same color with red interior, mine was a 2011.

Currently have a 2009 6 speed with 105k miles. Only problems have been alternator which I got from FCP euro and it was a simple change and one of the throttle body motors. The TB motor took all of 3 hours and it was a simple rebuild, cost was around $300.

I am thinking about doing the rod bearings next. On the early ones, the material of the bearings is such that an oil analysis will not tell you much about their condition.

Apparently you beat me to it on the TB and bearings.  Sounds like you did the TB rebuild yourself with $300 in parts?  That's not bad...

In reply to Matt B (fs) :

Read above. I had the TB motor gear go ... it cost me $300 or less. I can find the invoice later ... I have owned two.

A sign of the TBA going is the 4.5k redline.

Are these as reliable (actually unreliable) as the v10 m5 or more reliable?

yupididit said:

Are these as reliable (actually unreliable) as the v10 m5 or more reliable?

Everything I've read has them as a good deal more reliable.  That was another car on my short list. 

In reply to golfduke :

The e60 m5 is one of my dream cars, but I cant tell if the dream is a nightmare. 

I had a neighbor who had a v8 m3 and it kicked his ass for the first few years of ownership. That was 2014-2017, he still has it now and loves it. I also used to do battle at some track days with an m3 back when I had my stock Evo X, I believe it was an earlier version of the v8 m3's. 

yupididit said:

In reply to golfduke :

The e60 m5 is one of my dream cars, but I cant tell if the dream is a nightmare. 

I had a neighbor who had a v8 m3 and it kicked his ass for the first few years of ownership. That was 2014-2017, he still has it now and loves it. I also used to do battle at some track days with an m3 back when I had my stock Evo X, I believe it was an earlier version of the v8 m3's. 

Minus your affinity for Mercs, we share similar car preferences.  And this would be the first year that BMW stuffed a V8 into an M3, so it was likely one of this generation. 

In reply to golfduke :

I'll buy a BMW if you buy a Mercedes lol