What would you do? - E30, E36, WRX Content (Very Long)

Here is my situation, I was wondering what others would do if you were in my place. Admittedly, this is a fantastic problem to have.

Last March my wife's lease was up on her MkV GLI. I own a 2006 WRX and a E30 325is (which Ive owned for 4 years). Immediately after the lease went back she started driving the WRX, and I was dailying the 325is. I love the 325is, but I don’t particularly enjoy daily driving it. So I started looking for a car for my wife to daily for a few years before we start having kids. However, before finding something that would be good for her to daily in our price range, I came across a '98 M3 in overall great condition for a very good price. It was slightly more than what I wanted to spend, but Ive always loved this car and the wife said go for it. She graciously said that she would continue to drive the WRX as a daily.

Now, having owned the M3 for 4 months I am starting to realize that maintaining two older (but very good condition) BMW's requires me to pay out more cash than I am currently comfortable with (its not that I can’t do it, we're simply not meeting our savings target), not too mention constantly working on them is taking up too much of my free time. Therefore, I think I want to sell one of the older BMW's. The WRX is a great, trouble free car that we both love, and is relatively maintenance free (except for the normal routine stuff). One of us will continue to daily drive it.

Here's the dilemma: If I sell the M3, (I could probably sell it for more than I paid for it), I would keep the e30 as a track/autocross/weekend car, buy my wife something else and take back the WRX as a daily. If I choose this option I would want something that is generally reliable in the $8k or under territory for my wife to daily. The savings from buying a cheaper car would go towards maintenance/mods on the E30, and maintenance on the new, used car. If you would choose this option, feel free to suggest a good car. The requirements are reliable, 4 doors and has a manual transmission. If its fun to drive it’s a plus. Im thinking either a 2001-2002 Saab 9-3 or 9-5 (while these may not be statistically that much more reliable than the M3, I wouldn’t have as much $$ invested in it, and wouldn’t care if it gets a little run down).

Alternatively, I could sell the E30, have my wife continue to drive the WRX, and put the profit from the e30 into the M3 to make it how I would want it to be, plus a little leftover for future maintenance. This car would then see all of the track/autocross duty that the e30 would otherwise be seeing (2-3 track days a year). Driving my daily driver on the track makes me slightly uncomfortable, but I would do it for the 2-3 days per year I take the car to the track. This option would mean that my only car would be a 12 year old car. I can fix it when it breaks, but I don’t always have the time to do so in the immediate future.

While I of course will make my own decision, I was wondering what everyone here would do.

Here are the details of the cars I own:

1987 325is 154,000 miles. Black paint and black leather interior. Overall in very good shape for its age. Mechanically sound. Pretty much everything works. Has one or two small cosmetic blemishes. Has the stock sport seats which are awesome, and the car sounds fantastic when on full boil. I love its raw, old school character. Has new/updated suspension (325is has Bilsteins/H&R Sports, Suspension Techniques Swaybars, new bushings), chip, stainless brake lines. It now needs to have the sway bar mounting points reinforced (already have the kit, just need to pay a welder to do it) Before next summer it will need new tires, timing belt, cooling system. If I keep it I will also get an upper front strut bar for it and probably a 4.10 LSD. Other than the fact that it needs a few $$ in the near future, overall maintenance should be cheaper than the M3. Plus track consumables are cheaper.

1998 M3 92,000 miles. Alpine white with magma leather interior. Few options on the car. Overall 9.5 out of 10 condition. Mods are Conforti Chip, Underbrace, and Bilsteins. The car is a great daily driver, other than the stereo. Seats aren't as good as the e30 or the WRX. Only issue is the 5th gear detent issue is starting to show up. Interior is overall good, but not as well built as the E30. It has a new cooling system (water pump, rad, therm, therm housing, etc.). If I keep it I have to buy winter tires/wheels for it (which I'll buy used). I also can't stand the stereo in it, as it sounds like crap, doesn’t even have a cd player, and sounds even worse if I use a tape adapter to connect my Ipod. If I keep it I will want to fix the stereo by adding the OEM cd player ($250) and the Dice Ipod connecting thing ($80). I would also probably put a quiet exhaust on it, and a short shifter. Maintenance on this car would generally be more expensive than the e30, plus consumables are more expensive.

2006 WRX 70,000 miles. World Rally Blue with limited interior (leather, sunroof, heated seats). Only mods are Cobb Accessport and SPT Pink Springs. Overall in great shape, and a great daily driver. If I keep it I am always tempted to put sway bars on it, and of course add a turboback exhaust. This car is also a great daily driver, and pretty much just as much fun to drive as the M3 on the street. Maintenance is pretty cheap, consumables are also fairly cheap.

There you have it. I appreciate any comments from people on what they would do if they are in my situation. Thanks for reading my diatribe.

I usually blow these types of posts off, or make some pithy attempt at humor, but you have explained a genuine dilemma pretty well. Since my stable has the same brands in it, I'll toss in my two cents which are worth exactly what you paid for them.

Having driven both a E36 M3 and my own E30 track whore, I vastly prefer the raw brutality that is the E30. It's a car that just seems to thrive on huge amounts of track abuse. The more you thrash it, the happier it seems. I didn't feel that at all with the E36, even though it is faster and better engineered. I'll go for tactile feedback over pure speed for my jollies any day.

I'm not known as a Saab fan on this forum. I don't want to bash them but a car company that is pretty much bankrupt and does not have a huge parts/dealer/indpendent garage support network wouldn't inspire me to have it as a daily driver, particularly for a spouse. I want my spouse's car to be something I can ignore most of the time. I've got 3 other vehicles of my own to worry over and maintain. I want her to drive something bordering on an appliance, but not something I will loathe driving since I do most all of the driving when we go places. Subarus have performed these duties wonderfully for us for the last 9-10 years. Even if you keep the WRX for your own daily you may want to find her an Impreza or Legacy (GT?) for her uses. The non-turbo ones aren't boring either.

I think Europeans (well, BMW mostly) make the best cars for car enthusiasts, but even the best built ones are never maintenance free. Not sure any of this was helpful...

In reply to ddavidv:

Thanks for your response. The way you described how you feel about your wife's car is exactly the way I feel as well. Unfortunately she is pretty picky about the cars that she likes, but she may have to take one for the team since she definitely is not an enthusiast.

I definitely feel like the E30 likes to be abused more than the E36. While the driving dynamics of the E36 are no doubt superior to the E30 325is's, I havent been able to convince myself to sell the E30 because of the "raw brutality" that it brings to my stable. I kind of snicker when E36 M3 fan boys say they love it because of its "rawness."

I'll be watching this thread closely... I'm afraid I can't give too much input. In our stable, we have 1 "parts" E30 (but it may become a project), my wife's relatively clean 90 325i, an '89 we recently purchased as a long term (rust-free) project, a 2003 Protege, and an E36 M3. (the car :) ) We need (ought to) sell two by the spring, but I'm having a hard time deciding. I simply can't bring myself to sell the rustfree E30, we both hate the Protege but it's super practical and hasn't caused any real grief, and we could get some reasonable coin for the E36 M3.

I think if a buyer came along, the E36 would probably go long before the E30...but some of the money would be put towards an S52 swap or similiar.

Nathan

You have three awesome cars, that's a high quality problem. I'd sell the one that costs the most to maintain and is least exciting to you (Sounds like the M3)

Keep the E30 as a toy and buy something interesting yet sensible for a daily driver(RSX, Duratec Focus?).

I don't know what your financial situation is as far as cost per month per car but I think what I would do is..........keep the M3 as a track/toy car. Sell the 87 325is which at this point and those miles won't be for much. As ddavidv said buy a Legacy/Impreza as your new daily driver and be done with it. The expensive German car will see limited use and the two Japanese and less expensive cars will do the lions share of the duty. Of course this all depends on how much you want /can spend as this will be the pricier solution.

Solution: Trade me the M3 for my Miata then let me worry about the M3 expenses. After all the answer is always Miata j/k

Here are some pics.

I have a nice set of Prodrive wheels for the WRX. They are not on the car now that my wife is driving it. Im going to sell them if I keep the M3.

This is from before I did the suspension on the e30.

Pic of the car from the guy that I bought it from. It usually lived in his garage.

After seeing these pics I stand by my previous post. That M3 is too nice to get rid of.

first off I don't like that you own three of my favorite cars and secondly there's only room for one grinch on this board......

Option one: Sell the E30 to me

It is older, less of a good compromise street/track car, with worse gas mileage, less power. The E30 is a darling but the M3 is like a darling on the street and a filthy whore at the track.

Option two: Gut the E30

Take the E30 off the street, reclaim the cost of insurance and registration. Make it very light, stiff, add grip and use it only on the track. Sell the WRX and buy the Mrs an SUV capable of towing it. Loan her the M3 on track weekends.

Option three: Get rid of the wife & WRX

Reccommended. It neatly solves all automotive and cash flow issues.

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding having several older cars and the potential fix them at inconvenient times issues. But that's not too uncommon with newer stuff...

Which of the two cars would you miss more if you sold them? The M3 or the E30?

The E30 sounds like it is in good condition (can't see the pics from here) and they're getting harder to find. If you feel you'd miss that one more, sell the M3. BMW made a lot more of those so you're likely to be able to pick up good on later on if you figured you made the wrong decision. With E30s that's probably harder.

What about getting another, slightly older wrx. You both like the car. The bugeyes are getting darn right inexpensive these days. Maybe get a wagon, and you'll be ready for when it's time for kids. Wheels/parts will swap between cars. Life will be good.

I'd sell the M3, buy the wife whatever car she wants whenever she wants it, and then mod both the WRX and E30 to taste.

I'd say keep what you have, and squirrel away some money for upcoming maintenance on the two BMWs. The devil you know is often better than the one you don't, I think you'll end up putting a fair amount of money into any sub $8K used car (at least I always have). By the time you sell your car, buy a new car, pay taxes on new car, fix the new car, etc. you've probably spent at least another $1-2K in incidentals.

One thing that makes things less stressful is to save up some $$$ for the jobs you can do on your own, but that you'd feel comfortable letting a mechanic do. That way if something breaks on your daily, you can take it to the shop and get it fixed. I also think having an extra car comes in handy, especially if you have older vehicles. The WRX should be reliable, and it'd be unlikely that both BMWs would be down at the same time.

Would the wife DD the M3? Sometimes alternating between vehicles during the week helps to reduce the boredom/annoyance factor of any one car. My wife and I swap cars all throughout the week, and it helps both of us to keep our sanity.

Ironically, if I could pick three cars to drive on a regular basis, the three you have would probably be my first choices!

dj06482 wrote: The devil you know is often better than the one you don't, I think you'll end up putting a fair amount of money into any sub $8K used car (at least I always have). By the time you sell your car, buy a new car, pay taxes on new car, fix the new car, etc. you've probably spent at least another $1-2K in incidentals.

Very true and good points.