I've been daily driving y F250 Powerstroke for 7 years now and 100,000 miles. It's an amazing truck and it's fun in it's own way. But I just can't take driving it every day anymore.

Here she is doing what she does best. That's 4,000 lbs of brick.



I wanted something with 4 doors, manual transmission, and fun to drive. I found that E36 M3's have come way down in price and I know they are a fantastic car. So, I found this one near me, had a pre purchase inspection done, and brought it home.









It's a 1998 with 192,000 miles. It's really hard to believe how many miles it has. It drives like it has maybe 100,000 miles. I am absolutely amazing at how balanced the car is. The 240 hp straight 6 pulls like it has closer to 300. The handling is truly amazing. The suspension is stock with worn out rear shocks and I'm sure a few bushings that need to be replaced. Even still, I can completely understand why these cars were considered the best handling cars of the 90's.

The other day I finally had a clear shot at an onramp. I dropped to 3rd and eased into the right hander. I gently accelerated trying to find the limit. There was more body roll than I expected, but even still, no tire squeal. Towards the end of the turn, in disbelief that I didn't have the tires screaming, I tried to induce oversteer to see how to would respond. I jumped off the throttle and added steering input. NOTHING happened! It just did what I asked it to. I just absolutely can't believe how much fun this little car is to drive.

Just thought I'd share.

There is a brace kit you need to put in the rear if it hasn't already been done. Something to do with the control arm mounts cracking.

Yep, that and sway bar brackets. I'm not too worried about it with stock suspension though. Once I upgrade the sway bars and springs, then I'll get the upgrades mounts.

I have been looking into this as a new daily or a E46 version of it, to replace my Cts-v. Is there anything I should look out for or be aware of? I'm looking for a DD that is agile and will occasionally see AX duty or HPDE.

Kid, my brother is actually in the market for an E46 M3. They are actually pretty damn cheap. $15,000 with around 100,000 miles. Kinda crazy. 333 hp, 7900 RPM redline, a real beast. It is heavier, but still handles well, from what I understand. A little softer than the E36. The interior is 10 times nicer than the 36. Tons of cheap plastic, but is still nice. The only thing that scares me about the 46 is the maintenance. It's going to cost a lot more than the 36 to fix.

Poke around on bimmerforums. Tons of great stickies there. Personally, a $7000 E36 M3 with about 130,000 miles would have been perfect. To me, I don't think the E46 is worth another $10,000. These E36 M3's are making some pretty impressive numbers with a blower kit on them, if you really want more power.

I guess it just depends on what you want. I don't think you can go wrong either way. Just make sure you do all the work yourself other wise find a good mechanic that's reasonable. I think that's why people start bitching about the cost to fix these cars, it's the labor. It's a BMW so mechanics for some reason are able to charge 3 times what they would to fix a honda.

Hope that helps!

Oh, watch out of the money shift! I've tried to do it a few times already.

I'd love to have an E46 with an LS / T56 swap...should cut down on the maintenance costs and that would be a wicked sound coming from such a well sorted chassis.

I'm shopping for an E36 now, for a donor chassis for a LS track car build. Bad motor, paint, interior is fine, roller is fine. Just needs straight and rust free, so needs to be CA or southwest car.

That would be amazing. The wiring is going to be the most challenging part. Someday I want to drop an aluminum L33 with a T56 into the M3. People are putting in a mild cam and getting 330-350 rwhp. I think that would be just about perfect.

They are definitely out there. I think if you could find one with a trashed interior but with a good engine, you could sell the engine and get back most of your money.

What LS would you put in there? LS3?

I would build a LS1 shortblock and put LS6 stuff on top like I did. Mine makes 385 RWHP and drives like a stock LS1......lots of low end tq to pull out of the corner.

If I ever do one, it will get an LS6.

Here is my dyno sheet.

I'd love that, but that's an expensive engine. The "kit" to install an LS engine into an E36 is pretty expensive. The 5.3 LS truck engine is pretty cheap. Complete engines right around $1000. I think I'd do the truck engine first to make it easier on the wallet, then someday build something like what you have, the LS6.

I gotta say, the stock M3 engine is pretty damn impressive. I can't believe how much low end torque it has. I love straight 6's. But an LS engine in this car would be amazing.

If I get a E36 or E46 and the motor blows up I have a built LS1 I took out of my camaro I would like to put in something. Can you imagine the MPG you could knock down with a E36 being as light as it is?