What car for up to £25k (S5/M3/RS4)
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It doesn't really, buy the one you prefer, but the Avant offers extra practicality and tends to hold its price better (and costs more) because of that.
The RS4, it hides its speed and actually doesn't put out the BHP Audi claims and suffers from coking which does impact that performance. It can be fixed, but it needs work and costs and still doesn't put out 414bhp I believe.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
You may tire of it sooner than an M3 or an RS4 but a S5 is a one generation newer competitor of what you have now* so why would that be any more suitable than an F30?
*There is more to it than that obviously but then you seem to ignore the fact the F30 is a completely different car to an E46 and shares nothing with it.
You have to hand it to Audi, calling it S5 really has elevated it in people's minds. It's probably why BMW copied the idea with the M135i...
The RS4 is a genuine high performance car that is rather special. The S5 is a top of the range Audi A5...
Soldato
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I'd rather a 12 plate S5 than a 12 plate M3 E92...IMO but I am biased towards audis. 
I'd rather a 12 plate S5 than a 12 plate M3 E92...IMO but I am biased towards audis.
You're kidding......
Shock, horror as he's their number one fanboi!
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18 months ago I made the change from E46 330Ci to E92 M3. Like you I wanted the car to be a nice place to spend time, and whilst I wouldn't say that an LCI E92 M3 has a better interior overall than as RS4/S5, features such as the infotainment are considerably better (the CIC iDrive is fantastic) in the M3 and being a BMW fanboy at heart it was a clear winner for me. I won't write much more because to be honest it's all been covered above by people like Gibbo.
What part of London do you live in? Happy to meet up if you're local/don't mind travelling a bit to take you out for a spin in mine, although I can't guarantee I won't spend the entire time trying to convince you to increase your budget by £5k and buy mine
Feel free to email me through trust with any questions about going from E46 330Ci to E92 M3, will be happy to answer as best I can
What part of London do you live in? Happy to meet up if you're local/don't mind travelling a bit to take you out for a spin in mine, although I can't guarantee I won't spend the entire time trying to convince you to increase your budget by £5k and buy mine
Feel free to email me through trust with any questions about going from E46 330Ci to E92 M3, will be happy to answer as best I can
I'd rather a 12 plate S5 than a 12 plate M3 E92...IMO but I am biased towards audis.
For £25k it has to be an LCI E92 M3 DCT. Good options to look out for are EDC, BMW Loudspeaker hifi, heated seats and comfort access. They're very well specced to begin with. Unfortunately £25k won't get you a Competition Pack car, unless you find a high mileage example.
I had a slightly higher budget but wasn't looking at (proper) 4-seaters - is that a requirement? It was between a 911 (997 S, potential engine issues put me off), Lotus Evora S (more of an event to drive, but quite a bit more expensive) and the Cayman S I ended up with.
Wow, that video is awesome. I'd heard about the remap potential but didn't know it was that simple. I'm guessing the rest of the car isn't built for driving with the remap, so for a runway drag against an RS it's great, but for the real road you can't enjoy the extra power that much? Or at least you'd be wanting to upgrade the brakes!
But you'd still recommend one? I've read about the coking issue but most of the ones i've looked at (and the one I test drove, according to the dealer) had that fixed so hopefully it wouldn't be an issue If i went for the RS4.
[TW]Fox;29965639 said:
Because I feel like a change.
It just "feels" like essentially the same car to me. It is basically the same model, but two generations newer. The S5 also has a much nicer interior, like the seats for example, and I do really want a car that's a pleasure to be in. In my head it doesn't make a lot of sense to go with the newer version of my car, it's either an S5 that can be tuned, or do the BMW properly and go for the M3.
18 months ago I made the change from E46 330Ci to E92 M3. Like you I wanted the car to be a nice place to spend time, and whilst I wouldn't say that an LCI E92 M3 has a better interior overall than as RS4/S5, features such as the infotainment are considerably better (the CIC iDrive is fantastic) in the M3 and being a BMW fanboy at heart it was a clear winner for me. I won't write much more because to be honest it's all been covered above by people like Gibbo.
What part of London do you live in? Happy to meet up if you're local/don't mind travelling a bit to take you out for a spin in mine, although I can't guarantee I won't spend the entire time trying to convince you to increase your budget by £5k and buy mine
Feel free to email me through trust with any questions about going from E46 330Ci to E92 M3, will be happy to answer as best I can
Nice one, appreciate the offer. I'm in SW15, and may well take you up on that depending on how tomorrow goes. If yours is for sale send the link, i'll take a look and then maybe offer you £25k.
The one I'm test driving tomorrow is the LCI E92 DCT with EDC. Don't think it has the other bits though. The Mrs loves the heated seats in the 330 so might have to try and find one with those.
Yea they all say it's fixed but it rarely is. Within 1500 miles of cleaning you are entering the coking zone again. Flaw in the DFI design, think there are bigger mods but most have just had a clean and will be coked again in no time. It's just part of what RS4's do frankly, but if you are not chasing times agains the clock it's really not that significant of problem.
It's not basically the same car at all. The two generations are so far apart it's a completely different car - you just think it's the same because its a '3 Series'. It's even further from the E46 than the E92 M3 is.
You wouldn't argue that a Golf Mk7 and a Golf Mk1 are 'basically the same', this is a similar principle.
I get why this car wouldnt work for you, but if it wouldn't, then...
It sounds like you want a PROPER performance car. This means bin the S5. Because it's a fast A5, just like a 335i is a fast 3 Series. Once the novelty wears off it's just an A5. And the interior really isn't that great.
It sounds like you need to do this properly. If a 335i doesn't appeal then I can't see an S5 satisfying you longterm either. It really is just an Audi version of the 335i - they were even exactly the same price when brand new. They are direct competitors.
The E92 M3 and Audi RS4 are special cars in ways that it's often hard to convey on paper. The S5 is not.
Whoever sat at that Audi meeting and said 'Hey guys, lets call it S5 instead of S-Line' deserves a promotion, I bet they sold loads of cars to people who thought it was distinct from the 335 despite being exactly the same price and offering pretty much identical performance. The number of times it gets compared to an M3 is ridiculous... the M3 is 400bhp and cost 20k more! I bet there are times when your 330Ci is more fun to drive than the S5..
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Exactly yet most peoples first thoughts are that the S5 is 'special' and the 335 is 'just a 3 Series'.
I'd imagine a similar thing happened with the S3 v 135i, which is why we now have an 'M135i' instead...
A glorious triumph of marketing