E46 330ci vs M3

HummuH1 · 30 Sep 2011 at 11:56

Having owned both, the M3 is a much more invloving all round drive, in all situations and well worth the extra cost of ownership IMO.

330ci in M-Sport guise is a great car, I loved it, but the M3 is excellent at what the 330 is great at, if that makes sense lol.

shoes · 30 Sep 2011 at 14:07

Aye it makes perfect sense. Although I think the comments of 1 year @ 100 bhp vs. M3 contain good advice. Perhaps I'll run a 330ci for a year or two and then consider the upgrade.

HummuH1 · 30 Sep 2011 at 18:11

shoes said:
Aye it makes perfect sense. Although I think the comments of 1 year @ 100 bhp vs. M3 contain good advice. Perhaps I'll run a 330ci for a year or two and then consider the upgrade.

Wouldn't advise against it, did it myself.

I can assure you though after 6 months you'll appreciate how good a car it is and want to know what it's like in ///M form!

Only thing I would say is that it's becoming increasingly harder to find good/well looked after examples now, so will be harder 2 years down the line and the cost risk will go up accordingly.

There's some nice M's going for silly low prices IMO at the moment, good time to bag a decent one.

Disco Boy · 30 Sep 2011 at 18:44

[TW]Fox;20168845 said:
Do it with something other than an E30 325i then - they cost a lot for what they are, and you don't seem bothered what it is provided you can drift it, there are going to be better choices for a cheap drift car.

This. a 325i is far too heavily "scene taxed" to be good for a cheap drifter.

MikeHiow · 1 Oct 2011 at 06:25

That is why there are so many 316/18/20s with conversions.

There is a local nipper selling a tidy converted 316 for ~1700. Doesn't seem like too bad a deal to me - the only thing comparable you'll find cheaper is a rusted out s13 I'd imagine.

mrk · 1 Oct 2011 at 06:28

What do you mean by conversions?

Disco Boy · 1 Oct 2011 at 11:26

mrk said:
What do you mean by conversions?

Something that was oeiginally a 316 with a bigger engine and a new/welded diff stuck in I imagine.

Housey · 1 Oct 2011 at 13:26

The M3 is all about the engine, this is what makes it better than the 330, the engine is one of the greatest engines in production and though it sounds pretty tinny from behind inside it sounds good, even more so in CSL guise. From behind both the CSL and M3 sound pretty much the same anyway, coming towards you the CSL is one of the top car sounds ever in my book.