Will the e46 non M3 be special?

The E46 M3 was and is a great car, but at the time it was just a great car, not particular special, yes the engine was the focal point and a true masterpiece as its good such a great power band with no real flat spots it just pulls and pulls all the way to 8000rpm and sounds incredible whilst doing so and it has a true signature sound track, anyone who is a petrol head will instantly recognise the sound of an E46 M3, good or bad its a trademark sound.

Even the CS editions were not that special, but the CSL was a truly special car, very limited numbers and BMW went wild they made a proper race car for the road and went over everything, OK they made one error it still had relatively average brakes stock, which for a car they marketed as ideal for the race track, well the brakes were not upto track work.

But move on 15 years and in a world of 100 air bags, engine downsizing, turbo chargers, nannies, cars getting ever increasingly bigger and well the E46 M3 has become a very special car indeed and CSL models are now worshipped like some god and this is why you can no longer get an E46 M3 in average condition for 5k, hell you can't even get a knackered for 5k now really.

Out of all the modern M cars the M2 is the best in a long time, its got a similar handling balance to an E46 M3 but it still does unfortunately have a crap sounding engine with a less fun powerband and its why the E46 M3 has become special, really helped by its S54 engine, essentially a race car engine put into a road car, that they added vanos too in order to make it drive nice in a road car amongst a load of other tweaks.

M3's are going up, got a good one or a properly modified one that is well maintained they are worth very good money now and still on the up. :)
 
If E30's are anything to go by then mint low mileage cars will always be worth a fair bit, but the ones hanging on to are the likes of the 330Ci Clubsport and maybe the 330Ci Sport, and I expect 330i Tourings and Saloons will have a following too, especially in Sport spec.

Your bog standard 316i SE less so but there will always be someone who wants one.

I can see it being a long time though because E36's are 20-odd years old now and most of those are still worth very little. 328's and mint 318IS's etc are creeping up in value now though.

Even E30's have only started rocketing in value over the past 5 years or so.
 
IC3 said:
@mr tommo YOLO, the longer you wait the more you'll pay for one. :) Red tends to fade when left in the sun, so the imola red will only get rarer.
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The problem being I have a face superior F10 LCI at the moment in terms of tech, comfort and practicality. Yep, always loved the red and personally think the pre facelifts look much better bar the rear lights.
 
You can always retrofit the rear LED lights. They're about £200 per side from BMW though, but you get what you want then.
 
The thing with the E46 is most of the rotten cars now have either been broken for spares/got moon mileage/drift cars/ or have gone to Europe.

I still have mine, plan to sell it these coming months. I was going to break it but rather it go to someone who wants one. Downside is it's an auto lol.
 
Nasher said:
People keep buying autos, but no one wants it with an auto when the car becomes a classic :p
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To be fair this is completely logical; you buy a new car to drive on a regular basis as a normal car, for this, most people want an auto. When a car is a classic it becomes a hobby occasional use toy car, for which a lot of people are happy to play with a manual shift as part of it.
 
E30's with the switchable auto box are actually quite popular. Having driven one its actually a really decent box... Must have been one of the best automatics available at the time for sure!
 
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