Tractor

Considering all the above. I know the S3 will need modding to be in competition, but it can be done relatively cheaply I hear.

As an onwership proposition, for mixed driving as an everyday car, which would you chose and why?

M8TT J

M3 Evo without a doubt...may not be the quickest, but the best all rounder for day to day driving....nice round town with good manners and you can give it some if you wish.

I owned an M3 non Evo and was one of the best cars I owned for being an all rounder

turboman786

I have an m3 evo and previously had a scoob, albeit a uk 2000 scoob. The m3 is a very refined car with lots of grunt, but it lacks the handling of the 4wd cars you have listed.

Im tempted to go for an evo or sti5 as my next car...simply miss the turbo factor and 4wd handling......and the m3 is very expensive to insure...I had substantially cheaper quotes on an sti 5 believe it or not...

mozzaITA

M3 3.0L is an amazing car, its very quick and handles well in dry but badly in wet.... will demolish a fiat coupe turbo 20v in any gear... i havnt had any experiance of the other cars though :-(

RS2 JIM

iTrader: (5)

I have just become the owner of a mildly modified Evo 5 and i love it!! The car is awesomely quick and grips the road like nothing i've ever driven before (and that includes a 996 turbo...in the wet!). My car is running less than standard boost at the moment and makes 313BHP@ flywheel. I have been exploring it's handling capabilities and am still astounded by the amount of grip i have available. Yesterday i had a great drive with a TVR Tamora where i basically followed him along some of Scotlands best driving roads for 40 miles. We never really encroached into the last 1/4 of the speedo (110+) but still pushed really hard round the twisties. I can honestly say that there are not many cars (certainly none at this sort of price) that could be driven everyday and yet be such a great car to drive. It really is such a rush when your thrust back into the seat and the acceleration is totally linear right to the ton.
I just can't wait till next weekend when it's hopefully off to AVA to have the boost upped to nearer 1.2bar (from 0.9).......should see a few extra horses at the wheels

James

Tractor

Thanks for your opinions guys - keep em coming!

what would scooby do

Every man and his dog has a M3 these days, but it really depends what you want to do with the car. M3 probably better suited to high speed motorways/duals and A roads.

Scoob & Evo more suited to A and B roads and grin inducing blasts across country.

I went from 2wd 320Bhp cossie to Merc SLK and then CLK430 - I got bored with mercs etc (also had bmw 328i coupe)

I opted for a STI 5 Type R in the end as they are a hoot, more character than an EVO, one of the few scoobs you can get sideways (in the wet) + short gearing gives you quicker acceleration and less affect from turbo lag...

horses for courses as they say.

M3 Evo

First of all dont just take our words for it and not consider a car we may all slag off. As said above its horses for corses and make sure you drive them all to get a good idea - also make sure its not just down your favourite stretch of road either....throw some motorways in there too.

If its an only car then IMO the M3 walks it - it can do B roads almost aswell as the EVO but when you want to cruise home it will be in utter silence returning 30+mpg. Not to mention IMO one the greatest engines ever made (ohh that noise) E36 M3s are dirt cheap at the moment too and in the long run will actually be cheaper to run that a scoob or EVO.

A tuned S3 does sound VERY tempting though!

Tractor

M3 Evo - I know exactly what you are saying, however, today's research has scared the crap out of me about the VANOS issues on these cars. From what I can gather I would be mad to buy a car that does not have a full BMW warranty which I can then extend. Would you agree?

M3 Evo

I would most definately agree! I had the double VANOS done on mine @ 34,000 miles, but it was just like a regular service and other than that the car never let me down whilst i had it - BMW reliablilty - nuff said! Sold mine whilst still had the warranty but wouldnt buy another without the extended one! I lurk on www.BM3W.co.uk ,go to Previous generation M models theres loads of VANOS info on there (interesting theres a poll on and nearly 50% of cars have had it go!)

Why not have a look at the earlier 3ltr model? Its only slightly slower in a straight line (they were hard to lose) and only has single VANOS so doesnt suffer from any such problems. Finding a cared for one will be hard work though.

M3 Evo

Also worth noting BMW will not extend you warranty unless you bought it from a BMW dealer. Dealers tend to have the better cars anyway!

Tractor

Thanks for the info mate. I checked out that poll - scary stuff! How much does it cost to get the work done out of warranty, have you any idea?

RS2 JIM

iTrader: (5)

Having read some of the comments after mine i would tend to agree that a well cared for M3 would be a better option as a daily driver. The thing about the evo is that you'll never drive it slowly and it LOVES fuel! I emptied the 40ltr tank in 98miles at the weekend!
The M3 is a real drivers car and the evolution version is a must. Avoid the SMG version as, i've been told, they can suffer from problems on high milers and are supposed to be a fair bit more to service too. An evo model in Avus Blue with cream leather will be next car on my shopping list!

Best of luck with the car hunt!

James

M3 Evo

Not sure - mine was all done under warranty but think its around the 1.5 to 2K mark i think. With the warranty at about 4/500 and the better odds of resale with i'd say its worth every penny!

Simon S3

I went for the S3, it just suited me more I guess.

I`m getting old and the comfort, Bose stereo, leather Recaros and amazing build quality won me over, sure it`s not the fastest kid on the block but it costs peanuts to run (variable service intervals, 30+mpg on a run etc) compared with a scoob. Try the privilage website for a quote on an S3, it costs me less to insure than a MINI Cooper S FFS!

I`ve had it for a year and 20,000 miles and it`s not had a single fault (Not even a coil pack).

Like I said, it just suits me fine. Another big plus in my book is that in the more sober colours (I`ve got Dolphin grey) it`s very discreet.

chrisp

Saw a broken down M3 holding up all the traffic in my local town on Saturday which isnt that significant as all cars have off days but dont see may M3s that break down. The guy was on the phone so I guess the AA or RAC were on their way. Car looked good but the owner looked embrassed and annoyed dont thing his other half was too impressed either.



[Edited by chrisp - 6/2/2003 8:16:54 PM]