Help me decide: New or used '07 350Z, or used E46 M3?

350Z:
Pros:
- I used to have an SE-R, and I generally like the personality of Nissan cars.. very love/hate relationship, but at least it stirs up emotions!
- Probably more reliable and less of a maintenance pig than the M3
- More low-key

Cons:
- Interior...
- Not so great experience with Nissan dealer(s) in the past
- Average build quality

E46 M3:
Pros:
- Timeless design
- Marginally better interior
- Probably the most balanced sports coupe (performance/comfort)
- Emergency room for 4

Cons:
- Kind of pretentious... (but it looks so good!)
- Pricey out-of-warranty maintenance
- Costs the same used as a new 350Z

Anybody else go through the same decision process and have helpful advice?

 

love the E46, but the cons outweigh the pros.

Z

 

M3...great car. But Id rather get a brand spanking new Z .

 

Any BMW is a great car, especially an M.

As for pure adrenalin, it is no match for a lightly tuned o7 z.

here is what you will need to make the best out of the 07z.

new wheel and tire package.
new performance suspension
new performance sway bars
new exhaust system

and for fun upgrade the stereo to a dvd/nav


so get a base z for 25ish and get 6-7 grand of upgrades.

you will forget that m3 even exists, i promise !

 

^^^ fun fun mods

 

I have this urge to do something have had the car almost 2 months. What should I start with? Is that how much all those upgrades mentioned above would cost? 6-7 grand?

 

Same price...E46 hands down...it's going to hold value better cause it's not in the steep part of the depreciation curve...i doubt you'll find two comparable cars at same price though...i think you can buy much more Z in an 04-05 than the E46...but if you're only considering 07...the budget aspect is gone and the M3 is superior...I love Z's...have a twin turbo myself and it'll spank an E46...but i also realize that on level playing fields...it's a better sports car.

 

e46 doesn't really have a timeless design. That's the only gripe i have with bmws. Every new model comes out, old one looks outdated. I'm not beign biased but the 07 z would probably be better. You can get a bunch of e46 around here for less than 25k.

 

Here is what i did and i love it ! i also will never be a drifter or a racer, so this is all good for the street or a track day or two.... here it is:

Volk racing wheels - go with the best, since you don't want to buy things twice.

Yokohama Advan Sport Tires - this is as good as it gets, you can find something cheaper.

Eibach coilovers and Eibach sway bars - German made stainless steel and
very comfy.

xO2 exhaust / hks replica - good for 10 hp , sounds and looks great ! ( very cheap )

Pioneer AVIC-D3 for fun !


Everything was installed by me.

 

lots of E46 for less than 25k...sounds hard to believe...i've gone out and looked...only found ragged out cars for less than 28-30...

I agree with the timeless aspect...Z's do make their mark in time...i LOVE the old 240Z...

 

Where are you located? I can help you find some e46's around my area if you are truely intrested. I work at a dealership and we can buy it and ship it to our location.

 

I traded my e46 M3 for a Z. The maintanence, at least for me (college student) was way too much. They are georgous and extremely fun to drive with either SMG or 6spd, but maintanence is a nightmare.

If you want one extremely bad, I would try to buy a CPO M3 from the dealer.

If you ask me to compare the two, it's really hard. I would love to have both!

 

Former E46 M3 owner here: M3 is really not that much more superior than the Z. Z is more tossable and feels much more stable at the limit. stock e46 M3 pulls just a tad bit harder than a stock 07 Z. Once I put my XO2 and stillen intakes on my 07 Z is a bit quicker than an e46 with same mods. If you do work yourself like I do maintance cost is about the same. Now if you break something on the M...get ready to pay...... faulty vanos out of warranty.I could not fix that....new unit/install/adjustment $7000.Did I mention that was the 2nd one. First one went south at 26K miles and helped spin a few bearing as well. Got a new engine under warranty after many months of hassle. Other issues were torn subframe and weak tranny/engine mounts. This is very common on all e46s not just the M3s.

It was a nice car but too much of a hassle for me after 15+ years in the BMW camp I decided to take a break. Cars have gotten too soft and loaded with too many annoying gizmos.Im waiting for the 2nd year of the e92 M3 vs nissan gtr for my next vehicle in 09.

My advice is get the 07 350z like I did and trade up in 09 like I am.

 

There was a guy who came in and traded his 3 series(not m) with 57,000 miles. He said he tried to extend his warranty with BMW but they had to do a full maintenence which cost 3500 dollars then on top of that, pay for the extension for the warranty. So he came in and traded his car.

When we sell the car, we still put that is has a warranty (until 60k miles) but our sales managers tells the sales people to not mention anything about the price of getting an extension because that would scare away potention buyers. Yes, it's kinda shady but i guess we are not doing anything wrong.

One of our sales managers worked at BMW/MINI and he said that no one ever kept there BMW more than 3-4 years. Most of the time, their same clients came in and traded in for a newer model. If you are buying any M series, just make sure you know what you are getting into. They don't have good warranties with the m series because it's a specialty car. I'm not going to say they are hard to work on, but our dealership can't even offer an extended warranty on it because you would need a European mechanic trained tech which we don't have.

 

have my Z now...i found a twin turbo and had to have it...i love the E46 and was considering making it a race car...just can't drop that type of loot on a toy...my fiance would kill me

 

oh ok, sorry, got mixed up. I thought you were looking for one under 25k.

 

UMMM!
I would be asking this to if i had to chose one,




O
Wait i did choose one, 2007 San Marino Blue 350Z
I did the same thing your doing, but in the end there is nothing like knowing every turn your car has taken, or every bug that's hit the glass. Do yourself a favor and get an 07Z!
But it's up to U

Cheers

Kevin

 

I would only buy a BMW if it's under warranty nowadays. As I've heard from many owners, expect to know your shop well. I do love the e46's though.

However, why do people give the 350 a con for interior? I like it better than most overweight luxo crap. Mind you, I think the Lotus has the best interior around

 

I agree. Nissan has a simple layout.

When we took out the just the center console out from that 3 series i was talking about in the above post because it had a bad wire in the stereo, you wouldn't believe how much wires and BS is behind just simple little plastic trims. I know why some euro cars have these electrical problems. I mean, when new, it's nice to have all these cool gadgets or just some stuff we really dont need but later down the years, it's bound to get you problems.

 

Here it is.

Pros:

Cheaper
Cheaper to mod
Looks Better
Faster in every way possible.
Performs better.
More reliable
Less to fix.

Cons:
....?

case closed.