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iTrader: (-1)

Sup my350z.com, new member here I've been considering a 350z lately

basicly comes down to 350z or E46 M3..

350z advantage: lower miles and warranty for less $$$$ (more for mods? )

M3: faster, more prestiege but generally more expensive from purchase to maitnence

Any opinions? IF I get a Z I'm looking at full coilovers, nice rims, i/h/e off the bat I just don't wanna get another import I won't be happy with... thx in advance, flame suit on because this is obviously a biased forum!

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Welcome.

The “buying” forum is filled with new “Thinking about buying a 350Z” members. 19 out of 20 are gone in 30 days. The 350Z is not for everyone.

iamgus_gus

warranty and mods sometime dont mix well

JonsilvZ

The e46 M3 engines are time bombs. BMW engines are weak in general. The 07-08 Zs are very close to e46 performance.

blazed54

iTrader: (1)

I dare you post this in a bimmer forum. They'll be screaming blasphemy and calling you a heretic haha they're probably just as bad or maybe worse than sony fanboys.

DJ SMITTY

iTrader: (22)

That's what I was about to say. They are way stronger than the stock 350z engines. I have personally seen NUMEROUS stock e46 m3 motors making very good power.

As for the orignally poster... I was in the same boat as you a little more than 2 years ago. I came from an e36 M3 as well. The Z is a completely different car and I regretted my decision for a little while, but now after having owned my Z for over 2 years, I feel I made a GREAT decision.

By the way, I also owned an S2K for 5 days and couldn't stand it's lake of ***** until after 6000rpm

Good luck with your decision.

kihun

iTrader: (21)

m3 fo ssure.. i love my z although sometimes it makes me think again when i see a black s2k with hardtop on..

henry j

iTrader: (6)

get the m3

jOeL350z

if i could afford it and maintenance is not my issue, i would definitely get an M3...i love the details of that car

SpeedRcr

iTrader: (5)

where did you come up with this conclusion...their motors are solid

toy4two

M3 of course if you can afford it. Why not just get a 911?

911 > M3 > 350Z

toy4two

the 2001/2002 one are timebombs, BMW extended the warranty to 100,000 miles on them though.

http://members.roadfly.com/jason/m3engines.htm

Stick with 2001+ 911s, 2003+ M3s, or 2003-2004.5 350Z (with new design tranny) 2005-2006 (with new V2 engine) or 2007 350Z if you want to avoid the designs with the higher failure rates.

kayfuNk

iTrader: (6)

if you want to pour countless amounts of money into the M3 to make it run and then more just to make it go faster.. then by all means get the M3.

WhiteNoiz

with extra money for mods (depending on how much) you could make the Z faster than the e46. Thought I would throw that out there.

GalvatronType_R

iTrader: (5)

Welcome. While I love my 350, I have to warn you that in terms of fit and finish, it is not the greatest car in the world. It's too early to tell with the new ones but the old ones have a LITANY of problems from minor squeaks and creaks to major oil consumption. Still, for the money, there's not much out there that can match the 350.

Old School

iTrader: (28)

I'm not much of a beamer fan. I like the M3s, but not enough to buy one. Don't get me wrong, I love all cars and even have a german car in the garage (Audi A4 for the wife), but what it really comes down to are your goals. Do you want to make a beast or just throw some bolt ons into the mix?

Me personally, I loved the lines of the Z, the interior looks a bit cheap but more well thought out than beamer IMHO. Its not a coupe that is also a sedean, its a sports car. One reason I chose the Z. It may not be the best platform on the planet, but its a good one. If you are in love with the M3, buy that and mod it.....opinions here will really do nothing for you. I mod the car I'm in love with, not what everyone thinks I should be in.

Bumpinjeep

iTrader: (3)

I love M3s. I would have loved to buy one but its too much money compared with the Z. I got a new 07 enth, granted theres no leather or navi like the M car but it still a great looking car. I actually like the way it looks (with nice wheels and a small kit) than the M3 with with wheels and kit. Both are actually pretty close at the strip and the track. Its really a drivers race at that point. But for $31K out the door you cant really go wrong.

JZurita

iTrader: (29)

I was THIS CLOSE to buying an M3 before I decided to get a Z. I had a 330ci for two years and learned BMW's are a pain in the *** for the most part. I brought mine in for service countless times in those two years and many 3-series owners will tell you that. It's also very true that the Z could be faster for less money than going with an M3 of the same year and mileage. I guess what I'm trying to say is that 400whp later, (soon to be 550-600) I still have no regrets!... Hope that helps

GodSendsDeath

iTrader: (1)

lol I used to own a E46m3 Laseca Blue.... it was a night mare after 60k, I had some nasty lemon and the money I threw into fixing that ***** was crazy. Id say get the M if you can afford the car if it goes wrong...other wise get a HR 350z and the M3 wont be pulling from you that easy. I race a E46 06 stock vs. stock 2008 350z and the M was 1 1/2 a head of me at the most.

Anywho... good luck I love My Z, but rather have a M3. I just can't afford getting a 25k motor the S54 is expensive as hell.

AREITU

I researched M3 maintainence over on the BMW forums and tried to find out why people say it's expensive. It turns out the reason why it's "expensive" is because most BMW people don't work on their own cars, either because they don't know how (there's a writeup on E46fanatics.com on how to apply CF overlays to the kidney grills) or they are afraid to work on their own cars. They take it to the BMW dealership to get this stuff done where labor is around 100/hr. Most BMW people also tend to be squeamish about putting anything non-BMW in their cars so they'll buy maintainence items from the dealership too.

You might see something called "Inspection II" come up here and there...it's nothing more than inspecting a list of items in the car to see if they need to be replaced or not...things like fuel filter, cabin filter, etc. If you take it to a dealership for Inspection II, it's a couple hundred bucks and almost never covers any replacement items. Getting a car with Inspection II already done may add value to the purchase as well.

The only things I could think of that would make it more expensive than a normal car are the tires and brake pads (which have ~15-20k mile life expectancy in most BMWs). But otherwise, M3s don't look any more difficult to work on, or maintain, compared to a Z.