The E46 M3 is a better car than any 350Z IMO, but the cost of ownership is beyond brutal once the warranty expires.

 

If you can find a decently low-mileage M3 with extended warranty in your price range, I'd opt for that. Otherwise, I'd go for a HR 350Z or maybe a 370Z with limited options.

 

if i were you i'd get the m3

 

If you can afford maintenence and repair on an E46M, it's a sick car for sure. I test drove an 03 with 15k miles on it and it felt great. All kinds of retarded **** can go wrong with those things though. Subframe damage on hard driven cars, VANOS failures, cataylitic converters going out (covered under an 8/80 emmissions warranty though), and course the rod bearing recalls on the 02's.

 

all get the Z your on a Z page anyway, you already know which car you want

 

M3 for refinement but more costly.
Z for almost same power less interior room

I was in same dilemna for my car and my next car is gonna be either 335i or New e92 M3 or used 06 M5 cuz i borrowed my cousins 335i and his 07 m5 for a week at a time each and i am now a bmw believer. I know that if maintenance cost wasnt an issue for me i would have an M3 now and moving to newer bmw but ive only needed tires and one set of breaks in 2 yrs no major issues and frst set of tires was replaced y dealer for free lol

 

m3 of corse lol

 

Just get an M3 for your daily driver... it's more practical. You don't have a wife or kids so spend some cash on taking care of her. You have a rear seat for friends, clients whatever.

The Z is cool, but they're tuner cars. You'd eventually want to pour ridiculous amounts of money into it anyway.

See no bias here...have a nice day on E46fanatics.com!

 

Why are people saying the M3 handles better? I've never (ever) heard that...

That said I wanted an E46 M and just recognized the E92 was going to kill its value shortly after, and I couldn't afford proper maintenance.

I love my Z now and recognize they are pretty different cars. I still have a lot of friends with E46's and the stupid things on both cars annoy me, but it seems the preferences make the difference. If you want a nicer car with more practicality, the Z gets thrown out, if you want a reliable car thats cheaper to fix, mod, and has more options get the Z.

 

Thats all ive ever heard .

Most magazines have the skidpad for the m3 a significant portion higher than the 350. I know skidpad alone doesn't determine handling but its a good starting point.

 

If you can afford it, go for the M3.

 

Stock the Z doesn't have enough tire, if you upgrade the tires to be equal to the M, the Z generally is able to run faster track times. Nurburgring times correlate that even the de Z's run competable times.

 

Agreed but we are talking stock for stock here. An M3 suspension is god compared to the Z's. Ive only gotten the opportunity to drive one a handful of times and i feel more confident in that suspension than my Z's (which ive driven 40K miles).

Dont know if youve driven one or not but its a experience doing so (especially on the edge ).

 

fixed

 

stock tires on Z's are horrible. thats first upgrade anyone should do. other then that to help the original poster like everyone stated if you have money get the M3, BUT i myself im a Z fanatic and i love the way my car looks over the M3 anyday also even though Z is daily driver and i have fun driving my car every SINGLE day.

 

I had an E46 M3, and I'm more confident on turns as well. The suspension is just better, as well as the steering feel.

 

I've driven a handful, ridden in a ton more, supercharged one, worked on a nitrous install, helped replace my friends transmission when he ripped his selector rod free, etc. I know my way around an E46 much better than I do my Z to say the least.
I disagree (personal opinion). The Z has a suspension design advantage with the unequal length front's, and the multilink rear makes the rear stay more "fixed" than the E46's.

The E46 has mcpherson fronts and a trailing arm rear. The trailing arm mounts at the front in a rubber bushing, which (again speaking stock) causes the trailing arm to move around a bit at the limits, which results in the toe/camber/caster changing to some degree.

The front is ok on the M3, but its a compromise, no supercar I know of runs a Mcpherson front. The rear is an extreme compromise, and its the part I fault on the car the most.

FWIW I spent 3 weeks under an E46 non-M helping my friend with a plethora of upgrades, and he has solid trailing arm bushings, which makes the handling of the car vastly better, but still doesn't make up for it being trailing arm.

I wanted an E46 M3, after having an E36 non-M, but it just wasn't the correct timing for me. I've toyed with getting another E36 non-M and starting a turbo build, but .... money.

 

I would take advantage of the favorable drop in 07-07 Z prices and purchase a Z.

Maintenace and reliability are not favorable with the M3 from what friends have told me, and other than some small issues the Z is pretty bulletproof.

 

I don't know enough about suspension design to say whether you're right or wrong, but I'll assume you're right. Anyway, I'm going purely by feel. Maybe I just like the stiffer suspension in the M3, and the fact it has less body lean and feels more tossable.

 

I've had the discussion with E46 owning friends, and we both agree that while the E46 is a superior car in most cases, the suspension is not one of them, the Z is a car that offers similar performance, different (but somewhat equal?) looks, and similar price point to buy and insure. Otherwise there isn't a strong comparison, the E46 has a number of advantages, and frankly because of my friend network would be cheaper for me to own.