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I quite fancy an E46 M3 for my other half (no, not my wife, the part of me that likes manuals ).

They look very similar to the RS6 on paper in terms of performance. I wouldn't want anything slower, in any case.

Anyone have any experience of them? I had an E36 M3, but I'm guessing this is quite different.

M3's are very cool but a little 'last year' if you dont get a decent model / colour. Ive driven plenty of them and had no dramas, other than some ass-out action in the wet. If you can find a CSL anywhere then you wont go wrong. Much better handling and looks, plus you get exclusivity to keep the residuals high. I'd avoid the rag tops (no CSL's had rag tops) because with thier age now starting to show they may be more trouble than they are worth. My missus looked at the E46 and she really liked it, tidy handling and decent performance, but the Alfa got the vote in the looks department.
Did they have a problem with the Vanos system on the E46 M3?

You said that the performance figures were smilar to the 6? I'd say NOT. The standard 6 will beat a standard M3 off the mark everytime. In the wet the gap will be much bigger still. A mapped 6 will destroy a mapped M3 quicker still.

Traitor!

Can I recommend this....??

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1180056.htm

I'm not really a TVR person. I used to love the Chimera when I was younger.

Just to make things clear, I don't think I could ever part with my RS6 I fancy the M3 for a bit of fun. Possibly a convertible.

Convertible? Rattly, noisy and after my 330i.....never again!

Now that you mention it... My E36 was hideously noisy at speed, but then it had lived through very interesting times I suspect.

I occasionally get a craving to be in more direct contact with the machinery, and a manual box does this for me. THe convertible because I'm one of those people who have to have the windows open to feel the wind and a convertible is good for this

The soundtrack alone would have me sold if I could afford one as an additional car!

Ive just trade my (manual) E46 M3 of three years ownership for my RS6 avant and to be honest they are totally different animals.
The M3 is a flickable, nimble, dry road barrel of laughs with a fantastic engine that really demands to be rev'd to death / worked hard and when you get it right over a road you know well to quote Richard Hammond from Top Gear you "feel like a driving god" but if you want to cross country in the wet the 6 seems to be much more of a capable car and deffo not as heart poundingly scary at the same speeds / conditions, had many a "moment" in the wet in the BMW (unfortunatly ive not had a dry day of ownership to say what the 6 behaves like with roads that are not soaked yet)!
I have missed the tail out fun of the M3 this last two weeks but the saving i'm gonna make on rear Michelin pilot Sport 2 tyres is far outwaying being a hooligan at every roundabout, that and the fact that i'm probably getting too (38 in Dec) old for that kind of behavour.
Don't get me wrong I would never put anyone off buying a M3 as they are fantastic cars for the money and in my opinion very underestimated by most people but the RS6 seems to to almost everything the M3 did but with the added bonus that I can also carry loads of kids stuff, golf clubs and general crap when being sensible and out with the family.
My ideal solution would be a lightweight focused M3 CSL for weekends and track days and the RS6 for weekdays, family stuff and the odd blast when you feel like freaking out young scooby owners!

When I started looking for a new car it was the M3 I began with, E36 first, then E46, so I test drove quite a few M3's but I was not particularly inspired by them. To be fair, a lot of them were quite tired and worn but the main thing for me was I wasn't impressed with the performance. My previous performance cars had been well modified turbocharged cars and I think I was missing the turbo kick. I think a turbo charge car with the same performance as a normally aspirated car would feel quicker.

Then I test drove a 6 and I was hooked straight away, well in fact I was hooked a week earlier when I just sat in one. But the performance sealed the deal for me, it felt much quicker and effortlessly quicker. It's not just the added feel of quickness that the turbos give, it's all that tourque I think too.

As Woodlum mentioned the M3 needs to be driven hard and for me, if I wasn't doing that the M3 didn't feel like a special car, although I do like its exterior looks.

But for you, looking for the M3 to compliment the 6 it could work pretty well if you can live with a slower feeeling car in terms of raw acceleration and always useable power but with better handling and being quicker round the twiisties.

I suspect the M3 is easier to drive fast and can make an average driver look better than he is, where as the 6 with all its extra weight, particularly the weight out in front of the front wheels requires a better driver to get the best out of it.

Sex Wee!

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Searc ... ew-M3-CSL/

I`ve only just learned that on the E36 they did a limited eddition called the GT2 (400bhp) there was one sold recently on PH for about 16grand!!

E46...... Junk, I had one before the RS6 and will never look back, yea it's a cult car bla bla bla and fun while it lasted but it trully is a boy racer toy compared to the highly grown up 6.

BTW can upload some pics, my friend managed to roll it 3 times thankfully getting me from that rubbish into the 6

I work on park lane and the BMW garage there has one of these in the showroom. It's really nice in the flesh.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/ind-b ... -8672.html