I've been on bimmerpost for a while, starting over on 1addicts when I had my '08 135i and then at zpost when I had my beloved '06 Z4MR. I suppose I could see the writing on the wall that I'd one day own an M3, but they're very hard to find in the unicorn combination I wanted (6MT, sedan, slicktop, cloth seats, no nav, no mods, low mileage). I also had a very lovely 2004 Subaru WRX STi. I loved how raw and dialed-in the car was and it drove and looked (and smelled) like a brand new car.
Long story short, I decided to sell it because I never drove it due to the mileage and it being a "collector car." When a local buyer came along and offered me a good bit more than I paid, I sold it and decided to test the M3 waters which brings me to today.
Two weeks ago I picked up a 2009 E90 M3 with just over 22k miles. Out of the things I wanted, I got the 6MT (must-have), aluminum trim, well sorted mechanical and exterior, and low miles. I "sacrificed" on the nav, leather seats, exterior and interior color, and sunroof. Oh well...could be worse
This one was blessed with a Megan Racing axle-back exhaust which sounds the business. I've got the OEM exhaust in the garage, and might try the OEM Exhaust mod for fun to compare the sound and see what's better. Anyone here switch between the MR and OEM exhaust mod?
I'm preaching to the choir here, but the car is incredibly well balanced between handing, power, braking, it's the perfect partner for a challenging back road, but equally at home puttering around town. I love the S65's Jekyll and Hyde personality, where it's docile when driven at modest speeds, but gets angry and screams when driven hard. The V8 is such a drama queen and I mean that in the most endearing of ways! Oh BMW, these were some of the best engines you ever built and fuel-economy CAFE regulations bid them farewell. Sad...but I'm keeping mine! Seriously, where else can you find a compact V8-powered sedan with a manual transmission that still preserves a "mechanical" feel to keep you engaged and costs under $35k or even $40k? Aside from the B7 Audi RS4 (which are even more rare than the E90 M3 and don't offer quite the same dynamics), they don't exist!