Recently I've been on a search for a new toy, but so far I've only managed to rule out cars. To date, I've eliminated my NA Miata, a NC Miata, and as of this weekend, the S2000. All for different reasons, but mainly because they don't quite fit the bill for what I'm looking for.
Criteria are that it must be fun of course, and able to be used as a weekend car for my wife and I. It will also see some autocross work as well. Most importantly, the wife needs to like it. Saying that, I have three cars still on my list.
1st would be a Boxster S (or Cayman). I've always wanted one and if I can find a nice one that I can afford, it may be the winner. The other two are dark horses but I need to do a bit of seat time. They would be E36 or E46 M3. I've driven E36's, but am curious about the E46. Anyone have an example here, and if so, what do you think about them? What issues to watch out for other than the standard BMW cooling system, etc.? It would definitely be manual trans only on all of the above.
In reply to racerdave600:
I think rod bearing wear is the major concern on the S54.
wake74
New Reader
2/13/17 5:57 p.m.
I think you will find a significant different between the E36 and E46 M3s. I currently daily an E46 M3 convertible, and track an E36. The fit / finish comfort factor of the E46 seems miles ahead of the E36. The S54 is a fantastic fun engine. While I happen to love my SMG transmission with the TTFS tune, it's not for everyone. You'll find everything you ever wanted to know over at e46fanatics. The usual things you'll read about: rod bearings (mostly replaced under recall a long long time ago), the dreaded subframe mounting cracks (you'll hear ridiculous things like every E46 subframe mount cracks, which is stupid, 100% of them are NOT cracked), and that every SMG pump is just a ticking time bomb (usually from someone who thinks is "cool" just to have a stick, and incorrectly refers to it as a automatic, thereby clearly not understanding how an SMG functions). You'll also read that the entire cooling system magically falls apart instantly at 100,000.0001 miles. While I would agree that the cooling system should be considered a maintenance item at 100-150k miles, some of the hysteria you read is amusing.
Depending on your budget. E90s are probably within your price range now. A friend just picked up an '06 330i sedan for a daily, and it's a lot of fun.