You Need This: E46-Chassis BMW M3 for $6000!?

I did just buy a 318ti . . . . . .

You can pull the engine, transmission, and rear diff from this to build a really cool E46 M3 wagon. Maybe convert the SMG into a true manual in the process...

Ricky Spanish wrote: I did just buy a 318ti . . . . . .

See. It's time.

dannyzabolotny wrote: You can pull the engine, transmission, and rear diff from this to build a really cool E46 M3 wagon. Maybe convert the SMG into a true manual in the process...

Or you could do that.

I've seen a fair number of drivable e46 m3 convertibles in the $8,xxx range on my local CL. I dont know how clean any of them were. Funnily enough, when i was shopping 996s (which is the main reason i don't own an e46 m3 right now) i was annoyed by the preponderance of automatic convertibles on the low end of the market. For an e46 m3, though, I think i'd actually be happy with that version of the car.

How is the SMG in these? Is it up to competition use, in a rally car for example?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: How is the SMG in these? Is it up to competition use, in a rally car for example?

I'd say the SMG is best when on a track... in normal city driving it's kind of a clunky mess if you let it do the shifting, but on a track with the shift speed set to 6 (quickest) the shifts are quite snappy and you feel like you're driving a supercar for a bit with the flappy paddles (not that many cars had paddles in 01).

I bought my M3 solely for the SMG. It is amazing when driven in fury.

Looks like it can be combined with that Z3 roller in the other thread...

This recent auction suggests you'd have to do pretty well on your donors to not end up with more in it than you could have bought a decent M Roadster for. Granted that version is down on power and rpm, but it's factory reliable and has resale value.