Possible new M3/4/5 owner looking for opinions

[schach23]

Been poking around the e36 forums here and saw some of your posts about what cars are worth. Looking for a M3/4/5. Plan to enjoy in nice weather (summers) and a few track days (HPDE). Currently found three I like but they are all different in different ways. Would like your opinion about best value I guess.

All 1997 M3/4/5, none have accidents. Supposedly rust free per sellers. I haven't seen in person because all out of state. I live in Ohio.

First car: Black on dove. Originally a Maryland. 102K miles. All original, no major mods. Chrome grills, yellow corners. Dealer owns it in St. Louis. No exterior mods. Records mostly from original owner who owned it most of its life including original receipt. Serviced mostly through BMW dealer. Looking through the service records he brought it in a few times because of what the current owner described as low coolant. Dealer replaced radiator, coolant level sensor, thermostat. Leak tested and passed. Starter replaced as well. New clutch kit from current dealer. Newer struts, tires, brakes. As far as I can tell no water pump ever replaced. Cooling hoses "look newer." This concerns me a bit. It does have heated power seats. Looks really clean. Seats in good shape, Exterior looks nice. Underbody pics look good. Has UUS trans mounts, turner front sway and links, stainless brake and clutch lines, new rear shock mounts, new flex disc. Asking 14,199. Told dealer that's kinda high. They have 13K into it. Would be willing to spend 12,500 I guess. This one is the most stock of the three I'm looking at. I would need to sink some money into it for at least springs/dampers before track day.

Second car: Black on Black. 118K miles. Virginia car. No rust again per owner. Did not see underbody. 3 owners. clean carfax. Serviced mostly at a BMW dealership. Current owner has only the carfax which does list service done, did have some cooling system updates. I tried calling the dealer to see if they could look up the services actually done, as there was a big one where some cooling system updates were done, but no water pump. Just radiator and thermostat. Car has good looking body, driver seat power, not heated, looks worn. Headliner needs done, sagging. Has HR springs, eibach shocks, newer tires and brakes. Changed grill to black grill and has clear corners. 3 owners. Before track day would need a really good inspection because I just don't have records of maintenance, but at least springs/dampers already done. Asking 10,500.

Third car: Probably the nicest of the bunch, tons of records well kept. 3 owners. clean carfax. White on dove. 150k miles. Previous owner daily drove it. Florida car it's whole life. 2 waterpumps over the life last at 135K miles. Rest of cooling system replaced previously including hoses. Valve cover gasket at 135k miles. Lots of other maintenance items all on a spreadsheet, no clutch though. Aftermarket exhaust, bilstein front struts, and rear shocks, aftermarket stereo, new interior and headliner. Seats are showroom new per owner. No heated seats, but power. Black grilles, clear corners. Added LTW wing. Window tint. Brakes have 10k, tread on tires 90%. Paint "correction" done and clear coat resprayed earlier this year per seller. Nothing needs to be done per seller. Asking 9K.

I like the maintenance stuff on the 3rd car but 150K miles is a bit more than I wanted to find. The first one is all original, very clean, lowest miles, but I think he's a bit high on price. Dealer hoping to make money. I might be able to get them down to what they have into it.


Thoughts on the best of the three for my summer daily with some HPDE events (likely no more than 2).

Thanks a ton

Scott

[schach23]

Double post for some reason. Sorry