Purchasing Decision HELPPP

[tommai98]

Hi guys,

I just sold my e30 recently and I'm looking into e46 m3. I have looked at every aspects possible before deciding on purchasing on an e46. So I'm not going to bother you with reliability, options etc..

The real question is, I'm considering between a facelifted model (2003.5), 6 speed manual that only had the subframe reinforcement done. However, it still needs fair bit of work, such as bushing, rtab, vanos, brakes, tires.

The other car is 2002, SMG but it has all the preventive maintenance done, subframe, vanos, rtab, bushing and even oil pan gasket. Comes with coilover, new brakes, aftermarket rims & new tires.

Both cars have similar mileage, the facelifted is about 3k more expensive.

Which one would you guys pick? A perfectly maintained car and spend the left over cash to swap it to manual. Or the facelifted model and work on it slowly?

Thanks for the opinions.

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[lmtfi]

Choose whichever transmission type you prefer. Then get a PPI on it to see what is really going on - as opposed to what the owner claims.

[dworthy]

+1

Unless the records can show work performed, it never was done.

There are no major differance between the two, only a couple of things like tail lights, and rearview mirror.

Lastly, do not settle on a car, for you will not be happy 6 months from now.

[dalecan]

Do you want flappy paddles or a gearstick.....?

[tommai98]

Thanks guys, I think I will go for the smg, since it has all the maintenance done. Save up for couple of months and manual swap it with new parts.

I feel like going for the true manual e46 will have better value in the future, but I don't wanna have the car in the shop monthly.

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[dworthy]

SMG's get a bad rep IMO, and that is typically from bad owners not servicing the car properly. The other issue is people get into these cars and then find out how much it takes to maintain, so they let it slide.

I always budget 1k per car I have every year for maintenance, and if I don't use it all, just get's saved for if something big breaks.

[tommai98]

SMG's get a bad rep IMO, and that is typically from bad owners not servicing the car properly. The other issue is people get into these cars and then find out how much it takes to maintain, so they let it slide.

I always budget 1k per car I have every year for maintenance, and if I don't use it all, just get's saved for if something big breaks.

That's true. But I figured getting a manual one and having to fix the vanos, redoing all the bushing would be really time consuming. Whereas, the manual swap can be done at once and I'm worry free. Plus the SMG car is significantly cheaper than the manual, so I can have extra budget to do the swap sooner.

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