Quote Originally Posted by Dave View Post
Funnily enough, I'm in a not too dissimilar boat as yourself at the moment. So I'll share my feedback, ignore it if you like.

I had an E39 M5 which I recently sold after 3.5 years of ownership.

I've been deliberating all kinds off options and have driven the following cars. E46 M3, 997 C2S, M135i, M140i, M2, Audi B7 RS4, C5 RS6, manual E92 M3, DCT E92 M3 and Rebel.Ranter was kind enough to let me take his M6 for a drive.

This is my opinion of each car.

E46 M3 - gorgeous, but arguably slow, if you buy a tidy one, they're now almost too valuable to plough mileage onto.

997 C2S - Not convinced on the engine, the M5 was more of occasion, handling wise the steering feel was stellar, they do feel a bit cheap inside though. Too expensive

M135i - so much bang for your buck, feels very very small compared to the others, it took it for a reasonably spirited drive and the chassis doesn't feel as competent as the drive train - good value proposition and I think ownership would be reasonable.

m140i - awesome engine, more refined and feels more planted, feels a good bit more powerful than the M135i. Both the M140i and the M135i feel more like very capable hot hatches than anything special.

B7 RS4 - planted, steering slightly corrupted under power, great handling. Probably a bit over priced for what they are, thirsty and can get spendy.

C5 RS6 - cool as fuck, very quick, crap gearbox, I'd be tempted but want a car that's made for the twisties.

E92 M3 - best looking car of the lot, feels very special, the DCT has a sense of occasion about it and provides another layer of personality that suits the engine very well, but as rebel.ranter says, it's almost too capable, the gear shifts are perfect. The manual car feels more old school, great steering feel. Really liked it but the DCT would be my pic.

I think they are in a funny place in the market, they've been a 25 - 30k car now for 6-8 years. I was looking at sub 50k mile cars with DCT, EDC, extended red leather and logic 7.
I think their values are going to take a serious hit over the coming months with M2 / M4 and F80 M3 prices plummeting.

After all of them, I drove the M6 and it is, hands down the most special car I've driven, the sense of occasion of the thing is on another level and I would love one but the ownership costs terrify me.


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Great post, thank you!

I've also considered some of the other cars you've mentioned but ruled them out for various reasons (mainly because I just don't like the look of them, i.e. the 1 series or the RS4 or RS6...). I agree with you that the e92 m3 is the best looking out of all of these, I think it's just about perfect looking.

Naturally I have been looking at 335i's as well. I loved everything about my LCI e92 except for the fact that it was a 4-cylinder diesel, so a similar spec 335i would probably tick a lot of boxes for me, and I guess would be a lot more suitable as a daily driver than an M car.

Having said all that, I haven't driven any of these cars yet!

Interesting point you make about the value of the e92 M3. I sort of assumed these cars had started to bottom out now, but I hadn't really considered the impact of the subsequent generation depreciating.