Wow, short romance

[gRed04]

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

My experience with ALL BMWs (owned a '78 320i 5spd.) - Very Efficient - Coldly Efficient - Boringly Efficient - Absolutely NO SOUL! They are Great Cars, but I would Never Own another one...

I think the entire BMW line are all great cars. Don't really understand what you mean by soul but a M3 ( e46 ) is a pretty good track car. Any M car for that matter is a pretty serious performance car.

They are much better daily drivers, much higher amenities, and fit & finish is much beyond a boxster ( IMHO ).

I currently have a 02 330Ci with 68k of absolute trouble free miles. Still love the car.

I am patiently waiting for the e90 M3.

[wild1poet2]

If at least they knew definitively what caused it, it wouldn't be so anxiety provoking. Out of balance crank, defective block, poor seating of the seal, etc..

Then a failure would be sufficient reason to fix the problem, and maybe install a 3.4L upgrade while you're at it. lol

The old harley shovel head and evo motors had a tendency to "blow by" oil(puke) out their breathers at high rpm's. It was messy. You'd come back from a hard run with oil splashed all over your nice shiny chrome. The "fix" was simple. Install a rubber hose off the breather so it would direct the puked oil harmlessly down underneath the bike. If you were eco friendly you might be inclined to put a small filter at the end of the hose to "catch" the oil. And so everyone lived with and loved that motor. Happily ever after.

Jeffn, if you get a RMS leak, it'll suck. If, you get one. If. You'll still love the
f'n car.

[Brucelee]

I have a E46 sedan right now as a daily drive.

Very very nice car for what it is!

[markk]

Currently there are 5 generations of the BMW 3-series. From old to new e21, e30, e36, e46 and the newest / current model e90.

e21 series does not have a M3 model

e30 M3 was the "original" M3 developped for homologation in the DTM end eightees. 4-cylinders 2.3l inline engine producing around 200 bhp (special models go up to 215 and even 240 with a 2.5L engine for the EVO-3 / Sportevo model)

e36 M3 was the BMW Motorsport version of the e36 M3. Great car, no racing heritage. Two versions, normal 3.0 286bhp and evo 3.2 321bhp. Bothl inline 6 cylinder engines.

e46 M3 is the current BMW Motorsport version of 3-series, still based on the now absolete e46 generation. Features a 3.2l 6-cylinder inline engine producing 343bhp. Special CSL version features some more bhp (350+)

As of today there is not yet an M3 version of the current e90 3-series generation. It is expected end 2006 or beginning 2007 I think. Features a V8-cylinder engine with about 400bhp.

Some think the e30 M3 is the ultimate sportscar/M3, especially the last evo version (evo3 / sportevo). If you find one expect to pay 40/50k. Outoff all M3's the e30 generation was the only one specifically designed for DTM homologation. I disagree. They are all great driver cars. Although with all car generations younger cars tend to be much heavier which affect handling.

See

http://www.bmwheritage.com/pages/models_e30.html

Boy, I love to talk about these cars ;-)


Mark.