[Not a Diesel!!!]

Now this is my my thought process every night.....

I have a very nice ( & rare) LCI E91 manual 330i & the wife has a very nice low mileage 2005 STI Impreza. I have had the E91 for three years which is approaching longest I have had a car & still love its all-round ability & great looks, smoothness and performance.

So I think wouldn't it be nice to replace the BMW with an impreza but get the fastest/rarest factory car the Cosworth CS400 (£25-£30k) probably still fastest factory hatch despite recent upstarts. But its 4 years old and same money buys an almost new Golf R which is better as an around car but maybe a bit to plain & common and with an unremarkable engine. Then I think hang on I can have a new Focus RS for similar money ( which journo's love) but they look to much like an ST. Then I get to original RS3 with its 5 pot Turbo before returning to a M3 Saloon with the last of the V8's & 4-Door rarity. Which then scares me with running costs.

So I end up back with 330i as fast as I need & cheep to run. Probably leaves me with £15k in my pocket & £200 a month saved on running costs.

Would you move?
Where would you go?

In all the indecision I will probably end up with a new Kitchen.

[abeardo83]

Me personally, I'd go with the M3. As you say, the Golf is just a plain looking Euro-box, the new Focus RS looks absolutely horrid (IMO).

Alternative might be the newish S3? My friend has just picked one up for £30k and he says it's great. However, it's a 4pot...

For me, it'd be the M3... they definitely still have more wow factor still than any of the others. You could probably pick one up for £20kish too, if you wanted an LCI one.

Once i get bored with my E92 335i, i'm hopefully going to go down the e92 M3 route... i just love them - they still make me stop and stare and I live near Oulton Park (so i see a fair few cool looking cars!)

[djgandy]

I wrote a long post for you and then accidentally closed the browser.

The quick version...

Like hammering it off the lights? Not really bothered about comfort, quality, optional extras etc.. Get a hot hatch.

Want a full driving experience, get an M3.

But beware, I've just done the same with DCT and the problem is it's too easy to go fast, and you don't feel the reward for it unlike in a 330/335i Manual.

Your dilemma is not unique. My mate is on the RS3 route combined with a kitchen He's still not pulled the trigger on it yet.

No doubt hot hatches are quick off the line, but I think they'll get boring quickly for overall driving experience.

[alex-qts]

Same dilemmas here:

Golf R : good all-rounder but boring 4 pot, and every man and his dog has one around here, literally. After all the cheap lease deals its VW's new Bit*ch.

Bit more expensive but the M135i / M235i / E92 M3 will be my route after the 335i has gone and have finally bought a house.

Performance BMW's just have something special about them. I really wish they had kept estoril blue exclusive to M cars. Will never forget being taken to school in the car as a kid, seeing my first E36 M3 evo coupe in estoril blue, forever in love since that day. Now all I see is estoril blue everything, 320d's, 118's...etc with m-sport kits..

For now though my 335i is more than enough, especially the stage 1+, 2 experience when desired.

I think the 335i N54 is hard to beat as a package and keep ending back to it after looking at other stuff. Performance, comfort, price. Reflected in the recent price rises, demand has overtaken supply.

And wow, never seen the Cosworth CS400 before. One seriously quick car by the looks of it!

[Thermobaric]

Another M3 vote here. One day I'll have that glorious V8.

After owning an E92 (best affordable car shape ever) I don't think I could go to a hatch, no matter how fast it was unless finances were seriously compromised I suppose. Even then, I'd rather go E46 330ci coupe. Even the best hatches look meh when sitting next to a BMW 3 Series coupe.

I mean, you come on a BMW forum. What do you expect ha ha.

[abeardo83]

I'd deffo go M135 / M235 over a GolfR or similar

[DanTheManc]

M235i with m performance kit and alloys.

Similar performance to the M3 with much lower running costs. They look great with the m performance accessories imo

[Not a Diesel!!!]

The other problem I have is I am no youngster any more where I saved every penny & spent on buying & insuring.

Have to balance as one element of life with wife, daughter, holidays, pension & mortgage.

I have been pretty lucky in owning some very nice cars over the years but most have cost less than £200/month (Depreciation/tax/service etc.) Its a trick of buying the right car at the right time. I usually sell before they appreciate massively. But pick them at the wrong time and they with hit you for £6-800 a month. The Cosworth and M3 have lost £8k a year for there first 3 years.

That's why the Cosworth appeals as it will flatten on depreciation at some point as will the M3 V8 as neither car will ever be made like those again They only made 75 Cosworth's & Saloon is about 1/10 of the M3 V8s made. The RS3 has a replacement that is better so will push it down & golf is common. The Focus RS will not loose anything as demand exceeds supply & will probably stop making it before that runs out.

[Not a Diesel!!!]

I like the 135i but they are still dropping £3k per year and I don't think they look as nice as the E91. LCI getting close but still not there.

[Wobble]

If I were you I'd have an RS Focus mk2,I've had 2,an FW(frozen white) & an UG(ultimate green),they are truly the best car I've ever owned and now there becoming more rarer and more wanted than ever,I had my first one for around 18 months,ink did around 6000miles in it,and got back what I paid for it,my second I owned for 12months and when I sold it it had only done 11,000 miles so got back £2000 more than what I paid for it,if you find the right low mileage you'll never want to sell and if you do you'll get your money back or you make on it,only reason I sold my last one is that I used money for a deposit on our home.
I promise you you'll have jaw ache from smiling and the looks the car gets is awesome,and if you take it to KMS and get one of their exhausts fitted along with one of their maps,you'll think your in heaven x

[Not a Diesel!!!]

I do like the look of the Focus RS. I went down the Megane R26 route at similar timing for 'handling purity'. Great car to I did not loose to much on it but I did loose a bit. I think my Megane is worth more than I sold it for 3 years ago now.

My wife's Z3 M Coupe has doubled in value since we sold it 2 years ago.

All about picking the right car at the right time & you can have an exceptional car for not much £££.

[djgandy]

wow you had a z3m? Get a Z4MC then! There isn't a better handling car imo and tonnes of power. Those things glue to the road.

[Not a Diesel!!!]

Originally Posted by djgandy

wow you had a z3m? Get a Z4MC then! There isn't a better handling car imo and tonnes of power. Those things glue to the road.

The car has to be practical. Have considered Z4MC as starting to climb in value also. Keeping as more of a 3rd car as this is the kind of money would have to put to my E91 to get one of the other cars.

When I bought the Z3MC 1999 car the 2006 Z4MC was roughly the same money. But there is something outrageous about original breadvan that made it a must....... It was my wife's car she drove with my 3yr old in the passenger seat & a pushchair in the boot.

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by Not a Diesel!!!

The other problem I have is I am no youngster any more where I saved every penny & spent on buying & insuring.

Have to balance as one element of life with wife, daughter, holidays, pension & mortgage.

I have been pretty lucky in owning some very nice cars over the years but most have cost less than £200/month (Depreciation/tax/service etc.) Its a trick of buying the right car at the right time. I usually sell before they appreciate massively. But pick them at the wrong time and they with hit you for £6-800 a month. The Cosworth and M3 have lost £8k a year for there first 3 years.

That's why the Cosworth appeals as it will flatten on depreciation at some point as will the M3 V8 as neither car will ever be made like those again They only made 75 Cosworth's & Saloon is about 1/10 of the M3 V8s made. The RS3 has a replacement that is better so will push it down & golf is common. The Focus RS will not loose anything as demand exceeds supply & will probably stop making it before that runs out.

Well said .

The RS I'm sure will do fine interms of deprecation, or maybe even the M2??

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Well said .

The RS I'm sure will do fine interms of deprecation, or maybe even the M2??

M2 has potential, depends how many they make though. I'm surprised the 1M did so well tbh. It's nothing you can't build yourself from a 135i!