I like cars that are clean and lower miles, but holding firm to those standards can become a virtue and a vice. I alternated daily driving the M3 every couple of weeks. While I loved it when doing so, I ultimately realized it wasn’t necessary. I do not have the time currently to properly enjoy the car. Driving it back and forth to work and the gym seemed wasteful and mundane.

I now understand that a daily driver needs to be a car that’s fun, but also something that I do not have to care much about. The Evo X I leased previously served its purpose wonderfully. I drove the snot out of it, followed a thoroughly inadequate maintenance schedule, rarely washed it, and never worried where I parked it. At the end of 2 years, I essentially handed the keys back to the dealership and moved on.

Instead of sitting on the M3 and worrying about accruing miles every time I drove it, the encompassing situation will be better served if I pass the torch. Plus, part of the enjoyment of car ownership is being able to rotate the fleet and try new flavors.

Here are the last pictures I have of the M3, right before being loaded onto the auto transport.

The days of laying on my back on cold cement floors are over… My standards have elevated and I no longer want to bother with jack stands if I can help it.

After installing the X-pipe, I noticed only a marginal difference in the exhaust tone and loudness. I likely would have avoided this endeavor if I knew the result would be so negligible.

A couple more cellphone gratuity shots:

Installing the new Alcantara steering wheel with ti-stitching. I had this made with thickened padding so the girth of the wheel matches that of the 1M.

Matching Alcantara shift and e-brake boots in black stitching.

Being a 10+ year old car, the factory headunit had no bluetooth functionality. I installed this Bluetooth module from Grom Audio to augment this feature. The car comes with a vestigial CD changer harness in the back trunk which simply plugs in to the Grom. Unfortunately, the module was shipped to me with a broken internal fuse, which required extended troubleshooting to fix.

New M3 emblems for the fender vents. These are essentially stickers… $60 stickers…

The SMG counterintuitively does not rev match downshifts when off throttle. It does blip a bit when you down shift ON throttle. I bought a SMG tune from a company called TTFS and flashed it onto the car. This new tune is based off the CSL SMG tune and incorporates the rev matching, and further refines the way everything shifts.

The main agenda was to actually raise the front coilovers higher to level out the car with the rear. With the BBSs, the fronts were slightly tucking and too low for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I love my cars to have zero tire gap, but there is a fine line that must not be crossed. Go slightly too low* and your car suddenly looks like it was modded by a teenager. Leave too much wheel gap and you come off as a senior citizen. Hit it just right and you’ve transcended to the masterclass, my friend.

* Exception: drift cars

Trackspec Autosports is a new shop, but have become a convenient solution for my alignment needs. I brought my RX-7 to them initially. They are more accommodating than most, I was able to call-in same day for my appointment and they gave me an evening time slot.

The car came with a set of bronze Rotiforms, as depicted in the previous post, which I didn’t really like. Admittedly, they did look better in person. My goal is to maintain a level of simplicity and cleanliness. I will not be going overboard with the mods on this car and intend to keep it mostly stock. Silver BBS CH wheels fit the bill and are period correct.

Here they are mounted, balanced, and swapped onto the car.

The wheels fit great after spacing out the fronts 10mm to match the rears. They are not aggressively flush by any means. The front wheels are not concave like the rears – and I LIKE it. Call me conservative or call me old… I’m a believer in fitting wheels to the car, not the car to the wheels.

I then drove over to European Auto Source at the other side of Anaheim for an appointment. I had them change the oil with the factory recommended Castrol and with an OEM filter. The previous owner was going for an all black look and changed out the BMW roundels and M3 badges to monochromatic versions. Again, since I’m aiming for a clean, stock appeal, so I purchased the OEM versions and had EAS replace them.

With the car purchased, new wheels installed, oil changed, and new emblems installed – it was time to go home. In recent years, the car literally sat and was only warmed up and taken around the block on a monthly basis. I essentially bought a car that sat for years, hopped in and drove it 600 miles back to Northern California. The M3 performed without any hiccups. If that kind of a first drive doesn’t inspire confidence, I don’t know what does.

I inevitably relinquished to a more realistic approach and added more flexibility to my criteria. Suddenly, I shifted from interested to serious when I returned the Mitsubishi Evo X I was leasing. A year of searching with dozens of dead ends eventually led me to an obscure, bare-minimum ad on AutoTrader for a 2004 M3 with Vorsteiner CSL goodies.

The seller had a very selective tone about him and the sale almost fell through. I guess he had the initial impression that I was some kid just looking for a good deal. By one way or another, I ended up showing him my RX-7 to give myself more credibility. Interestingly enough, the deal was resurrected and on track after that. The seller was particular in nature and I could tell he really treasured the car. He only drove it a few thousand miles and garaged the remainder of the past 8 or so years of his ownership.

Since the car was located in Southern California, I coordinated the pickup around my Coachella 2015 trip. This was my first time going to Coachella and I arrived WAY too early on the first day. It was too hot, the sets were mediocre, and it was too hot.

Go in the evenings.

It was a cool experience but an exhausting one. I’m still debating if it’s worth going back to the next year.

Back on topic – I eventually met up with the seller and picked up the car.

On top of the Vorsteiner CSL aero bits, the car came with a few other essential mods. A touch under 40k miles, Jet Black exterior, Cinnamon Brown interior, and SMG (more on this one later).

Out of all the cars available, there is a reason why I chose a 10 year old BMW. Just like the RX-7, the E46 M3 is another car that I gravitated back towards after trying it once. My dad owned one many years ago and I still remembered the way it drove. When I owned the 135i, I always noted to myself that I thought the M3 was still a better car.

I think that the E46 M3 will be one of the last of the “analog” BMWs. Plus, the S54 is a glorious engine. BMWs hit the right formula with naturally aspirated Inline-6s. I also wanted a car with better build quality. I hated the Evo X because of how unbelievably CHEAP it felt. The dash was literally a sheet of plastic. The first step in determining a car’s build quality is to feel how well the doors open and close. The M3’s doors shut convincingly, substantiating the superiority of German engineering.