{"id":5593,"date":"2015-06-09T11:13:07","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T18:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/?p=5593"},"modified":"2015-06-09T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T21:01:09","slug":"2004-bmw-m3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/2015\/06\/2004-bmw-m3\/","title":{"rendered":"2004 BMW M3"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past year, I have been casually looking around for an E46 M3. The seed was first planted with a Want to Buy ad on the M3Forums. My requirements were strict and my intent vacillated as the months went by. I came to realize that finding the absolute exact car I was looking for may not have been feasible.<\/p>\n

I inevitably relinquished\u00a0to 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.\u00a0A 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"coachellahot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Go in the evenings. <\/p>\n

\"coachellawheel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"saharatent\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"coachella\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Back on topic – I eventually met up with the seller and picked up the car. <\/p>\n

\"bmwm3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"cinnamoninterior\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"cslrearm3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"bmwm3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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). <\/p>\n

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<\/a>, I always noted to myself that I thought the M3 was still a better car. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past year, I have been casually looking around for an E46 M3. The seed was first planted with a Want to Buy ad on the M3Forums. My requirements were strict and my intent vacillated as the months went by. I came to realize that finding the absolute exact car I was looking for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5593"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5593"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5617,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5593\/revisions\/5617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grandmighty.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}