Advance Pursuit

Jun 3, 2008 - Interesting weekend

Okay, The short version of the story is that I almost pulled the trigger to buy a 2005 e46 M3 SMG with only 8k miles ...
 
Here's the longer version if you are still interested:
 
Ever since I got back from the track day my interest in a slightly used M3 has been growing on me. So couple weeks ago I went to my local BMW dealer and told one of the sales that if he ever comes across a SMG M3 (just can't live with a manual as my DD in LA) with low mileage ( < 25k ) then let me know. Last Wednesday I got an email from him saying that they just received one so I made an appointment to have a test drive on Friday afternoon. Man, was that car sweet or what!! I guess you can call me a believer now because from now on I would really think twice before bashing on the M3 ever again...

The power delivery is seemless, SMG is a bit jerky but once I got the handle of it, it's actually pretty good, instant shifting too. The ride is smooth but handles cornering with a lot of confidence, I guess that's the lengendary M performance for ya. The only thing that kept me from getting the car is the sticker price. The dealer was asking for $43.9k with a kbb suggest retail price of $47.9k, they dropped it to $42.9k at the end but I just couldn't justify of getting a used car for over 40 grands. The car is in mint condition, the interior looks brand new and is in better shape than my car even it's one year older. So I told the sales that I have to sleep on this over the weekend then walked away.

On Saturday I went to the Lexus performance driving academy, this is one of the 3 events replacing the Taste of Lexus. As participants we got to drive the IS350, GS460, GS450h and IS350 with F-sport in house tuning accessories in an autoX type of course. At last, as the main course, we got to drive the IS F in the road track inside the California Speedway for couple laps following the instructor. Boy, that IS F was so smooth on the track but yet so confident with its handling, the only connection between that car and the regular IS are the looks and Lexus smoothness, for everything else this is like a completely different car.

After both experiences I have to say that given a choice I would definitely take the IS F over the e46 M3. But how would it stack up against the e92 M3 is yet for me to find out.
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7:31 am | Categories: car reviews, second opinion, comparo Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

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