I was responding to ttgansta...not the original poster...

 

Not really "P Diddy". You're a perfect example of a young kid who should be driving a Honda. My argument still stands. You can buy a nice car when you earn it.

 

e46 M3's are great cars. I have an Alpine white on black and love it. Alot of the people hate on the SMG tranny's. I personally love mine. Its convenient and fun to drive. If you wanna save some money/time/effort get a competition package which has various upgrades from the regular m3's and only came out in '05,'06. Competition packages come with csl style wheels (back are the same and front are .5" smaller in width), cross drilled rotors (save money on teh bbk), smaller gearign ratio for teh steering, different interior trim.

As far as suspension i recommend pss9. I have had teh H&R coil system adn didn't really care for it. KWVII are a little over kill in my opinion. Exhaust will not yeild any gains, i have AA which is a nice throaty exhaust. Supersprint, Amuse all are good. Higher end titanium systems give a nice high pitched scream.

As far as it being for an 18 year old. You know your daughter better then anyone one else here. I wouldn't get an irresponsible 18 year who has tickets on their record a performance car. But i doubt thats the case with your daughter.

 

Get some basic ZCP wheels (CSL, Competition), and TCK S/A coilovers. Rogue El Diablo Exhaust with Borla Midpipe. For SURE.

Color? LSG, Alpine, or Imola. 6MT. That'd be hot.

PS - Pictures of said daughter are required.

 

I pay for my car myself. Tell me I didn't earn it.

And for the record I hate my screenname!

 

I'm sorry for the misinterpretation!

 

Here is a picture of Russ's daughter from a model shoot she did.

Sorry Russ, had to post it to keep everyone quiet.

 

tblackj, that's not a very good picture of Emmo, don't let her see you put that up. And since the M3 is coming, what's gonna happen to the old 5-series

I know a very deserving guy with a birthday coming up

 

A friend of mine had a F-430 at 17...crashed it and then bought an LP-640 at 18. No big deal about an M3 Great choice by the way for her!

 

Is your friend the prince of Abu Dhubi?

 

Nope just a regular guy..

P.S. We don't have princes, just Sheikhs.

 

hell ya...as for teh power...comon guys, thats NOTHING...the car has to really be revved to get the power out and the car is quite predictable and fairly heavy and solid.


I would go for a 04 model with heated seats and cold weather...all you really need...haha'

 

Congrats, Russ...





















on finding a woman willing to bear your children.

 

The M3 isn't as fast as the numbers lead you to believe.

People thought I was crazy when I bought my 350z (300hp) and thought it was a sure fire death machine. 1+ year and 22,000+ miles later I beg to differ.

If you trust your daughter then I see no problem. Don't be stupid and respect your car and it will do the same. Don't take corners like you're trying to drift the universe and I bet your car won't pull anything surprising.

I say go for it, and as others have mentioned you really have to get on it for the M3 to feed you power. There is a reason the engine revs up to 8,000, you have to be above 5,000 to get it to scoot!

 

Motons FTW

I would say 2004+ that's still under the new-car warranty or has an extended/maintenance warranty. It's kinda nice to have Inspection II, Oil, Brakes, and all those goodies covered. I paid to get my maintenance extended because I had a month left on my factory warranty when I bought mine. Well worth it.

As for model year changes.. lets see,

Like it was mentioned earlier, 2003.5 is when they added the LED tail lights as well as the extended trunk handle.

In 2004, I believe Silver grey was introduced as the replacement color for steel grey.

In 2005 they added the competition package, that offers the CSL-style wheels (as a matter of fact the rears are the same part #, the fronts are 8 instead of 8.5)..

Okay, my googling skills far exceed my recollection skills, so this link should be helpful!

http://m3.madrussian.net/modelchanges.shtml

As for color choices - Kevin (notquitefob) used to own an E46 M3 with grey interior, and he can tell you what a PITA it was to maintain. I highly suggest you go with a darker color. I have an Imola Red interior, and I love it!