E90 M3 vs E60 M5: Opinions needed.

[breakfasteatre]

m3 does not get good gas mileage, ask alphamotorsports

[ZeroChalk]

she's got one more year. law graduate at 22. Univeristy in the UK and that's only because she did an extra year to do French Law in France.


I not jelly z, I'm just sayin'. Coming onto a mazda3 forum at 23 to talk about BMWs can be taking alot of ways....just sayin'. It's like guys going on a BMW forum and talking about which model Ferrari they're gonna pick up.

and having the credit to get a loan for a 50-60k car doesn't mean being able to afford the car. that's just a side comment, not directed at anyone in this thread.

She probably still has to do her BVC still. Not to be nitty gritty but that's a big difference from saying she is a lawyer at 21 (implies she is practicing). Almost like saying I'm a doctor but am still in med school.

OP - I'd get the M3.. but I agree with everyone else, why post here.

[doughboyr6]

forget the car, whatever job he's got, i gotta career path him....

i always wondered where i went wrong.

i graduated with an achitectural science degree and felt the jobs paid too pitiful and gave up (i also got bored of it).

i'm 32 now and work at RBC as a manager and barely touch that amount of money.

i shouldve listened to my parents and taken business in school...

[PearlM3]

If I lived with my parents I could add $1000/month to my car payment making a total of $1500/month. You can buy pretty much any car with that, I wouldn't feel right doing that though.

[beyond]

lol who cares guys...it's the OP's $$ so let the poor guy spend it his own way...he asked for opinions and inputs so let's give him some....

Personally I'd get the M3. Never driven either cars, so I wouldn't be able to tell you how they drive. I've driven a friend's E36 M3 and it was awesome. I'm just assuming that the E90 M3 will be even more awesome! M5 seems a bit too big and "mature" for your age. The M3 would probably look more matching.

Good luck in your search. Post pix when you finally get your car!

[The Wolf]

E12 or bust...

[Freakzaz]

Shu, from what you've said were the disadvantages of the M5 being a bigger car, can't track, and not fitting for your age, doesn't that in itself help a lot in your decision for going with the M3? Lol, the M3 is smaller, more trackable, and more fitting for your age haha.

But if the choice were mine, I'd go for the M5. Personally I just can't resist that V10 wail (especially with the Eisenmann exhaust) and its larger, so more comfortable for me. Good luck with your decision, either way you're going to get an amazing car!

[shu5892001]

2009 4 dr m3 it is! Decision made, thanks for input Guys

[Booostin]

she's got one more year. law graduate at 22. Univeristy in the UK and that's only because she did an extra year to do French Law in France.

I guess she wants to work in the U.K?

[loganm3]

M3 is the better choice, but as a man who was in the same boat I advise caution! buy a cheaper car and put the rest into a down payment on a place to live. In 3-5 years that 60k car will be worth 30kmax, and you lose 50cents on your dollar. Take that same 60k, buy a 2002-03 M3 for 20ish and put the 35-40k into a downpayment. In 3-5 years that 40k will be worth 50-60.

My story. Age 22, just sold my first company and wanted something flashy. I loved cadillac's so I bought a brand spankin new STS (you're allowed to laugh at me) I had the car for 3 weeks, was driving up north, hit a raccoon and blew out the passanger side front tire, lost control and put it in the ditch. Car was a write off, insurance gave me 80% mrsp value (because it was a used car) and I lost 10k in the blink of an eye...plus insurance raped me for the next 7 years.

After a good "talking to" by my father I bought a used Protege 5 and almost a year after the accident I bought a multi unit rental property. It's been 7 years now and my place is worth 100% more then when I bought it, and in 8 years when it's paid off I'll have a net worth easily in the 7 figures.

Trust me, falshy cars are fun but girls are MUCH more impressed when you buy your own place.

Also, I had a friend who got a job as a stock broker downtown and he was still living at home. Leased an M5, economy tanked and he was fired and for 2 years he worked his butt off just to afford the lease payments. He couldn't afford to drive the car because gas was too expensive, he neglected maintaining it and the icing on the cake. He finally got a new job as a stock broker and then three months later the car's lease was up!

Good luck and congrads on graduating!

[terapr0]

Words of wisdom. A flashy car is nice and all...but really.... are you going to bring the girls home to your parents place? Driving an M3 while living with your parents is kinda not the coolest thing in the World. Reminds me of the guys from A Night At The Roxbury.

Obviously do as you wish, but that money would be MUCH better spent on a down payment or at least rent for your own place. Other than drugs or gambling, a car is probably the worst investment you can make. Of course you're picking it up after a lot of the depreciation has already occured, but in the grander scheme of your life, having your own place is going to be worth a lot more. just my $0.02 of course. Best of luck with your decision and lets see some pics of whatever it is you get.

[beyond]

^ true dat

[MarkWB]

I agree with these guys man, you'd be better off getting even a 30k car (335i with M package?) and put that other 30k as a down payment on a condo or house in the 300-400s...you'd have your own place, your own beemer, and if things go well in the next year or two you can always do a trade in, or just lease an M3 at the side. Not to mention your credit would be fantastic at this point if you're smart enough to run your utilities through 30-40% of your credit limit on your card(s). Follow that and even if you have the same income 10 years from now you could likely finance an Aston Martin or something stupidly expensive like that.

It's up to you, but the above is the path I'm following (hence driving the MZ3) and it seems others are doing/have done the same. It wouldn't kill you to wait a year or two to buy a flashy ride.

[starscream]

I would go with the M5.

However aside from cost, insurance and all that. Have you actually looked at what it costs to maintain ANY of the M series cars? I mean seriously not just oil changes, but brakes, common issue/maintenance items, etc?

Just to give you an idea on the M5 at the stealership (which is overpriced) the oilchange is roughly 300 bucks. Now lets say you do it at someone else...say one of the BMW shops - RMP Motors, BimmerSport, Precision Tuning Motorsports youre still in the 180 buck range. Buying your own oil and filter (buying good stuff, not some cheap stuff) youre still in the 140 buck range. Just saying here thats JUST on an oil change. I know alot of people that can afford highend cars but the basic buy-in is not where it stops. A brake job is $$$.... Heres another example (you can even check the pricing on RockAuto) Rotors - REARS are about 320 FRONTS are 300 EACH... Pads are 40 for rear and 90 for the fronts (M5 specific) so not including labour your sitting at 1370. LOL... Gotta pay to play. Not saying you cant, but just making sure youve checked ALL the angles here.

[shu5892001]

Thanks guys for the suggestion, I will really think about it. But to clear things up:

1 I'm not trying to impress girls as I have a gf and a E90 M3 looks no different than a 328 to girls and it's 4 door
2 I don't see this as an investment, I see this as buying something that I want.
3 If I finance a 60K car with 20K down payment for 5 years, monthly payment is roughly 700-750 depending on rate. Say after insurance and gas, my monthly payment for the car is around 1500-2000. I will still have a few thousand of my salary saved towards a house or condo.

These were just my initial thoughts, what all you guys said are right and I am taking into consideration. I am thinking maybe I could buy a 30K car and save faster or save for a bigger house or condo

[cSPEED]

I'd go with the M3. The M5 is too family sedanish for my liking.

Everyone talking shit and making assumptions about OP in this thread is a loser. Even if it was his parents money and he was a spoiled brat, what do you care?

OP, I'm the same age as you but don't have nearly the budget you do. That said, if I did have the same budget as you I'd spend less on a depreciating asset (car) and more on an investment (real estate, investment account). Seriously, you can buy something that's balling for 30K and put the other 30K towards something that will appreciate over something that will depreciate faster than you can imagine.

[Unoriginalusername]

Thanks guys for the suggestion, I will really think about it. But to clear things up:

1 I'm not trying to impress girls as I have a gf and a E90 M3 looks no different than a 328 to girls and it's 4 door
2 I don't see this as an investment, I see this as buying something that I want.
3 If I finance a 60K car with 20K down payment for 5 years, monthly payment is roughly 700-750 depending on rate. Say after insurance and gas, my monthly payment for the car is around 1500-2000. I will still have a few thousand of my salary saved towards a house or condo.

These were just my initial thoughts, what all you guys said are right and I am taking into consideration. I am thinking maybe I could buy a 30K car and save faster or save for a bigger house or condo

i'd be so much further ahead if i had made some better decisions early on with cars.

2004 Matrix XRS new 27,000 otd. Sold 14,000. lost 13,000
2007 Mazdaspeed 3 new 36,000 otd. Sold 18,000. lost 18,000

if i had been able to keep my first car (similar to your mazda situation now) i would have had an extra 31,000 to put down towards our first house which is a lot when you think about it.

[cSPEED]

I would go with the M5.

However aside from cost, insurance and all that. Have you actually looked at what it costs to maintain ANY of the M series cars? I mean seriously not just oil changes, but brakes, common issue/maintenance items, etc?

Just to give you an idea on the M5 at the stealership (which is overpriced) the oilchange is roughly 300 bucks. Now lets say you do it at someone else...say one of the BMW shops - RMP Motors, BimmerSport, Precision Tuning Motorsports youre still in the 180 buck range. Buying your own oil and filter (buying good stuff, not some cheap stuff) youre still in the 140 buck range. Just saying here thats JUST on an oil change. I know alot of people that can afford highend cars but the basic buy-in is not where it stops. A brake job is $$$.... Heres another example (you can even check the pricing on RockAuto) Rotors - REARS are about 320 FRONTS are 300 EACH... Pads are 40 for rear and 90 for the fronts (M5 specific) so not including labour your sitting at 1370. LOL... Gotta pay to play. Not saying you cant, but just making sure youve checked ALL the angles here.

Oil changes need to be done much less frequently on German cars. We do oil changes every 5K and pay 60$ (pricing in the Rotella T6 ofc), they do oil changes every 20K and spend $200. See how it's exactly the same?

[MarkWB]

These were just my initial thoughts, what all you guys said are right and I am taking into consideration. I am thinking maybe I could buy a 30K car and save faster or save for a bigger house or condo

Similar to what cSpeed said, you'd be better off putting that extra cash into a house or investment account than a car. M3s hold their value well, but still, you'll be spending 60 k on this car and what will it sell for in 2 years if you don't want it anymore? 4 years? 6 years? Check autotrader. Also think that if you bought a cheaper car, and invested what you save into a TFSA (or if yours is maxed out, an HISA) and/or RRSP, you'd be laughing at the cost of an M3 a little down the road. Best of luck with everything!

PS: Remember how helpful I was if wherever you work is ever looking to hire!

[shu5892001]

I agree what all you said is correct. But M3 with 400+ hp is pretty fast for me, the only thing I'll do to it probably is rims, coils, intake, exhaust. But if I buy a cheaper alternative like a STI, EVO, or even a 335i. I would probably spend lots of money on mods and turbo build which would not be as reliable as M3 and might cost me more in the long run considering money for mods and repairs

[cSPEED]

Also, OP please tell us what you do. I have a degree in Finance and I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're an investment banker, risk analyst, or consultant if you've also got the same degree. I'm curious!

[MarkWB]

I agree what all you said is correct. But M3 with 400+ hp is pretty fast for me, the only thing I'll do to it probably is rims, coils, intake, exhaust. But if I buy a cheaper alternative like a STI, EVO, or even a 335i. I would probably spend lots of money on mods and turbo build which would not be as reliable as M3 and might cost me more in the long run considering money for mods and repairs

335 is twin turbo already, so you just saved $$$ on a turbo build that you can throw on suspension mods, intake, exhaust, a good tune...you see where I'm going with this lol

EDIT: Every car you just listed is already turbo, so the above comment actually applies to all of those...I just figure you like beemers so a 335 would be your alternative of choice.

[loganm3]

Ya can you tell us want you do? I thought I had it sweet making 45k out of university in marketing.

Be careful financing 40k, rates are at 5% but we are 1-2 years away from inflation and the gov't will curb it by raising rates...thus that 5% can go to 6,7,8,9,10%. A 60k car is a $70k car after taxes, 20k down leaves you servicing a 50k loan. A 50k loan over 60mths is about 900/mth and you're gonna be paying around 8k in interest. Also you say you want to track the car...oh god, please no. If anything happens while you're on the track insurance won't cover you and if the bank get's wind of it (and they will) they can call in the loan on the spot. If you're going to track but a track beater. You will crash, it happens. It happened to me but I was in my beater and I laughed more than anything because I truly didn't care.

Also a good job typically means things you may not even think of right now. How's your suit collection? How's your watch collection? High powered jobs mean you have to dress to the nines. Have you planned on after work drinks with the boss? If you do go out you'll have to pick up the tab. There's a lot more expenses to life than housing, groceries and cars.

Also remember life happens. You have a girlfriend, what if she gets pregnant? Mine did and now every month I pay about the same as a lease for a E350 diesel for child support!

Just be careful and think about it! I know how it feels, I got a cheque in last week from a client and my first reaction was to blow it on something fun. I found a Volvo V70R for sale and almost bought it. I slept on it and the next morning I woke up thanking god I didn't buy that sweedish maintence nightmare.

If you want to go for a beer sometime and have a chat I can tell you everywhere I went wrong and what to avoid. Then again it's your life to live, but I'm happy to give my two cents if you want to listen.

[Unoriginalusername]

Golf R interest you at all?

[breakfasteatre]

this is a ****ing awesome idea