Get another E46 while they’re still cheap. In a few years they’re going to be classics and start spiking in price

Is it really a 7 year itch or is that divorce screwing with your finances? I assume you have child support payments here.

In your situation, all of three choices (except a modification to the second) are completely stupid from a financial perspective. Sell the F30, use the money to buy a cheap used Corolla with cash, then buy whatever new BMW you want when the child support payments end.

I’m saying that as a young guy (late 20s) with a net worth in the top 10% of his age bracket and a fully paid off classic BMW that got bidded up to crazy money on an auction website. If I was divorced like you I wouldn’t even think of owning cars like this

They’re pretty reliable as long as you regularly change the fluids and maintain the cooling system. To maximize the lifespan of the engine, transmission, suspension, and differential you will have to drive it like a Toyota rather than a BMW. You can get 300k-400k out of these cars before something major needs an overhaul; of course you will only accrue that kind of mileage by doing lots of highway driving

Source: Brought an E46 325i at 153k miles and drove it all the way to 202k miles before a geriatric in a Tesla totaled it

The concept of originality is where we get into looney territory regarding old cars. Things like tires, ignition parts, cooling system parts, gaskets are wear items. They’re not meant to be on the car indefinitely, because… you know… cars are made to be driven

I think it’s better to focus on whether an old car is stock vs whether it’s original. Once someone has modified the car for “more performance”, it’s likely been abused by that owner and is something I avoid when looking for an old car to daily.

My E30 is not all original, but it is stock.

Save up and a well-sorted E46 M3. Those are going to explode in value over the next 10 years

Diesel E46 is perfect for you kid. Keep the foot off the loud pedal if you care about gas mileage

BMW community member will say BMW guys are nicer

Porsche community member will say Porsche guys are nicer

The kidney grille on the G30 looks a little too large IMO. The E39 is the peak of BMW styling IMO. After that everything BMW put out starts to look overstyled in someway

Well the car’s lived a life. My sister’s E46 got totalled by a geriatric in a Tesla when it hit around 205k miles

You’re not going to get good MPG going 86 MPH. Having a diesel doesn’t matter - aerodynamic drag goes up exponentially with speed so you’ll use exponentially more gas to push the car through air going at faster speeds. Try driving at 60-70 MPH if you want low gas consumption

She probably drove it 20 minutes or so in first gear at about 30 mph. Periodically redlining the poor thing. She burned through about 2 gallons of gas.

That is some horrible gas mileage

OP just wants to drive the car without doing anything other than oil changes. Once you get to 50k things other than engine oil needs to be changed

Sounds about right.

Side (off-topic) comment: Interestingly everything after the E21 is white or silver

LSB is the quintessential “I wanna be stand out!” E46 M3 color. It’s not different different like Oxford Green, but it’s not as pedestrian as Titanium Silver

Honestly people need to grow up and give it a rest with the model snobbery. Even a base model BMW today has overkill horsepower for street use. People got along fine with BMWs that made less than 200 hp for decades

BMW alternates from ugly styling to good styling, then back to ugly styling, then back to good styling, then again to ugl… well you catch my drift (pun intended).

Source: I have been watching this garbage for the past 10 years so I’m used to it

BMW makes a lot of interesting product decisions that makes us wonder what is BMW thinking? 🤔

Yeah the car looks stock (but we don’t know what’s lurking under the hood). The rims are definitely aftermarket (and comically oversized in proportion to the rest of the car)

The premium would be $0 if the car was made by a generalist brand

Good first car?

Not at all.

1. Your insurance will be high until you turn 25. Under 25 + sporty car = very high risk driver in their eyes

2. I’m assuming you’re a teenage male. You’re very likely to do things with this car you’ll regret once you’re older. Like throw on Live to Offend ™-style mods, drive very recklessly and pose a danger to yourself and other drivers. There’s a very high chance you’ll wrap it around a telephone pole.

3. Even if you can do all of the work yourself, the parts and mods for an N55 will be expensive. You’ll be stuck eating cups of ramen while buying parts and mods for this car. Trust me, there’s much better food out there than cups of ramen