Philosophical question for Veeky Forums: A rich retired client of mine has a black 1997 M3 sedan that he bought new and...

Philosophical question for Veeky Forums: A rich retired client of mine has a black 1997 M3 sedan that he bought new and has only driven on weekends since. It's an auto but has about 22K on the clock.

He'd sell it to me cheap. I don't know how much but real fucking cheap. My problem is, this car would have to be my DD and I don't have a garage. I'd feel shitty taking a museum-grade M3 and letting it get dirty and scratched up driving it like a normal car all year.

Wat do? Selling it isn't an option.

You can always repaint it. Do it.

thats pretty sad

get it i guess, and try your best to not have some cunt fuck it up with his door.

Who the fuck would buy an auto m3. That goes for both the guy and you. Also didint this m3 come with some cucked 200hp engine while eu got 300

Lol is it even a question? Buy it.
The only thing I'd be worried about is someone breaking into it but this can be avoided by not parking it in bad neighborhoods.

Get an alarm for it.

I have a Dodge Challenger and I have some concerns about the paint and break-ins but it's a good daily driver.

When I go to Walmart I park it in the farther part of the lot because I know some animal will hit it with his door or they will run shopping carts into it. It's a longer walk but totally worth it

In parking lots I always find the loneliest part and park it there

>Who the fuck would buy an auto m3.

He bought it when he was getting close to retirement age and he wanted a car his wife could drive too. But she never liked it so he wished he'd gotten a stick.

And I'd be interested because it's cheap. Driving a 2004 Mustang GT right now which feels like a shitbox even after I overhauled it.

Even more the reason to buy it

I had a 1999 GT and those things are cramped and cheap as fuck.

I don't know if you've sat in that BMW but it will feel like you've died and went to heaven in that BMW's seat.

You've put all the work into your mustang. You know it's mechanically sound. You're trading for an older German car. What don't you like about the Mustang specifically? It wouldn't be that much more work to pad the dash or whatever if you don't like the plastic.

Lmao driving a rustang is never the right answer you pleb

I had a 99 GT and drove it out of necessity. Got out of it ASAP

>What don't you like about the Mustang specifically?

>135K miles
>Rrust in the trunk and front strut towers
>Seats are shit
>Dash is fine but rest of interior is shit, like worse quality than the 1985 Caravan my parents had
-Probably needs timing chain guides and tensioners
-Pre-riced from the factory
-Handles like ass

I drove an 2000 323 with 240K and it felt like a newer car than the Brostang.

>museum-grade M3
>auto

just abuse that shitbox, cucked USDM engine and slushbox

>I drove an 2000 323 with 240K and it felt like a newer car than the Brostang

You can't compare bimmer/merc to any american car, they're just on another level

You can totally DD that M3 but take VERY good care of it likent deserves.

It's a car OP already knows the ins and outs of already, he's said he's put some work into it, and it will just keep running with oil changes. If he doesn't like the seats, he could look into Wedge Engineering Recaro seat mounts and get some Recaros out of a parted out evo or whatever. So on and so forth.
Oh if it's rusty I understand. Strut tower rust sucks.

You ever owned an SN95 Mustang? These things are prehistoric. I've been seriously considering new seats if I keep the car but then I'd be stuck with the of it. Even put a Cobra steering rack in and it barely helps.

I'm not too worried about the rust. Any DDed car here will be rotted out by 20.

Cars can be repainted man get it and enjoy it
Also you can get everything needed to do a ZF 5 speed swap for 600-800 dollars

I agree you can always repaint/light bodywork. I think a manual swap that cheap is a bit generous, unless you have a lot of experience or a shop; which I know you do. Not impossible and at worse probably just expensive.

Still a gimped engine though. I thought it was just the head that different? I'm probably wrong I'm not that well versed in e36's.

I'm not saying don't buy the car or its bad, just drive the thing, take it to a track day or something.

Keep in mind if OP is an American the auto is more valuable. Not many people want to go through the evaluation and licensing process to legally drive a manual transmission in the states. It's not considering something a normal driver can just "do."

Im not sure if you are memeing or just stupid.

> evaluation and licensing process to legally drive a manual transmission in the states.

My sides have been obliterated

He is memeing and you'd have to be stupid to take it seriously

Daily drive a 3k civic and buy this car. Park the BMW somewhere nice.

>Americucks on damage control

I went to graduate school in the US and I was only able to drive manual because they took my service in the Flyvevåbnet (Air Force) as proof of competency. Otherwise I would have had to get a note from a US doctor to apply for an elevated license.

I meant the cost of parts is 600-800 dollars. Putting it in isn't very hard. BMW trans goes out/in pretty easy. Some lines, a pedal, slave/master and swap out the DME
I'd do it for you if you were near SoCal lol

Nice 128i senpai

Kek, nice

Pretty sure E36 m3s only came with an SMG as the auto option so do it. No where near as bad a slush box.
If you're so worried about it just learn to detail and clean the car well. A car that is washed every week in the most gentle way possible will have fantastic paint for almost ever. As long as you have a pressure washer, a couple of buckets, a chamois and some wax, the paint will be fine

That's e46. E36 have a godawful slushbox

negative. The US spec E36 M3 had a 240hp engine, the euro spec got a 320hp one with ITB's.
The torque is almost the same on both though, so in practical daily driving there is really not much difference between the two.

Source: E36 M3 owner.. had one for about 7 years.

omg fucking buy this rn you dummy

Ehhh I'd still buy it. I haven't driven an auto E36 but I was pleasantly surprised by an E30 auto. Shifted reasonably well

Shell out to have it fully wrapped in PPF, that will protect it from 99% of the shit stupid people do.

An ultra rare car like a top trim 3 series needs to be in a temperature controlled balloon in a garage somewhere. Spend a bit more and find a well used example from someone who knows what he got, perhaps a higher mileage example modded with "stage one" upgrades.

...

Just buy it and dont feel bad
It's not like it's a real m3 anyway and it's not even manual

issa 318ti