[ayao]

There are two schools of thought regarding this topic:
1. The 1M is just a tarted-up 135i.
2. The 1M is more than the sum of its parts.

A lot of the decision will come down to budget as well as how much you buy into #2. I do not think there is necessarily a right or wrong answer but the forum keyboard warriors are passionate about their opinions.

NGEE just picked up a 1M to maybe replace a Stage 3 Dinan 135is - his opinions might offer additional insight to this.

A colleague of mine recently picked up a 135i vert and has done a bunch of work to it (M3 control arms, coilovers, DP, FMIC, tune, etc) and is in love with it. I recently took him for a ride in the 1M. I maybe shouldn't have because now he is having a crisis of faith and wondering if he should have just gone straight to a 1M.

Finally, prices for 1Ms are all over the place. I'd love to see them explode and help fund my retirement but it's hard to know if this will ever happen. I was stalking a recent Cars & Bids no reserve auction for what looked like an excellent specimen (40k miles, Canadian car, 3rd owner) and it ended up selling for $48.5k which is considerably lower than what I was hoping or expecting. So, all this to say that the right car for the right is probably still out there if this is the direction you end up deciding.