Make sense to keep 2 cars? (E46 M3, 135i)

[torv]

Hi all, I'm new here, and for some reasons I'm already in love with the 1 series.

My current car is an 02 M3 with 67K miles. I love everything about the e46 M3, the speed, the acceleration, the sound (I have a tubi exhaust),the handling. I'm not even thinking about the new M3, because my next "expensive" car would likely be a C4.

So I was looking for a daily driver a while back, and nothing really sparked my interests and had narrowed the choices down to a Cooper S and a Mazdaspeed3...until I hear about the 1. It's very likely now that I will buy the 135, and my question to you is that would it make sense for me to keep both the M3, which by that time it would be on its way to 75K miles, the price will keep dropping. If I trade it in or sell it to someone, I can probably get a good downpayment in toward my 135.

The M3 is just sexy, and I love it. Plus if I keep 2 cars, I'd have no clue which car would get a sole rights to the garage.

Thanks for helping

[jaybert]

i just created a similar topic...but saw this one posted 4 minutes before mine. I have a similar dilemma, more related to have the 135i in a very snowy area. anyone have a high performance RWD car in the northeast as their only car? How well does it do in the snow with snow tires?

[LazyT]

Dang skippy it does. I recently ordered the 335i Coupe for now. But I will wait and see if I like the 135i more or the M1 if BMW decides to engineer one and trade in the 335i (which, BTW, is a great car). For a second car as a daily driver, I am also thinking about the new 2.0T TT when Audi releases it with Quattro in a little over a year. It is an extremely fun car to drive even with FWD only.

The sky is the limit with the tuning possibilities on the 335i/135i/M1 (if released) and the 2.0T TT. As you probably know, BMW is coming out with a Performance Division soon and Stasis Engineering does a great job tuning Audis.

Good luck with your decision, which is a nice dilemma to have.

[Lips]

If you got the means I'd say keep both, but if it's going to cause any financial hardship then ditch one of the cars.

As far as rear wheel drive cars in the snow I can't comment since I live in Florida, but many G35 owners up north have not had much trouble by throwing some snow tires on the car. Just an FYI. Hope that helps.

Lips

[JayM]

RWD drive cars in the snow go pretty well as long as, like Lips indicated, you have good snow tires and the car is close to 50%/50% weight distribution. The Ford Mustang has a reputation for being bad in the snow which is due to the front-heavy weight distribution (i.e., not much weight over the drive wheels). Placing sand bags in the trunk helps it out a bit (which is what a friend that had one did). Years ago I had a Turbo Supra that was rear wheel drive and close to 50/50 weight distribution. With snow tires, it was unstoppable in the snow (unless the snow was deep, then the low ground clearance was an issue), and was almost as good as the WRX I used to have and the Legacy GT I now have. However, I had my summer tires on when an early snow came and I did a few 360s on the way home - no exaggeration. There were not many cars out and it was a 6 lane road so I did not hit anything. From then on I did not procrastinate putting on my winter tires. That is the one nice thing about AWD with the Subaru is that you do not have to give much thought about putting on winter tires.

I heard something interesting from a friend of the family who was an engineer for GM. He said one of the best cars in the snow was the original VW Beetle for two main reasons. First, it was RWD and rear-engine, so it had a lot of weight over the drive wheels. Second was that it had skinny tires and therefore a smaller contact patch on the road, which provides more weight per square inch in contact with the road compared to wider tires.

[335i=:)]

Originally Posted by jaybert

i just created a similar topic...but saw this one posted 4 minutes before mine. I have a similar dilemma, more related to have the 135i in a very snowy area. anyone have a high performance RWD car in the northeast as their only car? How well does it do in the snow with snow tires?

If you get dedicated snow tires for winter, you'll be fine.

Mine are Nokian's, made in finland, it still amazes me the confidence they inspire in the snow, cotrolled drifting is no problem.

I've never had a problem, however if you must climb very steep hills, you won't make it. Other then that, you'll be fine.

[IrvRobinson2]

if you can afford it without stretching yourself, then yeah, it makes sense

[ice13water]

it makes sense to have 2 cars but the are similar type of cars

a coupe and a SUV would make more sense