Uhh Mini Hands down. Why would you even think otherwise?

 

My dad used to have an e46 m3, It is very fun to drive but it isnt as direct feeling as a lightly modded r53 suspension... It would be a tugh choice, when my dad sold the m3 for the e60m5 He gave me the option of getting the e46 m3 or sticking with my 86 944 turbo that was heavily modded out... I chose to keep the 944 turbo as the m3 couldnt compare to its character or its modability for the price (400+hp and weighed as much as the r53!) I fully built it for 18 grand! Its all opinion, i say test drive it first...

 

Brace yourself......There are other cars out there that are fun to drive besides the MINI. I know it seems odd, but it's true

 

I'll have my JCW for 4 years until I pay it off. Then it may be time to move on to something else. Maybe not another MINI. Maybe another M3. Maybe a Cayman S. Something fun, who knows...

 

I went through this exact choice myself, actually there were 2 M3s in question, one was pretty much stock, 1 owner and a few nice mods, nothing big. the other was supercharged with 445 whp, but it was not torn up and abused and EXTREMELY well maintained-an example of the detail of care is every month he removed the wheels just to clean every bit of brake dust.
at the time the value of my MINI and the 1st M3 were even, but the 2nd M3 was $7,000 more (in my opinion it would be worth it)
I kept the MINI, it just has a fun factor, and because I'd be more worried about parking an M3 in certain areas, but with the MINI, I feel more comfortable
Also, track days are fun and as far as track performance the M3 is likely to be capable of faster lap times, but I have a feeling the MINI would be a more enjoyable track day-- go out and have a fun day at the track vs. spend the day trying to get 1/10 of a second faster
I was looking at something from a BMW track school type of thing and the instructor asked what they (the BMW drivers who were in the class) should do when approaching a turn. One student said "move over and wave the MINIs past"
I guess there's always this option:
MINI w/ M3 engine
PS: the E92 M3 is awesome to drive! It even hands you your seat belt! My girlfriend's brother-in-law managed to get the launch edition and he met me for the first time the day after he got it, and let me drive it (I was 17 at the time!) I didn't want to step on it much because he had just broke 100 mi, but it felt great to drive.

 

Coming from a guy who had an amazing Mini only to sell it and get a new M3 .

You Dog. Lets see the pics?

Longboard

 

The e46 M3 is a great value on the used market. There are plenty of nice examples around at excellent prices. There are also good financing deals on the current 2008 M3's in all configurations. 0.9% financing available through end of month. I've owned an e36 M3 Sedan and e39 M5 Sedan. Great cars, but a bit heavy. I wanted to get a really light car, so I went with a used Dinan Mini Cooper S. I'm looking forward to bringing it to the track and see what it can do.

 

Hey David, this is your brother-in-law. I just thought that I would tell you that I hate you. Ya bastid! I was wondering when this would happen. When I get my life together, I will get rid of my 325 and get a M.

Kenny

 

With premium fuel above $3.50 /gal., I'd be thinking R53, however now that it is about $2.50 in my area the M3 would be a nice choice. But what if the price of gas goes up again? Hmm, there are precious few vehicles that I would even consider equal or superior to the R53, and most of them are M-Series Bimmers.

If most of my driving was in the urban environment, I'd go R53; rural or at least a fair amount of roads where I could stretch the legs , I'd go M3.

 

Yeah, I was thinking, is it just me, or is it kind of a PITA to get the seat belt in the MINI...

 

Just wanted to step up and say hi, and to post a couple more pics of Shooler's old car and my new car

I was the lucky one who picked up this little guy.





So far I'm loving the car and in no way would I want to go back to my WRX.

thanks for looking and keep an eye out for future mods and changes.

Ken

 

Well Ken it looks to me that you got the better deal...
Are all the papers signed so that he can't come back and take it from you?

 

This is a bit scary
My name is David and my EX-Brother-in-law is Kenny.
But there's no way you could be one in the same, you must be talking to someone else.
The Kenny I know wouldn't sell his Geo Tracker for the world.

 

Thats funny

 

Have you driven a E46 M3? Love the MINI's but there a different class of car

 

After a few weeks of M3 ownership. I can sum it up as this:
Miss the Mini, LOVE the M3. Such a nice car to drive and play with.

 

If I have the income to maintain and keep a M3, I'd do it in a heartbeat. The M3 and the MINI is on a different class. This sentence pretty much sums it all up for me:

"while pushing the car into hard corners the M3 almost seemed to have more body roll than the MCS or an MC with SS+. That is of course until I realized that I was going 20mph faster than I would have been in a MINI around the same corner"
- http://www.motoringfile.com/2003/09/...heMINICooperS/

 

lol great qoute. Try adding some TEIN euro coilovers to the M3. It feels great