Hey guys thx for watching this vid about the e46 m3! Really appreciate you all supporting the channel! If you wanna learn more about the strategies I used to make money driving both my e46 m3's, check out the Ideal Car Strategies - bit.ly/IdealCarStrategies130

When driving an m3 try to keep a lookout for a black mustang with flame graphics

2006 M3 coupe, ZCP, 6spd, alpine white w/ imola red or cinnamon interior, and slicktop

my ideal e46 M3 is silver paint, black interior, coupe and a manual transmission

I have a 2006 M3 manual and a regular e46 3 series manual. Both are a pleasure to drive.

The e46 gen is one of my favorite beamers along side the e36 m3. I even painted a picture of the e46 on my channel. literally just watched most of your m3 vids, keep up the awesome content man!

So where is the exhaust comparison at 7:28

I'm the lucky owner of an M3 black carbon, cinnamon interior, 19" CSL wheel and Harman Cardon stereo. Oh i forgot, only 50K miles.

My ideal spec e46 m3 is the one I own. I bought it new in 2003 manual face lift model and it's done 8000 miles. Silver grey black leather recaro's, ac schnitzer rs suspension, ap racing brakes, csl steering rack, csl wheels , 100 cell cats, carbon intake and remap. I've owned this car for over 16years and still absolutely love the thing!

Software Engineer in the House. E46 Laguna Seca with 6 speed emola red interior and slick top roof

phoenix yellow, csl weels, sunroof, manual, eisman exaust, on bilstain coilovers

I have an '06 M3 ZCP in silver. Although it's SMG, it's still very fun to drive. I can always convert it to manual if I wanted to. I love how it's responsive the throttle is and a nice exhaust note. Love those wheels. Sound system ain't too shabby for an old harmon kardon, but I thinking of checking out that bavsound upgrade For now , this my daily driver until the end of the month since I'm storing it away for the winter season

Great video my friend. I have a 2003 Silver, 6 speed and a 2008 Black, 6 speed E60 M5 as well. I Luv both of them. Every time i drove it brings a smile to my face.

My ideal m3 is the one in my garage, its not the "perfect m3" but i love it. 2006 Black six speed manual, non competition, with a sunroof, totally stock at the moment. I am used to V8 cars, however i actually like the weird exhaust note, I am not saying that it sounds good but i like it.

2006, Gunmetal grey, Alcantara insert interior with piano black trim. 6 speed, CSL wheels Boot Defuser and exhaust tips. Evolve CSL intake, exhaust and lowered final drive. Ermmmm think that’s about it. My dad has a 2006 Manual CS one of only 14 RHD ones was unreal.

my m3 used to be carbon black before i bought it. then it was painted in porsche grey, there is a carbon fiber gtr hood installed and its got the 19" wheels. interior is all black leather. it also has no sunroof and is a manual six speed shifter.

I really love BMW M3 E46 3.2 but i'm very scared of the SMG-1 I know that BMW made a second SMG that named SMG-2. But hand shifted manual transmission is the best in my opinion. Btw nice video thank-you.

I have a silver e46 m3 non comp w/ smg. Not my ideal car but I LOVE it. My ideal E46 M3 is an 06 Comp Interlagos on Cinnamon. I can’t decide if id want the stick shift. I’m kinda loving the SMG tbh... at slow speeds the SMG is a little clunky but when driving hard it’s GREAT!

my ideal m3 is iconic metallic silver color with black stripe ,the one that alpina is using,19 inch vossen star rims, hood vents ,really smaaaaall rear spolier,6 speed manual , black-silver leather ,16:9 navigation ,led tail lights and supersprint exhaust

Hahaha we have the exact same M3 desktop background. I have a blue E46 hanging on my wall too. One of my dream cars, hopefully one day it could happen.

Carbon black, Csl rims, black leather, 2004-2006. lowerd suspension by 3cm rear and front👌 and fully loaded including sunroof

Good information. I didn't find this video until after I bought my E46, but I think I did OK. 2003 M3 6 speed manual, steel grey metallic paint, convertible. Good value and under your numbers for a car with 70K on the odo. I'm happy! Now to wait until the E92s get in my price range.

mine is ... dakar yellow 2, manual coupe, sunroof delete! love it and going up in value in UK.

Good overview but you missed some important points. 1) The DME was reprogramed in conjunction with the rod bearing recall to show 8000 rpm at red line but is 7500 actual engine RPM - to reduce the chance of engine blowups 2) Virtually no comments on the SMG transmission issues (SMG pump repairs are EXPENSIVE) 3) No comment on Vanos issues. Mechanical wear and leaking seals will cause problems - another expensive repair. 4) No mention of rear subframe issues. Virtually every car (regardless of year) will eventually have a cracked sub frame. BMW supposedly did an upgrade and injected some structural foam in the rear sub frame area. Marginally effective. I may have reduced the problem but didn't eliminate the issue. 5) No mention of slick top - non sun roof cars being the BEST" delete option" to look for the E46 M3 Ideal Car.

Can you go over the colors.... like which one was standard for each model year, and the rarest color for each model year, something along those lines?

Great vid - keep it up 👍

2006 ZCP Interlagos blue, manual seats, halogen headlights, no sunroof, 6 spd (although I got nothing against SMG), no nav, no HK. It's the lightest this car came stock. I should know, since it's mine :)

laguna seca is also my favorite. Also please manual seats! 6-spd manual coupe, no verts here. Don't really care about cruise control or navigation, or even audio system.

I just test drove a 2002 M3 cab today and the ABS unit was not in the rear of the engine. So it was moved in 2002 rather than 2003.

Need to check your dates again for mid cycle refresh. It was March/April of 2003

I’m 17 and looking for Interlagos Blue coupe, Cinnamon interior, Manual transmission, ZCP, no Sat nav (if possible), led taillights, full service record, reinforced subframe, a good valve train, healthy vanos, rebuilt rod bearings, Can’t think of anything else at the moment.

Laguna Seca is my favorite too but I got the 04 metallic grey 6 speed transmission with the GPS

06 ‘E46 M3 GTR’ conversion, Manual, V8 swap (additional GTR engine bay updates), Gen 1 GTR aero body, Side exhaust conversion, with a NFSMW black wrap protecting a black OEM paintjob underneath. Hands down my favorite, i will build this.

So what year do you think is the best and why? Excluding the color

I’m just the opposite of you my first M3 was the 2003 ( stick )traded that for a new 2006 Interlagos Blue - ZCP Competition Package with the SMG. I like the faster shifts and did not miss the pedal. That was my daily beater for 11 yrs till I was hit from the rear by a commercial truck but all is good as the settlement paid cash for a 2018 M5 out right. Fun Fact: the E46 M3 was released in December 1997 to 2006.

My ideal spec for the e46 m3 is the one I have on my channel! Coupe, 6 spd manual, and all the options except the 19” wheels!

When you said something about the exhaust and clicking there was nowhere to click or no pop-up. I have an 02 M3 6 speed manual and love it but i want an exhaust and i want it to sound deep not the pissed off bumblebee sound. Any suggestions please???

awesome video appreciated I'm on mission trying find 6 speed manual right now i found few e46 but all smg package i prefer 6 speed manual pedal transmission :( so I'm still at it for the right buy .thx again 👍🏼🔥👍🏼🔥

I love the raspy exhaust on my E46 M3. But I can see why some people may not.

Hi i have M5 E60 and M3 E46 but the E46 is my baby i love it .. Lot fun when I'm driving it .. Great videos from you ..

Mine would be a 2006 manual steel gray coupe, black interior, no sunroof, no HKardon, subframe reinforced, Vanos bulletproof restored, new rod bearings, BBK, Karbonius air box, and a complete aftermarket exhaust line, as for example Supersprint

I’ve heard the smg is the better trans if you know what your doing.

What’s the value on a m3 2004 with around 160k miles everything stock ?

What site do you use to see the value of car like a stock market? Thats pretty neat.

black 05 ZCP M3 tan interior 6 speed with 18 inch bronze rims sunroof manual seats

I have the E46 M3 06' Vanos Code is coming up.. Loss of power . Is there an easy fix? Or do I have to spend 1000s of $$$ to get a new Vanos??

Watched a couple dozen of your videos, I believe you and a buddy had a 911 together (Why pink for the channel logo?) . An M3 would be great, but for under $9k I settled for a garage kept '03 330cic Auto/Steptronic Sport Package w/144k miles with removable hard top in Topaz Blue; And a garage kept '02 330xi Auto/Steptronic Winter Package w/86k miles in Steel Blue Metallic. I sometimes think I shoulda put all my chips into one 996, but... I have a 986 2.7 5spd, z3 2.8 5spd, and MX5 NA 1.8 5spd as well just so I could experience and compare them all. And I gotta tell ya, I enjoy the heck out of my '03 330cic using the Steptronic or just slipping it into Sport mode. Only when I want to limit myself to narrow, tight turns, two lane mountain roads would the 330cic be left behind. The 986 drives like a slot car and makes me feel/look like a pro; but you gotta go dangerous speeds to have "fun" with it. The MX5 makes you think you're going fast and sides all over the place and is fun at any speed (I went back to OEM 185mm and 14" wheels). And the Z3 is in between and may be last car standing when I thin the herd (I have a 2.5 Auto/Manual mode z3 as well, but it's gonna go first). The 330cic had a mild tune, cold air intake, and an awesome after market deeper note exhaust done by the previous owner, so I don't have the details, but it's my favorite sounding of the bunch; and that's more important to me than I realized going into all this messing around with different cars. For instance I actually prefer the sound of the stock z3 muffler over the Magnaflow muffler on the other z3. Sorry about the long post, but sometimes I want to share all I've learned from all these experiences.

I bought mine... 2003.5, carbon black with cinnamon interior. Slick top with a proper 6 speed with heated seats but manually adjusted. 100% stock. HA sound but no Nav... the business CD has a more timeless look and the early nav systems and screens just didn’t age well. There are nice stock looking android based after market options available but with such a sweet sounding engine I don’t even have the radio on most of the time.

I want a lsb but i currently own a base model 04 titanium silver that im slowly converting to a CSL style car with a porsche 996 caliper swap.

Hey hi 👋! So I found a 2004 coupe e46 manual transmission with only 56k miles! Someone was messing with the car!!! Do you think is worth the risk of getting it?

I love the sound of the stock exhaust.

Perfect review thanks

Cool video, 2002 M3 Phoenix yellow kiwi interior sadly smg but I love it, converting to 6 speed in the next year as another baby is on the way weeeeee

Im a fomer 2006 325Ci M-sport special edn owner that I owned for almost 6 yrs before trading it for a 4WD. Still miss the sublime feel of the E46 coupe and am now thinking of getting an E46 M3 as a second car. The problem is Im in Australia and finding a LSB E46 in RHD is very hard to find here so I might even go for an Orange F87 M2

I have a tiag/imola. Absolutely love it.

Is it realistic to swap a Ls7 with a T56 in one of these?

2005 BMW E46 M3 CSL WITH GT-R WIDE BODY.. they were available but cost more than a house. But you didn't say not to include them so that is mine hands down.

2006 manual oxford green with cinnamon interior, csl front bumper, csl diffuser(half painted), csl carbon airbox intake, csl trunk(painted). Fabspeed headers, resonator delete --> replace with electronic cutouts, full titanium Japanese muffler, ecu tune and a carbonfibre alcantera steering. wheel.

Laguna seca blue. Manual. Coilovers and a set of konig hypergrams with r888 for the track day or weekend cruise.

I’m an owner of a cherry 02 unmolested silver coupe with manual and black interior with all the bells and whistles including rear parking sensors and Navi

2003.5 Schwarz 2, black interior, 6x manual, sunroof, navigation and power seats delete, vis carbon fiber hood. At 3,200 # it only weighs 150 more than my Z3. I'd give mine a 4.5. It still eats most Mustangs with it long 3rd gear.

Looking to buy an 2003.5-2006 e46 M3 that has been taken care of, preferably with stock suspension. Please message me if you have something like this. I live in NYC but wouldn’t mind going the distance to pick it up if it’s worth it, gonna be using it as a daily driver for my self! Thanks

Which of those are more reliable!? Anybody please looking to buy one asap!

Is there anyone, you tuber, link, where someone can show me how (step-by-step) to modify my 06 M3 cab SMG with the SMG illuminated shifter, I think E92. Also, what audio/video system upgrade and how to install it!!!

Brother had an 04 Alpine White, Manual, dove gray interior. I'd get black interior, otherwise perfect

I only subscribed because you migrated from IT to KZfaq, which is kind of what I aspire to do!

Planning on buying an e46 as my first car. Which year would give me the best bang for my buck? I have wiggle room and SMG is something that's on my mind.

mine is Carbon black, manual.. driving it Daily, loving it every minute

My ideal version, my car i already own a 2004 m3 325ci convertible with a DTM GTR body kit, 2200 watt boss amp with 1 15inch Rockford sub in the trunk and 3 harmony 15 inch subs in the whole back seat with a pioneer stereo system with every possible input, greddy trust single turbo and exhaust manifold with a borla exhaust system dual tip, also gots the kardon system amp and subs still hooked up with my system, 6 speed

Hey i like the video thank you so much on all the info about the car its my fav car ever. My friend has the blue you like if u wana buy it. I want the red one or paint one or wrap it lol. But deff thanks for the video 👍🏽

6sp manual Phoenix yellow on black !

Laguna seca blue,csl wheels on some r888 tires,cinnamon interior,csl trunk,smg trans,csl carbon lip,painted carbon fiber gtr hood

I've got a 06 manual midnight blue with kiwi green interior .yes cruise control ,tail lift etc.... Awesome car much much more reliable then my previous e92 335i although I Soo miss the turbo's.... sigh

Why does he show a video of the car drifting after saying the car had an lsd. Wouldn't that be for handling and not loosing traction?

I'll bite: Probably an '03.5 Phoenix Yellow non-ZCP with a strut bar, aluminum interior trim, and 3 pedals. So has cruise, LED tails, no "big brother", and I can't miss it in a parking lot. I wouldn't fiddle much except to upgrade the tires, radiator, oil cooler, and expansion tank because I'm a track junkie and "M3problems".

Brad, what are you driving nowadays?

Yeah, the 46's side profile is handsome! Metallic blue, dark fabric upholstery with blue stitching, black rims and a tank full of 98 octane gas would be my favorite. :-D

2002 Sterling Silver (Individual car) 6-speed, black interior, manual seats w/fabric inserts, slick top, in the driveway.

Laguna Seca Blue/6 Speed/Imola Red and of Cinnamon interior 🤤🤤🤤Too bad that’s a super rare combo to find in good condition with good miles😔

Street fighter LA bodykit on an e46 looks so good

Why did you get rid of your M3s?

Mystic blue or Interlagos Blue?

My ideal e46 will be a swap of the original v8 from the GTR, sadly the exact engine is not available. The solution would be to buy the street version of the GTR but they got really expensive

My IDEAL M3 would be a 2002, Estorilblau Metallic with silver BBS RS2 Wheels and BC Coilovers, SMG Trans and a Nice sounding exhaust!

Hey I could really use some advice on my 02 e46 m3

2004 Laguna Seca Blue E46 M3 with the SMG

I always mix up Ideal cars and Fitment industries.I don't know why, probably because both are really good channels.

2004 ZCP in Laguna Seca Blue, 6spd black leather

My m3 have the competition package without the Harmon pack but I don’t have the sunroof as well 🤔 Is a 2004 carbon black with cinnamon inside I pay 14k canadien only with 86 000 miles 💥 💥 The car is like new 🤪🤪🤪

does it cost a lot to repair when the sub frame crack?

I own a surcharged m3 with full adjustable suspension sway bars full exhaust and everything u can think of it's a dream to daily and when u want to it will walk almost anything on the street

I sold my 2nd m3......now im in market for my forever hold e46 m3 --> 2006 Jet Black coupe 6spd, ZCP with imola red interior. Then i would put CSL trunk, rear diffuser, front bumper

how about 330i 2003 i wanna know cz i have one

Y'know what? I want something better than the alpine white E46 I wanted that I shared over here. 2006 ZCP Interlagos Blue w/ red interior, slicktop, navigation, and of course, 6MT

love mine, its my first car. 2003 carbon black manual 43k miles when bought for 20k

Coupe, pheonix yellow, manual... it got me into BMW since.

Upgraded subframe is a must

Only a 20 hp bump for euro models (with the s50b32)

This is just my 2 pennies, and after owning mine for a year now, imo the best m3 is just a regular base model one. Almost always you're gonna end up wanting to mod the car, so having the zcp package is useless. Most people would drop the 18 inch apexi arc wheels in substitute for the csl ones since they're better. Weigh less, cost less. The brakes as well. They're just slightly bigger than the base ones and you'll still end up wanting bigger brakes lol. Finding one as a clean Carfax models Is a needle in a haystack so just make sure it's never been in a big wreck. And if it's low miles they'll Jack the price up. Personally the engines a beast, but it's already built to it's full potential unless you decide to turbo or supercharge. In essence an intake and some headers will barely make a difference in power gains. There's some issues with the car but I'm sure everybody on KZfaq will tell you. So unless you plan on keeping it stock like it is or not chasing bigger power then buy the csl. But if you're gonna mod it make sure it's a 6 speed, hard top base model, the year doesn't matter too much. Oh and if you daily drive it expect to spend more gas weekly than owning a mustang GT lmao. But after all of this. It's still worth buying 😀

Laguna seca or interlagos blue are my favorite colors