Now contemplating 135i vs E92 M3

[optigrab]

Originally Posted by Zombie_Head

Those NA engines eat rod bearings, if you plan to track a lot, expect to have them replaced around 20,000 kms sooner than recommended....

Brakes, tires, other service costs are significantly higher and no matter what people say, grabbing a stock M car and throwing it on track days, still need coilovers, brakes, lines fluids etc to be changed.

...any NA M car is still a legend, but one must consider their running costs.

Ding ding ding I was going to make the same points.

Now with cams and inlets on the market for a n54 you can make lots of power to 7500 rpm

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by optigrab

Ding ding ding I was going to make the same points.

Now with cams and inlets on the market for a n54 you can make lots of power to 7500 rpm

Cheaper than turbo replacements? N54's have their own expenses too.

[Zombie_Head]

Originally Posted by optigrab

Ding ding ding I was going to make the same points.

Now with cams and inlets on the market for a n54 you can make lots of power to 7500 rpm

There are pros and cons to every engine/car, you just need to decide with your head and your wallet.

I have seen stripped out street legal E46 M3s with bone stock engine, clutch and transmission do 7:20-7:30 on the ring, for a chassis hitting 20 years that is insane.

Originally Posted by Lucky1

Cheaper than turbo replacements? N54's have their own expenses too.

Off course they do, in my case id like to spend money on track days, fuel and hotels more so and get more time on track with as little worries as possible. I have personally seen two 911.1 turbos, F80 M3 and C63 AMG do 4-5 laps on mending airfield track day before getting limp mode, granted it was 43c day so it was probably 50c on track. It was the hottest i have seen my 125i oil temp just a tad over 120c with 5w-40 oil. Redlining 3rd gear 90% of the track, never dropping below 4,200 rpms or so and only 1 long straight touching 6,500rpms 4th gear.

I stayed out all day, maybe even did 12 laps before i got tired from heat exhaustion and went off to cool down, knocking on wood nothing went wrong and after a 10 minutes break i went back out there and kept driving till i had 1/4 tank of fuel left (had a 50km drive back to the hotel). Hell everyone passed by me at the pits looked at my car, saw the hood open and asked "is everything okay?", just told them its hot, im cooling off and so is the car.

That day got me thinking, about the N54 and how i must have added another oil cooler and the 1M aux radiator (the small one) and probably run stock tune or a mild tune to survive that day.

It is all about trade offs, you can not have the boost to daily drive and the capability to survive extreme situations for long durations (a few laps yes, but not "all day").

You just need to consider ALL factors into your purchase, from being your only car, to street only, winter, track days, brakes/tires, maintenance, fuel and so on. There is no real winner, since we all have different criteria that matters more to one person than the other etc.