M3 ... you have the perfect mix of luxury and sportiness

 

if i had to choose, m3.

 

No matter which way you flip it, maintenance on any M car, will screw you inside out soon. Yes, it's been taken care of, and it's in great conition now supposedly, but it'll be in far worse condition within a few months, and there's any reliability the M3 may have had out the window.

The 4G63 (I think) has a much better reputation for reliability on the other hand. Forget about people boosting them up to horsepower numbers close to four digits, but consider the fact that I see more old Evos here than I do M3s, and the older Evos weren't even sold here.

 

If you ask me, M3. Ask me the same question 3 years ago and I would have chosen the Evo without question. Worrying about him killing himself is one thing, and worrying about maintenance and insurance is another....

One more aspect to consider is the attention grabbing aspect which I'm sure is what he cares about at age 16 or 18 or whatever it is. The Evo will make teenaged and twenty something guys break their necks. The M3... Well you even see women driving them so what does that say?

On the flip side, at least around here the police love imports, mostly of the Japanese variety. Plus he's likely to be a teenager so that'll be more against him when the friendly officer comes up to his window.

 

No. I'd never get this type of opportunity in the first place.

 

At the end of the day, it's your personal preference and what you are financially comfortable with i.e. maintenance, etc.

If I were to pick between the two cars, my choice will be the m3. I love the body of the e46 much better than the new e9x. In fact, I'm thinking about picking one up and handing it down to my son in two years. I understand the m3 is very expensive to mod or make it very fast compared to the evo...but I'm not looking for the fastest car. I'll enjoy the car for what it is...overall well balanced car.

 

As the resident expert here I had to chime in, (currently own a 10 & drive bimmers daily brother had an m5, mom has an e90 3 series, drove countless e46 m3's). Both of these cars are WAY to expensive to maintain, to sporty & not suitable for young buyers as their first car. They are however comparable in performance handling and luxuriousness. Both are raw drivers cars despite the evo's tech it keeps the driver more connected then even a gtr. I would recommend an rsx type-s or the new vw r32 or the speed3 or the mitsu ralliart or wrx. The evo evokes almost an artificial drivers confidence where if your not an experienced driver could get you into trouble i.e. the ability to exit corners at speeds higher then most cars with traction control on but with it off you will drift, a new driver won't really understand that and crash and the m3 is a bit to harsh (yes more even then the evo), for my taste and lacks that little something extra in the interior cabins design for me. It's a bit more sluggish then the evo which is good in this case but then there's that rear wheel drive issue. A young new driver will be doing burnouts all over the place and have bald tires by winter for sure and wrap the poor m3 around a pole before next spring. In any case, I drove two acura's for a total of 12 years before I got a serious performance car (evo x)
Get the Mitsu Ralliart, WRX (non sti), Ms3 or vw r32 keep him in that lane until he's more experienced rwd I wouldn't suggest. My non biased

 

I was looking into purchasing an EVO X MR (I wanted to get around 330whp) How bad are the maintenance costs of the EVO?

 

Comparable in "luxuriousness"? The Evo is (or at least was) a hard-core no compromises competition car. "Luxuriosness"-wise, you're comparing a BMW with a Mitsubishi.

 

I also say that there's no way the EvoX handles comparably to the M3, which has been said time and time again to be one of the best handling cars available.

 

I think they both handle well, but BMW's are known to be the best handling cars on the planet. Now, once the weather gets a bit foul or the road conditions are not ideal, the Evo would be the one to have.

And one thing about luxury: Evo (or WRX) can never, ever, be put in the same sentence as something from Germany. Both cars have rental car grade HVAC and interiors. I love them, but a "luxury" ride they are not.

 

maintenance is nowhere near the M3.

for a youngin, I say neither as a first car. unless you want to be pulling teeth from the ground after a crash.

 

the Evo IX may be, but the Evo X outhandles cars that cost much more. you dont really know how well the Evo X can handle unless you take it to the track.

I covered a Mitsubishi press release for the Evo X MR Touring up north. Having driven the E46, there is no way it can outhandle the Evo X. at best, they would be a dead heat.

 

Considering the fact that the Evo X is still new & the E46 M3 is now dated by about 4-5 years at the very least, I say there's a very good chance both cars are on par with each other.

 

M3 dude, is this even a question.

Although i predict he's gonna wreck it within a year or so.

 

Well without getting to deep into this I will just say that the Japanese have caught up to the Germans in my opinion.

Evo X interior



E46 Interior


E92 m3 interior




Top Gear Power Lap comparison of all cars they've tested (look for evo x vs m3, m3 csl & m3 saloon evo is top tier And for fun look at the evo fq400)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/powerlaps.shtml

Then for fun e36 m3 vs evo x on the track (watch carefully)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXPEW4u9zYM

Bimmers are great but I just honestly think their over rated in a lot of ways especially after spending about 4 hours waiting for service this sat for them to charge my mom 400 dollars for a new battery and 200 for her 60k service of coarse her car is out of warranty but who wants to pay that?