TIME TO PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS

"AM3R" (AM3R)
02/09/2014 at 01:48 • Filed to: Wow

BMW E91 M3 for sale in the US.

All joking aside, it's actually a really nice car. Painted GT3 RS grey black, it's a 6MT, authentic BBS LM's. Full exterior M3 conversion. Still has the N52 from the 328i :( At least it'll be economical/reliable.

He wants ~$4x,xxx. For that kind of money, I can get over my wagon love and just buy an M3.

DISCUSSION (42)

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 01:53

Especially for the money, this is the opposite of what I want—an anti-sleeper. But you had me all excited with M3 wagon!

AM3R > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny
02/09/2014 at 01:55

People have swapped V10 M5 engines, V8 M3 engines, etc. into E91's. If I had the money and time.... I'd go all out on this conversion.

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 01:56

i would totally try to use this to get to the mountains to snowboard. i would turn off traction control like an idiot because RWD on snow. then i'd probably stuff up and wreck the thing.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 01:58

True enough, that would be an awesome upgrade...but I'd still love to keep the exterior nice and stealthy.

Arben72 > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 01:59

Don't know why but it looks kind of off. There's a very well done one on the forums though, pretty sure he's supercharged too.

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 02:02

Just imagine if this had the S65.... Even with just an N52 this would be an awesome DD/ "beater"

AM3R > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny
02/09/2014 at 02:03

Normally I would completely agree with you... But it just looks so good!

AM3R > Arben72
02/09/2014 at 02:04

This isn't a great picture of it.

I know there's a guy in the UK who did a full swap, S65 and everything. Another shop on the forums swapped a V10 into it

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:06

It does exist:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr…

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:07

Good point. :-)

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 02:12

I love this post!! When I stumbled upon it a long time ago it made me want to swap my front seats for these black M3 seats I found locally. Didn't end up doing it though

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:14

It's so nice!!!!!

Awesome build

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 02:21

Lets make a deal, if your M3 somehow manages to get totaled but the engine and transmission work perfectly, I'll provide the E91 shell to use and custom rear fenders. The front end should be a direct swap. We can build our own E91 M3! Haha

promoted by the color red > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:24

It's good, but not $40,000+ good. For that money I could buy a 3-series wagon and a E46 M3 and come out ahead or just buy a good E60 M5 and pocket the rest.

AM3R > promoted by the color red
02/09/2014 at 02:27

That might be a stretch. Now E46 M3 and E39 M5 would be easily done, a good E60 M5 is what, AT LEAST $30-35k. A decent E46 M3 is $15k. You'd be stretched preeeetty tightly

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:30

Deal!!

Let's also super charge it

700 HP isn't too much for a wagon, is it?

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 02:36

Nah, we can just throw on some wider rubber so we can handle it. It also has to be painted estoril or lemans blue, and have a carbon fiber roof/wrap.

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:40

Sounds like a plan!!

New exhaust also a must

promoted by the color red > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 02:42

True, but you have TWO BMWs! Where I live you can have a 3-wagon for $20K, a M3 for about $20-21K or less, and V10 M5s for under $30K.

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 02:42

Straight piping it isn't off the table. But we also need a button like in the jaguar F type where we can choose to make it quiet, so we can bully tools that drive automatic sports cars.

bob and john > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 03:50

hmm. buy a wreck E9x m3. purchese wagon,. swap over. done

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 04:06

That button is a must!

I don't like annoying the neighbors when I get home late.

Loud exhaust is only for the open road

BKRM3 > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 09:21

This is a tough sale at that price with that engine. I bet if he went the rest of the way and put in an S65 he'd have no trouble selling it for $50k+. I don't know of a single full E91 M3 conversion in the US. Well, a decent one anyway. I saw one with some wide body flares on it and it looked like shit.

PardonMyFlemish16 > promoted by the color red
02/09/2014 at 10:21

EXCUSES EXCUSES.

PardonMyFlemish16 > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 10:23

Crackhead price. For $40K I could do an S65 swap into a 325i wag.

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 10:57

Yeah, and I do a lot of morning driving so it would probably be better if we could choose to have some quiet

AM3R > BKRM3
02/09/2014 at 11:04

Kinja'd!!!

I know of a V10 swapped E91 somewhere in the US, not a big fan of how it looks. There's also the LTMW Liberty walk E91. Supposedly they swapped something into it but I'm not sure.

BKRM3 > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 14:48

Oh, yeah, sorry, it was this one. I hate it.

AM3R > BKRM3
02/09/2014 at 15:12

Kinja'd!!!

It's a little rich for my blood. I wish someone would make an OEM looking E91 M3 and do a full swap, but everyone that swaps an engine feels the need to make it extremely wide and SEMA looking.

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 15:52

And it's good to quiet the car when you see a cop!

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 17:11

In a cops eyes, he sees a nice looking family wagon.

To make it the ultimate sleeper, we should find a way to make it sound like a diesel truck! Although I wouldn't enjoy the noise very much haha.

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 17:11

In a cops eyes, he sees a nice looking family wagon.

To make it the ultimate sleeper, we should find a way to make it sound like a diesel truck! Although I wouldn't enjoy the noise very much haha.

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 17:21

Hmm maybe we should use a 335d engine, lol

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 17:45

That would be an awesome DD. Get 40+ mpg on the highway and haver a ridiculous amount of torque? Sign me up!

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 18:56

Why wasn't this an option from the factory for the US?

E91 335D wagon with 6MT would have been perfect. And getting cheaper by now

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 19:42

I'm still wondering why they didn't offer an E91 335i, and a 335d with a manual transmission. C'mon bmw

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 19:44

I'm guessing cause demand was so low. Only people on Oppo would buy them. And we wouldn't only buy them used, lol

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 19:49

I mean, they could've just shipped a few E91 335i's over. They are so popular in Europe. People were saying the same when they announced the 335d. "Who wants a high performance diesel anyways? We want fuel efficiency!!!"

I've heard the auto in the D actually isn't that bad, and it handles all the torque really well. I really want to drive one, it's a potential DD if I decide to sell the 328i, and buy something like an E46 M3 or E39 M5 as a toy.

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 20:18

I think there is probably a certification process for each variation of a car that makes it expensive to bring a model over if it's not going to sell well?

I wonder if BMW made any money on the E90 335d that they did bring over. They sold some of them but not that many. I rarely ever see one on the road. I mostly see 328i cars and the occasional 335i

The auto that is mated with the 335d is supposed to handle it well. I think it's the same 6AT that's in the other E90 cars and it's a good box. I've driven an E90 328i with it and it's a pretty good transmission. Big step up from the AT in the E46 that tended to fail prematurely (my sis had an E46 323i whose AT failed at around 70K miles).

Has your 328i been good to you? If so then my advice is to not sell it until you've put so many miles on the chassis that it just doesn't have any more life to give you. The only reason I would sell it is if it's had a lot of gremlins and you're worried about how much it will cost to keep it running.

If it's been good to you then I think it would be better to keep it as a DD and then get an M car as a toy. Even if the 335D gets better gas mileage you'll negate those savings by having to spend money to get that car. You could instead put that money towards a toy.

There are so many awesome options for toys. There are the ones you listed. Or you could go older and get an E36 M3. It might not be as fast and will need improvements to keep it on the road. But you can pick up one for under $10K and take your time upgrading it since you'd have your 328i.

Or you could go totally off the wall and save some money for a more exotic toy. I think the Ferrari 328 is a great investment right now. Values are going up and it's one of the cheapest Ferraris to maintain. The routine maintenance can be done without taking the engine out. It's not crazy expensive yet because Ferrari made a ton of them. But I wonder where prices will go from here. The most desirable Dino models used to be relatively affordable too about 15-20 years ago because they were so common. But now they go for well over $250K!

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 20:53

The auto transmissions in the 328i and 335i are different, so I'm assuming it's also the case with the diesel.

Wise words man! My 328i has treated me very well so far. Exceeded everything I wanted in my car. It's treated me so well, I probably won't be doing any mods on it besides a tint, some wheels, and some better springs/shocks once I pile more miles onto it. The money I save by not modding it, plus the money I've been saving for a toy, could buy me an E36 M3. I just have to find one that hasn't been beat to hell and back haha!

I'm going to just wait until I can decide what I REALLY want. The cars I'm looking at are just on opposite ends of the spectrum. I've considered spending $30k on a 996, spending $5k buying and turbo-ing an E34, saving up for an E90 M3, buying an S2k, everything! I don't want to buy something and keep thinking of what could have been.

For now, I'll just enjoy my little 328i while it's still treating me well. I'll be honest though, I'm probably gonna end up with an M in the future!

Manuél Ferrari > AM3R
02/09/2014 at 20:59

Really? I never knew that!! I picked up a new piece of BMW trivia today, thanks.

I'm glad your car has treated you well! You should definitely keep it.

Isn't it maddening how many choices there are in the $30K range if you're willing to buy a used car that doesn't have a warranty? It's a great thing and a bad thing at the same time because thinking of all the options can drive you crazy.

The 997.1 C2 prices are starting to creep closer and closer to $30K. Early E9X M3 prices are too.

The big thing you have to decide is if the car is strictly a toy for your own fun or if you want it to both be a toy and a car you will hold long term as a collectible item. If you're going to try to hold it for life then you may as well pick a car that might appreciate one day. That way if you ever are in a tough spot financially and need some rainy day funds you can sell the car.

AM3R > Manuél Ferrari
02/09/2014 at 21:14

More wise words! As much as I want to spend at the top of my budget and use the fact that it can be a daily to make myself feel better, it wouldn't be a good idea.

It's amazing how far $30k can go. Although i (probably) won't be spending that much because it'll end up being a toy.

I would LOVE to buy a toy, make it a nice weather DD/weekend car, and sell it for as close to what I bought it for, or even make money off of it. I keep telling myself the prices on E39 M5's is gonna shoot up soon, but the rises in price aren't that big. E46 M3 prices are actually dropping, albeit very slowly. Due to how E36 M3's hit rock bottom, and a bunch of people bought them and trashed them, if I could find a nice one it could potentially be sold for a profit in the future. There's no guarantee though, and in a few years when BRZ/FRS prices drop the market for ~$15k cars is going to saturated.