Being an ex e46 M3 owner it really depends how deep your pockets are... seeing all E46 M3's will soon be out warranty as of this year (unless you find a CPO that has the 7 year 100k, which might be hard).
If you do decide on it DO NOT get an SMG model they do and will fail. SMG is not an exact science and caused my car to start grinding the engagement teeth in 4th gear forcing me to trade the car in seeing it would've been 4k+ for me to fix (I used to be a Porsche mechanic) and 8k for a dealer fix. The car had 60k on it by this time. Take into account service costs also ..oil alone is 15 dollars a quart (and only dealer available locally) seeing the car only runs on TWS 10w-60.
M3's also have had rear sub-frame issues (they tear out from the car) under extreme circumstances (TMS created a bracket kit to reinforce the subframe)
Is this a daily driver....will ever track it? just something to keep in mind.
Last tuning the E46 M3 is not a walk in the park and due to the ///M badge it's an arm and a leg you can discover that for yourself.
But I will say this....I loved that car and will never forget it and would go thru it all over again.
If your looking for something affordable fast and fun I would take a hard look into the e36 M3 market as it's more cost effective and there easily tunable to high number
in the end.
