How do you know if you should sell your E46 M3?

[01SG]

I probably should sell mine. I've driven it like 500 miles in the last 3-4 years. Lost a lot of enthusiasm as it developed some rust issues. But can't quite bring myself to sell it, especially since it's not worth much anyway.

You lost enthusiasm for driving because of some rust...? Sounds like a lot of people are more interested in the image of having a clean/nice/cool car than driving. Nothing wrong with that, but doesn't make much sense to own an e46 when the general public will always be more impressed with something new.

[Sharocks]

I probably should sell mine. I've driven it like 500 miles in the last 3-4 years. Lost a lot of enthusiasm as it developed some rust issues. But can't quite bring myself to sell it, especially since it's not worth much anyway.

Hey man all that can be fixed, let's not talk crazy okay? Cool.

[terra]

I probably should sell mine. I've driven it like 500 miles in the last 3-4 years. Lost a lot of enthusiasm as it developed some rust issues. But can't quite bring myself to sell it, especially since it's not worth much anyway.

[05CherryM3]

I may have come off as strictly dollars and cents when it comes to my car and it's not that at all. When these cars were selling for insane prices during covid and I would take it in for service I had people basically beg to sell it to them and I told them I would die with this car. I was offered as high as 70k in 2021 from an auto tech at a very high end shop. I love this car. I love driving it. Without getting into personal detail, unfortunately some aspects of life has taken the joy out of this for me. I also kept telling myself once I finished accomplishing something (school, new career, etc) I would have more time but then something else just always came along.

It also doesn't help that I've always had a company car or another type of daily. I currently drive a pickup as my daily and I always find myself hauling something or needing to pick something up making the M3 impractical to take out.

As for my wife, she has the worst case of motion sickness I have ever seen. If she isn't the driver, we'd have to pull over every 5 minutes because she'd be sick. I always wanted to go out to meets and drives with it and bring her along but that isn't possible.

One person mentioned to drive it 1,000 miles and rethink it. I like that idea. Maybe I'll find meaningful places to drive it to so that I can open it up a little and see if it's worth keeping while I have the luxury of not needing to sell it.

I was waiting on some dove grey hate comment. I will never understand the hate for it. I know I'm the minority, but my interior is pristine and I think the color looks great. In fact I always thought black interiors were the boring common ones after owning 3 cars with it.

[usdmej]

I don't mean this in a bad way because I've lived through it too but youve clearly prioritized other things over living the car life you might have dreamed of


if you sell it you won't miss it, you can keep it as a speculative investment but there are better assets to hold onto (any Porsche GT product) if that's what you're really in it for

[02_lsb]

It’s a car. Sell it. Move on.

[WestBankM4]

You're wrestling with the fact that it's low mileage and it commands a higher selling price. I think you don't actually drive it in order to keep the "value" up there, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but these forums are going to tell you to drive it. Wrestling on that fact alone means you don't really value the car for what it's worth, an actual drivers car.

I'd sell it if I were you, get your money and let the next person potentially put miles on it. Win, win in my book.

[Sharocks]

If you're factoring your wife in this decision, just sell the car man lol

[TexaZ3]

In your mind, you already sold it.

[maw1124]

IDK Man... if you can afford a "spare" car, these are hard to beat. I've kept mine for this reason. It's more or less a vacation car at a vacation house. Maybe I drive it a few weeks a year (16 years, 30k miles). I have friends who have kept E39M since new as that same "once in a while" car that only Dad drives -- kids have grown and left the house knowing that as "Dad's fun car."

If you can afford to keep it like that, I say keep it as long as there are parts available to keep it to your standards.

"When you can no longer maintain it to your standards" is when you sell it, in my book.

I'm not tracking anything, but I'm also not painting or restoring anything either. Keep it in the shape you want, drive it when you want, don't think anymore about it.

Icons are iconic for a reason.

maw

[Obioban]

Either drive it or sell it.

When going out without the wife, why aren't you taking it? For that matter... how is she getting violently ill from your M3 specifically?

You're only 2 hours from NJMP. Maybe do an event there before making any decisions. A nice thing about tracking is it has a way of making detailing and keeping the car perfect feel... inconsequential and petty. Really lets you enjoy the car instead of constantly worrying about it.

[oceansize]

The lesson? Don't go too far in restorations if you plan on enjoying your car. Like right now I'm working on my new to me 2005 mystic blue slick top stripper manual. I'm not cleaning every part, nor am I going to powder coat everything, extensively clean the underbody, or replace every less than perfect interior piece. I'm not going to repaint anything. I'm going to do the bare minimum when it comes to aesthetics and then drive the hell out of it every sunny day. I do keep my cars very clean and enjoy detailing.

[bagger]

I recently sold mine and do not regret it. I found myself driving less and less for many of the same reasons. Loved the car but once I finished all the projects on it and had it relatively perfect it wasn’t as exciting. There’s always more cars and plenty of M3s. Easy to fill that void again if needed.

This is where I'm at right now. Mine is relatively perfect, but I really enjoyed the years getting it to the state it's in now. I have like double or triple into it what it's probably worth, and treat it with too much respect. This season, I'm driving it. To the store, wherever. But I'm still parking far away from everyone in the lot. Baby steps. It brings a smile to my face on every drive still, so I'm keeping it, and driving it (I usually drive 1k miles per year previously - currently has like 70k miles).

Going back to the OP situation, there's nothing like getting money into an investment as early as possible. You will certainly command a high dollar for what you have, no doubt. I imagine it will be extremely difficult to one day replace what you currently have if you sold and later wanted another. So one school of thought would be to sell your prized one, invest the money or whatever, and if you ever wanted another one - just get a pure "driver grade" one that you will drive more than the one you have today.

[E46fanatics…]

Yeah, motion sickness is no joke but if you can drive it by yourself as your “daily” driver, maybe put a thousand miles to see if it’s really something that you want to keep.

[PSUEng]

I go back and forth over the years myself on this same question; I've owned mine since 2007 and 25k miles. I'm now at 88.3k. I've done a lot to keep it in great shape and also have never DD'd it. I take it out when it's nice and with our crumbling road infrastructure, I'm selective where it goes especially considering prices of parts lately.

For me, I'll sell it when/if I can afford something else that really moves me. Right now, there is nothing so, I keep it. If I needed the money, I'd sell it. So, my answer: if you need the money, sell it. If you get $50k for it and that's your number, sell it. Cars don't like to sit, which can lead to other problems.