2011 M3: daily driver or PT driver?

[GT3fan]

Hi guys,

I am new to the forum and glad to be here. I recently purchased a 2011 m3 w/ 6mt and can't decide whether to daily drive it or preserve it and not use it for my 60 mile daily commute.

A part of me says enjoy it daily and heck with the miles. The other part says don't run it into the ground, since I plan to keep it 5-10 years and putting 18k miles a year would put it at close to 150k in 5 years. Concerns of reliability and repair costs come to mind.

The m3 is a 3rd car. I currently daily drive a GTi which is fun and gets great MPG. If the m3 becomes my daily I would sell the VW. I also have a sportier car that is my weekend fun car.

Does it make sense to drive the m3 daily in this situation?

Thanks for any input.
James

[Millie]

Sell the Audi err VW and use the money towards any future repairs and mods on the M3. Since you already have a weekend toy I'd dd the M3 no questions.

[ajee622]

I wouldn't daily it. Drive your gti everyday. I'm assuming gti is paid for.

I get about 240 miles max to a tank. So you are talking about filling up every 4 days. So at least 7x a month. I know you aren't doing that with your gti.

I guess my next question would be how many miles are on the m3 now?? If they are really low then I def wouldn't daily. If you have more than 60-70k miles it might sway me I daily a little bit.

[Munichm3]

What you can do is daily drive it a few times of the week and switch off? That way you'll never be bored of anything.

[Eau Rouge]

Congratulations. Good job finding one that wasn't missing a pedal.

Prepare yourself for some "advice"...not from me.

You're gonna get comments masquerading as advice like these:

Some will offer sage advice such as "drive it like you stole it ", "Drive it 'cause YOLO ", "Would you save your girlfriend for her next bf to bang?" etc..,

Some will offer sage advice like "DD something else because M3 shouldn't be a grocery getter or money maker rather just for fun times whip", "Yes, by all means bubble wrap it because it's your 401k plan on wheels", etc..,

Others won't even bother posting but will think "Newb" or "Search" or simply yawn.

Finally, you seem to have a plan or two for the car. Whatever advice you read in this thread that makes the most sense, go and do the exact opposite. That's your best course of action, IMHO.

Enjoy your M3! Oh...and please post pics.

[GT3fan]

I appreciate all the feedback so far.

No car loans. My M3 currently has 48,000 miles on it. I have considered driving both the VW and m3 as daily drivers. Not a bad option.

[young dude]

Public transit / Uber (Lyft) to work and drive for fun / errands, if that's an option.

[srmast1]

I am somewhat in your boat OP. I have a 50 mile commute and I have a 4 cylinder hyundai as well as my m3. I drive the hyundai 2/3 of the time and drive the m3 1/3 of the time. After a while, you might start to feel the horrible gas milage the m3 gives and might regret letting go of your vw. The other point is, while the m3 is hopefully quite reliable, normal wear and tear can become quite pricey. If money is no object, dd that m3.

[GVIFlyer]

Originally Posted by AMG2M3

Hi guys,

I am new to the forum and glad to be here. I recently purchased a 2011 m3 w/ 6mt and can't decide whether to daily drive it or preserve it and not use it for my 60 mile daily commute.

A part of me says enjoy it daily and heck with the miles. The other part says don't run it into the ground, since I plan to keep it 5-10 years and putting 18k miles a year would put it at close to 150k in 5 years. Concerns of reliability and repair costs come to mind.

The m3 is a 3rd car. I currently daily drive a GTi which is fun and gets great MPG. If the m3 becomes my daily I would sell the VW. I also have a sportier car that is my weekend fun car.

Does it make sense to drive the m3 daily in this situation?

Thanks for any input.
James

I'm pretty much in the same boat. I have this S2000 for alfresco driving.


I use this Mini Paceman Cooper S All 4, like your VeeDub GTI, as an all-weather daily driver. It's currently outfitted with Blizzaks.


That leaves the M3 for holiday spirited driving; subsequently, the odometer just rolled over only 11,000 miles. I'd recommend you do the same and save your new M3 for entertainment driving.

[m3nace92]

i bought mine this summer and added it to my audi. pretty similar situation that you're in. commute about 70 miles to work everyday. for the time being, i'm keeping the audi for daily/winter duties but whenever it was nice out i would occasionally take the m3 to work just to mix it up.

was already mentioned but you'd be fueling up every few days depending on traffic and no matter how much money you do or don't have, it gets incredibly annoying. (filled up monday morning once and had to refuel by wednesday morning)

enjoy the hell out of the car for sure. unless you have to sell the other, i wouldn't. i suspect you'd eventually become fed up with commuting in it every day and the fill ups associated with it and regret letting go of something a little more practical while still being enjoyable to drive.

[jaekeem]

If you already have a DD then just throw the M3 into the rotation 1-2 times a week.

I have a '12 328i for daily duty until I can get into the 911 I want. Then the M3 will take its place as the daily.

At 50k miles its not an investment vehicle. Neither is mine at 24k miles.

[roastbeef]

Keep both for a while and see what you gravitate towards more. I tried to dd my 325 after I got my m3 and I never drove the 325. It became quite clear to sell the 325.

[firstbimmer]

I thought my m3 would be a part-time driver but I love it so much that I now use it daily. I have decided that life is short and even if I need to dump money into the car over the years to fix things that break, its no different than dumping money into a new car every couple years. If I ever get tired of driving it then I can get something else.

As a middle class guy with a family, I'm never going to be a car collector so I might as well not fake it. I look at all my cars as being worth zero plus the cost of ongoing maintenance so anything left in the long run is purely bonus and for my own gratification.

The reality is we all do what works within our own budgets. Some people daily a ferrari. Some people daily a civic. Some daily an m3. There is no general right or wrong answer.

[shimmy23]

Originally Posted by Munichm3

What you can do is daily drive it a few times of the week and switch off? That way you'll never be bored of anything.

this!

The m3 is too awesome of a car to only be driven on the weekends. I babied my garage queen e46 M3 and my biggest regret was not driving it more. I "saved it for the weekends" and even then found myself not having the time to enjoy it on those two days.

Life is too short to save a car for weekends. Enjoy it in good health and drive it as much as you can.

[Todd0131]

I dd mine 65 miles round trip every day. Get about 350 miles per tank or so. So not horrible on gas mileage. I figure if I am going to spend all that time in a car I might as well enjoy it.

[monterey]

I personally think the M3 is a terrible DD. I would never do it if i had a choice. I only have 1 car so i have too.

[srmast1]

Originally Posted by Todd0131

I dd mine 65 miles round trip every day. Get about 350 miles per tank or so. So not horrible on gas mileage. I figure if I am going to spend all that time in a car I might as well enjoy it.

How in God's name do you get 350 miles a tank??? In your e9x m3 no less!?

[iBoosted]

I daily mine, but I live less than ~5 miles from work..

[pbonsalb]

I bought my car to drive, not as a toy.

[sojirovs]

I work 4 days a week, 20 miles commute. For 2 days, I drive my s2k (and track days), and I drive m3 for the other 2 days and weekends.
I would start driving both, pick the car in the morning. Having an option in the morning makes me a lil bit happy.

[GT3fan]

I guess one of my biggest hangups is the fact I've always wanted an e90m and my expectations is to keep this car long term for many years and have worries about the reliability of an m3 w/ 120k and possibly 150k miles.

So far, I absolutely love my m3. I know it will be a LT keeper and can't keep it pristine forever, but I'm sure gonna try.

[jiggz]

Just drive the car and enjoy it...why drive a GTI when you can drive an M3?

It's not a Ferrari or Lambo where you get killed on resale if mileage exceeds 10K.