New build! E90 M3
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Car looks great, now throw a supercharger on it.
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This week has been crazy for me at work and I haven't had a chance to update everyone on the full story of this car. It's been a roller coaster but everything turned out alright in the end!
I've been looking for an M3 for a while and a few of you know that I've been obsessing about an M3 for roughly 6 - 9 months. I have been telling myself that for my 30th birthday I wanted a real sports car. I tossed around a 996 briefly but it just wasn't practical for me. I've always loved Skylines and an r32 crossed my mind but again, not very practical. I have loved the e90 chassis. It's the perfect size for me, the perfect amount of tech and comfort and I love the looks. I loved my 335i but I just wanted something different from a car. I've always compromised on my vehicles because I have always needed a dual use vehicle due to whatever circumstance I was in. I still need to make some compromise due to my current situation (toddler) but being able to share this car with him is more enjoyable than having no compromises.
The ups and downs start with me deciding to start the search and then finding out my wife has MS. We went through the diagnosis process for a few months and after a lot of waiting and a 2nd opinion it was confirmed that she has MS. During this time there is no way I could continue to search for a car. Once the diagnosis set in and "normalized" then I started searching again. And then my basement walls started leaking... I feared the worst and brought in multiple people for estimates. Once again as a responsible adult I can't justify an M3 when i'm fearing a $20k home repair. After getting a few estimates the consensus was to add some drainage outside of the wall once the ground thaws. Woohoo! Disaster avoided! So I started searching again.
I test drove a few cars and came up with what I wanted and didn't want in the car. The toughest part for me was deciding on the DCT. I have owned a MT vehicle since I was 18 and thought I wanted a 6spd M3... until I drove the DCT. Oh my god is it good! The shifts are so fast, the rev matched downshifts put a smile on my face every time AND my wife would be able to drive it. With that and a few other specific search parameters in place I started searching! The car I ended up buying happened to be one of the first cars I inquired about. After a week of discussion with the dealer and negotiation we couldn't come to an agreement on the price. I walked away from the deal. That was a Friday. I found an Alpine White 2010 in Fond Du Lac, met Ben to show him my car at the dealer adn we took the M3 for a drive. It was a mess to the say the least. A mouse got into it and chewed up connectors, wires and a seat belt. It had a shitty wrap on the dash trim and many other red flags. I walked away from that car very discouraged and kept searching. I was ready to expand my parameters because I was getting impatient. Jordan helped keep me centered on the search and kept reminding me what I didn't want and why some cars were a bad idea. It's probably thanks to him that I'm not driving a 150k mile jet black 08.
That Monday I got an email from the dealer in Atlanta asking if I was still in the market. I said yes but only if they could meet me at my price. I got an email back telling me the deal was on! I was pumped! I booked a flight, rearranged Easter plans and arranged a ride to O'hare. I had to travel to Rice Lake and Chippewa Falls the next couple days after that. That Wednesday I was leaving Rice Lake and got an email from the dealer apologizing to me. A mistake had been made and the price went up $1000. I was furious to say the least. I sent a very strongly worded email to the sales guy and basically said they will meet me at my price or refund me my flight. I wasn't expecting much but had already planned on calling the Dealer Principle if I didn't get the answer I wanted. Again, I wasn't expecting much from this plan but one way or another I was going to be doing a lot of yelling at someone or multiple people. The worst part is I had a 4 hour drive home to think about this. Well about 2 1/2 hours after I go the original email I received an email from the Sales Manager apologizing for the situation and letting me know that they would keep their word!
The deal was on! I didn't sleep for the rest of the week! I went to my brother in laws house on Friday night, left at 5am Saturday morning, go to O'hare, had a Redbull confiscated and waited to board my flight. Once boarded my flight was delayed... all of a sudden there were 2 cops and an undercover on the flight taking a guy off in handcuffs. That was unsettling to say the least but there was some peace of mind knowing he was taken off the flight. A quick 2 hour flight to Atlanta and I was that much closer! The sales guy was supposed to pick me up at the airport. Well... there are two airports in Atlanta. This guy went to the wrong airport and couldn't figure out how to get to me even after I shared my location on google maps. I ended up hopping on a shuttle to get to him. That killed an hour of unscheduled time. After a 20 minute drive we were at the dealer. I looked over the car and it was exactly what I had expected except for a few rock chips in the hood but nothing major. The dealer had no idea what kind of exhaust it had and I was very happily surprised to find a Borla exhaust. I test drove it, came back and said I wanted it. Well this happened to be a very busy day at the dealer so I ended up waiting an hour and a half for finance so I could finish up. I had taken care of all of my finances prior to showing up so once I got in the office it was a matter of signing some paperwork and about 5 minutes later I was done. I hopped in the car and started heading north at about 2:30 pm.
Traffic was shit in Georgia. Traffic was shit in Tennessee. Traffic was OK in Kentucky but it was raining. I did stop in Nashville for some hot chicken at a place called Helen's but the chicken was going to take too long so I got catfish. It was the best catfish I have ever had! I got to Illinois at 9:30pm and I had never been so happy to be in Illinois. I told myself that Bloomington would be my check in point since I was familiar with it and I would only be about 2.5 hours away from home if I needed to sleep. I hit Bloomington around 2:30am and I felt fine so I powered through! Driving through Illinois I did find that the exhaust has a slight drone at 78 mph BUT at 76 mph it's fine. Anyways, I kept driving and consuming Redbull and water. I stopped every hour or so to get out and move around to keep myself awake. At 5am on Sunday I pulled into my driveway. I slept for 4 1/2 hours and woke up for my son's first Easter egg hunt!
Since i've doomed Wisconsin to an eternal winter I've only had a couple chances to drive the car but I love it! My son's first response was "dada, this is FANCY! I like it!" shortly followed by "Can we drive crazy?". My wife's first response was "It's loud." We took it to Easter and I let her drive it for a bit. She had the chance to pass her mom's husband on the highway and with my prodding she put her foot down. What proceeded was some giggling and a big smile! She then said "It's loud!" but with much more enthusiasm this time. I love the DCT but I love even more that my wife will drive the car! Despite her propensity to buy boring cars she likes fast cars and to share this with her is great! My son also told me today when I picked him up from daycare "dada, I like your M free!" so that's a win.
This won't be much of a build thread and more of a "look at the silly cosmetic things I bought" and "here are pictures of me driving my car" thread. Just like the last car she will see track time thanks to a birthday present from my wife!
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Congrats on the new car! You plan on driving it through winter?
I've got 2 other cars to drive. As it sits right now she'll keep the PSS on and stay in the garage through the forever winter.
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A rollercoaster indeed! Sorry to hear about the MS but glad she caught on to it early, I've known a few people with it. I hope you still had some choice words with the dealer, not exactly a great buying experience but it worked out in the end! Can't wait to see this rumble into Lake Mills
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Cosmetics indeed. The best part about these cars is that you don't need to do a "build". Everything is done well out of the box. ZCP wheels fit 295 tires in the rear which is plenty enough to put traction down even with a supercharger. The suspension is good, the chassis is good, the diff is good.
For 25-30k plus some cash for BE rod bearings, there isn't much more car you can really buy. Throw a supercharger on it and for well under 40k all-in you've got something that has a very nice interior, handles and brakes well, bespoke V8, and can gobble up the power because the chassis is built well and the clutch won't cry because you still have realistic amounts of torque, and you won't have to worry about bending rods.
Your 335 was a good platform, but after watching Longboarder's NFZ videos of his M3 with DCT + ESS 650 supercharger just crushing M4's with upgraded Pure turbos and many other cars in the 600+ power range, it's hard to argue with the simplicity of being able to basically have it all if you are willing to throw a blower on your M3 at some point. Literally nothing else needs to be done to your car, and it runs on pump gas, lol. Compare that to everything you had to screw around with on your N54, and that in order to be at the power levels of your M3 with a blower (once you put it on), you'd need to do a clutch, probably port injection, guaranteed need to find E85 stations, LSD, better suspension, etc.
Or just drive it and be happy with a car that does everything except accelerate fast - I can say I've never really "wanted" for more power with the car, and the only reason I just threw dollars at a supercharger is because I have always been the guy who goes over the top with cars. It's what I do. You will get an awful lot of enjoyment out of the car as it stands this summer, without needing to do much. Although I still stand by my statement that you *need* to get an xpipe sooner rather than later.
IMO you picked the right car and it serves all your summer driving needs, can be tracked, and with a blower it will poo-poo on literally anything you run into on the street other than the occasional GT-R, Z06, or other highly modified muscle car while losing none of its drivability and manners. It should be a car that you can keep relevant while having a unique V8 for many years and I'm happy you have joined this particular club with me.
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
I had a moment to go "grocery shopping" today and finally got a decent video. I'm jealous of everyone I drive by...
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I test drove a few cars and came up with what I wanted and didn't want in the car. The toughest part for me was deciding on the DCT. I have owned a MT vehicle since I was 18 and thought I wanted a 6spd M3... until I drove the DCT. Oh my god is it good! The shifts are so fast, the rev matched downshifts put a smile on my face every time AND my wife would be able to drive it. With that and a few other specific search parameters in place I started searching! The car I ended up buying happened to be one of the first cars I inquired about. After a week of discussion with the dealer and negotiation we couldn't come to an agreement on the price. I walked away from the deal. That was a Friday. I found an Alpine White 2010 in Fond Du Lac, met Ben to show him my car at the dealer adn we took the M3 for a drive. It was a mess to the say the least. A mouse got into it and chewed up connectors, wires and a seat belt. It had a shitty wrap on the dash trim and many other red flags. I walked away from that car very discouraged and kept searching. I was ready to expand my parameters because I was getting impatient. Jordan helped keep me centered on the search and kept reminding me what I didn't want and why some cars were a bad idea. It's probably thanks to him that I'm not driving a 150k mile jet black 08.
Sooooo is the trick to do it behind the back?
I'm glad your trip ended up going alright and you found something that the whole family enjoys!
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Awesome story and awesome car. Congrats again!
Was waiting for the WOT spot in the video. Satisfaction came right at 1:00.
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Wow, that sounds good. I got butterflies in my stomach when you revved it out.
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Awesome read. Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had a hell of a time searching on top of everything else going on. I hope the wife is doing good and that's really cool that she can drive it. Im sure that really helps justify it and it "sounds" like it made her happy too. A friend of mine bought a Supra last year and went for an auto because he wanted his father to be able to enjoy the car with him as well. Congrats man, I will look forward to seeing it in person this summer..... sometime after this winter curse you brought upon us goes away.
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Thanks for all of the positive comments guys! My wife is doing alright. It was a very long process to diagnose her with a lot of trying times. A lot of time spent in hospitals, a lot of needles and a lot of waiting. A few doctors at the beginning couldn't even figure out what was wrong with her and at one point it was a 2 1/2 month wait to see a neurologist. One test would come back negative and another would come back positive and then another would be inconclusive so our emotions have been put through their paces for the last 9 months or so. She's been tough through the whole process. Now that we have a positive diagnosis from a 2nd opinion we can start to figure out how to proceed with treatment. Currently she doesn't really experience any symptoms but that could change over time so any of the medication is to lessen the chance for a flare up in the future but they all of have side affects and consequences. The biggest thing is that we want to have another kid but if she starts taking medicine now it's about a 9 - 12 month lead time for the medication to take affect then there has to be a period of time where she is off the medicine before she can get pregnant. Certainly not something we've planned for but there's nothing we can do about it either.
Now for some better news! I started ordering parts for the car last Friday. Through my wholesale account with ECS I got some great deals on BMW performance blackout grille's, painted reflectors and LED angel eyes. Next up will be a gloss black GTS front lip, some coding and eventually the GTS DCT flash. Anyone have experience with Carly? Pros and Cons?
After getting the exhaust video I also headed out to a spot to take some pictures. They're only Gopro quality photo's right now because my lap top is dead so I can't get my pictures off of my Nikon at the moment.
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New parts are always exciting. The Carly app is cool, a lot of features.
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I also had an experience with one of these. There was one parked out-front of a business when myself and a few friends were hanging out last weekend. We eventually found the owner of it inside. So we started talking to him about it and he offered us a ride. Keep in mind I had just met this guy dont know his name or anything. So we thought to ourselfs 4kids VS 1 Stranger and we took him up on his offer. It was black with the auto trans. Long story he did a bunch of pulls and drifted around the city of EC. His car alarm went off shortly after so we found him again and told him. He ended up giving spider some jumper cables out of his appreciation. It was one hell of a time. Love that car.
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I think my favorite part about this, is how excited you are to be able to share the car with your wife! That’s so awesome.
Wish Rolls was like that [emoji102]
I really need a ride in this thing when we get the chance. Every time I brought the idea of purchasing one of these to Mitch I was always immediately talked out of it lol. Sounds so good!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I think my favorite part about this, is how excited you are to be able to share the car with your wife! That’s so awesome.
Wish Rolls was like that [emoji102]
I really need a ride in this thing when we get the chance. Every time I brought the idea of purchasing one of these to Mitch I was always immediately talked out of it lol. Sounds so good!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mods, ban this user
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I think my favorite part about this, is how excited you are to be able to share the car with your wife! That’s so awesome.
Wish Rolls was like that
I really need a ride in this thing when we get the chance. Every time I brought the idea of purchasing one of these to Mitch I was always immediately talked out of it lol. Sounds so good!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks! As soon as the fucking snow melts I'll bring it up and you can take jt for a drive! The sound is intoxicating! Mitch can ride in back...
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