The reason i got my golf was i work in london bout 105miles away and for years ive had a cheap diesel for work and a showcar in the garage for best.(M3/MITSUBISHI EVO5/GTO TWIN TURBO/2XCOSWORTHS/RS TURBO ETC)......thing is these cars were heavily modified and wrapped in cotton wool most never came out in the winter/rain etc and i found myself ALWAYS driving a piece of crap clattering diesel everywhere!! so thought to myself what car can i get and use for work and let me sell the car sat in the garage and give me a chance to finally save some £££££££££££ and that'll return at least 33-34mpg for my commute,look good,look nice and slightly modify to look nicer,cheap to insure/service/reliable and put a huge grin on my face when i hit the B roads etc and the GTi AUM K03s 1.8T spec after a R-TECH remap!!! hits the nail bang on the head...(gona keep for 2 years then get my E46 ///M3! 
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I was going to buy an M3 but there not worth it, most have been abused and the ownership costs are silly. You want to have around £2k-£3k sat in the bank in case anything goes wrong! Id rather spend that on upgrades/mods for a better all round car!
Have to say though everytime i hear an M3 boot i come home and check on pistonheads for one :embarassed: A quick look at running costs puts me off though lol
Was looking at convertibles for about £13k-£14k but the money will lose and the cost to own it make it really hard to part with your cash! If i was going for a high end performance car for that money i would get this
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/838835.htm
Need to wait untill my wage goes up next year untill i can afford that and the R32 im getting tho 
running costs ie servicing etc are like any other high performance car but the E46 M3 is a different kettle of fish than the E36 M3 EVO reliability wise! theres no issues with the vanos and the gearbox is stronger, id want a manual 6speed over the SMG so no real issues there either, treat it well keep it serviced and it should soldier on. oviously tyres are expensive (19") but hey its an M3!!!!! they arent cheap!!!.............My old ///M3 3.0litre cost me £1000's it had a full gt spec/schnitzer engine and was a monster i spent loads maintaining it and there not cars for cheapskates!
