The salesman called me today to tell me my machine arrived, so I flew by after work to check it out. Neither of the two people I deal with was there, so I couldn't get into the car, but I gave it a good walkaround and stareunder for about twenty minutes.
No pics and no driveby and no videos could ever do justice to how beautiful these cars are in person, two feet from where you're standing. It is swimming in soft curves that use the reflectivity of TiSilver paint like nothing else I've ever seen. The paint looks incredible, even on an overcast evening like tonight.
I'm not thrilled with the plastic lensed headlights, so I'll be looking into getting some european lights as soon as the bank gets built back up. I'm kind of wishing I'd done the spoiler delete, so I could add a 330ci spoiler like some have done, but I'll live with it.
The wheels are outstanding in person. They'll be a pain in the glutes to keep clean, but I'll stay on top of them and switch to a less dusty pad when the time comes.
I was awed by the whole SMG setup. It looks impressive - can't wait to try it.
Given the comments I've read about HK sound in the coupes, I'm glad I didn't get it; instead I threw that money at the SMG. Other than that, all I added was the moonroof. The car has so much standard equipment that I can't imagine adding anything else. Well, maybe heated seats...

I pick the car up Saturday. I'd do it sooner, but we still haven't gone to battle about a trade appraisal on my current M3.
I figure I'll be past the 1200 mile mark in less than two weeks, as I'll be driving all over Florida to show the car to friends and family.

Next up: I interview the various service personnel to pick out the guy I want working on my car when I bring it in. Believe me when I say I'm going to hold the dealer's feet to the fire about properly maintaining this ride.

congrats!

Congrats, Chuck! :buttrock

What color did you go with?

Originally posted by SilverStreak
Congrats, Chuck! :buttrock

What color did you go with?

Titanium Silver, Black leather/cloth interior.

I know that not having a full leather interior in a car hurts resale value, but I'm sick of leather. If they'd have had a full cloth interior available like the 1995 M3, I'd have taken it. Cloth is cooler in summer, warmer in winter, weathers better, and its easier to repair or replace.

congrats chuck!

Sounds beautiful, Chuck. I love the new M3 in Titanium Silver (I'm biased, too... :D ).

I also like the cloth/leather combo, they've done a good job with it, it's very attractive.

:alright

congrats!

'02 or '03?

Originally posted by themadhatter
congrats!

'02 or '03?

Its a 2002, the last of them I think.

Now that I've seen how awful the new Five looks, and the Six isn't far behind it, I just may hang on to this car for more than four years. When the new Three debuts in 05 or whatever, I doubt it will look as good as this car.

I just saw some pics of the new Pontiac Solstice. Beautiful little car, like a minature Aston Martin. Looks like it has a powerplant that screams "Mod me!". If Pontiac can build a car that nice after years of crap Grand Ams, why can't BMW build on their previous nice designs to come up with something outstanding?

Should have known what was going to happen when the Z9 showed up...

Congrats, nice color you picked! Are you coming to Miami?

Originally posted by TC M3
Congrats, nice color you picked! Are you coming to Miami?

Muinto sinto, non.

I am wk 37 for my '03 TiS/IR Coupe. I am getting my '01 LSB/grey Coupe ready for one last detailing session and hoping the rears last until delivery. :eek:

Outstanding. I can't think of very many words that sum up what this car is all about.

I thought my E36 was a rigid vehicle. The E46 is so solid I'd swear there were no seams or welds in it. In fact, I thought it was carved from a single hunk of forged steel. Its that solid. It makes my E36 seem like a Hyundai Excel by comparison. Of course, the E36 makes just about every other car seem like a Yugo.

The motor sounds awesome, nothing like the 2001 I raced earlier this year. I may yet grow to like the exhaust tone, but I won't hear the real noise until I pass the break-in period and get close to the redline. With the windows up, from inside the car the engine sounds very much like an air cooled 911.

Ah, SMG. What can I say? Once I got used to it (still have a few subtleties to master), it was incredible. I drove around for most of the evening in A1, A3, or A5. Mostly A3. I found that when I was going into tight turns or giving it gas out of a turn, it acted just like I would with a stick. Very reassuring to know we're on the same page. Once I get past break-in, I'm going to work on S mode skills. Until then, I'm going to kick back and enjoy the ride.

It rained almost nonstop from the time I left the dealer around 5PM, until I made it home after 10PM tonight. Good thing they have a good coat of wax on it. The factory spooge was still on the windshield, which will do until I can get a decent layer of RainX on it in the next couple of days.

I'm going to do some good miles over the next couple of days, maybe knock out at least a third of the break-in.

Once again, nothing can possible explain how curvy and beautiful these cars are. I don't think there's a flat piece of metal on the entire exterior. Everything has some kind of flowing shape to it. They outdid themselves on the M3 design. I dread to think what its going to look like once Bangle gets his mitts on it.

Congrats again, Chuck, post some pics when you get a chance!

How much over MSRP did you end up paying? How does anyone afford these things?

Originally posted by bmwpower
How much over MSRP did you end up paying? How does anyone afford these things?

why would you pay over list when you can have one for a discount? :D

Originally posted by themadhatter


why would you pay over list when you can have one for a discount? :D
is it good that i can get mine at msrp or is it possible to get it at invoice?

Seems that on the west coast in the more affluent areas the Bimmer dealers are still sticking it to da man. It is not as bad (2-4K) over MSRP.

I am in Central Florida and M3s never sold for over MSRP; however, used ones were based upon whatever the market would bear. I paid nearly MSRP for my '01 and expect to get a bit better for the '03. I think you should accept, given the continued strong demand for the car, to pay MSRP and get some goodies thrown in for good measure -- CD changes, alarm...

This may sound rude; however, it is not intended to be so. If you want to buy a car at invoice I would suggest a Chevy Cavalier. Resale is solely dependent upon the demand for the car. Remember this, if the car is hot new it should be hot used which directly correlates to resale value.

I paid "Monroney" for it. No one is discounting them yet, but no one is paying above MSRP in this area. For all the problems this dealer has caused me and others, service-wise, the "ADP" markup is something they don't do. They sold a Z8 to someone last year at sticker, knowing full well the turkey was buying it just to sell it to someone else at a serious markup.
As the saying goes, "You can shear a sheep a binch of times, but you can only skin them once."

Its an interesting story how I got into this car:

My E36 factory warranty was up in 60 miles, and I didn't want to be in a car without a warranty. I went to my credit union to get an extended warranty, and found out it would be $4400 because it was so close to the end. I got pissed and drove down the street to the dealer to look at 330ci's. I figured I could put that $4400 down on a new ride and get a 50k warranty with it.
I wanted a 330ci with sport, Step, and a few other things. Every car they had on their lot had the premium package, which I didn't want. I don't like wood trim in a car.
The salesman told me they don't get inventory cars without the premium package, because everyone wants it. He offered to order one for me, and showed me their allocation sheet. They had two or three slots open for 330ci's. I spotted an M3 on the page and mentioned that somehow they had an unallocated M3 available. The salesman was pretty surprised himself. I thought about it, hemmed and hawed, and realized that I while I would always enjoy the 330ci, I'd kick myself every time an M3 rolled by me. Its just something you can never give up if you have the opportunity.
So I jumped on it. Good thing too, since he had someone come in later that wanted that spot.
So I didn't have to wait 12 months, just two.

Did you buy from Reeves? Have you heard of any Tampa/St. Pete or M3 gatherings? On the west coast the M3'ers get together all the time -- real socialable guys/gals.

Originally posted by DriveBy
Did you buy from Reeves? Have you heard of any Tampa/St. Pete or M3 gatherings? On the west coast the M3'ers get together all the time -- real socialable guys/gals.

No, I didn't buy from Reeves. I wouldn't go to Reeves unless it was to empty trash out of my car. I made the mistake of going there for service once and they treated me like a peasant. I won't even get into what a bad experience the service was; their loaner policy alone pissed me off.

Y'see, I bought my E36 in Orland Park, Illinois. For three years I had it serviced in St. Pete at Bert Smith. I always got a loaner car out of them, even though I didn't buy my car there. No questions asked.
Reeves, on the other hand, has a policy of, "Well if you didn't buy your car here, we don't provide you with a loaner vehicle."
Well then, what incentive do I have to buy my next BMW from them with that kind of attitude?
I finally talked them into giving me a loaner. They said they'd make an exception since I bought my car from out of state. The girl grabs a set of keys and walks me down a long row of nice 3-series, past them all, and stops at a VW Cabrio.
Me: "You've got to be kidding, right? Does it come with complimentary rainbow stickers?"

Add all this to the absolute disaster that the service turned out to be, and I never will go back to Reeves again. I bought my E46 from Bert Smith. They screw things up from time to time, but they're friendly, and they go overboard trying to fix things. And they gave me a manly loaner car when I needed one. :D

I'm sure there are St. Pete/Tampa meets, but I have no idea where they are. The only stuff I hear about is club-sanctioned activity, which I never bother with.

A while back on Roadfly, there was a decent bunch of Florida people that would get together, but they've all dispersed. I wouldn't mind doing a meet if you have any ideas.

Originally posted by SilverStreak
Congrats again, Chuck, post some pics when you get a chance!

Yeah, I'd love to, but it has rained every single day here since I picked that car up! Unbelievable. I'm also trying to get the foundation for my house started - fat chance while we're getting a couple inches of rain every day.

I spent two hours washing my car this morning, because I was going to show it off to some of my customers. I took a shower afterwards, and hit the highway to get my day started... and drove smack into a cloud on the interstate. It drizzled on and off all day, then came down like a monsoon after 5PM.

The car now looks worse than when I started this morning. :mad:

Same thing happened to me the 3 days after I picked up my Convertible, I almost cried.... :D

driveby there is a meet in central florida on the 28th of sep.
check it out on DTM.
nice car

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is SMG?

Originally posted by blkbmw3
driveby there is a meet in central florida on the 28th of sep.
check it out on DTM.
nice car

Sorry if I did not RTFM; however, what is DTM? Very interested in a central florida meet. THANKS!

Silver Bullet SMG = Sequential Manual Gearbox. Essentially it's the same as a 6 speed Manual but instead of you controlling the clutch the computer does. There is no clutch for you instead there's a Hydraulic one which the computer controls. There are paddle shifters on the steering wheel so that you can just press them and change gears or use the standard shift knob. There are also 11 modes for you to choose from from S1 threw S6 and A1 threw A5. There are 6 manual modes and 5 Automatic modes. The S modes are the Manual an the A are the Automatic.

Driveby:

What color is the first M3 in the pic you have of all those M3's lined up? (see page 1 of thread) Is it Topaz?

-Jeremy

Originally posted by JThissell
Driveby:

What color is the first M3 in the pic you have of all those M3's lined up? (see page 1 of thread) Is it Topaz?

-Jeremy

I believe it is LeMans blue; however, I have been known to mistake Topaz for LeMans at times. LeMans is a special order color as you know.

Originally posted by Silver Bullet
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is SMG?



Check out this month's Bimmer magazine, it has a great article in there about the SMG II.