Daily driver?

Hey guys,

Was just curious with regards to how good of a daily driver the M3 is.. I live in Jersey and we get a fair amount of snow. Needless to say, I'd upgrade to winter tires for that, but I'd like to have an idea how nice a car it is to drive day to day, as I'm going to (eventually) get rid of both of my cars.

Nick does it, and has no trouble. I don't drive mine in eh winter due to salt ont eh roads, we hav a beater Grand Cherokee for that.

I do it as well. No problems.

Originally Posted by Hercules

Hey guys,

Was just curious with regards to how good of a daily driver the M3 is.. I live in Jersey and we get a fair amount of snow. Needless to say, I'd upgrade to winter tires for that, but I'd like to have an idea how nice a car it is to drive day to day, as I'm going to (eventually) get rid of both of my cars.

I have an 04 330i with the regular sport pack and I have to say that the 05 M3 doesn't ride much harsher then the 330i, I'm really surprised about that but it does handle much better. The gas mileage isn't anywhere near as good as the 330i, but I think it's worth the extra money. As far as winter driving, my 330i had Wintersport M3's and did fine so I have no reason to think aside from 1" less ground clearance, that the M3 would be any worse, I would think with the LSD the M3 will have better traction then the 330i. Obviously you have to be mindfull of the gas pedal in the snow but aside from that it should be OK.

I use mine as a daily driver.. no issue so far.

In the snow I use all season tires in the rear and they are fine. I do not turn the traction control off during inclement weather. The all season Michelins Pilot in the rears were wonderful. You cannot possibly use the summer tires, they have zero traction.

I now put Pirelli all seasons on the rear - they should be as good or better (275-35-18)

The ride is not harsh at all. I commute 35 miles each way a day.

Why would I want to drive an SUV when I can drive an M3?

If you just put all seasons or snows n teh rear, you will end up with serious understeer in inclement conditions and SERIOUS oversteer on dry raods.

ALWAYS put the same tires on all 4 corners of the car. Otherwise we don't want to hear your sad story of stuffing your car.

Originally Posted by Moderato

The gas mileage isn't anywhere near as good as the 330i, but I think it's worth the extra money.

Say, I live in this fantasy world where I dream of buying an E90 M3 someday...but I hadn't thought about the gas mileage.

Not to start a OT sub-thread on this, but what do you guys get in daily driving, more or less?


Oh yeah, and do you use premium or regular?

Originally Posted by wingspan

Say, I live in this fantasy world where I dream of buying an E90 M3 someday...but I hadn't thought about the gas mileage.

Not to start a OT sub-thread on this, but what do you guys get in daily driving, more or less?


Oh yeah, and do you use premium or regular?

So far I've been getting 19 - 20 mpg with the M3 and 24 - 25 with the 330i. Although I think that mileage is pretty good for the M3 considering I haven't exactly been driving it with conservation in mind. You must use super for both cars. Gas is 3.50 per gallon so if you drive 270 miles a weeks that's $47.25 per week for the M3 and $37.8 per week for the 330i, so it currently costs me about $500 more per year for me to drive the M3 over the 330i, worth it IMO.

Originally Posted by Moderato

So far I've been getting 19 - 20 mpg with the M3 and 24 - 25 with the 330i. Although I think that mileage is pretty good for the M3 considering I haven't exactly been driving it with conservation in mind. You must use super for both cars. Gas is 3.50 per gallon so if you drive 270 miles a weeks that's $47.25 per week for the M3 and $37.8 per week for the 330i, so it currently costs me about $500 more per year for me to drive the M3 over the 330i, worth it IMO.

Thanks; this was precisely what I was looking for. I'm getting 21.9 on the E46...suddenly an M3 looks just that much closer...

Depends on how I drive. Lowest tank was about 8 MPG. Highest is around 27.5.

The lowest was a track day, the highest was an 89 MPH average Interstate run from gas station to gas station (long trip, no stops on that leg). Around town, from 17 - 23 depending on how much fun I am having.

Originally Posted by wingspan

Thanks; this was precisely what I was looking for. I'm getting 21.9 on the E46...suddenly an M3 looks just that much closer...

If you're getting 22 in your 330, I'd expect you to get closer to 17mpg with the M3. Now that I think of if, I haven't been reving up the M3 THAT much, so I would guess 21 with the M3 is a best case scenario, unless you do a lot of flat highway travel.

The M3 is an awesome daily driver. It is very well balanced out. I drive about 60miles / day with it and the mileage takes it's toll with rocks and whatnot. I just view it as a daily driver beater and enjoy it without trying to baby it in any way. Even with snows, I find it a hairy commute on the worst snow & ice days.... that's with snows on the OEM 18s. Try to get narrower 17s for snows and it would be better.

I'm obviously in the minority here but I drive between 20k-22k a year here in Southern CA and I've grown tired of the M3 as a daily freeway commuter. If my mileage were lower - say around 15k a year - it would be a different story. I also need more room for my growing boys. Bottom line: incredible car but not ideal for 20k + freeway miles a year. I will miss it on the weekends though...

Well I won't be driving 20k miles a year (any more) when I get the car. I should be at the 10k range and I am planning on keeping my Mazda3 as a daily commuter for snow and whatnot, so the M3 would be a summer/weekend car