| i need opinions. keep my e46 325i or switch it up with a 350z |

[sixonefive]

so i have always been a huge BMW fan and love my car. currently i drive a 2002 BMW 325i that is pretty much stock except for wheels, tires, tails, clear corners and sides, and tint. so basically it is stock. its a 5 speed. but its slow.

i have recently been entertaining the idea of selling to get another car. my first choice that is fairly probable is a Nissan 350Z.

the pros of the 350Z would be that it is a Nissan so it would be more reliable, maintenance would be cheaper, more power, its a sportier looking car, and so on and so on...

the cons to the z are that the prices are pretty low right now for the ones that i would be looking at and i am scared that it would keep dropping and not hold its value at all, it is 2 door and there is no backseat, it doesnt have the BMW emblems...

honestly i just dont know what i want to do. if i end up keeping my car, my next mods will be coilovers or a spring/shock combo, new wheels, exhaust, cai, front bumper, etc, etc...i really dont wanna do too many performance mods because it is only a 325 and no matter how much i do to it, it will still be slow, unless i sc it which i definitely dont have the money for. i would probably eventually do a nice swap for more power but not for a while until i have a job and am fairly well settled down.

anyone have any opinions?

here is a few pics of my car for reference:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4277565172_ce1a256620_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2681/4276815083_8e82bdb0ef_b.jpg

http://pic60.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1774/12420030/22786524/365664458.jpg

TiA!

[PRO®]

depends. how much are you selling it for? lol

[RL...]

black on black bimmer call it phantom of the opera

[DVSRX-7]

keep it just drop it

[JDMGRNAV6]

keep that shit, fuck the z..

and you got four doors too thats a plus

[RL...]

I love nissans, but keep the bmw....lower it a little and it will be perfect

[sixonefive]

thanks for your opinions guys..i went out with a few guys tonight that had nissans and on that had an infiniti and i think that i will just end up keeping my car. yea, it may be slow but i can just put money into making it look good and handle good and sound good for now and then maybe later on down the road do a nice swap or somethin..

now i just gotta save money for coilovers!!

[sprix!]

If It were me, I would go for a 370 or 350. That car is nice and moddable- but I personally prefer coupes generally.

With that said, the practical thing to do is just keep what you have and mod it. It *is* cheaper to keep her.

[JITB]

i would trade.. but not for a 350z.. not because the Z is a bad choice. You may be happier with something with more performance but still 4doors! i havent been a fan of the e46s too much... But maybe a G coupe over the 350z?

Or you should just keep it...lol and keep going we all get bored and want to sell!

[Elbow]

Personally I hate both options.

[OnURleft]

It's about refinement, that's it. Z's are great cars, but they are rough around the edges. Do you want to sacrifice refinement for a car that has a coffee grinder for a motor and drivetrain? Personally, I love Z's but for example they are very annoying with a light flywheel because of the excess bullshit feeling you get when driving one. Jumping from any BMW to that is like shifting butter to sitting on one of those vibrating mats, the shift feel is meh, the vibrating shifter is abnoxious and the sound the engine makes is faux to me. One day on a track, hell yes, everyday, give me car with more R&D.
If your concerns are all out speed, if you love to flash your hazerds at hondas, make noise and look fast even though your chassis isn't that great then by all means GET the Z, that's the car for you.
Honestly, if it were me i'd upgrade your car... Yes upgrades are expensive, but for example a lightweight flywheel, U.D pullies, intake, reflash on that car will get you an easy .5 off your 1/4 mile E.T (i'd say low 15, high 14 if you can drive i.e 1.9 60 footers). Suddenly that 184hp car isn't so slow.. Still not fast enough? The centrifugal supercharger and twin screw kits are great and can be found used quite easily. Expect around 250-270whp at only 5-7lbs.

[sixonefive]

If It were me, I would go for a 370 or 350. That car is nice and moddable- but I personally prefer coupes generally.

With that said, the practical thing to do is just keep what you have and mod it. It *is* cheaper to keep her.

i would love to have a 370. but unfortunately thats not even close to my price range...i was looking more for something that was a little closer to the value of my car and thats why i was looking at older 350's..

ill probably just end up keeping the e46 tho for now


i would trade.. but not for a 350z.. not because the Z is a bad choice. You may be happier with something with more performance but still 4doors! i havent been a fan of the e46s too much... But maybe a G coupe over the 350z?

Or you should just keep it...lol and keep going we all get bored and want to sell!

yea a G would be nice...but again i dont have the money for that lol


Personally I hate both options.

and what would you suggest?


It's about refinement, that's it. Z's are great cars, but they are rough around the edges. Do you want to sacrifice refinement for a car that has a coffee grinder for a motor and drivetrain? Personally, I love Z's but for example they are very annoying with a light flywheel because of the excess bullshit feeling you get when driving one. Jumping from any BMW to that is like shifting butter to sitting on one of those vibrating mats, the shift feel is meh, the vibrating shifter is abnoxious and the sound the engine makes is faux to me. One day on a track, hell yes, everyday, give me car with more R&D.
If your concerns are all out speed, if you love to flash your hazerds at hondas, make noise and look fast even though your chassis isn't that great then by all means GET the Z, that's the car for you.
Honestly, if it were me i'd upgrade your car... Yes upgrades are expensive, but for example a lightweight flywheel, U.D pullies, intake, reflash on that car will get you an easy .5 off your 1/4 mile E.T (i'd say low 15, high 14 if you can drive i.e 1.9 60 footers). Suddenly that 184hp car isn't so slow.. Still not fast enough? The centrifugal supercharger and twin screw kits are great and can be found used quite easily. Expect around 250-270whp at only 5-7lbs.

yea i know exactly what you mean about the way Z's feel...there are some things i like about it but some things i dont but i felt like after a little maintenance and some upgrades that could be fixed i just dont think it will ever feel as good handling and shifting as my bimmer..

i think that i will end up keeping my car for a while instead of getting something else just because there is nothing wrong with it really and i dont really wanna deal with selling it and buying something else right now i should probably be more focused on school and other stuff. that being said ill most likely just keep it and for right now just mod it for suspension, looks, and sound, then step into some of the things that you mentioned such as UD pullies, lightweight flywheel, and a reflash maybe. then eventually a while down the road do a swap instead of boosting...

thanks for your input!

[Logan]

Personally I hate both options.



and what would you suggest?


He would suggest a $2,000 car because that is all he ever seems to be driving.

[87 Turbo II]

It's about refinement, that's it. Z's are great cars, but they are rough around the edges. Do you want to sacrifice refinement for a car that has a coffee grinder for a motor and drivetrain? Personally, I love Z's but for example they are very annoying with a light flywheel because of the excess bullshit feeling you get when driving one. Jumping from any BMW to that is like shifting butter to sitting on one of those vibrating mats, the shift feel is meh, the vibrating shifter is abnoxious and the sound the engine makes is faux to me. One day on a track, hell yes, everyday, give me car with more R&D.
If your concerns are all out speed, if you love to flash your hazerds at hondas, make noise and look fast even though your chassis isn't that great then by all means GET the Z, that's the car for you.
Honestly, if it were me i'd upgrade your car... Yes upgrades are expensive, but for example a lightweight flywheel, U.D pullies, intake, reflash on that car will get you an easy .5 off your 1/4 mile E.T (i'd say low 15, high 14 if you can drive i.e 1.9 60 footers). Suddenly that 184hp car isn't so slow.. Still not fast enough? The centrifugal supercharger and twin screw kits are great and can be found used quite easily. Expect around 250-270whp at only 5-7lbs.

A little biased towards BMWs I'd say. Tacking on the sentence "If your concerns are all out speed, if you love to flash your hazerds at hondas, make noise and look fast even though your chassis isn't that great then by all means GET the Z, that's the car for you. " makes you look like a total ignorant asshole. The Z sounds wonderful, any modern car will shift pretty well,and that chassis is pretty good with better roadholding than the 3-series. I like BMWs, but just because you own one doesn't mean you have to assume all of us in our Japanese coupes are Ricey street racing fanboys with inferior engineering.All cars have up and downsides don't act like BMW is immune to all things automotively negative.

Having said that, I think you SHOULD stick with the BMW because it is a very well designed vehicle, and will make a better daily driver with the 4 doors. There is plenty of room for improvements if you ever need them but if you are going to be DDing the car, and want the classy (or arrogant depending on the audience) image the BMW badge gives you, the BMW is much better suited to get you to and from work and such.

[OnURleft]

i would love to have a 370. but unfortunately thats not even close to my price range...i was looking more for something that was a little closer to the value of my car and thats why i was looking at older 350's..

ill probably just end up keeping the e46 tho for now



yea a G would be nice...but again i dont have the money for that lol



and what would you suggest?



yea i know exactly what you mean about the way Z's feel...there are some things i like about it but some things i dont but i felt like after a little maintenance and some upgrades that could be fixed i just dont think it will ever feel as good handling and shifting as my bimmer..

i think that i will end up keeping my car for a while instead of getting something else just because there is nothing wrong with it really and i dont really wanna deal with selling it and buying something else right now i should probably be more focused on school and other stuff. that being said ill most likely just keep it and for right now just mod it for suspension, looks, and sound, then step into some of the things that you mentioned such as UD pullies, lightweight flywheel, and a reflash maybe. then eventually a while down the road do a swap instead of boosting...

thanks for your input!

Welcome, but make a plan first. 330 motors can be had for really cheap these days (iirc less than 3 grand) and that's a good option. If you really want the car to wake up get a flywheel first, but keep in mind what parts you want to spend money on if your getting an entirely new motor soon (not 100% if the flywheel will work on a 330 motor).
We did intake/exhaust/ud pullies/reflash on my friends ZHP and it's no rocket but it really gave it that extra oomph it needed. To give you an idea my cousin has a 2000 S4 with downpipes/exhaust, roughly 270hp/285ftlbs and it pulled 2-3 cars 40-120, now it's even with the ZHP having the edge after the bolt on's. Another example, my car went 14.0@99 completely stock on a cold night with shitty tires, after U.D pullies/flywheel/exhaust it went [email protected]. The trap was not much higher but the added rwtq really showed in the E.T

[Nemesis]

He would suggest a $2,000 car because that is all he ever seems to be driving.

lol thats fucked up

[sixonefive]

Welcome, but make a plan first. 330 motors can be had for really cheap these days (iirc less than 3 grand) and that's a good option. If you really want the car to wake up get a flywheel first, but keep in mind what parts you want to spend money on if your getting an entirely new motor soon (not 100% if the flywheel will work on a 330 motor).
We did intake/exhaust/ud pullies/reflash on my friends ZHP and it's no rocket but it really gave it that extra oomph it needed. To give you an idea my cousin has a 2000 S4 with downpipes/exhaust, roughly 270hp/285ftlbs and it pulled 2-3 cars 40-120, now it's even with the ZHP having the edge after the bolt on's. Another example, my car went 14.0@99 completely stock on a cold night with shitty tires, after U.D pullies/flywheel/exhaust it went [email protected]. The trap was not much higher but the added rwtq really showed in the E.T

yea thats what i need to do pretty much just get a plan together of how much money im gonna put into it right now so that i dont put in too much and then have a bunch of used parts when i decide to do a swap...thats why im probably just gonna focus mostly on suspension looks and sound for right now with a little bit of performance somewhere in there...probably wont do a lightweight flywheel but definitely going to do exhaust, cai, u.d. pullies, short shifter, maybe a chip...

i think as far as swaps i might want to do a s54. other options that would be kinda crazy but really awesome and unique would be a s85, or maybe a 2jz or a vh45...but those may take a little more work/money IF they can even fit...but they would be very unique and different from many other e46's and BMW's for that matter

but idk im just gonna hold on to it for right now and do some smaller stuff and just see where it takes me and see what the future hold for my baby...

you have any other suggestions for performance mods that would be sub-$1000? theres not a whole lot else that i can think of other than what i have already mentioned...