Help: Planning to commute on M3

[CL 19]

Hi guys. M3 has been my dream car since I was 6 years old and now I'm 21 and really want to make my dream comes true. I'm still at university right now and soon after I graduate on next June I will look for a job. I'm planning to trade my '11 E82 135i w/DCT with '09 E92 M3 (DCT and below 50K miles) soon after I graduate.

Now comes the problem, I know M3 has such a good reliability but when goes down to number of miles driven per day might become a problem. I heard some guys were finding a problem because only drove their cars for very few miles overtime. Some of you might drive it only on weekend but put many miles on it when have the time. My commute might be 20 miles one way from Mon-Fri and if I'm lucky I can avoid the traffic by going to country road but if there's no county road I will face 20 miles on highway and rush hour traffic in I-80 towards Sacramento. Do you think my situation is ideal for a V8 M3 engine? or should I just go with E92 335is with its turbo engine that works pretty much the same with my twinpower turbo?

I'm looking for opinions on whether I should pursue my dream car for daily commute or my commute is just not enough to warm up the engine and might just cause trouble to me? Other thoughts on each car would be appreciated.

Really appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this one. I am sorry if you hate this thread or I look like not searching around before creating a new thread but here I am looking into possibility to get my dream car.

Thank you guys!

[mjposner]

You don't have a job and you already no your commute? Perhaps wait until you are employed and can put money aside for repairs before buying an 09 out of warranty. Yes gas mileage is bad, I commute 22 miles one way every day in an 11 M3 and get 17 mpg. Besides that I see no issues on using the car as a daily driver.

[Black Gold]

agree with above

gas mileage sucks, and really is quite a bit more expensive than I thought it would be, though I still think its worth it. but it is a factor.

I also would be worried about taking on that kind of debt or money without having a job and savings, but this is not the place for financial advice so I will leave it at that. perhaps a lightly used 335is may not be a bad plan if you plan to just DD it and never track.

[dparm]

Gas mileage sucks but who cares. Buy a damn Prius if you want to save money on gas. Buy an M3 if you care about driving.

[quiksi]

20 miles each way will be plenty to warm the car up, but sitting in traffic will kill you on gas

[jphughan]

As long as you warm up the oil on your commute, you should be fine. But if you buy an M3 ONLY for commuting, you'd be wasting a great car IMHO and would save a ton of money by sticking with what you have without really missing out on much since commuting isn't where the M3 shines. Hopefully making your dream come true includes some quality time with this car at the very least on fun back roads, but better yet the occasional event at the track.

[Klepper1]

I had an e9x M3 and now I have a 1M. My wife has a e82 135is. In my opinion the car you have now ('11 E82 135i w/DCT) is a better commuter car than an E92 M3.

my $0.02

[marksae]

If you already have a 135i, why would you consider a 335is? It's almost the same car, no?

The gas mileage on the M is worse than I thought it would be. You should calculate your fuel costs to really see how much commuting is going to cost you. Expect to average around 16-17mpg.

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by mjposner

You don't have a job and you already no your commute? Perhaps wait until you are employed and can put money aside for repairs before buying an 09 out of warranty. Yes gas mileage is bad, I commute 22 miles one way every day in an 11 M3 and get 17 mpg. Besides that I see no issues on using the car as a daily driver.

I haven't got a job but I know where I applied to, so 20 miles commute is the approximation. That's exactly what I'm thinking, I won't feel how fun the M3 is if I just use it for commuting. I decided not to get the M3 right away after I transfer from college to university because even my 135i only sees less than 10 miles a day but I drive it for at least 30 miles on weekend

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by Klepper1

I had an e9x M3 and now I have a 1M. My wife has a e82 135is. In my opinion the car you have now ('11 E82 135i w/DCT) is a better commuter car than an E92 M3.

my $0.02

Yeah, that's what many people told me about commuting. They suggest me to keep my 135i for mpg reason, after all M3 won't be really happy to see a traffic.

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by marksae

If you already have a 135i, why would you consider a 335is? It's almost the same car, no?

The gas mileage on the M is worse than I thought it would be. You should calculate your fuel costs to really see how much commuting is going to cost you. Expect to average around 16-17mpg.

Slightly different engine than my 135i. It does have DCT but instead of N55, 335is is running on N54 with 20 more hp and tq. For mpg, it might suffer me to commute on M3 but honestly my 135i mpg is between 15-17 because I commute locally to school where it sees a lot of stop n go, it's like 85% city

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by jphughan

As long as you warm up the oil on your commute, you should be fine. But if you buy an M3 ONLY for commuting, you'd be wasting a great car IMHO and would save a ton of money by sticking with what you have without really missing out on much since commuting isn't where the M3 shines. Hopefully making your dream come true includes some quality time with this car at the very least on fun back roads, but better yet the occasional event at the track.

I know it for sure. I really hope if I decide to pull the trigger, I can get a job that accessible by county road (I wish). No point of owning it if I can't really explore the limit of an M3, right?

[WingZeroX5]

Hey if its your dream car and you can afford it, then go for it. But buying just for commuting takes the fun out of it. Car is really thirsty so on a 20mile commute expect to fill up about 2x a week. I had a 35mile commute and used the M3 for two months as a commuter, avg mpg was around low 20s and a touch of 25 if i was REALLY conservative

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by WingZeroX5

Hey if its your dream car and you can afford it, then go for it. But buying just for commuting takes the fun out of it. Car is really thirsty so on a 20mile commute expect to fill up about 2x a week. I had a 35mile commute and used the M3 for two months as a commuter, avg mpg was around low 20s and a touch of 25 if i was REALLY conservative

It doesn't matter if I commute on 20 miles county road, lol but I might have to find out how to trick the rush hour to enjoy it. How come you can get 25 mpg on an M3? It's even really hard on my DCT 135i, even though I use it for 80% highway on 25 miles range it will see 25 (bmw says 17-26 mpg for dct 135i). I will get 31 mpg if and only if I commute for at least 70 miles on hwy and no traffic (I did it for my intern)

[nullrouted]

I use mine as a DD/commuter. My office is only about 3 miles or so from home but by the time I sit in the coffee drive thru and all my oil is up to temp by the time I get to the office. Gas is an issue as I average about 15mpg.. But it's not that much worse than my previous cars. I have it because like you it was a dream car for me. The fact that you want to get an '09 is a little scary because you won't have a warranty if something goes wrong though.

[k-lo]

My M3 is my daily, about 20 miles a day (mostly freeway), I think it's a good commuter car, for me I'd rather commute with style, comfort and most importantly power. More fuel is needed and is the tradeoff but its worth it. The car should be fully warmed up around 6 miles (this is the minimum distance required by launch control).

[CIFUM3]

Don't get an M3 if u care about gas mileage!!! On my best week I get about 280 to the tank, with a heavy foot and traffic! And I'm still enjoying the living hell out of the car

[foam]

I commute to work on my M3 ~8 miles each way and I wouldn't trade the M for anything else. As people say the M is a thirsty little guy but I'll take the trade-off for the added enjoyment of the commute.

You're still young but not that much younger than me so if you can afford it while it school then go for it but just know the M is not cheap to maintain. In the end it is your money (or your parents ) so do what you want!

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by nullrouted

I use mine as a DD/commuter. My office is only about 3 miles or so from home but by the time I sit in the coffee drive thru and all my oil is up to temp by the time I get to the office. Gas is an issue as I average about 15mpg.. But it's not that much worse than my previous cars. I have it because like you it was a dream car for me. The fact that you want to get an '09 is a little scary because you won't have a warranty if something goes wrong though.

I'm still looking other possibility for warranty though because it scares me to get a high performance without warranty. Even though with my little bimmer that still has 2 years of warranty I have nothing to claim on warranty but still it provides peace of mind to me. 15mpg is exactly my range for commuting from home to school which about 2 miles but during gap sometimes I bring it to hwy just to warm up the engine (don't worry, I'm not a person who revs the car on cold engine).

[CL 19]

Originally Posted by M3dream

Don't get an M3 if u care about gas mileage!!! On my best week I get about 280 to the tank, with a heavy foot and traffic! And I'm still enjoying the living hell out of the car

I don't really care about it but what I care whether it's worth it to have M3 in my situation. For instance, I won't get an M3 if I rarely even use it because it might drain the battery and the engine won't be very happy as well. So you get around 18mpg with a heavy foot and traffic? More or less is the same with my little bimmer with twinpower turbo that not so efficient during stop n go and traffic. The worst mpg I have ever seen on my car was 14 mpg when I use it for 90% city.

[CIFUM3]

If u don't care about it then get it! I DD mine about 20-25 each way, let it warm up for 10 min in the morning and about 5 in the afternoon

[Edward]

that's 10,400 on just the commute alone annually. I've seen worse.

Go for it if you think you can afford the potential maintenance. This car is amazing as hell. that 1 series is too girly anyway.