What did you decided?? I've been looking into these also... as a next car when I become a grown up:icon17: I'm in my mid 20's and have no kids yet... But if I had to choose today, my preference would be as follows: 4 door M3, IS-F, Audi RS4, and then the C63.

Anyways good luck with your decision.

All nice cars:tup: Maybe I'll steal your list when I grow up, too! (not sure this is going to happen though...)

Great upgrade you should definetly get that if you can.
Though I'd get a M3 if I were upgrading next.

:eek:
What roll was it?
40 roll?
C63 amg should smoke us.
:stirthepot:

Well guys i have thought about it a LOT, and I think im keeping the Z, the reason being is that i like the is-f but this specific one is not the right deal for me. I have a EXTRA clean Z, its only 1 year old with 6k miles wich I pay 560 a month. To change it for a 2 year old car with 25k DD miles (door dings, scratches, wheel scraches,tires dont match) and pay 700 a month its NOT the right deal. As some of you recommended ill probable get more goodies for my Z and make it faster than a stock is-f.

Congrats on the decision I think you made the right one

Thanks

yep, i think you've made a good decision. while IS-F is a very nice car, to me, it's too different than the 370z. it is more like the sort of car that people would trade their bmw 3 series or mercedes C class for.

In a few years I will be looking at a used IS-F, Jags and M3s. No more brand new cars for me.

However the maintenance on those luxury cars is expensive. Not to many tech outside the dealer except for the M3 to work on them.

Even that I would love an used IS-F.

Yes, unless you have a good local mechanic that only charges about 50% of the dealers do.

You are totally right, but hard to come by!!!

I'm with you, no more brand new cars for me either....I'm letting the other man take that hit! :iagree:

I was lucky to find one with his own small shop. An ASE master mechanic with good parts hookups, he give me his cost on parts. The Jag is going in tomorrow for some work. :ugh2:

Love the new car smell, but the $15k two year depreciation is nuts.

...and he is letting you take the headache.

I have always bought used cars, and all but one of them ended up sucking. I would encourage someone to buy late in the year and get a good deal. used cars are just cars that someone else didn't want, or was too irresponsible to afford once they got (do you want that person's car?), or in rarer circumstances had to give up due to family/medical/financial circumstances outside their control, in which case, it's a good car probably, but you won't discover what happened until after you buy it and it sucks (or not). The dealership always has a glamour story about the last owner.

Seriously, how many people post up saying "should I take the cam out before trading in?" or "This POS always grinds 2nd gear, I'm getting rid of it." or something similar, compared to "This car has been dependable, fun, and a delight to own. I'm getting rid of it!"?

Right.

In my case, I would get the service manual and do almost all the work on my cars myself. Good mechanics are hard to find. My stories at my Nissan dealer are out of this world, sometimes it seems that they NEVER had worked on a 370 before.

The question here is...is it really cost-effective?

I worked on my own cars all through highschool and college, except for jobs I didn't have tools for (clutch-swap on my WS6, re-building the rear-end, etc.) because I had no real source of meaningful income.

Now the question is: Would I rather go in to work for a few hours and cover the labor, or would I rather spend a few hours doing the labor myself? When I work on it, it has no warranty. When they do, it's their baby, not mine. It breaks, not my problem.

For me, having the dealership work on the car is annoying, as I know they are ripping me off for some things, but on another point, it's "guaranteed". Basically, I am betting that it will break again, they are betting it won't, and I don't want to cut my hands up or smash a finger or worse out in the cold working on my own car beyond minor maintenance items like AC filters, oil, plugs/wires, etc.

When it came to doing the motor-mounts, changing the thermostat (A PITA on a G20, apparently), etc. I just made it their issue and not mine.

I cannot imagine an E92 M3 or IS-F being very fun to work on, or very practical without specialized tools.

PR, an off topic question. How are the chicks in PR? I'm going there for vacation. :tup:

raced several times from top of 2nd and top of 3rd but you have to mash on the gas and make sure you up their in your powerband and have perfect shifts or else your screwed.

Well in PR I can understand, not to many 350Zs or 370s!

It's really not. I owned a Mini Cooper S for a short while and they apparently use the same windows as the 3-series. Long story short I essentially had to replace the entire driver's side window mechanics (window motor, regulator). Even that job had a freaking special tool associated with it and what I got quoted for it was OUTRAGEOUS. It was a lot cheaper doing the work myself and went fairly smooth. Probably won't ever buy a BMW again without some sort of warranty. :ugh2:

Replacing window-motors is a PITA. At least, on my WS6 it was. Had to drill through the door-panel, or drill the rivets out of the glass. Guess which one I picked. Sucks. Friend at the MOPAR dealership did it for me for $100 including a water-pump change. Can't beat that.

Either way, I am done with un-warranteed cars. The DD is the last of its kind I will own. From here on out, certified pre-owned for a DD, new for a fun-car.

Dang!

It would have been cool to get a comparison from someone coming from a 370Z. I've looked at few ISF's and they have the HP and the reliability. Not too keen on the slushbox tranny, although in my case its not a big deal as I'm still learning how to drive a stick.

Looks wise, the ISF looks great in black with silver rims. The other colors aren't as hot.

To be truthful, a 2008 M3 is probably a better direction, but even a 2008 M3 with 15 to 20K miles is going for around $45K to $50K, which in my opinion, is a lot for $$$ for a three or four year old car.

Martin

Brand new that car was probably 75K though. M3's stripped are not too bad, but you put even decent options in a BMW and you can add 20K to a price-tag FAST. I "built one" on BMW's website and about gagged.

If you have grandkids I say, go for it!

yes.

They are nice with nice transmissions, but meh. I can't get over the fake racer thing with the fake exhaust.

The women here are gourgeous, though a little on the thick side, you will see when you get here. Enjoy your vacation

There are a lot of 350,G35 here but not too many G37 and 370.

Thanks! :D

Had my driver's side window motor replaced twice on my Cooper. The parts are crap.