This may sound sacrelige but.... I need your opinion here.

[96C220]

Okay an interesting situaton has presented itself here to purchase (gasp...) a BMW M3 - 1995 model, manual trans.

The body has 160k miles

The engine was replaced at 122k mi because the dinan supercharger the owner had on it basically destroyed it.

The transmission was replaced at 117k mi cause of a stripped 2nd gear synchro.

The car is owned by a co-worker of mine, who has had it since day one...

It was initially leased, and then bought out by him.

He has high performance brakes, stainless lines, and a bunch of other stuff - intake, exhaust etc.

The car has been driven hard, autocrossed etc... has been through several sets of wheels, but has been maintained well, and looks near new.

He is going to trade it for a 540i 6spd. - He's crossing into that dangerous zone known as adulthood - his daughter is 6 and he wants something with more room and less of a harsh ride.

I can have the car for ~ 10000.

The car would be a 3rd car for me - Mostly a weekend / nice day toy. I've been longing for a manual transmission for a while, and there are very slim pickings in the MB arena.

I would kill for a 190e 2.3 - 16 with a manual in the NJ / NY area that hasnt had 15 winters take its toll on the body, but that is a dream for a different day.

Oh well, thanks in advance to the advice,

George