[John V]

Originally Posted by blee

Yep, exactly the opposite. How'd you guess?!

I rank the E36 lower more for what it isn't, than for what it is. Particularly in U.S. market trim, it was not daring enough, not different enough from the regular 3-series. On the other hand, it's the easiest of the three to live with, a superb all-around car (arguably more so than either the E46 and E30), still the best E36 you can buy, and probably the best value among the first three generations of M3 today, if you can find a nice example.

I mean, I spent more to purchase my '99 than my '03 and '88 combined. (Try doing that today...) I still don't regret it.

And I think that was what ruined the E46 for me. I expected it to fix all the things I didn't like about the E36... and it didn't. It did fix some stuff but also added a bunch of problems.