Very much this. Only run with reputable HPDE groups and it's a non-issue (or as mentioned earlier, dealt with very quickly.)

You can't "race at 7/10ths" at a track day because track days are not racing ;-)

You mean "nothing" other than more power and less understeer? ;-)

You can also get a concealed handgun permit online in many states and that isn't a good idea either. Recommend some instructed HPDE or pro driving school time first...

Sorry, the way I read it you were referring to track day people as "regular racers" above

HPDE and track days are not and will never be "racing"

+1, it's already got more power than the front tires can handle in the first two gears. That said, I wouldn't have bought one if it was AWD... it would be heavier and get worse mileage and probably understeer a lot more. Do not want.

Worst of all the first time i saw this car at the Simeone in '09 it was crammed nose first into a corner of the little side room, behind a black 300SL gullwing.

"In other words: you modified that car for your own benefit, not the next owner's. So don't be ridiculous with your asking price."

Hmmm. I'll try that when I get a chance. I have carried adults in the back of mine plenty of times but usually it's, you know, just to dinner or similar. Nobody said these were big cars, it's just... not really any smaller inside than my prior dailies (E36 m3 sedan, mk6 Golfs)

I am 6' tall / 225ish pounds and have put 30+ thousand miles on various new Foci in the last few years including my own ST. Had plenty of space to spare in all of 'em. Am I doing it wrong? Maybe I have stubby legs? ;-)

I went Focus for more interior space (specifically to live out of it for days at a time on the road.) Also significantly more power. At the time, last fall, it was $1500 cheaper than the most comparably equipped Fiesta ST I could find, although things may be different now... and $3k off either car seems readily…

As a fellow central VA M3 owner my solution has been: cruise control (and track time)

Nice... I DD a Focus ST and sometimes a track prepped E36M3. I only put ~4k miles a year on the E46 - could be less, but... a) as per several experts those cars can get unreliable from sitting too much, and b) it's so fun to drive that I miss it every 7-10 days. ;-)

Your black one sounds gorgeous! Hard for me to name a price too because I have basically zero desire to sell the car, although I'd consider trading up toward a later Cayman S or maybe 997S. Not sure either of those would comfortably hold enough "people and stuff" for my various weekend adventures, though. Otherwise I…

They do seem to move at least a few cars a month (I only notice this because I drool on their website several times a month) but who knows what the actual selling prices are. I certainly see similar cars for cheaper pretty regularly. That said, I've got a clean manual 42k mile white over gray '04 in the garage that…

Very sorry to hear that you had to go through all this. As a lifelong Virginian with only one ticket in the last ~10 years (a measly 67 in a 55), I would like to apologize on my home state's behalf. That said, you absolutely hit the nail on the head about how one can survive here:

The values for #7, the E46 M3, are already on the way back up. However from what I understand that's not necessarily for high mileage two-pedal "driver" examples like the blue one you linked to. People are only paying 20k-30k for lower mileage, clean & well maintained examples (especially with three pedals) and…

Saw that one in NC last fall also. The best part was its original 'less than perfect' condition. I'm told it normally lives at the Revs Institute (formerly the Collier Collection) in Naples FL... gonna try to find out next time I'm down that way, because I would really love to see the car again. http://revsinstitute.or…

Interestingly that exact sentence was uttered by me when I first drove an E9x M3... "I would take an E46 M3 over this car all day." Especially off the line - it had no balls. But then once the revs were up, oh boy!