Like quite a few of the people who have contributed to this thread, I've owned both a 3-litre Zed Roadster (pre-facelift 231bhp, not the Si) and now a Z4MC. In total I've been a Zed owner now for getting on for 9 straight years.
I LOVED my Z4MR, it was the best car I ever had, until i had my M. It's that simple for me. But in mitigation it depends on how you will use the car. My M is a weekend toy. If you can afford the extra running costs then it is a great car but you do need to consider how you will use it. As a mainly commuting tool I think they are a bit pointless really. You end up with crap MPG and a lot of mileage in conditions where you just don't get to exploit what it is good at and it would frustrate the hell out of me having all of that power and potential for smiles but not being able to use it. If though, the majority of your time in the car is "fun time" then get the M every day of the week.
The car does cost a lot more to run. Whether that's 20%,30%, 50% or whatever, it just does unless you are doing peanuts mileage. I average about 22-23mpg in mine, 25-26 on open road runs. As Zermatt says, it will probably average about 8mpg less than a 3-litre in the same circumstances. The tax is a lot, and I suspect the differential between M and Si will get worse not better in the coming years. Servicing is expensive. One or two of the M protagonists have been a little disingenuous about the servicing costs. Inspections are expensive, much more expensive than a 3-litre. An Inspection 1 will be around £600-700 in the BMW network and an Inspection 2 around £700-900. That is double what a 3-litre will be. If you like the peace of mind of a warranty too then that is also very expensive - mine is £85 a month for a zero excess comprehensive option, although you can reduce that by having less cover and greater excess. I don't know what the equivalent cost on a 3-litre Si would be but I bet it is a lot less than that. Insurance is a bit dearer for most but not cripplingly so.
So in summary - if your smiles miles are greater than your commuting miles choose an M. If it's the other way around either buy an Si or do as Adamski's suggests, and buy a shed like I did, for the commute, so you keep something special for the weekends/holidays.
I LOVED my Z4MR, it was the best car I ever had, until i had my M. It's that simple for me. But in mitigation it depends on how you will use the car. My M is a weekend toy. If you can afford the extra running costs then it is a great car but you do need to consider how you will use it. As a mainly commuting tool I think they are a bit pointless really. You end up with crap MPG and a lot of mileage in conditions where you just don't get to exploit what it is good at and it would frustrate the hell out of me having all of that power and potential for smiles but not being able to use it. If though, the majority of your time in the car is "fun time" then get the M every day of the week.
The car does cost a lot more to run. Whether that's 20%,30%, 50% or whatever, it just does unless you are doing peanuts mileage. I average about 22-23mpg in mine, 25-26 on open road runs. As Zermatt says, it will probably average about 8mpg less than a 3-litre in the same circumstances. The tax is a lot, and I suspect the differential between M and Si will get worse not better in the coming years. Servicing is expensive. One or two of the M protagonists have been a little disingenuous about the servicing costs. Inspections are expensive, much more expensive than a 3-litre. An Inspection 1 will be around £600-700 in the BMW network and an Inspection 2 around £700-900. That is double what a 3-litre will be. If you like the peace of mind of a warranty too then that is also very expensive - mine is £85 a month for a zero excess comprehensive option, although you can reduce that by having less cover and greater excess. I don't know what the equivalent cost on a 3-litre Si would be but I bet it is a lot less than that. Insurance is a bit dearer for most but not cripplingly so.
So in summary - if your smiles miles are greater than your commuting miles choose an M. If it's the other way around either buy an Si or do as Adamski's suggests, and buy a shed like I did, for the commute, so you keep something special for the weekends/holidays.
-i love man maths -which is not a science its an artform - which I have been guilty of once in a while too.
"real life performance"), it is about the whole M package that is so much more than outright performance.