spwolf

I think the point was that you have to pay bigger tax for M3 than for IS-F, meaning car itself will cost you more money.

UDel

I never said BMW charged thousands extra just for Metallic paint, I said BMW charges thousands extra for things that should be standard or should not cost extra like metallic paint, leather, 19 in wheels etc not that each of those things like paint cost over 1K but when you combine this stuff that should be standard or you should not have to pay extra for it adds thousands to the base price which is ridiculous in this caliber of car. I never complained about the gas guzzler tax in my post nor did I complain about the gas mileage, you must have me confused with someone else. Mainly I was trying to say that even though the base price is lower then I would expect from BMW, I still think hotrodded small entry level sport/lux sedans/coupes like the ISF, M3, AMG, S/RS are overpriced to me at over 50K especially when you get hit with huge prices for options that quickly make the cars close to 60K and even over considering other variables like markups, etc.

fireballs gs400

Go to a bmw showroom and look at the price of m3 when they hit...
Go to a lexus showroom and look at the price of the is-f when they hit...

I bet everything that the lexus is cheaper when option per option is weighed.
Who has a m3 with cloth? standard steel wheels. Base is base...no floor mats for some company's.

kt22cliff

I have E46 M3 coupe with cloth seats with only SMG and Xenon as "options". The beauty of the BMW system is that you can have the car the way exactly YOU want it, not the way some salespeople like to sell it or have some chump in Japan decide for you No you can't have ML with red paint and black leather in Northeastern USA unless you want to wait 18 months.

Sure, if you go to the stealer and take the car off the showroom floor, you will find it will be close to if not fully optioned. That's b/c stealers wants to make more $$ per car and every option they pile on has profit margin built into them. But I didn't want or need NAV, ZCP, ZPP etc and if it was possible, I would've ordered with radio deleted. I do need air conditioner though. And in the cases of E30 and E36 M3's, resale of "stripped down from factory" versions now fetch higher price vs "fully loaded" although resale is not the reason why I ordered it stripped down since I'm driving this car at the track until it's dead/wrecked.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

seems like the dual clutch is confirmed to be $2700. Production starts in march
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107795

M3 Sedan + Premium + 19" + Metallic Paint + DCT
$54575k + $1900 + $1200 + $500 + $2700 = $60875 ($62175 if gas guzzler tax occurs, add $2700 for coupe)

IS-F:
$56k

or what I'd buy if I had the money:

M3 from above + Nav + Premium Sound
$60875 + $3250 + $1900 = $66025 ($67325 if gas guzzler tax occurs, add $2700 for coupe)

ISF + Nav/ML:
$56k + $3990 = $60k

Sorry fully loaded GTR is $2300 more for the M3 coupe i'd like, 5000 more for M3 sedan id like

spwolf

which is all good and great, but lets face it, for more than 90% of buyers, difference between IS-F and M3 will be more than 5k and more likely 10k with everything calculated in.

Lets not glorify paying extra for basic features that car that are 2x less expensive have standard.

And if you are buying car just for track, M3 or IS-F should not be your prime options for >60k in any case.