My 288,000-Mile BMW M3 Finally Drives Like an M3 Should

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It’s been awhile since I’ve written about my high-mileage E46-generation BMW M3. I bought it last summer with the hopes of turning it into a solid daily driver, even though I knew it needed a lot of work. While the body was in good shape, the suspension was trashed, with most of the rubber bushings underneath long past their useful lives. I spent the better part of my winter doing some much-needed maintenance, including a refresh to the brakes and suspension systems. Since then, I haven't driven it much... until this past weekend. Now, I think it’s safe to say this car drives like it’s supposed to.

A friend invited me to a drive through upstate New York he was putting on, and I saw it as a perfect opportunity to see if my seemingly endless hours of DIY work had paid off. Last time I drove this car hard, it fell over itself, all of its individual parts sloshing around on worn bushings and trashed dampers. Sure, the engine worked just fine, but everything else about the car couldn’t live up to my admittedly high expectations. In addition to the brakes and suspension, I also replaced the engine mounts, the tie rods, the sway bar links, and the tires. Theoretically, I figured, it should perform somewhat like an E46 M3 should. And it did!