First car help

[Mpower]

Hey everyone,


I recently posted the same question on bimmerfest, as well as other forums, but I want to get a broader opinion on it. I recently acquired my drivers license, and am currently looking for a car to drive. I'm not looking for anything overly powerful or flashy due to being a relatively new driver. I've considered cars like the FR-S, 370z, and older model BMWs such as the E46s. I plan on DDing the car everyday which would mainly be driving to school and back, along with some small road trips on the weekends. Occasionally I would like to autocross/track the car, and get involved in the car community a bit more. I am not looking for a hardcore track car mainly to retain the daily drivability. My only requirements for the car would be for it to be a manual. I'm leaning towards an older E46 mainly on how beautiful and timeless they still look today, along with its sweet sounding inline 6 engine, and superb driving dynamics. After taking a ride in my friends 325i I instantly fell in love with the high limits the car has, and how well it stuck to the road. As for as maintenance, I recognize that it is a BMW and parts and installations from dealers/shops are expensive, but I am willing to cut the costs of it by getting my hands a little dirty. I also have a friend that is a BMW mechanic who owns both an e30 and e46, so worst case scenario I could ask him for a little help. I would like to keep my budget under 20k, and have the car with at least under 60k miles. Any car suggestion is appreciated. Thanks again.

[fantah]

You can get a 86 for around 20k now with fairly low mileage. Maintenance is low is well as far as my car goes (Just basic oil changes and tire rotation, have 36k miles on it so far, almost time for tires and brakes).
Daily driving wise, I drive my car a lot.... In Hawaii people average about 12k miles a year, I did 28k in the first year. The clutch is a little bit light but that's kind of a good thing if you drive into traffic a lot.
Tracking the car is okay, you'll want to get better brake pads and tires. (I've done rally cross with my car and it just slides everywhere haha, but my friend also does scca with his 86 and the first thing he did was new tires and brakes and it lowered him another 2 seconds).
If you get a stock 86, the car sounds okay..... but just adding on a cat-back system will make it sound awesome without being overly aggressive loud.
The car only comes with 200 HP stock so you won't be going super fast most time haha.
Hope this helps