[-BEASTMW-]

I'm at a crossroads with what car(s) would fit my lifestyle best. A basic "about me":

-31, just married

-Plan on kids in 1-2yrs so will need a sedan. Wife has a '13 C350 and can't drive manual (I require 3 pedals!), but can't rely on that in case I have to pick up kids from daycare or whatever

-Currently have fairly nice stock '02 S2000 (worth ~$15k, owe ~$6k), and $25k in the bank from selling my beloved E39 M5.

-Current car use: A) easy 10 miles each way commute, all highway and no traffic, which is nice but rather boring, while also highlighting all of the S2k's weaknesses and none of its strengths, and B) 3-4 trackdays/yr. Once we have a kid, daily driving duties will surely increase a bit while tracking will probably fall to 2x/yr or so. We also have some great driving roads somewhat nearby for weekend romps.

-No garage or space to work on my car (Bay Area FTL), which really sucked when I had a needy E39 M5 along with my S2k, and continues to suck. When I need to do basic maintenance or brake pad swaps for the track, I either have to borrow/rent garage space or do it at the track before/after the event.


My plan was to sell the S2k in the next year or so, leaving me with $35-40k to spend on an E90 M3. Given my no-garage living situation, which will likely continue for the foreseeable future (3-bd townhouse w/garage is $800k+), I figured an E90 would be a good blend of my former E39 M5 and S2000, and having one car for everything would keep life simple. Even keeping both cars clean before was driving me nuts.

However, recent discussions and thinking are making me kind of not excited to make the M3 my track car as well as everything else. It's fast and well-mannered on track for sure, but negatives are many:

A) Costs a lot more to track... my S2k front rotors are $50 vs. hundreds, tires are 16"/17" vs. wider 18"/19"s, etc.
B) Would be financially ruinous to have a catastrophic "off" with vs. merely highly inconvenient...
C) Weighs 900lbs more
D) Is rather less direct and focused
E) Has somewhat suspect brakes for hard track use, even with pads/fluid/etc.
F) Is less reliable and worry-free than the bulletproof S2000

Also compounding my quandary is the fact that my commute is a boring 70mph cruise both ways. Yes, it's annoying in the cramped, noisy S2000 - the M3 would be much better, but would it really be much different than say an old Accord in terms of getting me to/from work comfortably? I'm not so sure.

I guess the M3 that I thought would be my one solution to rule everything might not be so great for my specific needs - it will be in many ways inferior to my current car on the track, and my short yet monotonous commute doesn't allow it to shine much. In the meantime, it will be expensive to maintain and keep fueled up, and I'd be tying up a lot of money (for me) in just one car. There's a certain excitement from getting to drive a newish, awesome car all the time, but in reality I wonder if it's what would make me happiest. Even just having a dedicated track car would be nice in terms of not having to swap things out or get it back to "daily driving mode."

So given $35-40k and these needs, what would you do?

*Nice, minty '09+ E90 M3 to do everything well? This seems both great (drive a sweet car all the time) and a compromise (expensive, abusing my DD, track considerations).

*Allocate $10k to an S2000 (I'd probably sell mine and get a cheaper one if I made it a mainly-track car) and $30k to a higher-mileage '08 M3?

*Go nuts and spend $30k on an Elise to maximize fun days, leaving $10k for a reliable and safe but relatively boring DD to get me around (TSX, E46 330, '06 Civic, etc.)? It would be awesome to own/track an Elise, but A) I probably wouldn't get to use it often and B) I dunno if I can stand spending 90% of my driving in a car I'm not very interested/excited about.