2003 BMW E46 M3 Touring for sale

Usually, sentences that start with ‘Florida’ don’t end well. But we’re making an exception for this Laguna Seca Blue 2003 BMW M3 Touring, built from a donor 3 Series wagon.

Florida has come through for us.

It turns out someone in the States decided to do what BMW wouldn’t, and they built an M3 Touring – complete with an S54 3.2-litre straight-six under the bonnet. Now it’s for sale on Craigslist.

The M3 parts are all from a genuine M3 - the ad says they were fitted to the wagon after the wagon suffered “minor damage”. We’re not sure what that entails, but it’s roadworthy in the US… at least both cars were MY03.

The seller also says it’s had a Turner Motorsport subframe reinforcement carried out – Turner is a BMW-focused race team and BMW tuner.

Unfortunately, as you might have guessed (it’s on Craigslist after all), the custom M3 Touring isn’t perfect. For a start, it’s running an SMG transmission, robbing the next owner of the joy of rowing through the gears, and leaving them with the divisive BMW ‘box.

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The second downside is apparently the paint. Though not obvious in the photos posted, the seller says the “paint quality is mediocre at best”. Not exactly a sales expert, then.

The ad was posted less than a week ago, with the price listed as USD$22,500, or about AUD$31,650.

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There’s every chance it’d be too difficult to buy it, ship it here, and register it (and we’re not sure you’d want to, it’s covered over 202,000km), but we like the idea of it.

Failing that, there’s always Alpina…