http://www.mydailydrive.com My Daily Drive The Hottest Cars in Miami as seen on My Daily Drive

After I got out of work today I had to stop by the post office to mail out some Easter goodies to my goddaughter in VA (I love you Lexi!!). Of course the line was long, the employees were slow, and I just wanted to be home after a hectic day at work. My number finally got called and I went up to mail out the package. Fairly boring story so far, right? Yeah, I thought so too, until I walked outside…….

Sitting nicely in the first parking spot was this beautiful BMW E46 M3. I’m a real sucker for M3’s. They’re fast, luxurious, and stupidly pretty. When I worked at a local detail shop here in Gainesville I had the opportunity to drive a client’s Imola Red M3 to his apartment to drop him off, and back to the shop to get the car washed, waxed, and all cleaned up. By myself!!! The best thing I heard all day was the guy saying to me when I dropped him off, “Go ahead, have some fun with it.” If you know me personally, it wouldn’t take you long to figure out that I gladly accepted his offer. On the way back to the shop I gave the cars ahead of me some room, dropped a gear, and punched it. The exhaust note was amazing! 3.2 liter inline 6 cylinder making 333 ponies at close to 8,000 rpm. Awesome stuff. I’ve always liked this version of the 3-Series, but after that drive I became a fan for life.

So fast forward to the post office. It’s a good thing I had my super sexy Apple iPhone 3GS with me to get some sweet photos. The M3 in the parking lot was what BMW calls Titanium Silver Metallic, which is a fairly common color. But this M3 was different. Much different. I remember my first thought upon looking at it was, “Oh my!”  Not only was it lowered about an inch and a half at all four corners, it was sitting on a set of beautiful BBS LM wheels, which retail for a cool $1,100/wheel. And in case your brain took the day off, that’s just under $4,500 for a set of wheels, NOT including rubber! Even more impressive to me was the pizza-sized Brembo Big Brake Kit hiding behind the LM’s. Big, shiny, cross-drilled rotors will surely bring this little Bimmer to halt just as quickly as some of the supercars running around the streets of South Beach. My only regret was not waiting for the owner to come out and start her up. I’m sure there was some tasty aftermarket exhaust system added on to give it that perfect sound.

I’ve seen quite a few BMW M3’s in my day that have made my mouth drop. I got a great shot of a Phoenix Yellow Metallic M3 Convertible at this year’s Cars for the Cure exotic auto show in Orlando, FL. Check out my coverage of the event here. This particular M3 also had a set of BBS wheels, but these were the LM-R’s, finished in charcoal grey with a chrome lip. Sexy!!

Even though they’re pretty common, much more so in South Florida, I still get a little tingly inside when I see an M3. That quick stint in a kind man’s BMW is something I will never forget.

Photos © My Daily Drive 2010