E36 M3 can easily be had for $8000 with a reasonable amount of miles. As far as reliability they did have some electrical gremlins in the earlier years of the E36. Just do the research and make sure you know what your getting into before the purchase. Stay away from the 95 M3’s(same year as mine) as they had issues with valve ticks and were 20HP less than the following years.(Difference in the heads)
You said: “Must be somewhat relaible”
And then you said:“e36 3 series/m3 (getting them real cheap is easy, i have hookups)
early e46 3 series
b5 audi a4
mk4 1.8T jetta”.
BMW’s are not reliable. Audi’s are not reliable. Neither are VW’s(and i LOVE Dubs. but they arent all that reliable).
I have owned a few BMW’S. i WILL NEVER OWN ANOTHER! Over rated POS! Pain in the ass to own and fix. No thanks.
I have a good freind who owns a repair facility, and he told me once he could put his kids through college just working on Audi’s and BMW’s. LOL.
Buy an LS1 F body, or even a nice LT1.
The engineering in BMW is far surpassed that of Domestic Cars, but with that there is more crap to break. If you can keep up with the maintenance of a Bimmer than they are a hell of a car, but shouldn’t be neglected. IF you are planning on getting one then chose wisely. Don’t buy high miles, off a kid, or some shitbox that hasn’t been maintained by BMW.