Easily one of the absolute greatest BMWs of all time is the E46-generation BMW M3. It’s even considered by many enthusiasts to be the best BMW of all time. While that’s a bold statement, it’s a hard one to argue with, as the E46 BMW M3 is nearly the perfect car. And this one that’s for sale on Bring-A-Trailer is a beautiful example and one that anyone looking for a car should consider.

Firstly, The E46 BMW M3 is almost hard to beat as an everyday sports car. It looks perfect, with a design that looks good almost 20 years later and will still look good in 20 more years. Its interior is simple, elegant and high quality. But what makes the E46 BMW M3 so great is what happens when you get behind the wheel, turn the key and go.

There’s been a lot of complaining about how many modern BMWs drive, specifically M cars. A lot of the reason for that is how good the E46 M3 was and how far M cars have drifted from that. Its 3.2 liter naturally-aspirated I6 engine makes 333 hp, accompanied by an incredible noise. That engine could have been paired with either a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed SMG auto-manual. But the six-speed manual is the one you want and what this specific car has.

Its steering is also perfect and is still the benchmark for sports cars moving forward. When enthusiasts drive modern sports cars, they’re often compared to the E46 M3 thanks to its perfect steering. Its handling is also pure and engaging and just lovely. It hits that sweet spot between everyday livability and genuine driver engagement, possibly better than any car since it.

This specific car is a 2003 model with only 20,000 miles on it. It’s also white, which is cool because I feel like you don’t see many white ones, and its paint is in great shape. There are a couple of minute nicks here and there, as pointed out in these photos, but they’re really insignificant. And the interior is in fantastic shape. Overall, it’s an excellent example of one of the finest sports cars made in the past few decades.

At the time of writing this, its current bid is at $27,805, which actually is pretty good for such a low-mileage E46 M3. There are two days left on the bid, so it can go up, obviously. But if you can get one of the absolute finest driving machines in history for the price of a well-equipped Mazda MX-5, that seems like it’s worth looking into to me.

[Source: Bring-A-Trailer]