PaulAr
S3 (8P)
You sound like my brother, he is 23 and has a carbon black 54 plate m3 manual. He did the sensible thing and purchased a house first though lol.
Anyway he had a tt 240 sport which was a great car but bored him to death and had always wanted an e46. IMO the car looks better than an s3 however the interior is starting to look a bit dated. The sound is awesome and when you want to have fun there is no denying it is leaps and bounds ahead of the s3.
What he is discovering is how thirsty the car is and his insurance was also a lot more than the audi. Is it any faster than my mapped 8p s3??? in reality no certainly not point to point but on track would beat it. Do you like driving like a snail in the wet or risk being **** scared??
Now the best bit, his car is on 27k and requires new ball joints, exhaust hanger (welded to chassis) discs and pads and a new tyre. £1,800 from BMW so not cheap to maintain either.
They are starting to get on aswell so my advice would be to stay with the s3 mate.
wise words