I drove an M3 this weekend. It's on a whole different level performance wise. It pulls much harder, corners much crisper, and brakes with much more bite. Is it $30k better than the M235i? I would say yes, but I would wait until the M2 and the LCI M3/M4 with ZCP comes out before making a decision. I was worried I wouldn't like my car as much after driving the M3, but I was still quite pleased. It's fast enough, and handles great for a daily driver, and you can still get in plenty of trouble with it on the streets.