Take it from my experience (I owned a couple of E92s)
If you cant get the M3, get the 335i, if you cant get the 335i... Don't buy one.
Take the 325i E92 for example - The engine is flat as a witches tit, the Fuel consumption is terrible (worse than my Zed). The head is noisy (research about noisy tappets). You will find it very boring.
Born and bread around BMW's, my advice - The 335i Twin Turbo Diesel. That can be mapped to 500BHP easily.