Fucking salesman rode along and squealed like a little girl. I swear he was the whiniest little bitch. WTF are you doing crewing a BMW dealership if you're gonna squeak shit from the back seat like - "That's fast enough. Really. I want out ... Let me out right here! I mean it." Little baby.
But on to the car. All in all I liked it. Well planted, turned off the trac cntrl and really hurled it into some corners and it drifted modestly a couple times but NOTHING like the snap of a viper. I like the taughtness of the suspension and the brakes are nice. Decent power. The SMG will take a bit of getting used to but I think it would be fun on the track. Downsides - Feels heavy and the steering ratio is waaaayyy too slow. Combining that huge amount of wheel motion with the paddles really sucks. If you're gonna have paddles your steering ought to be 1/2 turn lock to lock so you don't have to shuffle. The upshifts are jerky on the gas and feel too slow when you lift slightly to smooth them out. The downshifts are nice though, what with the automatic throttle blip and rev-matching. Fuck heel and toe with that on hand.
I hated SMG. My original order for the black M3 had SMG until the salesman let me borrow one overnight. I brought it back the next morning and we changed my order to 6spd. The SMG is nice in theory, but it's too klunky still. Totally a nuisance around town much like a Down Syndrome tuner dicking with your software on the fly.
The E46 was a great car around town. I miss taking it to up to DFW in pre-dawn stealth runs. It soaks up the miles great and is fast enough to get you where you need to be and keep you awake.
Having said that, the E36 is still 100x more fun to drive. The steering is telepathic. The balance is nearly perfect. The car flat out won't let you get bent out of shape. The E46 with it's under-tired front just washes out too quickly and it feels like you're playing iceberg slalom with the Titanic.
So, I ordered an M5. If I'm going to have to drive a brick around town everyday, that's going to be my dog in the hunt. Looking to add a small N20 shot for the occasional Red5 Z06 guy that needs to get a highway beating with my dog laughing from the back seat.
Nope, unloaded it after I got home from OTC. Wasn't all that shot in the ass with it. If we ever get out to TWS, I'll let you drive the white one. So much fun.
My boss just bought one and let me drive it. To me, the SMG is a pain and I'd take a 6sp any day. There's also so many damn electronics to the thing you need to be a programmer just to operate it.
I'd stick with the E36 if given the option - I think its better styling and its not quite so gadgeted-up as to make me feel like I'm in the space shuttle.
I don't know where you come up with some of these little sayings!
Linear Mode
