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      03-20-2021, 08:48 PM   #1
MelbourneFinn
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G80 M3C as an F06 M6 replacement?

Anyone here had a chance to do a good test drive of the new M3? Am I crazy to consider M3 Comp as a replacement for the GC? Performance wise I they should be on the same level, except taking them on a twisty road the M3 might be quite a bit quicker...? I'm really not ok with the nostrils and the digital only gauge cluster is awful (but in reality I'm not really looking at the dials often, mainly HUD, so I think I could possibly live with it). And no more CD player sucks, maybe with an aftermarket upgrade and playing lossless format via cable from iPhone can come close in reality (not using standard H/K sound system, but that's reasonably easy to fix). Otherwise the G80 appears to be quite easy to like... on paper...

But what about the actual driving? If anyone has has a chance to do a good back to back comparison, I'd be keen to hear thoughts/feedback.
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      03-20-2021, 09:39 PM   #2
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I've thought about it also. I had a f82 M4 and moved into the f06 M6 GC.

This V8 with Meisterschaft exhaust and down pipes in itself for me makes it extremely difficult to ever go to a 6cyl again.

I'm still adapting to that front grill but overall I've seen some BEAUTIFUL specs. Some of them look gorgeous. I really want an AWD car after the M6.

I live in NYC and I love the rarity factor of the M6 GC. F80's and F82's are absolutely everywhere. I counted 8+ 1 day on 1 lunch seating last year in Astoria, Queens. Not taking away anything cause I love them.

Overall I wouldn't be surprised for M6 GC owners to move to G80 M3. New interior/exterior and awd. I love them all!
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      03-20-2021, 10:03 PM   #3
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Everybody know me, it's like I'm a movie star"

The M6GC that is well tuned is a power saloon and I know that the power to weight and handling of the M3/M4's is vastly different but I am quite at peace with showing up to cars and coffee or other car meets and almost without fail being the only M6GC. I dig my Sloop of War!
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      03-21-2021, 05:46 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MelbourneFinn View Post
Anyone here had a chance to do a good test drive of the new M3? Am I crazy to consider M3 Comp as a replacement for the GC? Performance wise I they should be on the same level, except taking them on a twisty road the M3 might be quite a bit quicker...? I'm really not ok with the nostrils and the digital only gauge cluster is awful (but in reality I'm not really looking at the dials often, mainly HUD, so I think I could possibly live with it). And no more CD player sucks, maybe with an aftermarket upgrade and playing lossless format via cable from iPhone can come close in reality (not using standard H/K sound system, but that's reasonably easy to fix). Otherwise the G80 appears to be quite easy to like... on paper...

But what about the actual driving? If anyone has has a chance to do a good back to back comparison, I'd be keen to hear thoughts/feedback.
You should go and test drive it but let me give you other view.
I used to have 2013 M6 Coupe for 3 years and at the end of lease replaced with 2016 M4 CP. Two years later replaced M4 with 2018 M3 CP. For the total of 4.5 years although they were fun cars but believe me or not every single day when I saw an M6 on street got regret why I replaced my M6 until couple weeks ago that I got M8 and now I am happy ... The point is when you experience power and luxurious, nothing less can make you happy again so I dont recommend this replacement unless you want to keep M6 and get G80 M3 as second car
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      03-21-2021, 10:03 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by TinCanSailor View Post
I am quite at peace with showing up to cars and coffee or other car meets and almost without fail being the only M6GC
Same here, at Cars and Coffee events there will often be a dozen or more F chassis M3/4's. Even a decent handful of F10/F90 M5's. I've never seen another M6 at one besides mine regardless of coupe, gran coupe, vert or even E chassis.

To address OP's question, the new G chassis M3 and M4 are just not for me. Can't get over the grille but the rest of the car is impressive nonetheless. I also have a tough time entertaining the idea of going down in size from this segment of car as a daily driver. I had a 2013 Audi S6 before an Audi A4 lease (company deal) and couldn't stand the size of the A4 day to day. Going from something as small as the A4 into the M6 GC I have now was a welcome change (in a lot of ways).

Follow up car after the M6 will likely be an RS6 Avant in a few years. At that same time, I would also entertain an LCI F90 M5 Comp or M8 GC comp, but bottom line is I would make a lateral move as far as size/performance are concerned.
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      03-21-2021, 02:03 PM   #6
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I've been invited to drive one and will probably do so this week. I'm also doing a track day with the full current line up of M cars in April including the G8x range so will report back then.

Based on my past experiences driving the F8x M2/3/4, F9x M5/8 and the M6 I'm going to guess that on the road I'm going to dislike the steering the most, the electronic power steering on the M8 was a much bigger deal for me than I thought it would be. In fact I went into it thinking I'd be more concerned about the ZF8 based on experiences in other vehicles with the ZF8 versus the DCT in the m6 but the gearbox was quite good.

Before I drive the G8x I think I'm going to be most worried about the steering and possibly how it handles tight bumpy roads. I drove an F8x M4 non-Comp and an M3 Comp on a back road I know quite well and they were both quite fidgety compared to my C63 and M6 so I will definitely drive it on that road. The M8 drove fine on the same road. I know that the smaller cars should handle those sorts of roads better but the rear end skipped around so much I just had no confidence in pushing the cars at all.

One other thing that I'm looking for when driving is how loud the ASD will be, it was an easy fix in the M6 to just unplug it but I haven't seen people talking about it yet in the G8x (other than coding which I'm sure will do it)

One concern I have with the new cars is that M8 is the 68 litre tank and the G8x only has a 59 litre. I really am enjoying the 80 litre tank in the M6. The G8x will get quite a bit better fuel economy though so in the real work the range might be fairly close.
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      03-21-2021, 04:17 PM   #7
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It depends on your preference. M6 interior to me is superior to current M5/M8 interior. However the current G8X M3/M4 interior with carbon pack seems to be very nice. The car exterior seems nicer in person than in pictures. Carwow posted 3.6 0-60mph for rear wheel drive G82 M4. I am not sure whether M6 comp has been shown to post similar 0-60 or not. Acceleration at normal road speed of 30-80mph would probably favour the M6. You would also miss the V8 rumble to the redline. However you would enjoying cornering in the m3/m4. Someone says it corners better than the current M2C
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      03-21-2021, 10:53 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by babaikram View Post
It depends on your preference. M6 interior to me is superior to current M5/M8 interior. However the current G8X M3/M4 interior with carbon pack seems to be very nice. The car exterior seems nicer in person than in pictures. Carwow posted 3.6 0-60mph for rear wheel drive G82 M4. I am not sure whether M6 comp has been shown to post similar 0-60 or not. Acceleration at normal road speed of 30-80mph would probably favour the M6. You would also miss the V8 rumble to the redline. However you would enjoying cornering in the m3/m4. Someone says it corners better than the current M2C
I've timed mine at 3.6 to 3.8 quite a few times, on the other hand in the wet I got beaten up to 30mph against a V6Rav4.... I think the variability of launching a powerful rear wheel drive car could easily sway the results either way, in the real world they will be similar. Carwow could have easily done 20 launches to get to that time as well and made it look like it was their only launch to look like Mat Watson has talent.
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      03-22-2021, 12:26 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by babaikram View Post
It depends on your preference. M6 interior to me is superior to current M5/M8 interior. However the current G8X M3/M4 interior with carbon pack seems to be very nice. The car exterior seems nicer in person than in pictures. Carwow posted 3.6 0-60mph for rear wheel drive G82 M4. I am not sure whether M6 comp has been shown to post similar 0-60 or not. Acceleration at normal road speed of 30-80mph would probably favour the M6. You would also miss the V8 rumble to the redline. However you would enjoying cornering in the m3/m4. Someone says it corners better than the current M2C
Well as much as I loved my M6 interior, I believe M8 interior in full leather(which is everywhere inside the cabin even on doors) is step above M6; however still I prefer analog instrument of M6 over digital one in M8.
But this is just preference ...
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      03-22-2021, 03:00 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M6-Coupe View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by babaikram View Post
It depends on your preference. M6 interior to me is superior to current M5/M8 interior. However the current G8X M3/M4 interior with carbon pack seems to be very nice. The car exterior seems nicer in person than in pictures. Carwow posted 3.6 0-60mph for rear wheel drive G82 M4. I am not sure whether M6 comp has been shown to post similar 0-60 or not. Acceleration at normal road speed of 30-80mph would probably favour the M6. You would also miss the V8 rumble to the redline. However you would enjoying cornering in the m3/m4. Someone says it corners better than the current M2C
Well as much as I loved my M6 interior, I believe M8 interior in full leather(which is everywhere inside the cabin even on doors) is step above M6; however still I prefer analog instrument of M6 over digital one in M8.
But this is just preference ...
The problem with M8 interior is not the quality of materials but lack of wow factor. The basic layout is not so different from 3 series. Unlike 6 series and M6 (mine has individual interior) when the interior is really different from other series the swooping leather from the centra console to the dash is so distinctive.
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      03-23-2021, 03:50 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by babaikram View Post
The problem with M8 interior is not the quality of materials but lack of wow factor. The basic layout is not so different from 3 series. Unlike 6 series and M6 (mine has individual interior) when the interior is really different from other series the swooping leather from the centra console to the dash is so distinctive.
I see your point but to me the quality by itself plus the shape of center console extended to dash beside the stitching Marino leather on seats and door among with nice dash leather in F92 M8 is a big wow factor.
I believe today's interior is kind of signature for any manufacturer and that's why different models have the same concept/ platform.
For example below you can see the pictures of different models/ generations.
On the right side you can see the interior of previous generation of M3 (F80) on the top compare to M6 (F13) on the bottom.
The left side you can see the comparison between new generation G80 M3 compare to F92 M8. You can see that signature I am talking about. I admit F13 is several steps above F80 but you can't say F13 interior is from another world compare to F80 3 series.
To me F80 is a basic F13 and G80 is a basic F92

P.n: BMW started the new policy around 2013 to make the interior of all models similar and they started with M6 steering wheel back in 2013. If you recall M5 was introduced a year before M6 and the steering wheel was the same as 2011 650i but they upgraded to M6 type at the time of facelift and later on F8x M3/M4 got the same steering wheel as well as almost similar center console around the gear lever and iDrive knob...
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      03-23-2021, 05:46 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M6-Coupe View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by babaikram View Post
The problem with M8 interior is not the quality of materials but lack of wow factor. The basic layout is not so different from 3 series. Unlike 6 series and M6 (mine has individual interior) when the interior is really different from other series the swooping leather from the centra console to the dash is so distinctive.
I see your point but to me the quality by itself plus the shape of center console extended to dash beside the stitching Marino leather on seats and door among with nice dash leather in F92 M8 is a big wow factor.
I believe today's interior is kind of signature for any manufacturer and that's why different models have the same concept/ platform.
For example below you can see the pictures of different models/ generations.
On the right side you can see the interior of previous generation of M3 (F80) on the top compare to M6 (F13) on the bottom.
The left side you can see the comparison between new generation G80 M3 compare to F92 M8. You can see that signature I am talking about. I admit F13 is several steps above F80 but you can't say F13 interior is from another world compare to F80 3 series.
To me F80 is a basic F13 and G80 is a basic F92

P.n: BMW started the new policy around 2013 to make the interior of all models similar and they started with M6 steering wheel back in 2013. If you recall M5 was introduced a year before M6 and the steering wheel was the same as 2011 650i but they upgraded to M6 type at the time of facelift and later on F8x M3/M4 got the same steering wheel as well as almost similar center console around the gear lever and iDrive knob...
I get your points.
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      03-23-2021, 09:11 PM   #13
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I get your points.
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      04-01-2021, 10:02 AM   #14
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Tbh the full merino leather package in the M6 is very high quality, only difference I see is the infotainment/climate control, otherwise, it's modern and has leather everywhere including dash, lower dash, doors, lower doors, etc

And the design way better than other BMWs (BIASED)
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      04-04-2021, 10:09 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by FinalRenegade View Post
Tbh the full merino leather package in the M6 is very high quality, only difference I see is the infotainment/climate control, otherwise, it's modern and has leather everywhere including dash, lower dash, doors, lower doors, etc

And the design way better than other BMWs (BIASED)
With the two tone alcantara headliner, the inside is still the best to me. Instead of ditching my M6 for M8, I would rather spend the extra I would have spent to get M2 to replace my m240i. Then I will enjoy the best of both worlds of power and nimbleness. Or if finances allow Porsche Cayman 718 GTS

The peak of tech innovations for cars seems to have been reached with late F series. Apple CarPlay has equalised a lot of things. The current in car techs are improvements rather than innovations and some of them are really unnecessary

Sorry for hijacking the threads

The G8X M3/M4 seem big but they are said to drive small just like M6. Some M2C guys say that G8X corner better than M2C

Has any M6 owner test driven GX M3/M4 and could give us feedback on comparison
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      04-05-2021, 02:29 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by babaikram View Post
With the two tone alcantara headliner, the inside is still the best to me. Instead of ditching my M6 for M8, I would rather spend the extra I would have spent to get M2 to replace my m240i. Then I will enjoy the best of both worlds of power and nimbleness. Or if finances allow Porsche Cayman 718 GTS

The peak of tech innovations for cars seems to have been reached with late F series. Apple CarPlay has equalised a lot of things. The current in car techs are improvements rather than innovations and some of them are really unnecessary

Sorry for hijacking the threads

The G8X M3/M4 seem big but they are said to drive small just like M6. Some M2C guys say that G8X corner better than M2C

Has any M6 owner test driven GX M3/M4 and could give us feedback on comparison
There are lots of reviews have been published the last 2-3 weeks and looks like everybody is happy with handling, power, grip and acceleration of G8x. It's really fast car and have beaten the comparators (RS5/C63S)...
I never driven the car but since it has the same ZF8 I can tell you ZF8 is very smooth and nice but not as fun as DCT. Although people claim DCT is jerky but I believe we love that jerkiness
The big difference between DCT and ZF8 is when you go upshift and DCT has a lovely kick from rear and you miss that feeling with ZF8. Another difference is the creepy behavior of ZF8 when you are waiting at traffic light.
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      04-05-2021, 07:08 PM   #17
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Thanks. I have ZF8 in the m240 and you do get the kick in the back when driving manual and up shifting from 1 to2 to 3 and you are close to the redline. However it is not as fast or as crisp as DCT. ZF8 has the advantage of selecting the lowest gear close to the redline if you downshift with prolonged hold. Moreover, that extra gear '8' of ZF8 is probably worth extra 5 mpg on motorway long drives. I expect the G8X to have a better fuel economy that F8X

Upon all, I would still take the DCT over the ZF8 for the fun
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      04-17-2021, 05:24 PM   #18
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I drove the current M3/M4/M5/M8 at Hampton downs this last week. It is a smooth track so I can't comment on how comfortable the cars will be on a normal road. We were following an instructor in an M440i xdrive who said he was driving pretty much flat out apart from the start/finish straight where we were limited to 160kmh (in the real world about 180kmh)

I will drive another one next week sometime and will take it on roads that are similar to the roads around Yarra, Gembrook etc near where my Auntie lives - I know those roads well and we have a bunch of similar ones just out of Auckland. Not sure if you head out that way much though Jukka?

The M5 to me felt a lot heavier and reluctant to change direction compared to the M3/4/8. Mid corner it felt like it had some mass to it as well and would understeer whereas the others didn't. In saying that I know that the M5 would be about the same speed as my M6 or a bit quicker around a racetreack but it didn't seem to enjoy it.

The M3/4 felt quite similar to the M8 and while I haven't been around Hampton Downs in the M6 for about 15 months I think that all of them felt fairly similar for the level that we were able to drive the cars.

What I will say is that multiple down changes were quite a bit slower in all of them with the ZF8 compared to the DCT which I was disappointed about.

In regards to engine response, they reminded me of driving an Evo or similar with a reasonable amount of lag.

If I'm in 2nd in my car and floor it at 2000rpm it is on boost at 2750rpm or so and is pulling hard. In 3rd it is on boost at 2500rpm if flooring it from 2000rpm. In the M3/4 it delayed by about 1000-1500rpm or so in each gear. In 2nd the revs need to be above 3500rpm to get any decent response for example.

So if you like the low rpm responsiveness of the S63TU then I don't think the M3/4 is for you. Once the turbos were awake though and on boost they pull hard to 7200rpm.

The other big things for me were:

1. The carbon seats which all of the track cars had are very comfortable once in them but the sides are high and close to racking buckets. If I had a cruiser car and was speccing up an M4 to be a weekend track/targa type car then I'd have them but for me I get in and out of my car quite a few times a day and it'd drive me insane. On the other hand if some celebrities that like wearing short skirts/dresses buy some the paparazzi will have some fun.

2. The fuel tank is 59 litres and I'm not sure how that will work with my driving style. I did 650km yesterday, 920km over Easter weekend, 550km last weekend and next weekend I'll be doing ~900km. To me the fun of owning a car like this is going for long country drives on open roads and the small fuel tank would be an issue for me as 98 Octane isn't that common here in the middle of nowhere. The M8 is only 68 litres and will probably consume a bit more than the M6. The M3/4 will consume less but I can't see their open road range being as good as in the M6.

3. Isle of Man Green is amazing. Portimao blue is quite nice too but San Marino is better I think.


Finally when I've driven the F8x on the street and an M8 I felt the power steering was absolutely horrible. On the track I feel this is masked a bit as for these short sessions you are typically a bit busy with everything else going on and are driving around corners with a consistent radius. I thought the steering was a bit better on them than on the M5/8 but will comment further after my street drive.
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      04-18-2021, 03:07 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brad850csi View Post
I drove the current M3/M4/M5/M8 at Hampton downs this last week. It is a smooth track so I can't comment on how comfortable the cars will be on a normal road. We were following an instructor in an M440i xdrive who said he was driving pretty much flat out apart from the start/finish straight where we were limited to 160kmh (in the real world about 180kmh)

I will drive another one next week sometime and will take it on roads that are similar to the roads around Yarra, Gembrook etc near where my Auntie lives - I know those roads well and we have a bunch of similar ones just out of Auckland. Not sure if you head out that way much though Jukka?

The M5 to me felt a lot heavier and reluctant to change direction compared to the M3/4/8. Mid corner it felt like it had some mass to it as well and would understeer whereas the others didn't. In saying that I know that the M5 would be about the same speed as my M6 or a bit quicker around a racetreack but it didn't seem to enjoy it.

The M3/4 felt quite similar to the M8 and while I haven't been around Hampton Downs in the M6 for about 15 months I think that all of them felt fairly similar for the level that we were able to drive the cars.

What I will say is that multiple down changes were quite a bit slower in all of them with the ZF8 compared to the DCT which I was disappointed about.

In regards to engine response, they reminded me of driving an Evo or similar with a reasonable amount of lag.

If I'm in 2nd in my car and floor it at 2000rpm it is on boost at 2750rpm or so and is pulling hard. In 3rd it is on boost at 2500rpm if flooring it from 2000rpm. In the M3/4 it delayed by about 1000-1500rpm or so in each gear. In 2nd the revs need to be above 3500rpm to get any decent response for example.

So if you like the low rpm responsiveness of the S63TU then I don't think the M3/4 is for you. Once the turbos were awake though and on boost they pull hard to 7200rpm.

The other big things for me were:

1. The carbon seats which all of the track cars had are very comfortable once in them but the sides are high and close to racking buckets. If I had a cruiser car and was speccing up an M4 to be a weekend track/targa type car then I'd have them but for me I get in and out of my car quite a few times a day and it'd drive me insane. On the other hand if some celebrities that like wearing short skirts/dresses buy some the paparazzi will have some fun.

2. The fuel tank is 59 litres and I'm not sure how that will work with my driving style. I did 650km yesterday, 920km over Easter weekend, 550km last weekend and next weekend I'll be doing ~900km. To me the fun of owning a car like this is going for long country drives on open roads and the small fuel tank would be an issue for me as 98 Octane isn't that common here in the middle of nowhere. The M8 is only 68 litres and will probably consume a bit more than the M6. The M3/4 will consume less but I can't see their open road range being as good as in the M6.

3. Isle of Man Green is amazing. Portimao blue is quite nice too but San Marino is better I think.


Finally when I've driven the F8x on the street and an M8 I felt the power steering was absolutely horrible. On the track I feel this is masked a bit as for these short sessions you are typically a bit busy with everything else going on and are driving around corners with a consistent radius. I thought the steering was a bit better on them than on the M5/8 but will comment further after my street drive.
Thanks, this is helpful, and not that surprising.

To be honest, I wasn't really after a torque monster when I bought my first M6 (F13), it was more of a perfect combination of crazy performance, luxury, gorgeous looks - and a lot more special than 650 that I almost ended up buying. Now I know, when you get involved with M cars, there is no way back to "normal" as they are not that special... I had an Audi RS4 (B8) before the F13 and the engine was just gorgeous - 8400 red line, sound, responsiveness, I think the E92 M3 would have been similar, maybe even sweeter.

To be honest, my "car needs" have changed quite a lot during the pandemic... Spirited drives on backroads are all but gone, and it's usually freeway from Geelong to Melbourne and back... So, driving dynamics as a criteria have unfortunately had to move more to background and comfort and luxury seem to be more important. I even considered AMG S63 Coupe as an option, but quickly realised that anything within my price range would be either high mileage, or like the one I found locally here lower mileage but seemingly lived a hard life - a bit scary if the things that you can see look bad, what about things you can't see... Well, now I'm digressing...

Having seen the new M3 (and M4 - but that's a no-go for me), it does look pretty good, so I will take one for a test drive, who knows, maybe it provides the spark I'm hoping for... But would likely need to be the xDrive, and likely Touring for it to be materially different to not compete head on with the SMB F06 M6, which still after +3 years is drop dead gorgeous, probably the best looking car on the road unless you compare to some exotic like 812 Superfast etc, which is not a fair comparison as you can get 6 M6's for the price of one 812... If the M3 xDrive Touring fails to impress, I may end up with an SUV (really sad) as the new F-Pace SVR seems to tick seriously many boxes... Unless Corvette C8... 😇
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      04-18-2021, 01:52 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by MelbourneFinn View Post
Thanks, this is helpful, and not that surprising.

To be honest, I wasn't really after a torque monster when I bought my first M6 (F13), it was more of a perfect combination of crazy performance, luxury, gorgeous looks - and a lot more special than 650 that I almost ended up buying. Now I know, when you get involved with M cars, there is no way back to "normal" as they are not that special... I had an Audi RS4 (B8) before the F13 and the engine was just gorgeous - 8400 red line, sound, responsiveness, I think the E92 M3 would have been similar, maybe even sweeter.

To be honest, my "car needs" have changed quite a lot during the pandemic... Spirited drives on backroads are all but gone, and it's usually freeway from Geelong to Melbourne and back... So, driving dynamics as a criteria have unfortunately had to move more to background and comfort and luxury seem to be more important. I even considered AMG S63 Coupe as an option, but quickly realised that anything within my price range would be either high mileage, or like the one I found locally here lower mileage but seemingly lived a hard life - a bit scary if the things that you can see look bad, what about things you can't see... Well, now I'm digressing...

Having seen the new M3 (and M4 - but that's a no-go for me), it does look pretty good, so I will take one for a test drive, who knows, maybe it provides the spark I'm hoping for... But would likely need to be the xDrive, and likely Touring for it to be materially different to not compete head on with the SMB F06 M6, which still after +3 years is drop dead gorgeous, probably the best looking car on the road unless you compare to some exotic like 812 Superfast etc, which is not a fair comparison as you can get 6 M6's for the price of one 812... If the M3 xDrive Touring fails to impress, I may end up with an SUV (really sad) as the new F-Pace SVR seems to tick seriously many boxes... Unless Corvette C8... 😇
I do like the idea of the M3 Touring and I believe they will only come as xDrive as well, but I think the B3 Touring will be much more comfortable and refined - are there Alpina demonstrators in AU?
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      04-20-2021, 01:43 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by brad850csi View Post
I drove the current M3/M4/M5/M8 at Hampton downs this last week. It is a smooth track so I can't comment on how comfortable the cars will be on a normal road. We were following an instructor in an M440i xdrive who said he was driving pretty much flat out apart from the start/finish straight where we were limited to 160kmh (in the real world about 180kmh)

I will drive another one next week sometime and will take it on roads that are similar to the roads around Yarra, Gembrook etc near where my Auntie lives - I know those roads well and we have a bunch of similar ones just out of Auckland. Not sure if you head out that way much though Jukka?

The M5 to me felt a lot heavier and reluctant to change direction compared to the M3/4/8. Mid corner it felt like it had some mass to it as well and would understeer whereas the others didn't. In saying that I know that the M5 would be about the same speed as my M6 or a bit quicker around a racetreack but it didn't seem to enjoy it.

The M3/4 felt quite similar to the M8 and while I haven't been around Hampton Downs in the M6 for about 15 months I think that all of them felt fairly similar for the level that we were able to drive the cars.

What I will say is that multiple down changes were quite a bit slower in all of them with the ZF8 compared to the DCT which I was disappointed about.

In regards to engine response, they reminded me of driving an Evo or similar with a reasonable amount of lag.

If I'm in 2nd in my car and floor it at 2000rpm it is on boost at 2750rpm or so and is pulling hard. In 3rd it is on boost at 2500rpm if flooring it from 2000rpm. In the M3/4 it delayed by about 1000-1500rpm or so in each gear. In 2nd the revs need to be above 3500rpm to get any decent response for example.

So if you like the low rpm responsiveness of the S63TU then I don't think the M3/4 is for you. Once the turbos were awake though and on boost they pull hard to 7200rpm.

The other big things for me were:

1. The carbon seats which all of the track cars had are very comfortable once in them but the sides are high and close to racking buckets. If I had a cruiser car and was speccing up an M4 to be a weekend track/targa type car then I'd have them but for me I get in and out of my car quite a few times a day and it'd drive me insane. On the other hand if some celebrities that like wearing short skirts/dresses buy some the paparazzi will have some fun.

2. The fuel tank is 59 litres and I'm not sure how that will work with my driving style. I did 650km yesterday, 920km over Easter weekend, 550km last weekend and next weekend I'll be doing ~900km. To me the fun of owning a car like this is going for long country drives on open roads and the small fuel tank would be an issue for me as 98 Octane isn't that common here in the middle of nowhere. The M8 is only 68 litres and will probably consume a bit more than the M6. The M3/4 will consume less but I can't see their open road range being as good as in the M6.

3. Isle of Man Green is amazing. Portimao blue is quite nice too but San Marino is better I think.


Finally when I've driven the F8x on the street and an M8 I felt the power steering was absolutely horrible. On the track I feel this is masked a bit as for these short sessions you are typically a bit busy with everything else going on and are driving around corners with a consistent radius. I thought the steering was a bit better on them than on the M5/8 but will comment further after my street drive.
Appreciate the write up!
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