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      10-05-2019, 01:10 PM   #6
nachob
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Drives: 2004 330i ZHP, 2022 Cayman T
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Quote:
Originally Posted by juyeop View Post
Hey guys, so I have 2013 STI as a daily which I have really fun driving and E92 M3 as a weekend car sitting at 28,000 miles AW manual comp pack.

I've had m3 for about 2 years, but more I drive it, more I feel how heavy M3 is. Yes, V8 growls and M3 looks great in terms of proportion and it does catch people's eyes for sure.

I used to drive 128i, so I know how fun E82 chassis is and that is why I'm contemplating whether I should sell M3 and get 1M as a weekend. All my car friends are telling to go get GT4 since 1M is really really close to 981 GT4 price now like $10,000~$20,000. What's your guys' opinion?

I can't own 3 cars atm and I kinda like driving STI as a daily, so I only have a choice of either keeping M3 or swapping M3 for 1M.
I always wanted an M3. The E46 was my favorite and when we were about to have our second kid when I saw in autoweek that E46 production was ending. I told wife, I gotta get E46, don't care if it doesn't make sense with two young kids and ran down to dealer. They told me, sorry production ended so no more Euro delivery. All we have left are SMGs which I didn't want one and can find some manuals but all fully loaded or with weird interior colors and loaded etc. So I passed and waited next M3. I decided I was going to get next one. Then the 1 series came out and got excited. Loved the size of it. I had a really nice 325i sport MT that I really liked and the 128i didn't feel that much better to make the jump into payments. I liked the steering on the E46 better and the 135i was just not sharp enough for me. The steering was a little slow, no LSD, no cloth seat option just vinyl or leather and pretty pricey so I decided to wait for E90 M3. It came out and loved the style, the engine sounded great when they went by but when I test drove it, it kept underwhelming me. I didn't like the manual shifting was not as good as I hoped for. The car sounded rough and sickly when cold and it felt big and heavy to me. But still I had always wanted an M3 and made a plan to buy one in 2011 and do Euro delivery. Then the 1M came out and I agonized because it was smaller, lighter, nimbler, only in manual trans as I felt it should be and I liked the fact that it had a "normal" motor because I wanted to daily drive it and exotic motors are not good for that. Then I test drove the M3 again and while the motor when warmed up is fantastic, the same things cropped up. It felt big and heavy compared to my e46 and you had to wait a while for the motor to warm up and not sound sickly. The fuel mileage in 2011 was horrible and even though Interlagos Blue is my favorite color, I decided to go 1M without even driving it.

I still love the look of the E90 M3 and I could see getting one some day but the 1M is just more engaging around town in my humble opinion. The shifter is better, the clutch is light and good. People complain about N54 reliability which is usually injectors and maybe turbos but E90s, have bearing issues, throttle actuator issues and others also. I still prefer a good NA motor over a turbo, but that motor would've been better served in a lighter car where the low torque wouldn't be as big a factor. Anyway, the 1M is not perfect. It has turbo lag and takes some throttle discipline. It is a much more hard edged car than the M3. It only has a very firm fixed suspension however, it is actually great with 18" wheels and tires. The 1M might not be for you, you HAVE to drive one and decide for yourself. If you want a weekend car, that is one nice thing about the 1M, they hold their value well for low mileage cars.

In 2013, during the California recession, I sold my first 1M and went on the market later and planned to get something else. I bought a 2003 ZHP MT which is feel is the greatest family car ever made for car enthusiasts and started to look at e90 M3s again. I would swoon when I saw an I.B. E90 M3 sedan but once I drove them, the same thing happened. It just felt a bit heavy and a bit big still so I loved looking at them and listening to it but driving it around town just didn't match the visual and aural components.

I also started to test the 228i, 235i, M2, F80 M3 and nothing quite did it for me for various reasons so finally I gave up and searched for a low mileage 1M. I found one in Canada and imported it. Even with the Canadian savings, it still cost me more than what I paid for my new one in 2011! That was 2015 and that car is still in my garage.

As I said it is not perfect. The default traction control is awful. The car has so much torque that it kicks in the traction control immediately and you are constantly getting the blinking light. On the other hand, you are walking away with the car in one piece because it can catch you offguard sometimes. The M Dynamic mode is amazing. It's as if BMW left the regular 135i traction control in the 1M and only worked on the MDM. I wish I could code the MDM on all the time. I have even autocrossed my first 1M in MDM and it is great but you have to turn it on every time you want. Another thing with the 1M is that it is almost an organism. It's like a person that has good days and bad days. Some days it just feels "fast" but not "crazy fast" and you get lulled and used to power then some days, usually on a cool morning, you push the trottle with commitment like you have done hundreds of times before and the thing takes off on you, usually in second gear, and for a few hundreds to a second you are "behind" the car....if you know what I mean. Sometimes you go around a corner one way and then another time it behaves a little differently. Many have panned this trait. My ZHP is like the Silver, the Lone Ranger's horse. It does everything exactly as I expect when I want it to. I whitstle and it trots over to me and eagerly does what I tell it to do. The 1M is more like recently broken mustang (the horse not the car)...most of the time it does what you tell it but periodically it will do what it wants and you don't tell it what to do, you ask it what to do. While this trait is not what BMWs are known for and considered a bad trait, it has had one unplanned side effect, that Chris Harris has pointed out succintly...it has a bad boy demeanor that you never quite get comfortable with it. So while people want their cars to be easy to drive and do exactly what they want, the 1M doesn't quite do that which keeps you from taking it for granted or getting bored with it. Driving many modern BMWs is like having a beautiful stepford wife that you fulfills all your wishes and desires eagerly but the 1M is like marrying a some badass girl that will make you mad some days but when things are good, they are outstanding.

Some people want the stepford wife, the big sterile McMansion and the Cadillac SUV. Some want things that are a little less perfect, more real, maybe a little raw. So you should drive a 1M and see for yourself. I still really like the E90 M3 and would love to have one because it's the last of the great BMW NA motors but If I could only have one, I have twice now gone with the 1M if I could only have one of them.

Is it worth making the jump if you already have an M3, probably not, that is still a great car but if you didn't have the M3, I would go 1M or E46 M3.

I know that's a lot of info, but it's not really a black and white thing. I hope it helps somewhat though!

Best wishes and let us know what you decide!
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Last edited by nachob; 10-05-2019 at 03:44 PM..
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