Bought One of My Dream Cars on Monday... M3

[Kelso]

no clutch pedal, but its a manual gearbox with an electronically controlled clutch. its a very odd system and is not an automatic, even though you only have a brake and gas padel

[zilla]

no clutch pedal, but its a manual gearbox with an electronically controlled clutch. its a very odd system and is not an automatic, even though you only have a brake and gas padel

Correct. SMG is is a manual transmission without a clutch pedal. The clutch is controlled by the electronics (and hydraulics) of the system. It`s pretty high tech actually, only a few companies make one (Ferrari, BMW, VW now).

Cool thing about SMG is that there are 5 (actually 6 if you turn off traction control) settings for the transmission, each being slightly more aggressive in the speed of the shift. 5 is extremely fast, like a race car. Very cool

[Kelso]

traction control? whats that? ...people actually leave that on?! hehe j/k

[Surfer]

traction control? whats that? ...people actually leave that on?! hehe j/k

All cars should be manual trans with no electronic aids or traction control etc, go drive a Viper, true drivers car, raw and brutal. That`ll teach people real quick to be careful and not think their Michael Schumacher, hell, put them in one of the older models with no abs lol

[zilla]

All cars should be manual trans with no electronic aids or traction control etc, go drive a Viper, true drivers car, raw and brutal. That`ll teach people real quick to be careful and not think their Michael Schumacher, hell, put them in one of the older models with no abs lol

Oh god, I`ve driven one of the old Vipers. That thing was a xxxxx to control. Under any decent amount of throttle at all it was all I could do to keep it in the lane. Hahaha

[Surfer]

Oh god, I`ve driven one of the old Vipers. That thing was a xxxxx to control. Under any decent amount of throttle at all it was all I could do to keep it in the lane. Hahaha

I`m looking at getting an 01` or 02` GTS (we owned a 96` years ago), I absolutley love them, so raw and connected. "You" control the car and theres no better feeling then that on a road course or even normally driving, instead of some save your butt gizmo kicking in saying "I don`t think you meant to do that" lol. We`ve owned plenty of sports cars from Porsches to some older Ferraris, and driven plenty of different cars on the track and it`s the only car that I`ve been in and turn the key on and can`t help but feel like a 10 year old in a candy store lol. Actually has character to it unlike 99% of the other "sports" cars, Porsches are borring to me now unless your talking a GT3 or CGT. Friend and I use to track his 01` ACR edition pretty hard at Sebring, VIR etc, car is incredible on a road course. Just a pure drivers car, lot of people bought one and complained oh theres no cup holder, oh it`s too harsh, theres no traction control, gas mileage sucks etc, not the car for you if you like any of that; its a street legal race car. I loved how when they were campaigning races like Team Oreca they kept getting handicapped b/c they were putting an ass raping on everyone, and even handicapped they still whupped ass lol. Look at all the guys on Vette forums who still bought a Viper in additon to or traded their C6Z`s for one even though the new Z is quicker and a great car as well.

My perfect garage right now would be Viper/C6Z/Ford GT/Lambo since you have to have an Italian.....but my bank account doesn`t agree with my brain:smile

[Kelso]

if i wanted something italian, id look for a zonda. never like old lambos and the new ones i love since thye went to audi, but then youve got the traction control and stuff. the viper is really not a good drivers car though. its soo tail happy and is just a fun donut machine in my opinion, and who doesnt love donuts! the new one is leaps and bounds better than the old one was. i think the ultimate driving car is the E30 m3. i know 2 guys that track theirs at sebring, those cars are so sick... in stock form they are a bit underpowered but you can get over 300 WHP out of its naturally aspirated 4 banger, or turbo it, or swap the motor for an s50/52

[Surfer]

the viper is really not a good drivers car though. its soo tail happy

Not sure if you`ve ever road raced a Viper on the track but the suspension when set up correctly is incredible, it`s only tail happy w/ people who don`t know how to handle it. Has excellent feed back, and tons of grip, along with one of the stiffest chassis ever made. One of our past cars was a stripped 993 with a stroked 3.8 and lots of other things for racing, it was fast as hell on a circuit but no match for a Viper setup correctly. Too many people for some reason think the Viper is only good in a straight line, total opposite of it`s intentions. It is one of the best handling cars made, and it`s platform blows others away in terms of tunning capability. Look up Paul Mumford, he took a nearly stock ACR as a privateer and went against factory backed cars and pro drivers, let`s just say he stomped on them lol. If you go to Sebring a lot, look up Chuck Babel out there, he has two Vipers he run`s, I think one has around 100K miles now and kills it out there. Team Oreca when they were racing just cleaned it up, one of their cars even had a wheel fall off at Leguna Seca after hitting something on the track and still won by I think 50 or 60 seconds. Some racing leagues banned the Viper from competing b/c too many were complaining they were at a disadvantage since not only did it have the power but also the handling, that was after some cars had been handicapped as well. It truely is a pure drivers car, and you must know what your doing or you`ll pry end up dead or fly off the track. Ask any of the guys that are serious racers on which car will show the true skill of somebody and watch what the majority say. Actually a while ago some guys from the M3 forum met up at Sebring and a few went for some rides in a couple guys Vipers when we were there (my friend took one in his ACR), and they had nicely setup M3`s. Came back with "holly sh!t" look on their faces.

Love the Zonda but I was mentioning something more likely to be "attainable" unless I become the CEO of Microsoft lol. Driven the e30 M3, long time ago, deffinitley a fun little car w/ more character then the later M3`s. But ohhhhh how I love the Zonda, that how cars shoud be made, with the real passion from their creator, what a friggen sound, never would think you`d hear a sound like that comming from a Benz engine (albeit a highly modifed one).

[zilla]

96 GTS... now that brings back memories

[Surfer]

96 GTS... now that brings back memories

I`ll have to look through my desktop computer at homelater, have tons and tons of pictures, and somewhere in there I have some of friend and I in the ACR at V.I.R. Yellow w/ black strips and bbs wheels...mmmmm so sexy lol. Although I`ll say this, 3m clear strips on the fender wells don`t work to protect lol, after a few sessions the plastic was worn/chewed up from rubber, little debris etc.

Zilla - do you live in FL? There`s a large group of modded M3`s down here in South FL. Couple E46 s/c ones putting down around 400-500rwhp or so, maybe I`m off on the numbers, all I know is their quick lol.

[zilla]

I`ll have to look through my desktop computer at homelater, have tons and tons of pictures, and somewhere in there I have some of friend and I in the ACR at V.I.R. Yellow w/ black strips and bbs wheels...mmmmm so sexy lol. Although I`ll say this, 3m clear strips on the fender wells don`t work to protect lol, after a few sessions the plastic was worn/chewed up from rubber, little debris etc.

Zilla - do you live in FL? There`s a large group of modded M3`s down here in South FL. Couple E46 s/c ones putting down around 400-500rwhp or so, maybe I`m off on the numbers, all I know is their quick lol.

I`m in NC, but yeah, that sort of power is possible with mods. Alot of the time the dudes are using superchargers, if not their power claims are usually a little inflated b/c BMW really tunes the hell out of the M3 engine. I`m a member at M3forum.com and so I see modded ones daily on there Including a sick black one from a famous member who actually owns two M3`s (in addition to some other sick rides), Tony Kanaan.

[JaCkaL829]

Congrats on the "new" car purchase; take good care of it

[Rockfreak300]

Beautiful car I shouldn`t have read this thread since I have a 350z and my dream car is an M3. Hello CSL rims whatttt!

[Morrison1]

SWEET RIDE