FRS/BRZ vs E46 M3

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by ///Murph

I dont hate the FR-S. It could have/should have been so much better. It feels cheap. Now if I dumped about $10k into it and replaced the horrible stock exhaust/wheels/tires/antenna/sound system/and SC or turbo'ed it, I think I would love it.

The way it is now, just feels so unstable when you are at speeds higher than 75mph.

Now don't take this the wrong way, but regarding the E92, did you really expect a 25k car to compete with a 60+k vehicle out of the box?
Maybe smiles for the miles, but certainly not the overall package and amenities?

[///Murph]

Sorry for the confusion.... Was comparing it to the e46..... Was disappointed... Looking to trade in for e92 now.

[trifenix]

I must be crazy but i am planning on trading in my e46 zcp m3 for an frs lol. Looking for cheap reliable fun. The M is ridiculously good looking out of the box though imo...what to do!?!

[gmookher]

I own a dinan stage 4 M3(e36) i

and a BRZ

M3 brings out the mad man, psycho driver in me, its a wild machine, true german
BRZ is more calculated less impulsive more planned, its japan
both fun, tho different, till I get a bit more power outta the brz..

[Dazza]

I used to have an e36 M3 and an e46 M3, but now have an 86 GT on order so can't really compare them.....yet.

What I can say however is what a bargain the 86 is here in Australia. I sold my 2005 e46 M3 for around AUD$60k and ordered a brand new 86 GT for about AUD$34k OTR......amazing......pocket the change, have fixed price services for 3 years in addition to warranty, my 2, 17 year old boys can drive it (M3 too powerful for them and they wouldn't be insured to drive anyway).

What's not too like?.....well maybe the loss of some useable rear seats, but otherwise I'm excited

[MattQ-WP]

Originally Posted by Tanuki

I have not. Secret Town?

There is a mythological character in Tom Robbin's book, Villa Incognito called Tanuki.... he's a weird half man half beaver with MASSIVE balls which he can float on or sit on... read it... it's frikking classic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Incognito



sorry

[Tanuki]

Originally Posted by MattQ-WP

There is a mythological character in Tom Robbin's book, Villa Incognito called Tanuki.... he's a weird half man half beaver with MASSIVE balls which he can float on or sit on... read it... it's frikking classic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Incognito



sorry

I will have to look it up. The original Tanuki character depicted in Japanese Folkore is a type of raccoon/dog. It is magical and is commonly depicted with large testicles. It sounds like this guy created his version of the Tanuki for the book. Could be interesting.

[MattQ-WP]

Sorry yes.. your description sounds more accurate.. he has based it on the very same well endowed Japanese folk character

He also does LOADS of shagging so It's worth a read... you don't have MASSIVE balls by chance?

[Tanuki]

Originally Posted by MattQ-WP

Sorry yes.. your description sounds more accurate.. he has based it on the very same well endowed Japanese folk character

He also does LOADS of shagging so It's worth a read... you don't have MASSIVE balls by chance?

Maybe we should take this conversation to pm's

[mr e poo]

I also had a ZCP M3 (2006). Bought it used with a warranty which saved my a$$. Within the first 3 months of owning it I auto crossed it twice and had to replace the Vanos unit ($6K+) and later the sprocket ($2K). Sold it shortly after realizing it was not what I had made it out to be in my dreams...

I also hated the weight of the M3 and the craptastic Nav system. I'd take one of the twins over the E46 M3 any day.

[Dazza]

Originally Posted by Dazza

I used to have an e36 M3 and an e46 M3, but now have an 86 GT on order so can't really compare them.....yet.

What I can say however is what a bargain the 86 is here in Australia. I sold my 2005 e46 M3 for around AUD$60k and ordered a brand new 86 GT for about AUD$34k OTR......amazing......pocket the change, have fixed price services for 3 years in addition to warranty, my 2, 17 year old boys can drive it (M3 too powerful for them and they wouldn't be insured to drive anyway).

What's not too like?.....well maybe the loss of some useable rear seats, but otherwise I'm excited

I posted the following in a separate thread but thought I would repost hear as it is very relevant to this thread and an update on my previous post above. I should also have mentioned below that I always felt the e46's tendency to understeer but that certainly wasn't the case with the 86, quite the opposite as I am sure you guys know full well.

After a wait of some 8 months, my 86 GT (manual) finally arrived today and although its quite late tonight I had to take it out to my favourite road in the hills for a spirited drive. I've only just returned home and felt the need to sit down and write about my 1st impressions. Bear in mind that the test drive before ordering my car was in an automatic and about 5km's long around the city, so I didn't really get much of a feeling for the car (though obviously I didn't hate it) and ordered one more on reputation than anything else.

1st thing I'll say is the directness of the steering really surprised me, this thing is very quick and sharp. Feeling through the steering was about as good as I had hoped, not as good as some of the cars I have owned, but better than others that when new, cost a lot of money (still not cheap today in fact). I'd even go as far as to say it felt very similar to my old e46 M3, significantly down on power of course, but the balance and composure of the car felt not a lot different to my memory of the M3. Same with steering feel and seat of the pants communication regarding what the front and rear ends of the car were doing. Although the turn in of the 86 is much sharper than my memory of the M3 (and they say the BRZ is even sharper). Pity I still don't have the M3 for a back to back test of whether my memories match the real world driving experience.

BTW comparing the e46 M3 to the 86 GT is not as ridiculous as it sounds as the costs (to buy, obviously not to own and run/maintain) are roughly the same here in Oz for a new 86 vs an early model e46 M3 with high mileage.

What did strike me though was the accessibility of the 86GT, driving the car through the winding roads in the hills did not make me rue the well documented torque dip (ok maybe a little ) or relative lack of power compared to other cars of this ilk. In fact I was even further hamstrung by the desire to keep the revs under 4000rpm until I have run it in (manual suggests 1000miles/1600km). So I can't wait to be able to drive the car, keeping the revs up, in an attempt to try and ride the "right" side of the torque curve.

The ride was firm (I would love to compare it to a GTS riding on 17" wheels) but not uncomfortable unless the roads were particularly badly chopped up, which unfortunately we do have a few of those here in Adelaide, although my run through the hills was quite good. Finally I found the gearchange to be nice and firm though a little notchy and this didn't seem to improve very much as the car warmed up, perhaps that will get better and feel smoother with a few more miles under its belt (after all it has only done 120km's all up)?

All up a very satisfying day. I can't believe how cheap this car is in comparison to its competition here in Australia, it is unbelievable value.

Next stop (after I have run the car in) will be the track....I can't wait to test the limits of this car properly....and safely

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by ///Murph

LOL at the examples.... True.

Ive seen some E92's that have had none of the fancy "packages" installed, no GPS, no DCT, carbon roof, etc etc. Still some purists in the E92 class if you still want to call them that.

I may go from a E92 back to the E46. Theres still some low mileage ones out there. Believe I saw one with 4k miles on it for sale in NC. Have no clue how someone could own that car and not drive it.

My buddy has one of these stripped down M3's and LOVES it! He open tracks it a lot! Great platform right out the box.

Originally Posted by ///Murph

Sorry for the confusion.... Was comparing it to the e46..... Was disappointed... Looking to trade in for e92 now.

I think you'll like the e92 over the e46 if you can get over the weight. I prefer the looks of the e92 better and the weight and sound of the e46.

Comparing the E46 to the 86 is hard for me. While I can't say they are apples and oranges, they are in completely different leagues. I would LOVE to get back into another E46, but I also love to drive and even doing all my own maintenance work, including swapping out a broken exhaust vanos hub, the maintenance bill was INSANE for that year. Unfortunately, I couldn't justify doing that again, so I sold it after a little over a year of ownership.

Great car and great fun! I would totally own one again if I had the money for it. :happy0180:

My buddies E92 on TE37 SL's. Catback, intake and tune if I remember correctly.


And my 04M3. Pretty much stock. Koni shocks, H&R springs, CSL trunk.

[King Tut]

Good ole Murph. Was glad that troll got banned.

[Brzetto]

Since it's very hard to find a clean unmodified M3, I image is next to impossible to find a clean unmodified Laguna Seca Blue E46 M3.