Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSunrise
Are Nurburgring lap times the only thing that matters to you? Ironic you say that because our cars are designed around the philosophy of making driving fun, not necessarily fast. There are a whole slew of hot hatches and luxury sedans with faster lap times than our cars and I'd much rather drive my FR-S.
The auto industry has gotten so obsessed with meaningless lap times that it drives me crazy. And that's coming from a self-professed trackaholic. Who cares if a DSG is 0.5 second quicker per lap if you're having less fun?
Just curious - have you driven any manual M3? Wondering because I haven't had any issues on street or track with my friend's F80 M3 or my other track buddy's E46 M3. Like I said they lack some feel compared with the truly great manuals, but nothing horrible. Yeah the clutch engagement point is a little high, but same is true for a stock FR-S/BRZ.
Put it this way - if the Miata/S2000 is an A and the FR-S is a B+, the F80 M3 would be a B at worst. Not great, but still pretty good.
(Some other comparison points - I'd give my old 350z a C and my old 987.2 Boxster S an A-. E46 M3 and 330ci would get B+).
|
Interesting. I have, and while the Mcars usually have shorter throw shifters, I don't find the feedback and pedal action to be much better than the others.
Most interesting is that you rate the 350Z so low. The shifter on the 350z feels solid and very accurate to me. Can't remember the pedal action which probably means it was okay, neither good nor bad.
I'd rate the cars you mentioned like this:
S2000 A
NB Miata A-
BRZ A-
350z B
987 C+
E46/E90 M3 C+
E46//E90 C
When I called BMW manuals terrible I meant for a sports car. When compared to MTs in ecoboxes and trucks the BMW manuals are great. The mostly need more feedback and no delay in the clutch action. I can live with longish throws. Interesting that we disagree on where the Z and the Cayman end up.