Salespunk
Senior Member
- First Name
- MO
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2018
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 68
- Reaction score
- 76
- Location
- In Transit
- Vehicle(s)
- Civic Type R, Ram 2500, 328 Wagon
- Thread starter
- #1
Had my Type R now for a week or so and love driving it. My wife though admitted she is not super stoked on it. Not about the ride or the drive, just getting in and out of it in a skirt or dress. She is not one to complain and has been fine in my other cars usually lowered on coilovers. But as the saying goes, happy wife = happy life. With this in mind I headed over to BMW to look at a new M3 with the thought that I can sell my CTR for close to what I paid for it.
For those that don't follow BMW, they just finished production of the F80 M3 and usually there is a 12-18 month gap before the new car is released. Dealers have loaded up on them and the one local to me has 21 on the lot right now including several CS models. I have really been enjoying having a manual again so I figured I would try out a 6 spd with the Competition package. For background I had an M4 previously that I really enjoyed along with an e90 M3 (amazing car) and an F10 M5 (horrible car) and various other BMW's.
So we drive it off the lot and the first thing I notice is the transmission is utter crap. It is obvious that BMW did not want to sell or even develop a decent manual for this platform. Second thing I noticed is that this is a BIG car. With the slow size creep over time you don't notice it that much if you are staying within the platform. e30 to e46, not a huge jump. e46 to e90 not a huge jump. e90 to F80 not a huge jump. e30 to F80 and you realize that the F80 really is the size of some previous gen 5 series cars. Third thing that becomes obvious is weight. There is no doubt that it weighs every bit of 3800 lbs. All of this adds up to a car feels lumbering in comparison to the CTR, like going from a Go Kart to a NASCAR. The NASCAR is definitely faster, but to what end? I'm sure I could get used to the F80 platform again, but I would definitely go DCT because the 6 spd SUCKS.
So where does this leave me? Not really sure yet. I love my CTR, but I am bummed about not taking it out in the evenings with my wife. We have an X3 M40 that we are fine taking out for dinner so it is definitely a first world problem. In contrast my 7 year old daughter says I am not allowed to ever sell her race car! She doesn't want to ride in any of our cars other than the CTR. 90% sure I will stick with the CTR since I just love almost everything about the car. My only complaints are fairly stupid and well known on the platform. The fact that as a long time dedicated BMW M car guy I find the CTR superior to the M3 says a lot about how amazing this car really is.
For those that don't follow BMW, they just finished production of the F80 M3 and usually there is a 12-18 month gap before the new car is released. Dealers have loaded up on them and the one local to me has 21 on the lot right now including several CS models. I have really been enjoying having a manual again so I figured I would try out a 6 spd with the Competition package. For background I had an M4 previously that I really enjoyed along with an e90 M3 (amazing car) and an F10 M5 (horrible car) and various other BMW's.
So we drive it off the lot and the first thing I notice is the transmission is utter crap. It is obvious that BMW did not want to sell or even develop a decent manual for this platform. Second thing I noticed is that this is a BIG car. With the slow size creep over time you don't notice it that much if you are staying within the platform. e30 to e46, not a huge jump. e46 to e90 not a huge jump. e90 to F80 not a huge jump. e30 to F80 and you realize that the F80 really is the size of some previous gen 5 series cars. Third thing that becomes obvious is weight. There is no doubt that it weighs every bit of 3800 lbs. All of this adds up to a car feels lumbering in comparison to the CTR, like going from a Go Kart to a NASCAR. The NASCAR is definitely faster, but to what end? I'm sure I could get used to the F80 platform again, but I would definitely go DCT because the 6 spd SUCKS.
So where does this leave me? Not really sure yet. I love my CTR, but I am bummed about not taking it out in the evenings with my wife. We have an X3 M40 that we are fine taking out for dinner so it is definitely a first world problem. In contrast my 7 year old daughter says I am not allowed to ever sell her race car! She doesn't want to ride in any of our cars other than the CTR. 90% sure I will stick with the CTR since I just love almost everything about the car. My only complaints are fairly stupid and well known on the platform. The fact that as a long time dedicated BMW M car guy I find the CTR superior to the M3 says a lot about how amazing this car really is.
Sponsored