Help me decide--2019 CTR or 2018 M2?

NapalmEnema

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They've lost their ways when they started focusing on SUV's. Can't blame them. THat's where the money is at.

Also... LOL to the person that doesn't think BMW has a ton of issues. My m2 was shooting oil out of the HEADLIGHT after the second track day. THE HEADLIGHT.
Did you have any mods on the car? What year? Has to be more to the story than this lol.

Just curious - as I've had my M2 since new - 2017 1/150 performance edition - I've driven it as my daily - and I drive it -HARD.

It's been the most reliable car I've owned. I had one plastic bit leading from the MAF crack but other than that smooth sailing.
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ez12a

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GF's 435i with 107k miles needed an oil housing gasket replacement as it was leaking bad and would leak a quart of oil relatively quick.

Had a cracked coolant hose at one point as well and I think was the only issue that left us stranded. Apparently a common issue but hers didnt crack until about 100k.

Trying to convince her to get a drain/fill done on the transmission. It's still running the original fluid in the 8HP

Been surprisingly trouble free, actually.
 

samji

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Hmm... Where do I start...

I got my M2 for about 45k.

Tracked it the first time with nothing on it except some aftermarket pads. So basically stock. Car understeered like crazy and whenever I tried to drive a bit more aggressively, the traction control would turn on. Disabled traction control and didn't realize that my brand new tires and brakes were basically cooked so I almost put the car into a wall. The seats also provided little to no support (they used the cheaper BMW seats vs the nicer ones in the M4) so every turn I was using my knees to stop myself from moving around. So yeah, ended the first track day with almost totaling my car and severe bruising on both my knees. Fun stuff.

Added coilovers, cage (and harness), sway bars, and upgraded the brakes.

Took it out to Sonoma and almost put the car into the wall again because the brakes overheated in my second session. Car was also severely heat soaking and down on power. Granted it was 80-90 degrees out but still.

Added a full exhaust, intake, changed the brake fluid and tune.

Took it out to Laguna. Cooked the brakes AGAIN. Harnesses weren't working as it was restraining me but my knees were hitting the sides of the cockpit. Car still heat soaked like crazy. Ended up with a laptime that was ~6 seconds slower than a lap in my s2k.

At this point, I realized the main issue is the weight of the car. The M2 looks "tiny" but when you really dig into it, the thing is a hog. They were saying that this car is the closest modern day rendition of the E46 but I can guarantee you it doesn't even come close. It weighs close to 3500 lbs but only makes 360 hp. By comparison a ZL1 1LE weighs about 300 lbs more but also makes about 300 more HP. lol.

Anwyays... I was closing in on spending over 60k into the car (45k for the initial purchase and 15k in mods) and would still need another 10-15k to make it OKAY to track. So you really got to at this point consider whether or not there are better options. Because even if you did mod everything, you're still left with this heavy chassis that would drive consumables UP.

So I weighed my options. Do I sell it and if I did, what else would I get? Was debating between a CTR and the GT4. Ended up with the CTR because honestly the gt4 was nearly triple the price and wasn't nearly as mod-able.

So yeah. The CTR isn't perfect but for my intended use and purpose, I'd choose it over the M2 any day.
Good review sir, I think the only reason I'd jumpship to an M2 is the sounds it makes and the looks (and of course the price). I felt like the seat position was a little high when I sat in it and the interior looked bland for a car that costs nearly 60k brand new. But regardless of this, I think the M2 just looks so much better than the CTR. I was especially impressed when I first saw one in real life and the wide rear quarter panel makes the car's stance super aggressive looking.
 

samji

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Hmm... Where do I start...

I got my M2 for about 45k.

Tracked it the first time with nothing on it except some aftermarket pads. So basically stock. Car understeered like crazy and whenever I tried to drive a bit more aggressively, the traction control would turn on. Disabled traction control and didn't realize that my brand new tires and brakes were basically cooked so I almost put the car into a wall. The seats also provided little to no support (they used the cheaper BMW seats vs the nicer ones in the M4) so every turn I was using my knees to stop myself from moving around. So yeah, ended the first track day with almost totaling my car and severe bruising on both my knees. Fun stuff.

Added coilovers, cage (and harness), sway bars, and upgraded the brakes.

Took it out to Sonoma and almost put the car into the wall again because the brakes overheated in my second session. Car was also severely heat soaking and down on power. Granted it was 80-90 degrees out but still.

Added a full exhaust, intake, changed the brake fluid and tune.

Took it out to Laguna. Cooked the brakes AGAIN. Harnesses weren't working as it was restraining me but my knees were hitting the sides of the cockpit. Car still heat soaked like crazy. Ended up with a laptime that was ~6 seconds slower than a lap in my s2k.

At this point, I realized the main issue is the weight of the car. The M2 looks "tiny" but when you really dig into it, the thing is a hog. They were saying that this car is the closest modern day rendition of the E46 but I can guarantee you it doesn't even come close. It weighs close to 3500 lbs but only makes 360 hp. By comparison a ZL1 1LE weighs about 300 lbs more but also makes about 300 more HP. lol.

Anwyays... I was closing in on spending over 60k into the car (45k for the initial purchase and 15k in mods) and would still need another 10-15k to make it OKAY to track. So you really got to at this point consider whether or not there are better options. Because even if you did mod everything, you're still left with this heavy chassis that would drive consumables UP.

So I weighed my options. Do I sell it and if I did, what else would I get? Was debating between a CTR and the GT4. Ended up with the CTR because honestly the gt4 was nearly triple the price and wasn't nearly as mod-able.

So yeah. The CTR isn't perfect but for my intended use and purpose, I'd choose it over the M2 any day.

Also, I wanted your input on the driving characteristics of the M2 after your suspension mods. You went into detail about how your brakes overheated again but did the suspension mods make the car handle better at all? And in regards to putting the power down, did you have traction issues pre/post tune? Seems odd that a car that seemingly has a hard time carrying its own weight has trouble putting the power down as well..
 

NapalmEnema

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Also, I wanted your input on the driving characteristics of the M2 after your suspension mods. You went into detail about how your brakes overheated again but did the suspension mods make the car handle better at all? And in regards to putting the power down, did you have traction issues pre/post tune? Seems odd that a car that seemingly has a hard time carrying its own weight has trouble putting the power down as well..
Even on my stock M2 it's wheel spin city unless you're driving precisely - it's a very torque-ee car but is rewarding if you finesse it (like most cars really)
 


ipeefreely

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Good review sir, I think the only reason I'd jumpship to an M2 is the sounds it makes and the looks (and of course the price). I felt like the seat position was a little high when I sat in it and the interior looked bland for a car that costs nearly 60k brand new. But regardless of this, I think the M2 just looks so much better than the CTR. I was especially impressed when I first saw one in real life and the wide rear quarter panel makes the car's stance super aggressive looking.
The M2 is a good looking car for sure. As I said before, it's not a bad car. Just a bad car for what I intended it to be.


Also, I wanted your input on the driving characteristics of the M2 after your suspension mods. You went into detail about how your brakes overheated again but did the suspension mods make the car handle better at all? And in regards to putting the power down, did you have traction issues pre/post tune? Seems odd that a car that seemingly has a hard time carrying its own weight has trouble putting the power down as well..

The suspension mods definitely made the car handle better. Understeer was reduced and the car was able to put the power down better too. BUT the weight issue lingered.

I had issues with the traction control pre AND post tune. If you look into the M2 forums, there's been a barrage of complaints about the BMW nannies being overly invasive (some of the guys go as far as to upload European TC to their cars). I also think the current batch of Supras are having the same issues.

The car was super heavy and it wasn't just causing issues for the power. It was killing my tires, my brakes, etc... You can always strip the car but the problem is the chassis. It's simply way too heavy.
 
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drledford93

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Even on my stock M2 it's wheel spin city unless you're driving precisely - it's a very torque-ee car but is rewarding if you finesse it (like most cars really)
I would tend to think this would apply to the CTR as well, given the platform and the amount of horsepower. Someone earlier compared the CTR with the ms3, saying the CTR was a refined version of the latter. I could see that with a judicious throttle input, one could go very fast in both cars (m2, ctr). This is borne out at scca autocross Nationals last year with the top M2 and the top CTR being very close in the times.

I really appreciate all the input.
 

NapalmEnema

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I would tend to think this would apply to the CTR as well, given the platform and the amount of horsepower. Someone earlier compared the CTR with the ms3, saying the CTR was a refined version of the latter. I could see that with a judicious throttle input, one could go very fast in both cars (m2, ctr). This is borne out at scca autocross Nationals last year with the top M2 and the top CTR being very close in the times.

I really appreciate all the input.
Yeah they both take finesse to get the most out of them - I think overall the most 'fun' of the two is the Type R which is surprising -
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