Hello everyone. Time to get off my lurking/ever-reading ass and introduce myself My name is Vince, and I'm an alcoholic. Wait, wrong forum. No, I was finally able to purchase one of my dream cars. A 2006 Interlagos Blue Competition Coupe with SMG now sits in my driveway with my name on the title. Hooray! Completely stock vehicle except for the Dice iPod kit that I installed. I don't really plan on any sort of modifications because let's face it, I'm still in the honeymoon stage and I love what the engineers did with the car.

About me: Got some track time and training, Formula One fan and driving enthusiast. Been to karting schools and hope to increase my knowledge and skill in the near future.

So without further ado I'll give my review on the M3 and how it compared to my previous car, a Subaru STi:

First of all, I sold my STi because I was sick of being a 34-year-old guy getting confused with a 16-year-old kid wanting to race at every stoplight. I liked to drive the car fast, but safe, and without street racing (unless I had to make the offramp first). Anyways, the STi is a very fast, very easy to drive vehicle. You can mash the throttle to the floor (yes all the way....try that in an M3 without DSC on) in turns and it'll pull you through at insane speeds without a hint of the car biting back. Of course it'll understeer so you'd better not enter a turn too quickly or that nose will plow like you're rototilling some soil. In a straight line, it was a friggin' rocket. The low end torque is addictive, but the acceleration pull dies out about 5000 rpm. The ride is annoyingly bouncy and stiff. The interior is acceptable. My wife hated the car, especially the "tumors" on the front (hood scoop) and rear (wing). Besides the incredible ability to rip through corners and the acceleration, the best feature about the STi is the 6-speed manual. That thing is damn near perfect. Snap, snap perfect everytime. Heel-toeing is quite easy. The gears were beautiful and I could honestly upshift and downshift without the clutch whenever I wished.

Well my wife gave her blessing and allowed me to get my M3. Ain't she the best? I started looking around and found the perfect match. I was excited about the SMG (c'mon, I love F1), wetting myself about the competition package, and woozy with anticipation about the great interior. So let's begin with the most important thing: my wife loves the M3. It's far more comfortable than the STi (both amenities and ride quality) and looks far, FAR prettier. Well she loves it, but how do I feel. After 5 weeks of driving it, I'm still exploring its limits and loving every second of time in it. The acceleration is wonderful, albeit different than the STi. The M3 builds acceleration gradually and increases towards the top end of the rev band. And the sound of that exhaust....my GOD! I don't know why several of you swap out your exhaust or try and kill the rasp. It sounds like a GT race car and I find myself driving in tunnels on the accelerator to make that glorious sound. The STi never gave me that feeling.

The SMG is better and better as I learn more about it. Honestly I feel that complaints about it are unwarranted. Yes, it can be rough off a stop at times, but it really is worth it. I'm an experienced shifter and that thing is amazingly fast when on throttle. I've noticed that the shift speed is proportional to the amount of throttle and where in the rev band it is shifted. Full throttle with a shift above 7000 is so amazingly fast. Wow. NOBODY can shift that quickly. Shift at lower RPM's and it takes its time regardless of what mode you're in. Downshifts are good, but absolutely require a throttle blip (using the accelerator pedal) if you're simply coasting. If you coast and downshift, it doesn't seem to blip the throttle and will shock the drivetrain. Not a fan of that, but I've learned to compensate. For anyone needing a basic tip on using the SMG, here it is: pretend that you are driving with a clutch pedal and work the accelerator accordingly and gently from a stop. I can't wait to play with the SMG on a track. Infineon, here I come!

Onto the handling. The first time I mashed the throttle to the floor in a turn, I made sure to have the DSC on. That flash on the dashboard along with the stumbling engine and feel of braking told me all I needed to know. I got to feel the car more and more and finally unleashed full non-DSC M3 into a turn. This car is so controllable. Push the accelerator, rear steps out, let up a bit and it comes back in. So....very....easy. I think this car can be much faster on a track than an STi....given that the driver knows what he or she is doing. You put a novice in both cars and the STi will SMOKE an M3 on a track....and I'm talking about race tracks with more than left-hand turns or simply dragstip straightaways. Those latter two aren't racing and my opinion will never be changed on that subject. The M3 is a car that will reward good driving in all sorts of ways. The feedback and feel is fan-fricking-tastic. The STi was decent, but lacked the same feedback and was quite sloppy even though it had a great steering ratio. The M3 is bliss on the road and will only be better on the track (like I said, coming soon).

To sum up: M3 = wonderful
I can't wait to track test this beast. Until then i'll enjoy the road civility of my racecar in a tuxedo.

Thanks for reading.
-vince