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Originally Posted by Techjunkie666
You can't high rev a m3 in day to day driving like on the track. So no you can't drive a m3 like a m3 in daily driving.
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Also very true, it would be obnoxious and turn your fuel economy from mediocre to downright terrible. But the M3's torque at more sane RPMs isn't exactly BAD. It's not particularly impressive and certainly not what you'd "expect" from an M3 (to get what you'd expect you have to drive it as the M3 is supposed to be driven) but I find it entirely adequate for casual driving. And when I want more than casual driving, I drive appropriately to achieve it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by swartzentruber
I kind of wish this sentiment would go away, but I'm sure it won't. The E9x does makes a decent track car, but I've seen way too many cars in the wall with signicant damage to ever think of putting my DD on the track with any regularity (I have driven it one weekend when my R32 was in the shop). At my last event, there must have been 10-15 significant incidents over the weekend, including an E46 M3 (I think) that ended up looking like a 318ti.
I previously owned a 335xi, and have no trouble justifying the increased costs over a 335 (new to new) from the standpoint of handling and engine characteristics alone. Used, I'd guess the differential is even less. Occasional track usage is just the icing on the cake for those just getting into the sport, or for those where having a dedicated track car is completely impractical or this will be their dedicated track car.
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I admit that I don't have the data at my fingertips to support this, but I would guess that the number of accidents at the track is far lower than the number of accidents out on public roads even on a per capita basis. At least at the track you have no pedestrians, traffic only running in one direction, corner workers to warn you of what's ahead, and most importantly, everybody focused on actually driving, not trying to balance a cell phone and a latte.
If you're seeing 10-15 accidents on a single event, I'd think about running with another organizer because clearly either the instructors aren't doing a great job and/or students are being promoted into faster groups too quickly. I MIGHT see one or two semi-serious incidents in an entire weekend, but many weekends go off without a hitch. There was one weekend (ironically my first time at the track) where there were I think 7 incidents that resulted in cars being undrivable (but not all totaled), but I received confirmation from the organizer and other veteran participants that this was hugely uncommon, and it apparently prompted a looong instructor meeting the morning of Day 2 of that event.
Anyway, I'm glad you apparently track at least occasionally. Out of curiosity though, what different engine characteristics did you note between a 335i and a 335xi?