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      08-07-2009, 10:36 AM   #1
Mr.AK
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M3 still#1, IMO

I saw my first Mighty Nissan GT-R yesterday in downtown Baltimore City. Impression: i'm still fully happy on my decision to buy the M3. Performance aside, the M3 is such a nicer car. Specifically looks wise. M3 still #1. Go ahead and hate!
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      08-07-2009, 10:40 AM   #2
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Well then you're on the right site. Wrong part of the forum but the right site.
I think this is for the VS section and it's been done to death.
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      08-07-2009, 11:04 AM   #3
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Funny. I saw my third GT-R yesterday on the road too..
it was driven by a really old guy....
I like how it looks from the front. Very menacing but the rear is just blah.
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      08-07-2009, 11:28 AM   #4
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I think the GT-R looks great in person...very mean looking imho. And I love the HUGE quad exhaust tips. I dunno if I would pick the M3 over the GT-R if I had to do it again as I think it would be a tougher decision the second time around...but I think I would still pick the M3.
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      08-07-2009, 11:36 AM   #5
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Cool story, bro.
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      08-07-2009, 11:38 AM   #6
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Test drove it and while it's an amazing car, I came away very happy that I'd chosen the M3. There are plenty of very good reasons why someone would choose the GTR instead though. Same goes for someone who'd take a Cayman S over the M (I've only driven a base Cayman but was unimpressed).

As others have pointed out, the comparisons have been beaten to death but to me, all the numbers and subjective assessments of interior, exterior, performance, whatever are pointless. To me, the real question is this: when you step out of the car, do you find yourself continually dreaming about it? Never happened for me with the Cayman or hte GTR. I *knew* the M was for me within minutes of getting in it.
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      08-07-2009, 01:12 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zacbol View Post
Never happened for me with the Cayman or hte GTR. I *knew* the M was for me within minutes of getting in it.
It also took me minutes to decide to buy a Miata, and then an Elise, and finally an M3. After I test-drove each of these cars, I knew right away that I had to have one.

The M3 was a special case, though. I bought a 135 at the end of March. Except for the fact that the suspension was a bit soft, and the DSC too intrusive, I thought it was a great car with exceptional steering feel and responsiveness (in that area, it's almost as good as the Miata). A few weeks later, my sister decided to buy a BMW, so we went back to the dealer. After selling a car to my sister, he offered to let me drive an M3, and I made the mistake of accepting. I put the 135 on Auto Trader the following day .

As I said in another thread, I've driven two Boxsters and a Cayman S. I seriously considered the Cayman S before getting a 135. For some reason, when I got out these cars, I didn't feel that I had to have one.
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      08-08-2009, 03:14 AM   #8
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What was the elise like?

Good car?
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      08-08-2009, 03:31 AM   #9
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The first time I saw one was when I passed it on the track. (Owner was driving it).
The second time I saw it was later that day when it passed me. (Instructor was driving it).
Looks did absolutely nothing for me. I saw a lot of cars that day that made me , but that was not one of them.
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      08-09-2009, 12:02 AM   #10
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"performance aside"
hmm that is a huge part of the making of a sportscar to dismiss then on the next line "M3 still #1" . I can only conclude that you openly classify yourself as a blatant M3 fanboy which we all are to some level on this forum but unsubstantiated praise of the car like this is making the M3 look like a memorabilia who can no longer keep up with the competition performance. If anything you are saying exactly the opposite the M3 is no longer undisputed #1. Performance wise is just is not. Are you being sarcastic by any mean ?

I drove a porsche 911 4S and had an instructor drive it riding shotgun and I was not impressed at all. I still like the M3 better.
Never seen a GT-R in person yet.
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      08-09-2009, 07:34 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TooManySilverBMWS! View Post
What was the elise like?

Good car?
The Elise is a fantastic car. It has the best body control of all the cars I've driven, including the M3. There's virtually no body roll, squat or dive, and it doesn't take any time to settle when you enter a curve. That's true even with the base suspension, which is quite comfortable. The car is also exceptionally communicative and very predictable at the limit. There is no power steering, so the steering feel is exceptional. The steering ratio is slower than all the other cars that I've mentioned, so the car is not as nimble as you might expect based on its size.

As mentioned in all the reviews, the Toyota-Yamaha engine has a dual personality. The valve timing changes suddenly around 6K rpm, and that's when the car really comes alive.

But the Elise not an easy car to live with. It makes very few concessions to comfort and practicality. Getting out of the car when the top is up is a pain--so much so that you end up trying to limit the number of stops when you take the car out. Also, the Elise doesn't have any bumper. When it started selling the Elise in the US in MY2005, Lotus got a 2-year exemption from the DOT to sell cars without bumpers. In 2007 Lotus added "bumperettes", but a Lotus engineer explained that they were designed based on a very creative interpretation of the rule book, and you shouldn't expect them to actually provide protection against any kind of shock (even at parking speed). The body work is made of fiberglass composite, and therefore almost impossible to repair. Except for the doors and the radiator covers in front of the windshield, there are only two parts: the front and rear "clams shells". So if you're hit anywhere, you have to replace half the car's body. The underside of the chassis is a huge aluminum sheet that is quite fragile. It's a structural part, and it's bonded to the rest of the chassis. If you damage it, the car is totaled (for example, a guy wasn't able to avoid a block of wood dropped by a truck in front of him; the block of wood punched a hole in the underside, and the car was totaled).

I would buy one again, but only as a dedicated track car.
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      08-10-2009, 01:20 PM   #12
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Performance = GTR
Looks = M3
All around/daily driver sports car = M3
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      08-10-2009, 03:57 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oneginee View Post
"performance aside"
hmm that is a huge part of the making of a sportscar to dismiss then on the next line "M3 still #1" . I can only conclude that you openly classify yourself as a blatant M3 fanboy which we all are to some level on this forum but unsubstantiated praise of the car like this is making the M3 look like a memorabilia who can no longer keep up with the competition performance. If anything you are saying exactly the opposite the M3 is no longer undisputed #1. Performance wise is just is not. Are you being sarcastic by any mean ?

I drove a porsche 911 4S and had an instructor drive it riding shotgun and I was not impressed at all. I still like the M3 better.
Never seen a GT-R in person yet.
Do you even have an M3? It says you drive a Merc... If so what are you doing on a BMW thread?

Quote:
Originally Posted by drivendriver View Post
The Elise is a fantastic car. It has the best body control of all the cars I've driven, including the M3. There's virtually no body roll, squat or dive, and it doesn't take any time to settle when you enter a curve. That's true even with the base suspension, which is quite comfortable. The car is also exceptionally communicative and very predictable at the limit. There is no power steering, so the steering feel is exceptional. The steering ratio is slower than all the other cars that I've mentioned, so the car is not as nimble as you might expect based on its size.

As mentioned in all the reviews, the Toyota-Yamaha engine has a dual personality. The valve timing changes suddenly around 6K rpm, and that's when the car really comes alive.

But the Elise not an easy car to live with. It makes very few concessions to comfort and practicality. Getting out of the car when the top is up is a pain--so much so that you end up trying to limit the number of stops when you take the car out. Also, the Elise doesn't have any bumper. When it started selling the Elise in the US in MY2005, Lotus got a 2-year exemption from the DOT to sell cars without bumpers. In 2007 Lotus added "bumperettes", but a Lotus engineer explained that they were designed based on a very creative interpretation of the rule book, and you shouldn't expect them to actually provide protection against any kind of shock (even at parking speed). The body work is made of fiberglass composite, and therefore almost impossible to repair. Except for the doors and the radiator covers in front of the windshield, there are only two parts: the front and rear "clams shells". So if you're hit anywhere, you have to replace half the car's body. The underside of the chassis is a huge aluminum sheet that is quite fragile. It's a structural part, and it's bonded to the rest of the chassis. If you damage it, the car is totaled (for example, a guy wasn't able to avoid a block of wood dropped by a truck in front of him; the block of wood punched a hole in the underside, and the car was totaled).

I would buy one again, but only as a dedicated track car.

Great review, made me change my mind about getting the lotus as a normal car.

When i become intrested in racing on tracks and such I'll 100% consider the lotus my first bet. But having it as a street car sounds like a pain in the ass because of the bodys build and having to get out of the car so often. Amazing car... but not practical for driving in the street.
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      08-10-2009, 04:13 PM   #14
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This is really off topic but since there's discussion on the GTR, I thought you guys maybe interested is viewing this parody dealing with the GTR's transmission woes

http://g35driver.com/forums/other-ca...tlers-gtr.html
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      08-10-2009, 05:50 PM   #15
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this is the skyline that does it for me- r35 is awesome but the 'spirit' of the skyline died with the r34 imo-
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      08-10-2009, 05:59 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Koroush View Post

Great review, made me change my mind about getting the lotus as a normal car.
That would have been funny. An elise as a daily driver. Definitely one for the young limber soul

My mate used to have to fall out of his. I could get in and out easy with the removable steering wheel but it wasn't pretty.

Why is this thread on here? Can it be moved to the VS section with the other 3000 GTR posts?
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      08-10-2009, 06:12 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oneginee View Post
"performance aside"
hmm that is a huge part of the making of a sportscar to dismiss then on the next line "M3 still #1" . I can only conclude that you openly classify yourself as a blatant M3 fanboy......
It's #1 in his book, not performance wise, or on paper. Why is that so hard to understand? Assuming you drive the SL55 in your sig, you picked a car that is slower than our M3, or equals the performance of the E46 M3(not even taking handling into considerstion). You of all people should understand how someone can 'prefer' one car over another even though it's not as 'fast'.
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      08-10-2009, 06:17 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John@BMW View Post
this is the skyline that does it for me- r35 is awesome but the 'spirit' of the skyline died with the r34 imo-
True, this is why the new GTR isn't even called a Skyline GTR. Its just Nissan GTR.
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      08-10-2009, 07:41 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoreHead View Post
That would have been funny. An elise as a daily driver. Definitely one for the young limber soul
There's actually a guy at my office who uses his Elise as a daily driver/commuter. Never spoken to him about it, but it must work out *okay* for him.

I don't think I could handle it.
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      08-10-2009, 09:16 PM   #20
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I'm a die-hard GT-R supporter and performance-wise the M3 has no chance against it. That being said, I am considering a new car soon (M3 is tops on my list) and I can say that I would pick the M3 over the GT-R every time, even at the same price. I like the looks of the E92 much better, and honestly the performance difference will be negligible on the street....
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      08-10-2009, 09:22 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.AK View Post
I saw my first Mighty Nissan GT-R yesterday in downtown Baltimore City. Impression: i'm still fully happy on my decision to buy the M3. Performance aside, the M3 is such a nicer car. Specifically looks wise. M3 still #1. Go ahead and hate!
1st ? in Baltimore city? wow , I 've seen at least 10 by now.Although, I like the stats of the GTR. M3 is what I would pick everytime.
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      08-10-2009, 10:07 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John@BMW View Post
this is the skyline that does it for me- r35 is awesome but the 'spirit' of the skyline died with the r34 imo-
My bro has an R32 he thinks the spirit died with the R32. I like the GT-R, but I got to tedt drive an M3 and never looked back.
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