If you have a C63, which car do you add?

[Manifold]

I have a C63 which I love, and am looking to add another performance car for the sake of variety. The wife and I would trade the two cars back and forth. Criteria for the new car are:

- Preferably under about $100K
- Back seat usable by a ~10-year-old kid for trips up to one hour
- Automatic or automated manual transmission
- Fun to drive (comparable to the C63 or better)
- Convertible would be nice, but not mandatory
- AWD would be nice, but not mandatory

One of the top contenders is the M3, either as a sedan or convertible. I'd appreciate comments on how the two compare as far as performance. I'm willing to give up some performance for the convertible, but not too much. If it's an M3, the idea is to get a real M3.

Thoughts on options other than the M3 would also be welcome. Some candidates are the RS5, new M5, 911, and CTS-V.

As far as convertibles go, nothing else meeting our criteria seems to match the M3. We test drove one and I thought it was great.

Thanks.

[taylorcoleman]

Great buys on 997.2 C4S verts with PDK. Further price advantage as the 991s appear circa Feb. 2012.

[FStop7]

pawsche, vette, ferrari 360 if you like bills

[Nine]

I'm so confused, why do you need another 'all around' car when you have the c63amg.

Remove the 10 year old kid and get to the point - do you want a full on sports car? GT-R? or do you want something with a softer side....c63?

If you have the means, I'd try to steal a pre-owned GT3 or a new GT-R, forget the whole practicality thing, that is what the c63 is for.

[assinizarM3]

If i were you i'd sell the c63 and buy an m3 and a new m5 but since you like your c63 why buy another 4 door car i think i would buy a 2 seater like a c4s or a gt-r!!

[_Jono_]

BUY THE 2012 GTR! It HAS BIG BACK SEATS lol. Im not even kidding. Im telling you this from experience.

And it will smoke everyhting on the road at 2.8 to 60. nomnomnom.

And dam does it look good

[werke-t]

Originally Posted by IAA-C63

I have a C63 which I love, and am looking to add another performance car for the sake of variety. The wife and I would trade the two cars back and forth. Criteria for the new car are:

- Preferably under about $100K
- Back seat usable by a ~10-year-old kid for trips up to one hour
- Automatic or automated manual transmission
- Fun to drive (comparable to the C63 or better)
- Convertible would be nice, but not mandatory
- AWD would be nice, but not mandatory

One of the top contenders is the M3, either as a sedan or convertible. I'd appreciate comments on how the two compare as far as performance. I'm willing to give up some performance for the convertible, but not too much. If it's an M3, the idea is to get a real M3.

Thoughts on options other than the M3 would also be welcome. Some candidates are the RS5, new M5, 911, and CTS-V.

As far as convertibles go, nothing else meeting our criteria seems to match the M3. We test drove one and I thought it was great.

Thanks.

Sounds like a e93 DCT m3 is your perfect solution. Meets all your criteria, the e90 m3 sedan is slightly more sporty and stiff, but you already have a Bitchin 4door c63... mix it up.

[Erhan]

Originally Posted by Nine

I'm so confused, why do you need another 'all around' car when you have the c63amg.

Remove the 10 year old kid and get to the point - do you want a full on sports car? GT-R? or do you want something with a softer side....c63?

If you have the means, I'd try to steal a pre-owned GT3 or a new GT-R, forget the whole practicality thing, that is what the c63 is for.

[Manifold]

Originally Posted by Nine

I'm so confused, why do you need another 'all around' car when you have the c63amg.

Remove the 10 year old kid and get to the point - do you want a full on sports car? GT-R? or do you want something with a softer side....c63?

If you have the means, I'd try to steal a pre-owned GT3 or a new GT-R, forget the whole practicality thing, that is what the c63 is for.

Thing is that I love the C63, so I want to drive it about half the time. That means that the second car needs to be tolerably practical too, so the wife can use it while I'm driving the C63.

And you're right that that the GT-R could work (AWD is a plus). It's on my list and I forgot to mention it. Tremendous performance (will crush the C63 and M3), and quite different from any of the German cars, so it should definitely add variety.

[Manifold]

Originally Posted by werke-t

Sounds like a e93 DCT m3 is your perfect solution. Meets all your criteria, the e90 m3 sedan is slightly more sporty and stiff

This is the key thing: how slight the difference is.

I compared the 335i sedan and convertible, and the sedan performance was noticably better, so I'm wondering if that's the case with the M3 also. If so, our desire to have a convertible isn't super strong, so the sedan could make sense (lower cost, better performance, roomier back seat, and I think it looks better).

I loved the E93 when we tes drove it, but I haven't yet been able to test drive the M3 sedan with DCT, and probably won't be able to do that back to back with the convertible, so I'm hoping that a lot of people who have driven both will chime in.

[jrlee53]

GT-R or 911 gets my vote.

[FVM3]

Originally Posted by _Jono_

BUY THE 2012 GTR! It HAS BIG BACK SEATS lol. Im not even kidding. Im telling you this from experience.

And it will smoke everyhting on the road at 2.8 to 60. nomnomnom.

And dam does it look good

big back seats but no room

[_Jono_]

Yessss theirs plenty room. Its bigger then the back seats in the Turbo and its alot more comfy

[crackberry]

Exactly

Originally Posted by Nine

I'm so confused, why do you need another 'all around' car when you have the c63amg.

Remove the 10 year old kid and get to the point - do you want a full on sports car? GT-R? or do you want something with a softer side....c63?

If you have the means, I'd try to steal a pre-owned GT3 or a new GT-R, forget the whole practicality thing, that is what the c63 is for.

[Poppin Fresh]

The GT-R's looks is subjective. On certain days I like it, on other times it looks like the designer was watching too much Gundam while eating pop rocks and red bull.

[GT3 Tim]

I think your choices are good, excpet the 911. It's going to be too cramped for a 10 year old.

My kid (9 years old) has no problems in the M3 (sedan). She's a happy camper back there. I think the Audi, M3, etc. would all work well for a kid.

[Manifold]

We're getting close to a decision, so I'd appreciate advice, even if it's biased.

We've determined that the "fun car" to add to the C63 has to be a convertible, and we've narrowed the options to the M3 and base 911.

The M3 is $15K cheaper, less flashy (a plus for us), and has a much more usable back seat (we have a 10 year old that needs to go back there sometimes for trips up to 45 minutes). But the 911 is a Porsche, is more raw, and is more of a pure sports car.

Thoughts?

[Poppin Fresh]

Get the E93 M3 with a DCT and for 9k you can do an ESS VT-1. It will blow you hair off!

[LarThaL]

Originally Posted by IAA-C63

I have a C63 which I love, and am looking to add another performance car for the sake of variety. The wife and I would trade the two cars back and forth. Criteria for the new car are:

- Preferably under about $100K
- Back seat usable by a ~10-year-old kid for trips up to one hour
- Automatic or automated manual transmission
- Fun to drive (comparable to the C63 or better)
- Convertible would be nice, but not mandatory
- AWD would be nice, but not mandatory

One of the top contenders is the M3, either as a sedan or convertible. I'd appreciate comments on how the two compare as far as performance. I'm willing to give up some performance for the convertible, but not too much. If it's an M3, the idea is to get a real M3.

Thoughts on options other than the M3 would also be welcome. Some candidates are the RS5, new M5, 911, and CTS-V.

As far as convertibles go, nothing else meeting our criteria seems to match the M3. We test drove one and I thought it was great.

Thanks.

Do you need winter capability? If so, how about a 550xi? Other than that, the only one car that I can think of that meets almost all of your criteria is a slightly used M6 convertible. The Audi S5 convertible will have everything except the straight line speed of the C63. On a different note, did you ever consider a Porsche Cayenne or X5M?

[Manifold]

Originally Posted by VVG

Do you need winter capability? If so, how about a 550xi? Other than that, the only one car that I can think of that meets almost all of your criteria is a slightly used M6 convertible. The Audi S5 convertible will have everything except the straight line speed of the C63. On a different note, did you ever consider a Porsche Cayenne or X5M?

Thanks for the input.

On top of the fun car, we're planning to add a mid-level SUV also, maybe something like an X3, so that covers the winter need.

We tried an M6 convertible, but its back seat isn't any better than the M3 and we both found the M3 more fun to drive.

I tried the 550xi for myself before getting the C63. Plenty of power, but a bit boring.

We tried the S5 convertible, which was nice, but I think the M3 is way more fun.

We also tried to the new Cayenne (base model), and I found it way underpowered with floppy handling. Which is odd, since car reviewers seem to really like the Cayenne (I like the Mazda CX-9 over the Cayenne).

[HeartMD]

Originally Posted by IAA-C63

Thanks for the input.

On top of the fun car, we're planning to add a mid-level SUV also, maybe something like an X3, so that covers the winter need.

We tried an M6 convertible, but its back seat isn't any better than the M3 and we both found the M3 more fun to drive.

I tried the 550xi for myself before getting the C63. Plenty of power, but a bit boring.

We tried the S5 convertible, which was nice, but I think the M3 is way more fun.

We also tried to the new Cayenne (base model), and I found it way underpowered with floppy handling. Which is odd, since car reviewers seem to really like the Cayenne (I like the Mazda CX-9 over the Cayenne).

It seems like you have plenty of money, so what is the real issue. If you want your fun car then the choices already mentioned above are more then adequate along with the suv that you have now added to the equation.
I have a feeling no matter what people here suggest you will find one reason or another to reject them.

[techart]

Originally Posted by IAA-C63

We also tried to the new Cayenne (base model), and I found it way underpowered with floppy handling. Which is odd, since car reviewers seem to really like the Cayenne (I like the Mazda CX-9 over the Cayenne).

Cayenne Turbo