Driving Thoughts
I was able to get the car out for a drive on Friday and had been antsy to see just what I'd think. I knew this car was going to be very different from the S2000 but I was curious to know just how different. It's already much much better for any kind of "commuting". The extra space, the nicer interior, better sound, quieter interior, etc all make for a better experience during normal driving. The question I was most curious to answer was, how would it be when I want to go have some fun?
My thoughts are mostly positive
All of the extra power was really nice. I'll be curious to see what it's like driving it again in the near future with no supercharger and stock tune. The roads I like to drive don't require big power to be fun and if anything they best suit a car built to go around corners.
You can't hide the extra weight. I felt this most in the tight/slow corners and on bigger/longer curves it wasn't as obvious. Some of this could just be me getting used to something all new. Despite this car being much heavier and overall larger I didn't feel like the size difference was an issue. The M3 is a good bit bigger than a S2000 but on the road the size difference wasn't as apparent as the weight difference.
Steering feel in this is ok. I'm not sure I actually liked the heavier feel you get in M Dynamic Mode. I didn't focus too much on thinking about it so this is just what I remember.
Suspension was actually a surprise. I've been trying to find info on the Bilstein Damptronic (B16) in terms of spring rates and can't find anything conclusive. I thought somewhere I saw that it might be around 400/700 which is pretty close to the Ohlins R&T and enough to be a good bump over stock. Before this drive my I was certain it was just going to be way too soft because it rode so well on the street. It's still a tad soft for me but was able to hold it's own better than I anticipated.
Recaro Sportsters are a good balance between comfort, looks, holding ability. They look OE in the car which I love and for the most part I think they were great. Could use a tad more leg bolster but I know it's not designed to hold you like a bucket seat. My S2000s have all had Recaro Pole Positions so I'm used to sitting in a true bucket seat. I still have it and at some point might grab a rail to try it out but what I don't like that seat for is all of the other normal driving. The PP is awesome when you want performance and just ok when you don't.
So what's next?
I'm hoping this coming week/weekend to put the car on jack stands and tear into it. Supercharger coming off and the engine getting put back 100% to stock including the exhaust. The car has a BPM tune on it now so I'll likely look to just do stage1 for now. I want to get a good feel for it NA.
I can tell you that one of my dream mods is a shorter final drive. I don't care if it doesn't make the car faster, it will certainly make it more fun. Based on the long stock gears and powerband I imagine it would actually be both faster and more fun.
While I do like the suspension I'm most likely going to change it up at some point to something more performance oriented. Maybe I'll look into the possibility of just putting a bit more spring on the Bilsteins? Hard to say at this point. They weren't disappointing by any stretch. My short list would be 1-way MCS or JRZ, KW Clubsports, revalved Ohlins R&T. Maybe depending on pricing I'd look at 2-way MCS or JRZ but I also like the idea of keeping it simple. I had Ohlins with just a little more spring on my S2000 and while they weren't completely perfected when I wanted max performance they were 95% there and for the rest of the driving I did I still had a very comfortable shock. I need to do more homework/research.
In the midst of all of that will hopefully be a lot more driving!