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Originally Posted by 14_deltaM3
I also cross shopped these. My needs were engaging drivetrain, solid handling for the street, adequate interior space (2 kids seats in back), enough HP to be able to adjust handling balance in turns. Interior tech and interior quality, while nice to haves, were not important.
I absolutely loved the camaro. The interior issues didn't phase me much, visibility was annoying tho and would become more than an annoyance at night and in winter (being in Canada means it's dark from 430pm in winter months, and driving at night felt like sitting in an isolation tank). Backseat was not big enough (legroom, headroom) to allow my son to sit in his car seat in back behind the driver. I would have to drive too close to give him room. In fact, I found the backseat less spacious than a 997 911 I also test drove.
I honestly would have almost let the above slide given the sound and authenticity to the driving experience. Driven back to back with an f80m4, I enjoyed the camaro more from a purely "enjoy driving" perspective, and it indeed rode far better with its magnetic shocks across all settings. Day to day though, the m4 would be much better in terms of space, comfort and quality. I honestly don't know enough about long term durability of the camaro to comment on that.
The biggest driving complaint I had was the camaro size. On the roads I tend to drive, being so wide (and with visibility so poor) really affected how much fun I could have, as the car couldn't "adjust" and "set" within the lane the way a smaller and narrower car could. Also, the visibility made it necessary to "trust" the position of outside corners more than "feel" or see them. A race track though would address that.
The e92 gave me the best of all worlds. The drivetrain engagement the m4 lacked, the external size the camaro didn't have, the quality and day to day useability of the m4, and the interior and rear seat space close to the m4.
Will keep mine at least until I trade it for a 911 of some sort, but who knows, I may keep it.
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Thanks. We have similar taste in cars and obviously not label conscious. Your post is really thoughtful. I think the people in this group really know cars which is why I asked for thoughts on the Camaro You might be the only commenter who has actually driven one. It's got shortcomings but it's amazing in a lot of ways. It's out of my price range but I'm curious If you shopped the ats-v. It seems to solve the visibility and backseat issues though I'm not sure the turbo six is an improvement on the V8.
Quote:
Originally Posted by akkando
It's not NA engine or a V8 but would you consider an m2 with the n55 or s55? You can get a manual, the exhaust sounds good on the n55 especially with the m performance exhaust, the back seat is pretty useable especially for kids, feels small, handles better than the e90 m3 out of the box, and you can see out of it.
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My budget is around $25k. I prefer NA but if I could afford one I'd give the M2 and M2 comp a drive along with the F80 M3, and ATS-V. I had an N54 135i and I got bored of it. The M cars even with similar engines are in another league though.