M3 CRT anyone?

[DesertSmokeBBQ]

Anyone realize the CF goodies are from the new Proccess designed/tooled for the i8? With in house CF manufacturing its looking like BMW will want to take advantage of economy of scale and CF bits will filter through the rest of the product line (painfully slowly I'm sure)

[Titanium Silver]

Not what I would buy with $187k.

458 is right around $200k. Not even a comparison.

You could even buy 4-5 lightly used M3s for that price. Or you could buy a brand new F80 M5, a normal E9x M3 and an E46 for the track. All for the same price.

You could buy 2 Nissan GT-Rs....

The list goes on.

[FVM3]

Originally Posted by Titanium Silver

Not what I would buy with $187k.

458 is right around $200k. Not even a comparison.

You could even buy 4-5 lightly used M3s for that price. Or you could buy a brand new F80 M5, a normal E9x M3 and an E46 for the track. All for the same price.

You could buy 2 Nissan GT-Rs....

The list goes on.

i can even get a small house

[WRXXX]

...or go on a 4 day coke rampage with 5 of the best looking call girls

[CanadianM3]

Originally Posted by mlambert890

This always comes up with factory mod packages... Where people say "just put together" and then its brembo, KW, etc, "and you will be faster for 1/100th the cost!"

Thing is, that these factory cars are supposed to be more than just the sum of their parts. Yes you can frankenstein your way into, *theoretically better* performance numbers than elite tuner, or factory tuned, setups, but that does mean you've even remotely *replicated it*.

Often you *can't* replicate what they do because what they're doing is much beyond weight reduction by pulling out seats, or bolting FI onto the base engine, or swapping in (arguably) more effective coil overs, etc.

This type of discussion always comes up. I remember it all the time with the NSX with people talking about how easily, and cheaply, you could "make an NSX-R" and then on the Corvette Forum with how easily and cheaply you could replicate the likes of a Calloway, or even a ZR1.

The reality is that the tuning, R&D, custom fabrication, track testing, attention to detail and build quality of these cars is almost *always* far beyond a slapped together mod job. If the focus is just theoretical quarter mile, or even lap, times then it all seems equal, but the total value proposition of these cars is more than that. The type of dry carbon the OEMs use in special additions like this is already a *massive* difference from anything you're going to find in the ghetto aftermarket. With the NSX the OEM hood for the R was over 10 grand. Even *the best* aftermarket fabricators, at 3-5k for a replica of it, were using *far* inferior carbon fiber fabrication techniques. "Same" because the weight was the same? No.

The target isn't a typical owner who wants to "go fast". The target is always super high end enthusiast/collectors who don't make "either/or" decisions. They don't do "used Ferrari *or* CRT". They buy the CRT as an interesting curiosity and just *add it* to a collection.

I could not agree more.

[DesertSmokeBBQ]

Originally Posted by WRXXX

...or go on a 4 day coke rampage with 5 of the best looking call girls

Wow...

[luis_m3]

Originally Posted by WRXXX

...or go on a 4 day coke rampage with 5 of the best looking call girls

Damn dude... That's some serious stuff.

[DesertSmokeBBQ]

I don't see this as an "either/Or" proposition. The price of entry dictates that this is a purchase someone who doesn't have to make such choices makes. My thing is, at $190k US, does this make sense as a bauble for someone who CAN afford and might be interested. IS it "special" enough to justify the price tag, performance specs aside...?