Every once in a while an American car excites me

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

G8x M3/M4 next in line to join with an overheating ZFat!

Hehe true it'll be the 8sp zf but I suspect it will work perfectly.

I've driven the F90 M5 and although i started the drive hating the idea of the 8sp I warmed up to it. It works very very well in that car. I would be surprised if M division released an automatic that overheats in an M3

We shall see!

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Hehe true it'll be the 8sp zf but I suspect it will work perfectly.

I've driven the F90 M5 and although i started the drive hating the idea of the 8sp I warmed up to it. It works very very well in that car. I would be surprised if M division released an automatic that overheats in an M3

We shall see!

I am surprised you liked the tranny in F90 M5. Don’t the shifts feel quite delayed compared to DCTs or even SMGs in S6 mode? It does not motivate the driver to use manual shifts at all because it just isn’t that rewarding..

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

I am surprised you liked the tranny in F90 M5. Don’t the shifts feel quite delayed compared to DCTs or even SMGs in S6 mode? It does not motivate the driver to use manual shifts at all because it just isn’t that rewarding..

I still hate the idea, don't get me wrong. But in actual use it felt like it slammed shifts home very happily and with zero slip.
All this is in manual mode under max attack settings

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by K-M3

Oil consumption yes .... but it ain't too crazy I believe on the M3. Mine uses oil too ... about one quart every 7-8K miles ... but that too is me always keeping the oil level at the full-3/4 mark on the electronic dipstick. It's never really given me a low oil warning except maybe once I believe. And this is with the newer shell based 10W60 which is reported to be a slightly thinner viscosity than the castrol 10W60. It does make the car feel smoother though. With the earlier castrol edge professional , I hardly needed to top up between oil changes.

If u browse thru the GT350 forums, long term reviews and speaking to owners (I've had chats with 2), some cars are going through almost 7-8 quarts in between oil changes . One of the two that I spoke with is doing better - he's at 25k miles and needs about 3-4 quarts every 8K . It's this level of consumption that's been deemed normal by Ford that bothers me.

If our M3s were consuming that much oil , it wouldn't be without a problem that would need to be diagnosed and fixed ( leaky valve seals, piston ring issue, oil leaks , something....). I would personally not feel comfortable with an engine burning that much oil for regular use.

My GT350 was consuming tons of oil when it was new, but after the 2nd oil change at 5k miles it got a lot better. I'm probably adding 1/3 a quart every 2.5k miles now which is about the same as what I did in my M3. I worry about the long term reliability of this car as well. I'll probably end up getting rid of it before the warranty ends (no different than what I did with my M3, which went through a motor replacement). I don't like the idea of owning cars with $20k motors outside of warranty.