Test drove an M3 today

The_Dark_Side · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:15

the griffith 500 is NOT a car you get in and drive ten minutes after yuou've woken up, that's for sure.
how much you want to spend on a daily drive and i'll see if i can think of something suitable. any specific requirements?

ZG002 · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:19

eidolon said:
Maybe I'm just not ready for something so sensible quite yet. Time to find my nearest TVR dealer and try and scare myself.

Yes please

Ev0 · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:24

The_Dark_Side said:
the griffith 500 is NOT a car you get in and drive ten minutes after yuou've woken up, that's for sure.
how much you want to spend on a daily drive and i'll see if i can think of something suitable. any specific requirements?

I'd love a Griff so badly

Tommy B · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:33

[TW]Fox said:
Only on OcUK can 320bhp, RWD Coupes with highly string 3.2 litre engines, ridiculously expensive servicing costs and 0-60 in 5 seconds be described as 'sensible'.

LOL

The_Dark_Side · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:10

Ev0 said:
I'd love a Griff so badly

i thought i would, until i found out to the contrary.
but hey, we're all different so try one out for a good hour+ and see what you think.

willd58 · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:21

[TW]Fox said:
So can a Ferrari 612. Is that sensible?

No, because whilst they may weigh a fair bit, you don't see them all over the place everyday, and the running costs and original purchase price are sky high in comparison.

Why take half of what I say and miss quote it? Upset your brand of car has been deemed sensible?

ZG002 · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:27

eidolon said:
Maybe I'm just not ready for something so sensible quite yet.

hes after something abit wild me thinks. To be honest the M3 can be taken both ways.. to a lot of people it aint a sensible car in the slightest i mean it aint slow or cheap to run in fairness.. but compared to something like a lambo or simular then yeah its the sensible choice lol.. hell id even say its sensible when compared to a TVR lol..

Its swings and roundabouts..

Cough TVR

[TW]Fox · 6 Aug 2007 at 00:45

willd58 said:
No, because whilst they may weigh a fair bit, you don't see them all over the place everyday

I see. So whether a car is sensible or not is at least partly to do with whether people you've never met and don't know have also bought the same car? How very perculiar.

, and the running costs and original purchase price are sky high in comparison.

Whereas an M3, at £900 for a set of tyres and £800 for an Inspection II, costs pennies to run.

Why take half of what I say and miss quote it? Upset your brand of car has been deemed sensible?

'my brand of car'? BMW make many sensible cars. The M3 is not, however, one of them - like I said, only on OcUK can such a car be considered sensible.

A Ford Mondeo 1.8 is a sensible car. A BMW 320d is a sensible car. A VW Golf is a sensible car. An M3 is not.

Although I don't really know why people seem to think I am 'upset' an M3 has been deemed sensible - as if perhaps its offended me that somebody thinks a car I neither own, nor wish to own in the future, is 'sensible' :confused:

Simon · 6 Aug 2007 at 00:51

[TW]Fox said:
I

A Ford Mondeo 1.8 is a sensible car. A BMW 320d is a sensible car. A VW Golf is a sensible car. An M3 is not.

Some of your posts are geniunely funny or have a point but some tend to be your opinion as right and everyones as wrong, like this one.

An M3 is sensible compared to an Elise 111R. Full stop.

[TW]Fox · 6 Aug 2007 at 00:54

Simon said:
Some of your posts are geniunely funny or have a point but some tend to be your opinion as right and everyones as wrong, like this one.

An M3 is sensible compared to an Elise 111R. Full stop.

An Elise 111R is sensible compred to an Ariel Atom. Full stop.

Doesn't make the Elise a generally sensible car though, does it?

Whats the point in holding an opinion if you don't believe in it, not sure I really understand this 'you think your opinion is right' thing. Of course I think its right, I wouldnt post it if I thought it was wrong, would I.

Simon · 6 Aug 2007 at 00:57

[TW]Fox said:
An Elise 111R is sensible compred to an Ariel Atom. Full stop.

Doesn't make the Elise a generally sensible car though, does it?

Whats the point in holding an opinion if you don't believe in it, not sure I really understand this 'you think your opinion is right' thing. Of course I think its right, I wouldnt post it if I thought it was wrong, would I.

It was Eidolons opinion and he has an 111R hence the relevance of what I said. Hes not comparing it to a Mondeo or a Golf is he.

An M3 is just a 3 series with a big engine.

[TW]Fox · 6 Aug 2007 at 00:57

What, in the same way that an S2000 is just a Honda with 250bhp? What a meaningless statement.

Genuine question: Is an Elise more expensive to run than an E46 M3?

Simon · 6 Aug 2007 at 01:04

[TW]Fox said:
What, in the same way that an S2000 is just a Honda with 250bhp? What a meaningless statement.

Genuine question: Is an Elise more expensive to run than an E46 M3?

To be a sensible car is one with 5 seats and a big boot.

A 2 seater is not a sensible car in my definition and if I was to go to a 5seater with a bigger boot I would call it a more sensible car.

Here a 320D is no different to an M3 is it.

ZG002 · 6 Aug 2007 at 01:05

Id imagine an elise costs less to run.. but it would still seem the M3 is too sensible this time around lol..

I dont concider it sensible at all

But i couldnt even dream of affording to run one at the moment.. its different strokes for different folks

TVR

lol

[TW]Fox · 6 Aug 2007 at 01:10

Simon said:
To be a sensible car is one with 5 seats and a big boot.

A 2 seater is not a sensible car in my definition and if I was to go to a 5seater with a bigger boot I would call it a more sensible car.

Here a 320D is no different to an M3 is it.

To me sensible is a package - spacious, plenty of room, reasonable boot, good running costs, good fuel economy, etc etc.

So the M3 has... 5 seats and a boot. In every other way it is less sensible than an Elise. It costs a stupid amount to service, the tyres cost a fortune, repair costs are very high, etc etc.

Otherwise you could say a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 is a sensible car using your definition, which it obviously isn't

Or a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution FQ400..

I appreciate it may be more sensible than an Elise in certain circumstances but it's far from an outright sensible car and frankly unfair to brand it as something 'so sensible'

In the real world, sensible cars are things like a Focus 1.6..

Scania · 6 Aug 2007 at 01:15

[TW]Fox said:
Although I don't really know why people seem to think I am 'upset' an M3 has been deemed sensible - as if perhaps its offended me that somebody thinks a car I neither own, nor wish to own in the future, is 'sensible'

No, they don't think that, your just being fed bait that you take (you'd be an excellent fish)

- Having your leg pulled if you want to think of it another way.

Indeed an M3 isn't a sensible car.

[TW]Fox · 6 Aug 2007 at 01:17

Oh, and for the record, becuase it's surely only a matter of time before somebody else brings it up, for most people a 530i is a sensible car.

Scania · 6 Aug 2007 at 01:27

[TW]Fox said:
Oh, and for the record, becuase it's surely only a matter of time before somebody else brings it up, for most people a 530i is a sensible car.

I doubt anybody would have said 'owt if you'd suggested it, it is a sensible car.

You seem to take yourself far too seriously , sometimes, mate.

volospian · 6 Aug 2007 at 08:51

The_Dark_Side said:
the griffith 500 is NOT a car you get in and drive ten minutes after yuou've woken up, that's for sure.
how much you want to spend on a daily drive and i'll see if i can think of something suitable. any specific requirements?

Oh I don't know. You'd become 100% awake as soon as you sleepily dumped the clutch and slammed into the nearest stationary object

Another thing about the chim/griff comparrison. The Chim supposedly had a sports exhaust on it, and to be fair it did sound nice, but at speed it was still relatively refined. I managed to speak to the dealer about various topics as I drove without ever asking "Eh?" or "yoowot?".

The Griff had its standard exhaust on, which at idle was quieter than the chim (my mate was standing behind the car as I maneuvered the car off the forecourt and told me when I got back that he could hear the tappets were a bit rattley, so it can't be that loud), but as soon as you revved the car it roared, spat, snarled and howled like a big cat with a cactus up its bum.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the Griff. It's awesome, but you need arms like popeye and legs like... well, popeyes arms, I suppose, to move the damn thing around at low speeds. When you add in the fact that the seats were either knackered or just rubbish (felt like the diaphram had gone and I was just sitting on foam on the floor) and my wife has a colapsed disc in her spine, plus the noise and brutality of the car, I doubt she'd ever be prepared to get into it, let alone drive it, it's just (sadly) not feasible as an everydayer.

The Chim, however, was much more docile. Fairly noisy, yes, some vibration, yes, but nothing much more than the GT6 or the Stag, really (she's driven the Stag a few times and, apart from the PAS being so over assisted that she likened it to "driving on ice" she doesn't mind it).

lol, I don't want to hijack eidolons thread with a "spec me a motor" post (I thought he may just be interested in my views of the Griffith and Chimaera) so I'll start a new thread and we can discuss my options there.

Hilly · 6 Aug 2007 at 09:09

[TW]Fox said:
To me sensible is a package - spacious, plenty of room, reasonable boot, good running costs, good fuel economy, etc etc.

So the M3 has... 5 seats and a boot. In every other way it is less sensible than an Elise. It costs a stupid amount to service, the tyres cost a fortune, repair costs are very high, etc etc.

Otherwise you could say a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 is a sensible car using your definition, which it obviously isn't Or a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution FQ400..

I appreciate it may be more sensible than an Elise in certain circumstances but it's far from an outright sensible car and frankly unfair to brand it as something 'so sensible'

In the real world, sensible cars are things like a Focus 1.6..

The whole point Simon is trying to make though, is that Eidolon is coming from a 111R and from an Elise 111r, to an M3 IS sensible. You can't deny that.

To most people the M3 wouldn't be a hugely practicle car, because of the costs involved, but coming from a 111R it is.

The whole, Ariel Atom / Golf / 320i / e.t.c argument is redundant as he never likened it to any of these cars.

Feel free to argue your opinion some more, but you'll be on your own on this Fox!