od_man99
New member
Like many other enthusiasts, I decided to store my M3 for this winter.
This was my first year driving the M3. It was quite pleasant, I had the chance to experience the car to its fullest on the track and got comfortable with all the quirks and issues in daily driving. The M3 is a wonderful car. It really is the ultimate driving machine, however not a wonderful winter car. Even the rain without the Traction Control, the tail will dip to one side or another. My M3 only has 25 000km and is virtually new. So I decided to put it away.
I then bought myself a 2006 WRX. Yes, a big change it is, going from a leather interior with M3 logos everywhere, a state of the art Navigation system and a wonderful sound system. The WRX was pretty clean and I loved the sound of the boxer motor, but let’s be honest, it really isn’t on the same level as the M.
The constant rattling and the godamn unreliability of the EJ motor… I drove the car for 2 weeks and quit.
Put it on sale and the first guy that came picked it up.
That done, I continued my search for my winter beater.
And low and behold.
I wanted to post this earlier this week, but I also wanted a chance to drive and review the car.
First of all, It's small. Much smaller car feel than the M3. Then you notice the logo on the steering wheel and the kid in you starts looking for the ignition.
Now, Porsche decided not to go with keyless entry on the carrera line up. Note the ignition is on the left side, not the right one. You turn it on and you're reminded the motor sits in the rear, you'll quickly get used to that the moment you take a curve in this car. But we will get to that later.
The interior isn't overdone, it actually looks and feels pretty unremarkable. Now that I think of it, I'll have to get you guys pictures of it, but honestly, there is nothing to see, bucket seats, a moon roof and an outdated Navigation system.
So, if you've picked a 6 speed manual, like I have, the next part will involve putting the car into the gear. The gear box is fairly easy to figure out and before you know it, the car is rolling. Something that really put me off in this car is the way the clutch feels. Basically, if you've driven the older STi generation (Yes, I'm comparing a Porsche 911 to my STis) you'll find the clutch is quite similar. It's weird, a bit unsettling and quite frankly surprising on such a high end car. It's like a hydraulic feel... Anyhow, The motor is really fantastic. The sound it makes is only overshadowed by how wonderful the torque band is. Any gear, at any RPM you've got enough torque to get around from it's 3.6 Liter flat six.
The stock exhaust is a bit quiet in my opinion, but I'll shortly have VAG fix that for me. So, you're out of your driveway and heading down to your first curve. The car feels planted, solid and very low. Actually the driving position really is supercar-esk. You take the corner at 30km/hr and it's effortless. You then realize you could probably take it at 40 and after trying you realize you can do it at 50, 60,70, 80 and you'll end up with the same result. The AWD system is impeccable.
Speaking of the AWD, I had the chance to drive it in the rain and it feels fantastic, very solid, very reassuring.
All in all, I don’t think I can quite explain how this thing feels. It’s not that it does one thing superbly, it’s that it does everything very very well. It doesn’t really have any downfalls yet, minus the small booth. I can’t wait to try it out in the snow and see how it handles,
Trust that I’ll keep you posted.
This was my first year driving the M3. It was quite pleasant, I had the chance to experience the car to its fullest on the track and got comfortable with all the quirks and issues in daily driving. The M3 is a wonderful car. It really is the ultimate driving machine, however not a wonderful winter car. Even the rain without the Traction Control, the tail will dip to one side or another. My M3 only has 25 000km and is virtually new. So I decided to put it away.
I then bought myself a 2006 WRX. Yes, a big change it is, going from a leather interior with M3 logos everywhere, a state of the art Navigation system and a wonderful sound system. The WRX was pretty clean and I loved the sound of the boxer motor, but let’s be honest, it really isn’t on the same level as the M.
The constant rattling and the godamn unreliability of the EJ motor… I drove the car for 2 weeks and quit.
Put it on sale and the first guy that came picked it up.
That done, I continued my search for my winter beater.
And low and behold.
I wanted to post this earlier this week, but I also wanted a chance to drive and review the car.
First of all, It's small. Much smaller car feel than the M3. Then you notice the logo on the steering wheel and the kid in you starts looking for the ignition.
Now, Porsche decided not to go with keyless entry on the carrera line up. Note the ignition is on the left side, not the right one. You turn it on and you're reminded the motor sits in the rear, you'll quickly get used to that the moment you take a curve in this car. But we will get to that later.
The interior isn't overdone, it actually looks and feels pretty unremarkable. Now that I think of it, I'll have to get you guys pictures of it, but honestly, there is nothing to see, bucket seats, a moon roof and an outdated Navigation system.
So, if you've picked a 6 speed manual, like I have, the next part will involve putting the car into the gear. The gear box is fairly easy to figure out and before you know it, the car is rolling. Something that really put me off in this car is the way the clutch feels. Basically, if you've driven the older STi generation (Yes, I'm comparing a Porsche 911 to my STis) you'll find the clutch is quite similar. It's weird, a bit unsettling and quite frankly surprising on such a high end car. It's like a hydraulic feel... Anyhow, The motor is really fantastic. The sound it makes is only overshadowed by how wonderful the torque band is. Any gear, at any RPM you've got enough torque to get around from it's 3.6 Liter flat six.
The stock exhaust is a bit quiet in my opinion, but I'll shortly have VAG fix that for me. So, you're out of your driveway and heading down to your first curve. The car feels planted, solid and very low. Actually the driving position really is supercar-esk. You take the corner at 30km/hr and it's effortless. You then realize you could probably take it at 40 and after trying you realize you can do it at 50, 60,70, 80 and you'll end up with the same result. The AWD system is impeccable.
Speaking of the AWD, I had the chance to drive it in the rain and it feels fantastic, very solid, very reassuring.
All in all, I don’t think I can quite explain how this thing feels. It’s not that it does one thing superbly, it’s that it does everything very very well. It doesn’t really have any downfalls yet, minus the small booth. I can’t wait to try it out in the snow and see how it handles,
Trust that I’ll keep you posted.
