I had a chance to drive the BMW M5 CS at BMW Performance Center at Thermal back-to-back with the "regular" M5, and the biggest thing is the steering is morel lively and a touch more precise. I'm sure some of that (if not alot of it) has to do with the tires, i.e., Corsas) but the other thing you do notice is drop in the ride height and the tweaks in the dampening, which makes the car drive lighter than it has any right to be. What's more impressive is how comfortable it is when it is in Comfort mode. Not S-Class, but actually more comfortable than the "regular" M5 Comp. You notice this more supple and compliant ride even on cool down laps, and we tried to accentuate the difference by intentionally driving over the rumble strips or berms just to see how much more compliant the CS is to the C.

It's a really really good car. And it makes you wonder why anyone would spend another 100k to get a TTS, when you could have the M5 CS.

 

BMW is a more practical daily but the 911 is practical enough for many people and is just a lot more fun.

IKR

 

also DD a 911 T and it’s been all good. A non-GT 911 is fine for this, it’s not a car I would put on a pedestal and avoid daily driving.

I even drive the GT3 to work when it strikes me. They’re just cars. They’re not limited editions. They make tons of them. I don’t understand the notion to not drive a 911 whenever.

 

That's what I've seen re: software. I've done most of the major component changes to make up the difference to a CS. Not sure if there is an option for harder bushes as opposed to monoballs, which I'd avoid in a DD. Camber plates seem to be a popular mod, but that's another thing that I'm a little skeptical about in a daily driver -mostly b/c of noise. That said, overall chassis feedback seems pretty decent - I had a good idea of what the car was doing.

Interesting. BMW's issue has been marketing and the choices they've made in appealing to a broad market. They used to have a very specific idea of what their cars are supposed to be and let the market come to them. But they can make great cars when they want to - it's just that they often choose not to, which is frustrating. I'm obviously a big fan of the M2C, but I'm intrigued by what they will come up with for the M4CS. Based on what I saw - the M4C is very capable of keeping up with some great cars.

For me - I don't like driving my GT3 or 993 to work. It's doable, but the car is not happy puttering at low RPM in traffic and I'm not able to get it as warmed up as I like. It's more frustrating than enjoyable. Plus there is no better way to lose "specialness" than to DD your weekend car. Been there/done that. After awhile, a DD can turn into an appliance and all the things that make it special, end up annoying in traffic. That's for me anyway, obviously YMMV.

 

One simple response to your last point is asking why anyone would take a thoroughbred racehorse on a basic trail ride. It's not the best tool for the job.

 

Because you only have one horse in the stable.

I'm a one car kind of guy. If I can't drive it every day (or every time I need to drive), there's no point in owning it.

 

^ We have crappy roads where I live. When I used to take my 911 to work I just hated driving on some of these bumpy roads. Not fun.

Plus, whenever I was in my 911 I got bored with slow traffic. It was like keeping a tiger caged. I also didn't care much for the tech. I like BMW's iDrive.

But for fun driving, totally different story. 911 drives like a dream

 

Totally understand. And it's a great horse, so enjoy it!

 

I have a F80 M3 and 992 S - both manual. The 992 is my daily driver and I use the M3 only for the added cargo space, i.e. fold down rear seats to carry my road and mountain bikes. The 992 has spoiled me from a driving pleasure perspective. It feels like a great daily driver sports car. The M3 feels like a really good, fast sedan, but not nearly has nice or sporty to drive compared to the Porsche. I would kill to trade my F80 M3 in for a G80 M3 wagon. Unfortunately BMW is not bringing the M3 wagon to the US. I think an M3 wagon would be the ultimate do everything all around car... but I'd still keep and daily drive my 992.

 

because i can?

if I could not, i wouldn’t.

there’s two other cars to drive also. But the Carrera T is my daily driver. That’s my dynamic benchmark.

the M3 and any other M product at the moment would do fine. But I don’t need just the one car to solve for all. And I don’t like the compromises that come with and M car, principal of which is curb weight. It’s not fun to modulate that curb weight. It gets old faster than it does driving a manual in LA traffic.

 

The grille on the M3 is heinous. I don't care how good it drives. Would you want to like at that trash everyday?

 

thought so too but can be done to look good.

 

I personally always liked the new M3’s grille from the start and many have grown to like it over time. To my eyes it’s no worse than the gigantic Audi shield grille or the Lexus predator grille or Toyota’s version of the predator grille which looks like a defanged predator with a giant open mouth. All these designs were also polarizing when they first came out but nobody talks about those others anymore. OTOH some people still hate the M grille. That’s cool, and I agree I would never buy a car that I hated looking at.

 

I agree; over 3 911’s I’ve driven around 55,000 miles with much of that being daily driver duties. The Carrera range is wonderful at doing that and also being a blast on the weekends.

 

45,000 miles daily driven, no problems with traffic, still getting 400 miles from each tank of fuel, servicing costs negligible, depreciation negligible.

Wear and tear has also been negligible, the car is still like new. The wheels are still round, unlike our 2020 Range Rover and our 2019 Mercedes E350 Wagon which wobble all over the place.

The 19/20 inch wheels help on the C2 as does the ride height. Any firmer ride and I think I might have broken teeth with the roads around here.


Around these parts M3's are everywhere.

If I chose a car on the basis of the most sensible car in the world, I would be using my 999cc Dacia Duster. It gets me there as quickly as anything else, uses little fuel and is very comfortable.

There is a bit more to life.