Juno

He (Mr. C32) was doing the same thing on the M3 board a few weeks ago. I must say that the 996ers have been WAY nicer to him than the M3ers were! I guess it's because the C32 is much more of a M3-rival than a 996-rival, and so Mr C32 came off as a major league troll over there. He's only a little troll on this board. As you can see by his posts, he's just trying to cause trouble and when someone challenges his baloney, he just spews more baloney. Case in point: he said there were three articles--the Autocar article plus 2 others--that said the C32 outhandles the M3. Anyone who can read will notice that the Autocar article favored the M3's handling. Mr. C32 still has not told us what the other 2 mystery articles are (probably because they don't exist).

ben in lj

Hi Juno.

I subscribe to Autoweek, Automobile, Motor Trend, Bimmer, and a few others. While I don't know which one I read it in, I do remember the AMG MB being deemed unworthy in their comparison with the E46 M3. We all know here that this beefed up entry level, new millenium 190E ain't no match for a real sports car :-)

996FLT6

I am new to this forum but I am quite amused with what is said for all cars mentioned ie c32, m3 and 996. I do have to say when I purchased my 996 coupe back in 1999 I have nothing but good things to say about the car both as a daily driver as well as tracking. To me, the 996 has the best of both worlds and to hear comparisons with the c32- i say its a great car for the regular day driving because if it is as performance oriented as the c43 the ability to change lanes ie going from 50-70 mph with a touch of the throttle is amazing. Even my 996 could not go from 50-70 that quickly. But the bad thing is with that kind of acceleration on a twisty road makes me kinda nervous especially with an automatic even though it has that Speedshift function. I dont think any automatic can replace the sure joy of a manual. To me I feel more in control then with an automatic. Thats my 2 cents worth. Take care.

PaulT

I had a C32 on order and was on the waiting list for about 3 months. It's a very nice car, and is a perfect stealth - invisible to ticket happy cops and vendalists. I thought that was the best performance car I could get for under $55K. (list any way).

Then my MB dealer kept upseting me, by moving my delivery dates up 2 months and then out 6 months. Other people on the MB board had better luck with other dealers but I think I got stiffed.

In all that frustrations, I finally bought a used practically new MY99 911 for about the same money. It turned out that the pre-owned market is a buyer market, and you get very good deals these days.

I am very glad with the purchase and now thank my MB dealer for screwing it up.

The main thing with the C32, other than performance, is whether it has the staying power in its styling. I kept mistakening C320 with sport package as C32 and that was the only thing that was pissing me off.

Paul

Carlos from Spain

PaulT, If I were you I´d give the MB dealer a big kiss . He just made you a huge favor. The C32 isn´t even comparable with the 996 in terms of a sportcar, just because it has HP doesn´t make it fast (the "sportiest" version of the Bentley´s has 550HP but that still doesn´t make it a sportcar). Sure, the C32 is more versatile and made for relaxed driving, but ´the 996 is a sportcar which can also function as a dailydriver fairly enough.
Have you ever seen a performance oriented car have standard: automatic, 4-doors, supercharger (instad of atmospheric or turbo), weight over 3600lbs. and soft suspension settings?...maybe for my grandmother

Carlos
996 C4 Aerokit and Sport chasis/18" Sportdesign.

PaulT

Carlos:

You are right. I need to drive my 996 to the MB dealer one day and thank him.

The other benefit I didn't expect, is the experience of Porschephile culture. I am already making new friends and taking the car to driver ed soon. The car is a surprisingly good daily driver, and yet I can go to the track with it!

Paul

Eric Kasir

OK guys, just bought todays Autocar (I live in the UK), and they have a shootout of 20 best performance cars of the year (360 Modena, Diablo right down to Toyota Celica / BMW 325i etc).

OK - C32 Merc - 16th place!!! I quote -

Fish have ridden bicylcles better than the way the C32 howled its way round the Rockingham circuit in a noisy mess of understeer and confused automatic gearchanges. It was frankly, a shambles.

Where did the new M3 come in the test?? 6th. That settles that then.

Eric

Eric Kasir

Oh yes, sorry, forgot to mention, 996 GT2 - 5th place - 1.7secs a lap faster than the 6.0 Diablo VT.

Eric

adrial

Can you give us a rundown of places 1-5 or 1-10 if possible? Their associated lap times would be great too.

Thanks!!

Eric Kasir

OK - top 10 here we go - It was a handling test, not outright best laptime won - you will be pleased to see that the GT2 beat everything time wise!

10 Ariel Atom 190 - 1m 21.48s
9 Lamborghini Diablo - 1m 21.28s
8 TVR Tuscan S - 1m 22.28s
7 Mini Cooper - 1m 32.08s
6 BMW M3 - 1m 24.40s
5 Porsche 911 GT2 - 1m 19.58s (!!!)
4 Ferrari 360 F1 - 1m 21.52s
3 Mitsubishi EVO VII - 1m 24.23s
2 Noble M12 - 1m 21.35s
1 Lotus Elise - 1m 25.03s

Eric

ben in lj

How did the base 996 do?

Carlos from Spain

Thanks Erik, that about settles it.
Great post
BTW I always wanted to drive one of those 700Kg Lotus Elise´s, pretty impressive for what, 150HP?

Carlos From Spain

pig4bill

Wow, of the cars available in the U.S. the M3 fared pretty darn well.

adrial

Thanks Eric.
It is nice to see the GT2 dominating everything else.

Lap times from the Nurburgring.

>> 7:46 - Porsche 996 GT2
>> 7:56 - Porsche 996 Turbo
>> 7:57 - Lotec Porsche 993 Turbo (600 HP, racing suspension)
>> 8:07 - Ferrari 550
>> 8:09 - Porsche 996 GT3
>> 8:09 - Lamborghini Diablo SV
>> 8:09 - Ferrari 360 Modena
>> 8:10 - Chrysler Viper GTS
>> 8:12 - Porsche 993 Turbo (430 HP version)
>> 8:15 - BMW Z8 400 HP
>> 8:17 - Porsche 996 C2
>> 8:18 - Ferrari F355
>> 8:22 - BMW M Coupe 321 HP
>> 8:25 - Audi RS4 375 HP
>> 8:28 - Porsche 993 C2
>> 8:28 - BMW M5 400 HP
>> 8:32 - Porsche Boxster S
>> 8:35 - BMW M3 Coupe 321 HP
>> 8:37 - Mercedes C32 AMG
>> 8:38 - Honda NSX
>> 8:39 - Honda S2000
>> 8:40 - Chevrolet Corvette
>> 8:42 - Audi S4 265 HP
>> 8:42 - Lotus Exige
>> 8:49 - Jaguar XKR Coupe
>> 8:52 - Mercedes CLK 430

Source

Carlos from Spain

Adrial, that was very interesting post too, lap times are the bottom line, all else is relative like 0-60,etc. Separates the men from the boys

BTW Walter Rohrl laped 7:56 in an officially timed lap with the 911GT3.


Here go some of Jarama´s lap times:
993 turbo 1:49:85
996 C2 1:52:07
NSX 1:54:39
F355 1:51:31
Viper GTS 1:52:40
BMW Z8 1:53:52
BMW E36-M3 1:55:90
BMW E46-M3 1:53:36
BMW Z3M 1:53:62
MB C43 1:57:57
MB E55AMG 1:56:51
AUDI S3 1:58:89
AUDI S4 1:59:23
AUDI S6 1:57:43
MIT EVO VI 1:51:77
CITROEN XARA KIT CAR 1:48:08!!
PEUGEOT 306 MAXI KIT CAR 1:46:31!!

Ok, so we all already new this: Porsche is faster than BMW, BMW faster than MB´s and AUDI´s.

Carlos from Spain.