So I went and bought a Jaaaag

[Lady Elanore]

Just a thought. The embargo on the new M3/4 ends tonight so we should be bombarded with reviews. I'll keep this thread unlocked for them

 

 

BUT I ASK VRSKEITH TO START HIS OWN THREAD ON THE MATTER WITH ENDLESS LINK POSTING. I BELIEVE THAT IN A FORUM, IT IS THE MEMBERS THAT COUNT, NOT THE MOUSE CLICKS, COPY AND PASTE. SO I AM ASKING ONE MORE TIME KEITH. PLEASE DO NOT POST IN MY THREAD. THIS IS MEANT AS A THREAD FOR DISCUSSION NOT WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU DO. PLEASE DO NOT DO IT HERE. I DON'T KNOW HOW ELSE TO ASK YOU TO STOP. 

 

forum

 

noun

1. 1.

   a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

[Lady Elanore]

On the subject of embargo lifting, here is an early sneak look at an acceleration run. The car defaults to launching in 2nd! Quite impressive for a porker. The weight figures they are quoting seem to be aimed more at the lower power 'Pure' version rather than the full fat Comp version. I've seen figures usually over 1,800kg for that one. 

 

Also, one good thing for the haters is, that at least as it seems quick, you will see more of it's tail lights and thus spare you looking at the front  

 

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

For those interested the embargo on press reviews and tests, lifts at 23:00hrs tonight ie 5 mins approx 

[Lady Elanore]

So the reviews are in. What do you guys reckon. Lardy, pig ugly munter, or powerhouse diving machine? Does it handle or steer like a stuck pg (it has  been described as looking like one)  The first review is the legendary Steve Sutcliffe, the guy that showed Chris Harris how to do it when Harris was a young reporter 

 

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

Crikey the fuel consumption is potentially ridiculous....and not in a good way. 

[mac11irl]

powerhouse munter?

i try to pretend the front end looks like a caterham with wheel covers... it sort've works? ive accepted the grill is one of its unique features, and yeah its massive but its still not as outlandish as a zonda... every other angle is quite nice.

 

cept the stacked exhaust tips

[Lady Elanore]

If it was 10% smaller it would be a great size. But that weight and length. It's not that far off being a 5 metre long car! 

[Lady Elanore]

Interestingly Henry Catchpole seems to really like it and even prefers the auto box to the DCT. Mind you he has a point in that the DCT can brake traction to the rear wheels at almost 100mph in the dry (where roads permit of course). I hope the M2 is the car that the M4 used to be. BMW have reduced the M3/4 torque in the first 2 gears (similarly to what they did on later M3/4s (F80/82) at least in the RWD versions. If you see the car doing a fast start it pulls away quite slowly, although BMW are claiming 0-62 in 3.9 seconds. I haven't seen 0-100 or any other metrics yet. I don't mind the looks at all though, in fact my only real issue with the M3 is the weird ridge the flared rear wing makes with the door. Quite ugly. Of the 2 version of the M4 though, mine is certainly the looker of the family  

 

powerhouse munter it is then

 

 

 

I've read a couple of reviews too now and they seem to think the best super saloon is still the Alfa as the M3 is now basically treading on M5 style territory, at least that's what I read into it. Autocar magazine say it's more like the AMG C63 than ever now. They do suggest that if you want a traditional M3/4 you can still buy an M2  Hopefully 'Harry' will get one in his garage to test soon  

Edited 10 March, 2021 by Lady Elanore

[Lady Elanore]

I'll stop with the review posting now. Here is a final one and it's from Mr C Harris. He prefers the DCT of the old car   A massive fan of the previous M3/4. What do you reckon he will make of this one?? 

 

 

 

I think the consensus seems to be the car is a 4-4.5 star car, not quite the full 5 star BMW would have hoped for. Should help Alfa sales (who wants a 2.0 C63?) and help the residuals of the outgoing model  

Edited 10 March, 2021 by Lady Elanore

[Warrior193]

On 08/03/2021 at 21:07, Lady Elanore said:

On the subject of embargo lifting, here is an early sneak look at an acceleration run. The car defaults to launching in 2nd! Quite impressive for a porker. The weight figures they are quoting seem to be aimed more at the lower power 'Pure' version rather than the full fat Comp version. I've seen figures usually over 1,800kg for that one. 

 

Also, one good thing for the haters is, that at least as it seems quick, you will see more of it's tail lights and thus spare you looking at the front  

 

 

 

I timed that run at about 12 secs to 200KPH - **** off a shovel!

[Lady Elanore]

I saw my first M4 in a dealership today (mines in for a big service (2.5 hours to change the spark plugs!). I wasn't allowed to linger or open the doors sadly and it surprised me that it didn't look bigger. It isn't a small thing, but it's a bit more svelte than I thought it would be and the grill really doesn't jump out at you. It was a very dark green colour, sort of dark pearlescent Oxford Green, quite subtle really.  

[mac11irl]

no sneaky pics??

[Lady Elanore]

I was about to put my sticky mitts on it and rub my nose on the passenger window...just had an itchy nose really, when a polite lady said "you aren't supposed to browse". I then realised she had said this to earlier when I walked passed her, but didn't quite pick up on her muffled tones. Anyhoo I apologised profusely and buggered off. ..

 

 

But! They didn't get the service finished in time (some nonsense about waiting for the  car to cool down-I'd driven 2 miles ot the dealership) so I get to go back tomorrow, phone camera in hand, if I remember that is. It's something you need to see in the flesh I think, as I was genuinely surprised it didn't look like a giant killer woodchuck. It might be one of those cars that is very sensitive to colour? 

[Aspman]

RR is in getting a couple of things looked at and I passed the BMW garage on the way in. They have 2 new M4s out front. Dark blue and Black.

Sorry it ain't any prettier in the metal. Looks fine, a little bland even, from the side but that front grill is a horror show.

[Lady Elanore]

Mr Sutcliffe has the 2 main protagonists at the track today. Will the Alfas better power to weight win out? I've seen a few videos where the Alfa has been put on scales and it in reality doesn't seem much lighter than the lumpy M3/4. I love Steve S, he can comment and drive at the limit at the same time. I think it's because once you have raced the original Tuscans, everything else happens in slow motion  Anyhoo there is a clear winner on time around the short and twisty circuit they use, at least on time, if not fun (which he doesn't really draw any conclusions about).

 

 

 

Autocar released on today too, in which they go road driving and discuss where BMW might be envisioning the M3/4s place in the motoring world. 

[Aspman]

I'd so much rather have the Alfa. But I'd also need a tow truck to follow me since they seem to be built in the traditional Italian style

 

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

I still like the looks, but hate the weight. The next M2 will probably be the sweet spot, although it looks like it will be capped at 420bhp until they decide to milk the CP and CS versions. Would love a loaner for a couple of days to see what it's like

[Lady Elanore]

This was an interesting article on Autocar. They were obviously bored and had a few cars lying about so did a brief test. Turns out the new M3 is wider 'mirror to mirror' than the Mercedes E63S!!! What the heck! I'm almost pleased I can't afford one now, although I wouldn't say no to one   I wonder how big the next C63 will be. Apparently even though they have dumped the V8 (the misguided idiots) and have chucked the 2.0 in to it, the whole shebang will weigh considerable more than the outgoing 4.0 V8 car. The world has gone mad (I blame the ruddy battery thing) 

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/super-saloon-shootout-bmw-m3-vs-amg-e63-and-alfa-giulia-qv

[Lady Elanore]

  I just can't get excited about the arrival of this new C63. As a car enthusiast I love the ever growing power of the 4 main protagonists, but I'm not a fan of the shrinking engines. A 6 cylinder is great, but a 4! And then there is the downsizing of capacity and even more hateful, the adding of weight. The C63 gains over 100bhp to top 600bhp, which is great. It loses the V8 and gains a 2.0 litre which is 60 kg lighter - also sort of great, but, it is a 4 cylinder, which is not. Then to add insult to injury the car will be close to 2 tonnes due to the addition of an electric motor and those ruddy heavy batteries, which is appalling.

  BMW held out on it's straight 6, 3.0 and more power, but somehow along the way it added 150-200kg, possibly more when the new 4x4 version appears and this begs the question of what will it weigh when it goes hybrid? Jaguar have been building tubby cars for ages (the beautiful F type has needed a diet from day one) The Audi RS is already a heavy lump, but presumably the next version will weigh substantially more and be tipping the scales around 2 tonnes, leaving only the Alfa to fly the flag of moderate weight (at least in the modern world's definition of moderate weight). 

  It makes me so sad that we are losing the multi cylinder engines, but it really annoys me with the increasing girth and weight of all our cars. Perhaps some brave designers will cotton on to the fact that overweight does not improve handling, no matter how much grip the car can develop. 

  Here's Cars spec of the new C63

 

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/spy-shots/mercedes-benz/amg-c63/

[Lady Elanore]

This is interesting. Old M4 versus new M4. As I've said before, I'm interested to see how the extra 60-70bhp and a similar torque increase (lb/ft) would fare against the extra weight of the new car. On paper the new car would 'smash it' according to the test results and recent solo reviews. If anyone still cares here is a non-scientific test. No spoilers

 

 

 

[mac11irl]

sounds weird but the number plate across the grill breaks it up enough that it doesnt look as offensively massive. and if you cover the section below the plate with a finger, the lines on the top half are quite nice.

 

 

 

 

 

first time a number plate has improved the look of a car!

[Lady Elanore]

I'm still sticking with the "I quite like it" camp, well at least the front of it. It's the rear quarters look very lumpy to me. 

[Lady Elanore]

  So I had my cars annual inspection service last week and spoke to a saleswoman about new cars. Turns out they can offer me a surprising amount of money for my M4, but don't want to discount on a new car. Sadly there are no pre reg cars around these days as supply of new cars in general is poor (not a BMW specific thing) and waiting lists are massive. The mad thing is, that cars that don't normally don't discount but have very high GFVs on their PCPs (that's people like Porsche) suddenly become almost obtainable! For not much more than I'm paying for my M4 you can get a new 4.0 GTS Cayman, you will have to wait at least 9 months for one though. I popped into Jaguar to look at the F type P450 (again, mostly tyre kicking, but it passed the time) and was told at least 6 month delay on orders. I had a peak at the Mustang as the Mach 1 looks terrific and was told order now for Christmas 2022 delivery! The world has gone mad.

 

  I made an appointment with BMW to look at the new M3 anyway and although I made the appointment over a week in advance, they somehow forgot to have a car to test drive   (I was curious to see if it felt quicker than my old school car). They then left me alone for 90 minutes staring at the walls while they decided they could do a deal to get my business (they haven't seen my bank account  ) and came back with a zero discount offer. They were keen for my business and I had already told them it didn't seem likely that they would be able to do me a price I could afford, so I thought they would at least make some financial effort.  It seemed an appropriate time to leave and exited stage right. Always had great service from them, but they have all new staff now as they seem to have 'let go' all the older staff during the first phase of lockdown 😞 I've bought 3 cars from them, but their computer considered me a lost prospect?? I have my car serviced their regularly too 😞 It's the first time I've had poor service from BMW really, I'm disappointed, not just in their dealings with me but also in the lack of discount. As it turns out I made a call to a contact I know who said, if I wait 6 months I can have 10% discount without quibble. For the first time in decades, I am truly baffled by the motor industry. It's in a very confused place at the moment it seems, even if the manufactures are making huge profits currently. 

[vrskeith]

https://finder.porsche.com/gb/en_GB/718-Cayman-GTS-40-MY21-259221

 

Enjoy a sweet manual box.

 

Or maybe one of these

 

Enjoy your search in this fickle market place.

Edited 13 October, 2021 by vrskeith

[VWD]

aMANDA- each to their own. And enjoy what you fancy. Have a look at Bellendtronic on Sniff Petrol . Is it standard on BMW?. 😀