Just had to dive into this thread and join this board. (May need to change my sig soon). I have an E46 M3 and have been looking at both the E92M3 and '06C2S's. I had an E36 M3 as well. I have an SMG car and am dieing to get back to a 6 spd. I've driven a C2 and a C2S. I think the S will keep me from the mod bug for a while since it has lower ride height, 19's, better brakes and better throttle response (lighter flywheel? - or is it just the motor?).
Thing about the M3 is the versatility. I like throwing my bike in the trunk with the fold down seats. And I have 9 and 6 year olds. Finally the M3 exhaust note is decent with the V8 vs. the POS sound of my car (even with rear resonator and SS exhaust). I've basically convinced myself that if I want to stuff my kids in a 911, I'd better get one soon! Hopefully the little locates on the roof will work well for a bike rack.
The cars are comparable in price, but little else. Come on, the M3 is a highly modded 3 series. The 911 is ground up sports car. Granted, I love the M3 versatility, but the 911 is a sports car, not a GT. Much less space, much lower to the ground, much lighter. BMW makes great coupes out of the 3's.
Sounds like CURIO is trying to justify buying a DCT. I've been trying to justify buying my SMG for the past 4 years. After actually driving a couple of 911's, I'm ready to move on. 6spd in either car.
I needed to test the C2 and the C2S. Now I also need to check out a C4 to see if the heavier car is any better.
Funniest thing is that I find people checking the mileage on the M3 even on the M3 forums. 'Caus the damn thing only gets 13 MPG. Maybe fine now, but in three years values could really get killed. Heck the damn 911 will get 20 MPG. I think few of us are really concerned about mileage, but even the NY Times was writing about the last of the gas sucking 500hp cars (C63 included).
Biggest diff in driving the M3 vs. 911 is the torque. Even if they the same 0-60 or track times, the torque of the 911 vs. the weight makes it much more responsive. Just feels more fun. My E46 will hang with a 996, but I thought my E36 even had more torque at lower RPMs.
Now if only my girls will want to jump in the back "seats"...

 

Agreed. And to add, no one needs a 911/M3/etc. It boils down to personal preferences...or the intangibles, "x factors".

Curio has already declared that a Z06 or GT-R would mop the floor with both the M3 and 997S in outright performance. So my question is, if he thinks that the measure of a performance car should be based primarily on empirical criteria (as that’s the basis of his discontent with the 911 range), then why doesn’t he apply the same distain towards his M3 and just buy a GT-R and win ALL forum **** matches across the land?

The fact is, a car forum is not the real world and there’s much more to buying and owning a performance car above a certain price range. You could have the pick of the litter. I could have easily purchased a GT-R for what I’ve paid for my 997S, or any M3’s for that matter. On the same note, I could have paid more and get one of the Porsche “GT” models or perhaps an AM. Yet, my choice was clear after considerable seat time in all of the above, in streets as well as track.

5 pages and plenty of other threads on this topic of comparison are absolutely absurd to me. As I have suggested to the OP – if you have to ask opinions from this forum, you’d have to post the same question on an M3 forum as well. Just see how many M3 owners would acquiesce to prefer the 911 for a wide variety of reasons. That would be the most telling.

 

This hits the nail on the head so well that I couldn't help but to quote it; nothing else must be said.

 

I have owned 3 BMW E46 cars. The longest one was the M3. I have also owned an E36 M3.

I bought the E46 M3 partly due to practical reasons, price, space. I thought it was a beautiful car. It served me well on the track and during harsh winters. Still miss it.

Got myself a Cayman S, which handled well. It was quite brisk actually, but, had to stick on an aftermarket exhaust to make it sound good. Which it then did on track but droned on regular roads. It became all rattly inside, and I was hearing horror stories where they would suddenly end up with bearing material spread out inside the engine after they would die on track. Maybe I overreacted to that but decided to dump the Cayman (as good as it was, it just felt cheap).

So what to get now? The E92 M3 was ugly (in my opinion). It was big (more like the E39 5 series in size). It was no slouch though. A few suspension tweaks and it really ran fast round the track. Everyone I have ever met who test drove it said it was way better than they thought it would be.

OTOH, I got a kick out of test driving the 996 C4S a few years ago with the X51 (?) package. I have always thought the 997 was a great looker.

With the new 997.2 it seemed major work had been done on the engines. Less likely to have oil starvation issues. I cant stand the PDK because of the button arrangement/ *** backwards "push" to go up a gear. I would have preferred paddles. Don't mind the buttons, but hate the steptronic left over ergonomics. I couldnt stretch to a C2S. But the non-S was close to performance/braking of the outgoing S, so I bought one.

Right now I get the same goosebumps/excitement whenI see my 997 as when I had my E46 M3. The 997 is more a ground up sports car. I have a hard time doing a one is better than the other ......... they are different. I never hated Porsche when I owned BMWs. And I don't hate BMW as I own Porsche. If I wanted all out power, I suppose I could have bought a Z06. Cheaper, great chassis cheaper to maintain. I am sure I could have got past the stereotype attributes given to Corvette owners and would be chasing GT3s on track. There are a lot of factors that make one buy one car over another.

Whenever I see someone else in a car from another make, if it's a car that obviously the owner likes/takes care of, I don't see someone to ridicule, or feel that I am better than them because I own a Porsche. I see another car enthusiast, whether a kid in his Subaru, or tastefully done Honda Civic (I know, I know, but there are a few that aren't over done, and are more driver oriented than bling) or someone in their shiny new RX8 to the somewhat older people in their RS4s.



Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

 

Dude, you are still at your old tricks. Here, let me help refocus you

You read somewhere in wikipedia that the m3 won some race and Porsche cried. No records show this and I have no info on it. Despite this rant of yours, I'll bite and say "ok". So let's fast forward to today and to the main point: In a race where both Porsche and BMW got a chance to enter their cars recently, who won and who lost:
-ALMS: Porsche spanked BMW in the GT2 class
-24 hours Nurburgring: Porsche spanked BMW

I was at the LBGP and was impressed by the BMW M3; the widebody on the car looks awesome. The fact is, it still lost to Porsche, but it did come 4th (which I think is great for a sedan).

And whether MY own car is related to a GT1 block, yes it is. I own a turbo. There are many of us here on the 997 forum that love the 997 in all its forms (e.g. I won't cry if someone has a faster 335 than my M3).

Lastly, we are all entitled to our opinions. At times you do make sense and but at other times its clear that you're trolling. I am happy that you still love your 3 series and prefer them over Porsche 911's. I'm going to be like you and where a Michael Vick jersey to an SPCA/PETA fundraiser.

I guess you figured we needed some excitement, so you put on your jester hat. We all need to do that at times.

Thanks for the laughs!

 

Why doesn't a Ferrari guy jump in here and dump on all of us?

 

That is easy, people with fast cars don't need to prove the are fast.

 

That would be massively OT. The question was M3 vs. 911.

I'm sure the Ferrari boys have plenty of "Ferrari vs. Lambo" postings.

 

Yeah right.-- Cutomers who do not give a "5" are immediately identified by BMWNA who turns right around and rats out any single customer who dings the dealer - which makes extorting those high scores all the easier for the dealer network.

That's not customer satisfaction. That's measuring how good various dealers are at getting customers to say "5" on fear of retaliation on their next visit.

 

I did post it in the M section here on 6 speed, but more interested to see what 997 owners have to say since it seems many either have both or have had an M3 in the past and made the jump.....and I already know what to expect out of the BMW for the most part having had 4, not so much with the pcar.

 

How about reliability of the S cars? I haven't seen any threads of blown motors or burned clutches, although I've seen several used cars with low miles and new clutches. Haven't had much trouble with the E46 M3, but I don't track it. No trouble even with the SMG.
I read that '03 996's were a nightmare with blown engines. All well and good with '05-'07 C2S's??

 

I had the E92 M3 for 8 months and about ~7k miles when I traded it. Never reset the onboard computer so the numbers were from purchase. Highest ever MPG rating was 14.2 as it shows on the dash. It actually was after a long drive to palm springs or something. It eventually went back down to 13.9 over the long haul.

 

gas mileage not a make it or break it issue at all
if i cared...I'd get a bum *** Prius like half the population where I live...

 

I have tracked my car, 18 times in the last 12 months, I have 26,000 Km (16,000 miles) and I have yet to make a warranty claim. I only burn a little oil when I am on the track, otherwise it is none. I visited the Porsche factory last spring and learned that Porsche doesn't make cars, they assemble them. Almost every component is outsourced and if the suppliers don't measure up to the quality standards that Porsche requires, they find a new supplier. I think that the big three could learn something from there method of production.

 

I took a ride in a Prius Taxi last week, I would slit my wrists before having to drive a car like that...I know it is a statement towards the environment, but talk about a car that would put me in a Coma!