Not sure I'd bother with the TRD but I'm loving owning it. 2 months in and she's run in and starting to have a play.

Had a blast through some country lanes a weekend or two ago and really put a smile on my face. Put the s on the same bit of road at the same time and it'd probably pull away but by itself didn't feel any quicker or slower and got the tail stepping out fractionally on tight 90s. Not driving it right for proper hooning and hooligan stuff. Think I'm being too smooth and easy on the throttle. In fact I'm still reverting to driving like the s. Other day after a late finish at work ended up at the traffic light at the bottom of a slip road next to a mate in his yaris t-sport (a new car for him too). Had a bit of a drag up the slip road to the carriageway.

Total comedy of errors from the two of us. I was being cautious with the throttle due to a slight bend (the kind of thing that would get your attention in the s) and bogged down in first. Then kept waiting for the engine revs to pick up to that level that I know I need to change without even looking..........yeah that's about 9000rpm.........the 86 doesn't go that high. Kept running it into the rev limiter. Mate wasn't much better in his car. Tells me he was so busy laughing by the time got on the carriageway that he reckons it was probably the most dangerous part of the whole adventure and I can't disagree with him

 

Someone has bought a white one at work, it looks fantastic in the flesh.

 

There are two options; drive it smoothly like the S2000 and it's quite fast.

Drive it like a typical twunt and it goes sideways everywhere like Bodie & Doyle, complete with tyre screeches and an Xmas tree for a dashboard. It's as juvenile as Top Gear, and one cannot stop smiling. You can even boot the tail out round a roundabout in a line of traffic, which one would not wish to attempt in the S2000!

Mind you, I'm currently driving a 1.8 tonne royal barge, which handles like the GT86. That is such a total headfuck, it's unreal. Madness has ensued in the modern world...

 

It sounds perfect

The M has Hero mode, I switch it on and I can do the Capri Ghia thing everywhere. It's just ball achingly expensive

 

Just buy a ropey 2.8i Capri then

 

You know what.... I often ponder something like that. But it would need electronic ignition, I remember nothing but bad things about cars with 'distributors'

The guy in Evo (boo!) has a v8 Capri. It is always f@#ked.

 

It's early days to say whether it's as perfect as can be, but it's stunningly good in so many areas. Being so ridiculously wide, I have to sit with my elbows stuck out in a manner which (whilst wearing a black T-shirt) gives me the urge to raise my thumbs and shout "Howay Man!" in a mockney Geordie manner. Visibility is just about acceptable (the Georgian screen pillars are at an acceptable angle, at least and the ride is a truly excellent compromise, if a tad noisy. Which at least gives it a solid connection with the action on the ground.

I am still laughing at all the little "Princess Petal" features that solve all those C.21 Western World problems that I didn't know I needed to suffer from; LEDs in door pockets and handles (clearly they must move around in the dark or something) & rear sunblinds which retract if I select reverse...

One can of course do the limousine effortless cruising bit in noise-cancelled contemplation of a good sound system or the sweet engine, if one so desires.

But it's that "oh shit, I've gone in way too fast - do I wish to FWD understeer into the ditch, go round neutral or do I want to exit in a heroic drift like a Hachiroku?" option that is ethereal. Invariably, it's more Bodie & Doyle screeches just like the little 86, if the road surface is right...

It's really thanks to our earlier discourse (and thanks to Gad's input, too) that helped me realise the GT86 has changed the group dynamic of the cars (being really not a bad cruiser at all, yet with the Seven Nation Army attitude of the S2000) and it was thus time to replace the 'Lude with something more, well, innovative and simultaneously deadly staid yet completely bonkers.

So if you're really not gelling with the M3, these are as cheap as chips (you're used to horrendous spares prices, but it's probability of requiring them) and far more exclusive than rocking horse teeth, so I'd say give one a try and see if you like it too.

 

I'm still pondering Nick. I don't expect to make a rush decision at all, I've set up the M for another year once I replace the boots and am finding m dynamic mode most agreeable with my inner (outer) 9 year old.

What is the 1.8ton barge? I missed it if you outed your newest addition.

I still think the Exige or Caterfield/S2000/other is the way to go next

Such itches and scratches are the baggage of car obsessives

 

Not had time yet, what with driving it and shit

I went for a late model Honda Leg End. In the End.

I found a tidy one with the 18" rubber on the lighter wheels and still under Honda warranty.

Just got big drift on greasy roundabout and Xmas trees. It feels like it's meant to/wants to, IYKWIM.

No wonder no-one understood them & bought something brash & boring instead.

 

Graves you are a Legend.. that looks like a cracking idea for my Lotus plan

oh no what am i saying my Mrs will KILL ME