automotive wet dream: m5, m3, c4s in one day!!

crosvs · #1 09-18-2006, 02:44 AM

So yesterday I took the Porsche (996 C4S) up to visit one of my best friends in Irvine. We've known each other since high school, but I'm fairly certain at least SOME of you already indirectly know him: he's the main developer at his company Offset Software -- www.offsetsoftware.com. If you don't know about this company and their game in developement, you'd do well to check out the videos and screenshots. Definitely the best looking piece of code for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, he recently picked up his new black E46 M3 Competition Pkg. Taking me for a test drive and then letting me drive it, I have to say, it definitely FEELS more savage than the 996 C4S. Obviously, Launch Control starts were the most thrilling thing I've ever experienced in a straight line: the gear change were so savage they hurt!!

Anyway, for our drive we took the 74-E from Irvine to Lake Elsinore; then back to Newport Beach for dinner, before finishing up with dessert in Laguna Beach.

But before our drive started, his buddy and main graphics designer joined us with the new "company car" -- a brand new interlagos blue M5!!

And so the three of us took off for the Lake: M3 in the lead, me trailing after him in the C4S, with the M5 taking up the rear.

At the end of the day, I was offered the wheel of the M5 and took it for a fun little test drive: near their apartment, the road was still being consructed and offered a very fun 1/2 mile straight starting and ending with two traffic circle roundabouts.

Having read about the M5 for years -- I was always reading about its development -- it was astonishing to finally drive it; like at last meeting a childhood hero. My short summary is this, and you can ask me if you have any further questions.

Jeremy Clarkson is right: the sheer number of electronic driving/performance settings is a little intimidating -- even after pressing the "M" button on the wheel to put the car into "Most Perfect Car in the World" mode lol, we STILL weren't POSITIVE that we were in the 100% fullest race mode @ 505 BHP. Part of this uncertainty was the unanimous opinon that, somehow, the car didn't FEEL as fast as either my buddy's M3 or my Dad's C4S. Granted, there were 3 of us in the car, and i was told not to push it over 7000 RPM since the engine was still being broken in, but still.

That said, I IMMEDIATELY fell in love with the car's dynamic balance: powering it through the traffic circles and opening it up onto the straight stretch before clamping on the stoppers was a truly sensational feeling of almost telepathic control. The motorized side bolsters of the seat, grabbing you as you cornered harder, really gave added sense to the feeling that the car really was just like a girl, holding you tighter as you became more passionate with her

you really got the sense that this wasn't just some machine you were driving, but rather a person with whom you were partaking in some coordinated modern dance.

Ok ok enough with the symbolism. Simply put, if I weren't so bent on getting a convertible after finishing law school next year, I'd be all over this car. It truly is the perfect marriage of comfort, luxury, and sport. Speaking of comfort, I must say: in "normal" mode and in the slushiest SMG setting, I really didn't find it that jarring at all. Granted, the SMG still had occasional hints at "clutch slipping" so as to smooth the shifts which were painstakingly slow lol, but then, my entire test lasted perhaps 5 minutes.

Speaking of the SMG, I'm still torn: I love a proper 6-spd manual as much as the next guy, and thanks to my Dad's instructions 10 yrs ago when he taught me to drive stick, I can heel-toe downshift seamlessly and necessarily always do; it's how I drive. Nonetheless, there is something positivley exciting about using the paddles -- it really makes you feel like you're in a RACE car rather than a "mere" SPORTS car. That said, I am DEFINITELY smoother with a manual, and so I really don't know what I'd go with for my next car after school. Anyway, the SMG III of the M5 is defintiely an improvement over the SMG II in the M3, most notably in soft auto mode.

Anyway, here's some very poor pix of the day lol.