Pulled trigger on GT350 - Honest thoughts

[basscadet]

Former GT-R (2x), C6Z06, CTS-V, 335i, and EvoX owner here.

I go through cars like water, rarely keep them more than 18 months. As I had a career change that allows me to work out of my home, my requirements have changed (fuel economy LOL...who cares?). My 2015 DCT M3 was the perfect civilized tonic for the brute force of my '12 GT-R, but I missed the drama and power of that Nissan. My revised requirements:

-had a rear seat for a child
-was thrilling and exciting to drive on the STREET at legal speeds
-reasonably quick
-would hold its value well as I turn & burn through cars

Rather than go back to a 3rd GT-R or chase down a 991.1 CS which frankly is becoming less and less appealing with the turbo 991.2 out now, I decided to look to the following:

a. Quadrifoglio. An Alfa parked right next to my car and I was blown away at how much cheaper-looking the Alfa looked next to my car. The reports of reliability issues in the last few months immediately took this off my list.

b. Camaro ZL1. I spent about 3-4 minutes in one of these before I decided that there was absolutely no way I could live with the visibility issues. Also not a fan of the styling.

c. new M3 with competition package. This car felt almost exactly the same as my car and I think the much-ballyhooed improvements to suspension and power delivery is laughably over-sold on this forum. All of the inherent problems with my car (traction and getting power down through corners/less than ideal streets) were there. Love the wheels.

d. GT350. I originally was holding out for an R variant but after 2 weeks of shopping and unable to find one under $10k over sticker, I settled on the non-R. Drove two, a 2016 non-Track and a 2017 Electronics (Recaros, Track, Nav). 2017 absolutely superior for some reason.

Cons:
-Cheap plastic dash
-fair-to-mediocre stereo
-no heated/ventilated function in the Recaros
-less rear-seat room than M3
-no HUD or lane alert or parking assist that I've loved about my M3.
-car is low and I scraped trying to pull into a driveway to turn around/reverse during test drive
-The car is clearly slower in stoplight-to-stoplight driving. You just can't beat the Turbo+DCT combination for this.

Pros:
-In every way, shape, and form a better driver's car than the M3.
-Compliant suspension over bumps and the car reminds me of my GT-R in that I can be mid-corner on bad pavement and I have 100% confidence in matting the accelerator without the back-end dancing around like in the M3.
-No reliance on having to put everything in M Sport Plus every single time I start the goddamned car to get the best M experience.
-The very best factory shifter I've felt outside of a 997 GT3: direct, confident, short shifts with no slop.
-Steering is DIRECT and not over-weighted like M3's Sport Plus mode. I expected lots of tram-lining due to 295s in the front but honestly did not notice any at all.
-Power delivery. As good as the BMW engine is (and I think it's about the best for what it's built for) this one is just a sweetheart. Plenty of power "out of the band", no trouble getting around under 4000 RPMs, you don't have to drive this car like a S2000 or Evo from stoplight to stoplight despite what other people have said. It can be a lazy cruiser just like the LT1/LT4 cars from GM.
-Finally - the sound. We've all seen the videos. I forgot how important sound is to the driving experience. I know it seems silly, but just having the audio sensation go with the driving sensation is like the difference between watching a movie at home vs the theater. It's a real thing that I discounted in the past and now I finally understand what those guys clinging to their E90's are talking about.

I'm going to miss forced induction. And I'm confident my next car will have it (991.2? next M3?) but for a guy like me who wanted a loud, visceral, sporty car with a rear seat for a 4-year old, I just can't imagine a better car for under $100k. I am just sitting her stunned after the test drive how GOOD that GT350 is. I put a deposit down and will be getting it Saturday. First thing I'm going to do is get rid of those stupid stripes.

[basscadet]

I tried to post a pic but it won't show up for some reason. Oh well you know what they look like.

[swanson]

Congrats. Great choice.

[F83]

Cool I guess. They are great cars no doubt. Truly they are. Not for me (can't get past the interior to be honest) but happy you're happy.

FWIW, stick some 305s on the back of an M4 and any accusations of "tail happy" go right out the window. Next to MPE and active sound delete - fatter rubber was the best mod of all.

[Super Spartan]

Congrats OP. I love that car as well and the exhaust is wild!

enjoy and drive it like you stole it every time

[lukej]

That's great Basscadet,, my biggest concern would be resell value,,,

you ask for (Honest Thoughts)

No really that's cool.. enjoy your new ride,, send some pics ......

I see your from South KC , , I'm from North KC area...

[BoxKing]

Great cars.. I would only get the R if I were building one for myself; though I would never want a mustang, since every swinging dick and their mother owns one. They all look alike (Corvettes too) and owning a sports car for me comes with a required "rarity" factor that I gauge when buying a high end sports car (other than minimum requirement of manual transmission).

Not hating, but IMHO your list consisted of far better vehicles than the one you chose.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by BoxKing

Great cars.. I would only get the R if I were building one for myself; though I would never want a mustang, since every swinging dick and their mother owns one. They all look alike (Corvettes too) and owning a sports car for me comes with a required "rarity" factor that I gauge when buying a high end sports car (other than minimum requirement of manual transmission).

Not hating, but IMHO your list consisted of far better vehicles than the one you chose.

An M4 is rarer than a GT350.

No wonder BMW cars are the way they are judging by the responses and what is most important to their current demographic.

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by BoxKing

Great cars.. I would only get the R if I were building one for myself; though I would never want a mustang, since every swinging dick and their mother owns one. They all look alike (Corvettes too) and owning a sports car for me comes with a required "rarity" factor that I gauge when buying a high end sports car (other than minimum requirement of manual transmission).

Not hating, but IMHO your list consisted of far better vehicles than the one you chose.

GT350 is more rare than a M4 / M3 buddy..

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by BoxKing

Great cars.. I would only get the R if I were building one for myself; though I would never want a mustang, since every swinging dick and their mother owns one. They all look alike (Corvettes too) and owning a sports car for me comes with a required "rarity" factor that I gauge when buying a high end sports car (other than minimum requirement of manual transmission).

Not hating, but IMHO your list consisted of far better vehicles than the one you chose.

Originally Posted by minn19

An M4 is rarer than a GT350.

No wonder BMW cars are the way they are judging by the responses and what is most important to their current demographic.

Originally Posted by JamesGames

GT350 is more rare than a M4 / M3 buddy..

He didn't say M4 was rare than GT350 - he said Mustangs are common.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

He didn't say M4 was rare than GT350 - he said Mustangs are common.

So are 4 series cars.

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by minn19

So are 4 series cars.

I wasn't making the argument, but where I live I have only seen 2 other M4s and 3 other 4-series. Mustangs are a dime a dozen. Guess it depends on where you live.

[TRZ06]

Originally Posted by F83

Cool I guess. They are great cars no doubt. Truly they are. Not for me (can't get past the interior to be honest) but happy you're happy.

FWIW, stick some 305s on the back of an M4 and any accusations of "tail happy" go right out the window. Next to MPE and active sound delete - fatter rubber was the best mod of all.

It's not the tires, its the rebound shock tuning that causes the rear-end to be all over the place. Same thing with heavy braking with any turn of the steering wheel.

After I installed my Ohlins, all the rear-end nastiness was gone.

You should not have to move to a coil-over on an M car.

[stevehifi]

OP... I test drove a GT350 when looking for a new car... Engine, suspension were great, but I found the the steering a bit twitchy and the front end seemed to hunt everywhere.. do you find that's the same in your case?

[basscadet]

Originally Posted by lukej

That's great Basscadet,, my biggest concern would be resell value,,,

you ask for (Honest Thoughts)

No really that's cool.. enjoy your new ride,, send some pics ......

I see your from South KC , , I'm from North KC area...

That's funny you talk about resale value, as out of all of the cars I have owned, my F80 lost the most in the 13 month-36 month used car sweet-spot that I usually shop within. The GT-Rs were easily the strongest and even the Evo X held on better than my M3. But this is just my experience on the market and might not be indicative of trends as a whole.

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

He didn't say M4 was rare than GT350 - he said Mustangs are common.

Yea I know what he said, but the latter half of his comment he stated that he would only buy a car that had the "rarity" factor, referencing his M4 obviously, in which I replied about the GT350 being more rare.

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by JamesGames

Yea I know what he said, but the latter half of his comment he stated that he would only buy a car that had the "rarity" factor, referencing his M4 obviously, in which I replied about the GT350 being more rare.

Yep, GT350 is rare, but it is still a Mustang, which is not - that was his argument. Oh well, I will let him speak for himself.

[basscadet]

Originally Posted by TRZ06

It's not the tires, its the rebound shock tuning that causes the rear-end to be all over the place. Same thing with heavy braking with any turn of the steering wheel.

After I installed my Ohlins, all the rear-end nastiness was gone.

You should not have to move to a coil-over on an M car.

Completely agree. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the M3 can't hustle, I just found myself in a lot of oh-shit moments when the balance of the car was definitely upset. Maybe I'm just a shitty driver.

Originally Posted by stevehifi

OP... I test drove a GT350 when looking for a new car... Engine, suspension were great, but I found the the steering a bit twitchy and the front end seemed to hunt everywhere.. do you find that's the same in your case?

Twitchy - slightly. Hunt - not really. It's definitely a quick steering rack, but I actually like this. It's not hyperactive like my Evo was, and that was definitely fatiguing on long drives. The hunting you are talking about is tram-lining and a lot of other people have said they experience it in this car. With my limited time behind the wheel, I have not yet experienced it.

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

I wasn't making the argument, but where I live I have only seen 2 other M4s and 3 other 4-series. Mustangs are a dime a dozen. Guess it depends on where you live.

Mustangs are a dime a dozen. No disagreement. It was one of the negative factors. It's hard to stomach that a $24k base model could be confused with a $62k GT350. But for me, I know that I could afford a lot of special cars that would really impress people (GT-R) but in the end, I don't really care what they think unless they're paying for it.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

I wasn't making the argument, but where I live I have only seen 2 other M4s and 3 other 4-series. Mustangs are a dime a dozen. Guess it depends on where you live.

I see a lot of 4 series around now mostly GCs, but they are out in numbers now. They also look virtually identical as you know to the 3 series which are a dime a dozen so it looks like they are everywhere.

Point being is the M3/4 are not rare exclusive cars and neither is the GT350 for that matter IMO. Maybe the R, but there are quite a few of them as well now. So if you bought an M4 with exclusivity in mind you made a poor or uninformed choice in that department.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by basscadet

Mustangs are a dime a dozen. No disagreement. It was one of the negative factors. It's hard to stomach that a $24k base model could be confused with a $62k GT350. But for me, I know that I could afford a lot of special cars that would really impress people (GT-R) but in the end, I don't really care what they think unless they're paying for it.

Agreed on the resale value, if you, I or we care about resale none of us should of bought either car.

Also the M3/4 is based on a low 30s 320 which isn't exactly a great car either.

[BoxKing]

Originally Posted by minn19

I see a lot of 4 series around now mostly GCs, but they are out in numbers now. They also look virtually identical as you know to the 3 series which are a dime a dozen so it looks like they are everywhere.

Point being is the M3/4 are not rare exclusive cars and neither is the GT350 for that matter IMO. Maybe the R, but there are quite a few of them as well now. So if you bought an M4 with exclusivity in mind you made a poor or uninformed choice in that department.

I've seen 1-2 F8X's in my area in the past year, and I hardly ever see any other 4 series on the road either, heck I see more bogus M badged cars around than I do the real thing; so I do feel like my decision making on buying a "rarer" car was made accurately when choosing my F82. An M car is very distinct when compared to other BMW models- where a Mustang looks the same throughout all the models and only owners of these cars know their variant, outside of the obvious individual markings. Yeah you can throw on some aftermarket spoilers and such, but to be honest they only make the car look like a Tonka Toy. The OP listed a few cars along with pros/cons, and I was sharing my opinion on his overall choice and why it would not have been mine- only "if" it was the R model would I even consider one (I also only like the ACR Viper among American sports cars).

Other replies should take notice that I didn't specifically pin down rarity as my number one factor in buying cars, but something I weigh heavily. I bought the M4 over an ACR, AMG GTR, and an
F Type. None of these cars are seen locally, which made them more alluring to me, and will continue to do so going forward if I choose to ditch the M.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by BoxKing

I've seen 1-2 F8X's in my area in the past year, and I hardly ever see any other 4 series on the road either, heck I see more bogus M badged cars around than I do the real thing; so I do feel like my decision making on buying a "rarer" car was made accurately when choosing my F82. An M car is very distinct when compared to other BMW models- where a Mustang looks the same throughout all the models and only owners of these cars know their variant, outside of the obvious individual markings. Yeah you can throw on some aftermarket spoilers and such, but to be honest they only make the car look like a Tonka Toy. The OP listed a few cars along with pros/cons, and I was sharing my opinion on his overall choice and why it would not have been mine- only "if" it was the R model would I even consider one (I also only like the ACR Viper among American sports cars).

Other replies should take notice that I didn't specifically pin down rarity as my number one factor in buying cars, but something I weigh heavily. I bought the M4 over an ACR, AMG GTR, and an
F Type. None of these cars are seen locally, which made them more alluring to me, and will continue to do so going forward if I choose to ditch the M.

You can spin it any way you like it. A GT350 is very different from a regular Mustang just as a M3/4 are very different from the regular 3/4 series cars. As has been said many times on these forums 99% of people can't tell the difference between any of them and don't give a shit what you, I or anybody are driving. So to the general public they only see a ton of 3/4 series and Mustangs everyday.

So basically what you are saying is you needed a coupe with usable back seats. Got it

I don't get the arguement anyway, I just don't have the ego to care if my car is exclusive or not.