SC_TR0JAN_M3 F80 M3 Grigio Telesto / Sakhir

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

So the time has finally come! I'm excited to finally introduce myself to the forum. While I'm certainly not a newcomer to BMW, I'm thrilled to upgrade from my older E46 M3 into a new F80 M3!

The Backstory
Almost on a whim, one of my close friends was pushing me to get back into an M3 a few months ago. I've been without a car for nearly 7 years as I've moved around from California to London to NYC to Dallas where I now call home. I was fortunate enough to connect with Autobahn BMW in Fort Worth who made my buying experience an absolute pleasure. Originally I was hoping to secure an allocation for European Delivery but it seemed to be nearly impossible with the end of life happening at the same time for the F80.

Either way, on the same week that I connected with Autobahn, they received one of the rare no-charge individual colors and it was already en route to the US. In a matter of 8 weeks (with a 2 week vacation in the middle), I went from making an inquiry, to locking in a model, to taking delivery. You know you have found a great dealer when their first response via email was asking if I could qualify for all the right discounts! In the end, I took delivery of the following spec:

F80 M3
Grigio Telesto Pearl Metallic
Sakhir Orange / Black Extended Leather
Driving Assistance Package
Executive Package
M Competition Package
M DCT
Active Blind Spot Detection
Apple CarPlay
Wireless Charging

First Impressions
Coming from an E46, the amount of torque is incredible! Pair that up with the DCT transmission, and I'm thoroughly impressed. The funny fact is that without having a car the last few years, the first time I even drove an F80, was when I picked it up from the dealership! I never even went on a test drive!

Also, the amount of comfort and technology compared to the E46 is overwhelming. Now having a HUD with navigation, with CarPlay, and all the different buttons to control the car is pretty comfy. It makes the E46 feel almost prehistoric!

As always, the M3 never fails to be one of the most practical cars out there. Now with the rear doors and a bigger trunk, it's even more functional! It's fun, fast, and functional... what more could you want!

Future Plans
For the near future, not a whole lot. With my E46, I rushed into mods with numerous suspension, brakes, transmission, you name it modifications that I never was able to enjoy the car stock. With the F80, I'm intending to keep it stock for a while, run it at the track all stock to figure out whether I'd like to modify it at all. Back when I lived in California, I used to Time Trial my E46, but I'm considering just buying a separate car for the track fun while I keep this F80 stock... for now.

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by sc_tr0jan_m3

So the time has finally come! I'm excited to finally introduce myself to the forum. While I'm certainly not a newcomer to BMW, I'm thrilled to upgrade from my older E46 M3 into a new F80 M3!

The Backstory
Almost on a whim, one of my close friends was pushing me to get back into an M3 a few months ago. I've been without a car for nearly 7 years as I've moved around from California to London to NYC to Dallas where I now call home. I was fortunate enough to connect with Autobahn BMW in Fort Worth who made my buying experience an absolute pleasure. Originally I was hoping to secure an allocation for European Delivery but it seemed to be nearly impossible with the end of life happening at the same time for the F80.

Either way, on the same week that I connected with Autobahn, they received one of the rare no-charge individual colors and it was already en route to the US. In a matter of 8 weeks (with a 2 week vacation in the middle), I went from making an inquiry, to locking in a model, to taking delivery. You know you have found a great dealer when their first response via email was asking if I could qualify for all the right discounts! In the end, I took delivery of the following spec:

F80 M3
Grigio Telesto Pearl Metallic
Sakhir Orange / Black Extended Leather
Driving Assistance Package
Executive Package
M Competition Package
M DCT
Active Blind Spot Detection
Apple CarPlay
Wireless Charging

First Impressions
Coming from an E46, the amount of torque is incredible! Pair that up with the DCT transmission, and I'm thoroughly impressed. The funny fact is that without having a car the last few years, the first time I even drove an F80, was when I picked it up from the dealership! I never even went on a test drive!

Also, the amount of comfort and technology compared to the E46 is overwhelming. Now having a HUD with navigation, with CarPlay, and all the different buttons to control the car is pretty comfy. It makes the E46 feel almost prehistoric!

As always, the M3 never fails to be one of the most practical cars out there. Now with the rear doors and a bigger trunk, it's even more functional! It's fun, fast, and functional... what more could you want!

Future Plans
For the near future, not a whole lot. With my E46, I rushed into mods with numerous suspension, brakes, transmission, you name it modifications that I never was able to enjoy the car stock. With the F80, I'm intending to keep it stock for a while, run it at the track all stock to figure out whether I'd like to modify it at all. Back when I lived in California, I used to Time Trial my E46, but I'm considering just buying a separate car for the track fun while I keep this F80 stock... for now.

Glad I could be there to push you over the ledge...congrats on picking up a great spec!

[daytonaviolet]

Congrats Chris! i hope to have one someday as well

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Originally Posted by daytonaviolet

Congrats Chris! i hope to have one someday as well

Thanks meng! I miss all the Bay Area krew. Seems like most folks rarely get together these days!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Originally Posted by Sam@ModeCarbon

Congratulations on your purchase. Looking forward to seeing what you do with her.

i've been eyeing a few things from you guys in the upcoming months... so will definitely be reaching out!

[Negtvions]

Great write up and color combo. Can we get some shots of the interior?

[Thespaz18]

I got my MW M3 from Autobahn as well. Great experience all around.

Love that Grigio Telesto color. I may be just a tad bit jealous!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Originally Posted by Negtvions

Great write up and color combo. Can we get some shots of the interior?

here's a pic of the interior. i'll try to get more pics so you can see it in combo with the exterior. i was a bit skeptical of the color combo, but when you see it in person, it's a killer look!



i'm realizing taking car pics without a proper camera is pretty limiting, so bear with the iphone pics!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Originally Posted by Sam@ModeCarbon

Good time to reach out, considering we've been in the process of face-lifting all of our molds and changing our manufacturing process from vacuum to pre-preg.

Well if you need a new tester then I'm more than happy to volunteer my services!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Originally Posted by Thespaz18

I got my MW M3 from Autobahn as well. Great experience all around.

Love that Grigio Telesto color. I may be just a tad bit jealous!

That's awesome. Who was your sales guy?

[Thespaz18]

Originally Posted by sc_tr0jan_m3

That's awesome. Who was your sales guy?

Brian Hodge and Albert Diaz helped put a good deal together.

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Originally Posted by Thespaz18

Brian Hodge and Albert Diaz helped put a good deal together.

That's awesome. Brian was my guy too!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

So 3,600 miles later, I finally am back on the track! It's been over 8 years since I've been on the track, and there was a lot of rust to shake off. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of an entirely stock F80.

I played hooky from work on April 1st and joined Edge Addicts here in Dallas to run the 3.1 mile configuration at MSR Cresson. It was a well run event, with over 4 hours of track time and lunch and snacks included! You couldn't ask for more gracious hosts.

Initial Impressions:
My reference point is a bit skewed, as I owned an E46 M3 that was heavily modified for the track and was a few months away from ripping the interior out and installing a half cage and seats. I was at the track twice a month at time trial events.

For the F80, I was really surprised at the stock capabilities. As I mentioned before, the car is 100% stock... stock ZCP suspension, stock brakes/pads/fluids, stock tires/alignment.

THE GOOD
Oil temps were incredibly controlled all day and didn't get remotely close to the halfway mark at all. The temps varied through the day with highs of 70's, so it wasn't a terribly hard test to pass. Let's see how it does when it's 100 degrees out in the middle of a Texas summer!

Having DCT was a whole new experience compared to my 6 speed E46! There were no doubts about missing shifts and I didn't experience any hesitations from the transmission. And certainly no signs of the transmission overheating either.

The stock Conti tires performed far better than I was expecting them to! With all the stories of the PS4's chunking and cording on OEM specs, the Conti's held up pretty nicely. I'm a pretty smooth driver and don't trash on my tires much, but the only sign of weakness with the tires was at the end of the day after I went back to back 30 minute sessions. Totally expected at this point.

THE BAD
The F80 brakes are super mushy compared to the E46. Granted it was all OEM fluid, lines, pads and I wasn't as hard on my brakes as I could have been, but I could induce brake fade after a few hard laps. If you're on OEM fluid/hardware, I would highly suggest swapping out fluids to something more robust.

The F80 has a ton of weight. You can feel it in the quick transitions when it just doesn't transfer its weight well or the long sweepers when you can feel the weight make the suspension work overtime to keep it balanced. What can you expect for a 4 door sedan?!

Now this is nit picking, but I love our seats, minus the headrest. I'm not sure if anyone else encountered this before, but my helmet would hit the headrest and would either require me to sit oddly, with my head slightly forward or adjust the seat back to more of a lean back to get the headrest off my helmet. I wasn't expecting this and it was a tad annoying.

Final Thoughts:
While it was nice to see what the F80 can do on the track, I think I'll be looking for an E46 M3 to be my track focused car instead!

I bought the F80 to be the comfy daily driver and I wouldn't be all that excited to put it into the wall somewhere. Plus, the E46 is such a well establish platform for track days, so it's almost a no brainer... the search for good leads have begun!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

had to share my one mistake of the day! going off at 75 mph can be a bit dicey, but thank goodness for ample run off space.

good news is that the law moving services were provided at no extra charge to the track grounds crew!

[SherM4n]

If you don't think you're gonna make it, it's better to go off straight instead of trying to force it.

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

1000% agree. being an intermediate HPDE driver, i've had my fair share of off's, so i was comfortable with making the decisions to just straighten the wheel and go off straight... better than going off sideways or snapping across the track.

thankfully, it was a relatively smooth ride off into the grass and easy to get back on afterwards too!

Originally Posted by SherM4n

If you don't think you're gonna make it, it's better to go off straight instead of trying to force it.

[cfm56d7b]

Grigio Telesto + Sakhir Orange = automotive museum quality combination. Congratulations!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

This car certainly won't be a garage queen, that's fasho!

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Grigio Telesto + Sakhir Orange = automotive museum quality combination. Congratulations!

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

So news update! The new hotness F80 Grigio now has an older E46 Tiag brother. I picked it up to build up a track car to get back into time trials. It's a 2004 6 speed, slicktop, with a cloth interior with manual seats and has 92k miles on the clock.

In a matter of 48 hours, I had bought the car and stripped it down to prep it for TC Design in Campbell, CA to transform the car into a track beast. If you're not familiar with them, they're one (if not THE) race car builders in the west coast.

The build spec will be a half cage, seats, belts, MCS 2 ways with remote canisters, GC sways, among a bunch of preventative maintenance too.

Once complete, I'll be looking to revisit many of my favorite bay area tracks before either shipping it or roadtripping back to Dallas.

Just a small teaser for now, so stay tuned for big updates!

[mike@x-ph.com]

Sub'd for pics

[Orange fever]

of the new ride ///
Congrats brotha welcome back to the m fam !!!