[NewM3driver]

Hello all,

I'm going to start by saying I have loved my M3. My last three M3's actually. Wicked fast, a little untamed, comfortable, 4 doors.... love the wide hips. It is about as good as a daily a family guy can ask for. My current M is a 2017 comp package car.

For the longest time I have wanted an older Porsche. There aren't many around, so finding a good one isn't easy. In March I stumbled upon a car I couldn't pass up. 1995 C2, polar silver over full black leather, single owner California car, original paint, original leather, 17500 original miles. I paid more than I wanted, but sometimes it is what it is.

First off, the Carrara isn't fast. With 272 hp it has a little more that half that of the M, and it is working with about half the torque. It weighs a lot less, and the weight is obviously distributed differently. The car is 25 years old, but a lot of the architecture is much older than that. It is, however, the end of the air cooled era, so Porsche had time to massage this particular car.

After putting a little less than 1000 miles on the car (I'm driving it, not saving it) I can tell you all the hype on these cars is warranted.

The engine delivers power smoothly and in such a linear fashion.... it pulls eagerly throughout the rev range. The sound isn't piped in through the stereo speakers, but the rich mechanical sounds coming from behind you are fabulous, and the howl above 5000 rpm is intoxicating. The on/off gas transitions are just about perfect. Funny how such a modest HP never leaves the driver wishing there was more power.

There isn't any traction control, but the car can hook up to the pavement unlike any other car I have ever driven. There are none of the high strung tail happy tendencies of the M car... and I never feel the car cutting back on power to keep the rear wheels in the rear. Every bit of the engine is usable.

Driving the same roads I have come to love in the M, it is immediately obvious that the 25 year old car instills more confidence at speed. It never feels nervous or twitchy. Amazing how perfectly shocks and springs can be damped without the use of active suspensions and electronic wizardry.

The steering is a bit heavy in the driveway but it is sublime once underway. The feedback is absolutely spot on perfect, in a way the electric steering in the M car will never be, regardless of the comfort, sport and sport plus settings. The wheel on the M gets harder to turn, but still gives very little in the way of "feel".

There is no rev match in the Porsche, but downshifting is smooth and effortless, never clumsy or in the way like the computer assisted shifts on the M. It does not hold on a hill, but the clutch take up is perfect and easily controlled, even if the floor mounted clutch pedal takes a day or two to get used to. Shifts are butter smooth and mechanical, so intuitive that you almost forget you are shifting.

The car is SO balanced hustling down a windy road and pulls SO smoothly to redline it is almost embarrassing that it is getting there with 25 year old technology. It is really that good.

The 993's brakes are the best I have ever felt. Pedal pressure is required, but stand on them and the seatbelt will get tested.

The car is SOLID.... as if carved out of a single hunk of steel. Zero rattles, Zero buzzes, Zero creaks... 25 years old. Why does my M car squeak, creak, buzz and rattle like it is the older car? The constant buzz that comes from my steering wheel, the instrument cluster and that stupid phone spring in the center arm rest absolutely drives me crazy in the M. How about the creaks from the door windows?

Driving them back to back exposes the many flaws in the M. Things that I thought were great in the M are now mediocre. I hate to say it, but it is true. One car is an extension of you, the other feels like you are driving a video game.... a wildly fast video game, but a digital game none the less.

Sadly the authentic mechanical feel of the past is gone. This drive by wire era has sucked the charisma out of todays cars, even the expensive, really good ones like our M's

I WILL buy the next M when it comes out. Ill hate the digital dash, the automatic tranny and the piped in sound.... but I need something with 4 doors to take the kids to school, soccer and go to the mall in.