[JohnNick72]

Wow, thanks for all the comments and congratulations to my post! Looks like it was helpful in some way to many of you.

Rather than reply to each individually, I'll hit a few things that I saw while reading through these below, but first I need to correct a mistake I made in my write up - the ventilated seats are noisy!

I saw a question about the ASD this morning, so I tried to do some sleuthing on the drive to work and to/from lunch today, and in doing so I discovered this. It's been pretty hot these past few days in AZ, so I typically have air blasting and I thought I was hearing a rear A/C blower, but nope, it is the seat ventilation. I apologize for that error, but I would still recommend the ventilated seats for people in hot areas. It's a pretty inexpensive add on when you want/need it and chances are (like me) you'll have other air blasting too, so it may not bother you.

ASD

This one is a little hard to be certain about, but in doing some revs in Efficient and Sport with the exhaust button pressed and off, I think the noise changes inside and out based on the button (more so than the mode).

I tinkered with my F80's ASD and flaps, and ended up back where I started. Those familiar will know that on the F80 Competition model, with the engine in the Efficient setting the ASD is pretty quiet and the flaps in the muffler would close pretty soon after the start up roar and stay closed unless/until you got pretty high in the rev range, and then they'd close again without crackles and pops when you dropped back down. In the Sport & Sport Plus modes the ASD was a little louder, and the flaps stay open and add different levels of crackles & pops depending on how much you played with the pedal.

For the first year and a half or so, after reading too many posts on the F80 board, I convinced myself I didn't like ASD and the car should be louder, all the time, so I had unplugged the controller for the flaps so they were always opened, and I unplugged the ASD box in the trunk so I didn't have any fake exhaust sound and my music would sound better. Later, I decided I wanted to be able to be a little stealthier in the church parking lot, in the elementary school parking lot, etc. and put everything back to stock. Turns out I liked it fine stock.

On the X3M Comp, I can't say that all the ASD noise goes away inside the car with the button off, but it does get quieter. Rolling down the window to hear the outside noise, the same seemed true. The exhaust was louder with the button on & quieter with it off (as you'd expect). Surprising to me, I don't thing I heard a difference between the outside exhaust sound between Efficient and Sport, with the button on or off (respectively). Once I'm able to rev higher, we'll see if this holds true. I only went up to ~5,500 RPM.

Long story short, I'm sure there will be an easy enough way to tinker with the flaps and ASD on this one for the folks who need to adjust.

8 Spd Auto vs. DCT

I need more time shifting at higher revs, but this transmission seems to be smoother and less likely to remind you of when you couldn't drive a manual with a clutch pedal if you get on it wrong. While it's still very quick to shift gears with the paddles it does it in a (slightly) less exciting way.

More to come later on...

IND Reflectors

Meh, I don't get excited about these things anymore. I put "clear corners" on my 2003 G35 Coupe, and I remember thinking that was awesome. Now, I just don't care about the reflectors. If someone really wanted to really be slick, they'd make a replacement bumper cover that is the same except doesn't have the cutouts.

The Badge

It's not crooked, the panel is angled and curved. It's the photo that makes it look distorted. I'll probably pull the badge off soon, so it's easier to wash/detail.

Color/Order/Allocation

I didn't order the car, just happened upon it Saturday morning. I'm on an extended work assignment in Mesa and got up too late to go on my bike ride, so I didn't have much to do on the 6th.

My lease was going to be up at the end of Nov, and I've been all over the place on what I wanted to get next, so I was browsing the Chapman page to see what they had in stock to to think about. I was looking through the M Models and saw this one and was very surprised (I think it was misclassified as something else, but don't recall). Anyway, I already had my Houston dealers on notice to give me a call when these started coming in, and I didn't think they were being delivered yet, so I called to make sure it was there and available. Internet Manager said yes, so I told them I'd be over in a couple of hours to check it out.

I did a walk around, and liked it. I reviewed the build again, and confirmed it was the same way I would have built it. We took it out on a test drive, I really liked it, and that turned into a "let's see what we can do...." A few hours later I was driving home my new X3M Competition. Basically it was a right place, right time deal. As I was leaving, another guy who had a later appointment walked in to fid the car was sold.

Tires

Thanks for the comment about the 2 Manufacturer set-up, I was aware, but not really thinking of it that way.

Like I mentioned, I'm a big fan of the Michelin PS4s, and don't really know much about the Conti's.

I watched a few reviews on the Spot Contact 6, and the conclusion was that they were quieter, smoother riding, stickier or just as sticky in 3 season use, but didn't wear as well. So, I'm was just wondering if the "good ride" I'm experiencing is partly due to this tire.

Regardless, I was happy to find all the fussing about an unbearable ride to be false. At least compared to my preferences.

Does it give me The Fizz

For the James May fans out there...

I loved the F80 M3 too and I think it's the one to get if you one need/want a RWD sedan. I drove mine ~1,300 miles from Houston to Phoenix in 2 days and I had a blast winding through some nice mountain passes at a stupid pace with my mountain bike attached to the carbon roof with the SeaSucker mounts.

My challenge was that I wanted something I could take off pavement and not worry about scraping my lip spoiler. I love the outdoors and sometimes getting to the good places to bike, hike & climb don't match up well with the M3. I wanted something with AWD for the wet and slick roads we have constantly in Houston, but that still was able to be driven hard. Something I could put a locking roof rack on, at some point.

Also, I wanted a higher ride height with a lot of sportiness. 3 out of 5 vehicles in Houston are Trucks or SUV, so it can be pretty annoying to see what's ahead or alongside in a car. The X3M sits up high enough to see well.

I didn't have the time to wait for the next gen M3 which will reportedly will have 4WD (& rumors there may be a RWD manual transmission, but ??).

So, does it do all the same nice things (Fizz) that the F80 did? I hope so! Seems like it will.... I'll let you know when I can open it up.

I think that covers all the questions.

Cheers!

John


The old bike hauler, & the new bike hauler