Why are his feet upside down? Do I need surgery to drive an M car now?

 

Is the driver very very big or is everything inside the new M4 very very small?

Anyone watched Tim Burton AKA SHMEE150 trying to drive the new manual M3 around the Saxon Ring circuit in Germany. He never quite knows what gear he is in and he is sawing away on the steering wheel as though there is no feeling coming through his finger tips. The car is the basic 473bhp RWD version and Amanda will love it looking at Tim's pensive facial features.

13 hours ago, Aspman said:

Why are his feet upside down? Do I need surgery to drive an M car now?

 

Is the driver very very big or is everything inside the new M4 very very small?

 

 

I think he has ball joints where most people have knees.

 

I thought everything looked about normal sized though. Were you sitting a long way from your screen? 

 

People worry about running their car in for say 2,000km when they are put on a rolling road at the factory and tested to at least 150kph (93mph).😄

3 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

People worry about running their car in for say 2,000km when they are put on a rolling road at the factory and tested to at least 150kph (93mph).😄

 

 

I don't see a problem to be honest. If you look carefully at the video you can see the rev counter from about 4.5k upwards and the car never hits this. The car will probably only be turning at around 3,000rpm or less at 93mph and not a speed I see troubling in a new car engine, especially as it is a gentle increase and decrease, not mashing the throttle or sustained high engine speed running. 

Edited 3 July, 20205 yr by Lady Elanore

Takes me back to my VRS days and discussions around  running in the TFSI.

 

The advice I finally followed was (basically) high throttle, moderate revs. Supposedly this gave the pressure to bed in the piston rings without excessive wear. TBH I think it might have been right. I did nearly 90k in that car from new and it was never an oil muncher.

I saw a video of the chaps building Richard Hammond's Jaaaag engine saying it's best to use "crap" engine oil to bed the engine in as you need to score the bores to seal the cylinder properly, which is something I have heard all the petro-motive life and I don't see any reason to discount that advice. Apparently they said that modern oil is so good a coating surfaces, running in is not very efficient at all!  Certainly I have always 'run in' my car's engine, assuming the car is new. I have never had an issue with oil consumption which I attribute to this and if I have put my cars on a rolling road they have always performed rather well  The M4 in the earlier posted clip is not being excessively rev'd at all and most of the noise you hear is the dyno and close proximity of the exhaust. 

 

I was always taught that never keep constant revs and to work the engine up and down the rev range, without revving too high for the first XXXX miles (this varies slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer) I think my M4 was 1,200 miles at less than 4,000rpm, which as it turned out wasn't a hardship at all as the car was still pretty enjoyable even then. My M135 was around 1,000 miles if I remember, but the M4 had an oil change after it's running in period. 

On the subject of cheap deals, this was the launch deal on the current X3M which has the next gen M3 engine and such like fitted (500+bhp). Can't easily get near that now 😞 

 

 

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/bmw/x3-m

 

For: 

Devastatingly easy to drive stupidly fast, if you like that kind of thing. Not the ugliest modern BMW.

Against: 

Appalling ride. Mute handling. Engine lacks character. Too expensive.

10 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

On the subject of cheap deals, this was the launch deal on the current X3M which has the next gen M3 engine and such like fitted (500+bhp). Can't easily get near that now 😞 

 

 

 

They're already knocking £20k off it?!?

 

[edit] oops I read what you said now. You might get a decent deal again, but the reviews read like it's a bit of a turkey.

 

 

Edited 8 July, 20205 yr by Aspman

Let me summarise the Top Gear review for those who won't read it on the X3 M Competition. Tested on 21" alloys (never a good idea in an SUV) the dampers have 3 modes. Comfort should mean Uncomfortable, Sport should mean No Suspension At All and Sport+ should mean Are You Actually Joking. In Sport or Sport+ it feels like the PAS has actually stopped working (too heavy). Finally the M mirrors generate a huge amount of wind noise and you wouldn't want to use this car as your daily transport. Verdict they would save £23,000 (hence the massive discount) and buy the 355bhp (360PS) X3 M40i instead.

14 hours ago, Aspman said:

 

They're already knocking £20k off it?!?

 

[edit] oops I read what you said now. You might get a decent deal again, but the reviews read like it's a bit of a turkey.

 

 

Yes it was just a launch deal. Several guys on the  M3cutters took the offer up and seem pretty happy. They reckon the firm suspension is fine, very firm for an SUV but about right for a 500bhp rocket. Personally I don't think I'd want it to be particularly soft with M3 levels of performance. Some testers found it could hit the 0-60 figure in around 3.8 second on its way to 100mph in a similar time to the M3 which is quite rapid for a big bus! The basic spec on them was very nice too. I think I could have lived with one, although it is too big for me really.

 

I'd still be looking at a new M4 with the amazing current deals, at least if the world hadn't gone mad I would. Still, maybe it's Gods way of saying I should save up for the new M2 in a couple of years   either that or buy food now

 

Drove across the Snake Pass tonight (about an hour ago) and the rain was lashing down and in places, lying on the road. I had the Hyundai with it's 4 wheel drive system and it was definitely the right car for the occasion. The M4 would have been very...er lively  Interestingly, the Hyundai has a graphic where you see how it's apportioning its drive to the front and rear axels and as you hit standing water, even though you don't detect wheel spin, the power shuffles rearwards as you undoubtedly are spinning at the front a little. It always apportions some drive to the rears in the first 3 gears as you accelerate and the level depends on how much throttle you use, but I hadn't seen it do its thing in the higher gears. 

14 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

Let me summarise the Top Gear review for those who won't read it on the X3 M Competition. Tested on 21" alloys (never a good idea in an SUV) the dampers have 3 modes. Comfort should mean Uncomfortable, Sport should mean No Suspension At All and Sport+ should mean Are You Actually Joking. In Sport or Sport+ it feels like the PAS has actually stopped working (too heavy). Finally the M mirrors generate a huge amount of wind noise and you wouldn't want to use this car as your daily transport. Verdict they would save £23,000 (hence the massive discount) and buy the 355bhp (360PS) X3 M40i instead.

 

 

Slash Gear said this.  "The M Servotronic steering offers precise steering and sensitive feedback. Between the suspension and steering setup, you could feel every imperfection in the road and on the track. Honestly, I’ve never felt steering feedback like this in an SUV before. You can also adjust it across the same Comfort, Sport, and Sport+ configurations." This was a compliment 

 

The general consensus by owners on M3Cutters is that they find the suspension firm, but not a problem and pretty much love the car top to bottom.

Edited 8 July, 20205 yr by Lady Elanore

6 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

 

 

Slash Gear said this.  "The M Servotronic steering offers precise steering and sensitive feedback. Between the suspension and steering setup, you could feel every imperfection in the road and on the track. Honestly, I’ve never felt steering feedback like this in an SUV before. You can also adjust it across the same Comfort, Sport, and Sport+ configurations." This was a compliment 

 

The general consensus by owners on M3Cutters is that they find the suspension firm, but not a problem and pretty much love the car top to bottom.

They also said a Porsche Macan is the best handling SUV with nice steering and a decent ride to those people that like all those things in the same vehicle.

Good luck with getting a Macan within several thousand pounds of the real world price of an X3M (assuming similar equipment levels). As a man that prioritises straight line performance over handling would appreciate the bargain that the X3M is. Don't forget, the owners who live with them, really rate them. 

 

Car Advice agree with most reviews. As a performance SUV the X3M is the more driver focused vehicle. The Porche being the softer car. Depends on what you want. But £540 a month with a month upfront deposit was a deal of decade and unlikely to be matched until BMW try and shift old stock when the replacement model arrives sometime down the road. I must admit i usually approach a car I'm interested in, or find intriguing, based on it's driving dynamics before I consider the daily grind and the comfort of the vehicle. Your Superb shows you have a different set of priorities that are no less valid imho. 

 

"It would therefore be odd to give the win to anything but the most aggressive of this pair. Performance in all its forms is the key metric of this comparison, and by that criterion, the X3 M Competition runs rings around the subtler Macan Turbo.

If you had to do anything other than pursue a life of driving at nine-tenths and above, however, things start to get very different. While not as spacious as the X3, nor as tech-friendly, the Macan becomes much, much easier to love and live with in the daily grind.

As if that matters, though"

 

So in conclusion the Macan works better for the Monday to Friday commuter and the X3 M is the better weekend/track day toy bit like a powerful motorbike but much much more expensive. Yes the Superb does what it's designed for, massive space, supreme comfort, low noise levels , smooth but quick gearchanges and great economy considering the performance and an absolute steal at a few months old. It's even easy on tyres and you can drive it on a wet road without wondering what a hedge looks like when you are stuck in it.

I don't think a 2 tonne 4x4 is like a motorbike?? 

 

I'm glad we agree on something. Personally I still like the more 'focused' cars, but eventually will also grow up and drive a safe Eurobarge  

 

Btw I ended up in the Kona last night as it's registration was booked for parking on site (strict C-19 rules demand things like this in my profession currently) and it was too late to change to the M4's which at the time had all my kit in the boot ready for the job (it fills the boot to the gunwales)....grrrr

Edited 9 July, 20205 yr by Lady Elanore

15 minutes ago, Lady Elanore said:

I don't think a 2 tonne 4x4 is like a motorbike?? 

 

I'm glad we agree on something. Personally I still like the more 'focused' cars, but eventually will also grow up and drive a safe Eurobarge  

 

Btw I ended up in the Kona last night as it's registration was booked for parking on site (strict C-19 rules demand things like this in my profession currently) and it was too late to change to the M4's which at the time had all my kit in the boot ready for the job (it fills the boot to the gunwales)....grrrr

I like driving my wife's Karoq for a change but have to remember to approach corners at no more than 60mph and enjoy the higher seating position in town or traffic plus easy 50+mpg every time I drive it. It is even more comfortable and quieter than the Superb and doesn't encourage you to overtake Premium makes just for fun.

Owned Premium and none-premium (not sure how you make a distinction like that these days) and have always felt you get what you pay for. I don't think I would want a cheap new car that was capable of 180+mph, I'd wonder what the engineers hadn't put in! 

Fast 4x4s, I don't really 'get' (says the owner of a JCW countryman).

 

 

I thought 4x4 meant you went through the hedge straight on rather than sideways...

 

oh and a considerably faster exit speed.

I reckon I could manage a hedge backwards if I try hard 

Last time I drove a bmw, I found it very easy to go in different directions. A totally stripped out old 325  with a fuel leak and a pink roll cage. Fuel leak was ok unless you had more than half a tank.

 

i did contemplate a z3m coupe once. Till someone told me how it loved lamp posts.

I toyed with a 335i, or 330d , but was informed I’d have get a divorce first. Shame as they are lovely driving machines.

Edited 9 July, 20205 yr by ColinD

11 minutes ago, ColinD said:

 

 

i did contemplate a z3m coupe once. Till someone told me how it loved lamp posts.

 

 

 

I have driven a Z3M convertible and it has a cracking engine (Gromit) and was lovely to drive at normal or slightly brisk speeds. One quick zip around a roundabout showed me why it has the reputation it does! I don't think it is something you can jump into and get the best out of, unless you are extremely talented as a driver...apparently I wasn't  I do like the 'Clown-shoe' coupe and there have been a couple of renderings of the current Z4M as the famed 'clown-shoe', I like it a lot. They call it a shooting brake, but we know what it is really