Quote:
Originally Posted by ASAP
I don't doubt the fact that the F87 M2C is a super fun car... it's the most fun car I've ever owned... unfortunately it has some very serious faults for being an M car that made me question how BMW let this car leave the factory the way it did.... in many ways it felt like my older slightly modified 135i. Fun unfortunately doesn't always translate to a solid performance / sports car... there is definitely a lot of irony in the fact that my X3 M40i with base adaptive suspension feels far more confident on MANY roads and turns than my m2c did... not really sure how that is remotely possible... but it's more stable, less bouncy and doesn't feel like the rear end will slip out if i push it harder.
The thing is tho... these faults were made known when the F87 initially came out... Matt Farah pointed all of this out and how sloppy the handling is in his initial review... he was panned after that review when everyone else said its' the greatest thing since sliced bread... except here is what all of those reviews missed... they were all on a track and no one ever drove the car hard on the street on normal roads. Chris harris loved the m2c... all of his reviews where on the track and he modified his personal M2c only to sell it a year later... so again... i think the car was far overhyped for what it was. From what I am hearing the G87 fixes a ton of this.
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Hi ASAP,
New to the forum, but your post triggered me to register and support your position. I've been a long time bimmer driver all the way back to the E30.
BMW has a bit of a habit with experimenting with how their cars drive. Prior to the Bangle era, they all drove the same. Not much torque, but engine could rev for days and the chassis were all
redeculously competent. (misspelling intentional)
I've also had seat time in all M3s except the G series and the E30 and the first time I drove an F82 I was like "this is a BMW?" It was certainly an outlier from most any previous BMW I care to mention. Especially compared to the E92. The very first thing that struck me was the amount of time the traction control light was blinking at me. It was an utter disappointment. The LOOOONG gearing may also have contributed to my distaste.
After reading lots of glowing reviews about the M2 and being persuaded by my friends, I bought a 21 M2C. It was certainly better than the F82, but the chassis struck me as unfinished.
I dearly loved the engine. It was magnificent albeit throttled at the top end. But in the ride and handling department I would best describe it as unsophisticated. Never driven a fox body mustang, but I would imagine if you put the S55 in it, that's would it would feel like.
I took it to the track though and all was forgiven. Until the drive home at which point I decided that I had enough of it and proceeded to trade it in.
So my take on it is that it had development done at the track and they didn't spend resources to fix it on the street. FWIW, the E46 was relatively bouncy and unsettled as well, but where the E46 was amazing handling at the limit, the F87 was hyperactive and twitchy.
The snap oversteer on mild cornering g's worked REALLY well on the track. I literally planted my foot on the throttle and it drove the car hard out of turns, but on the street, it felt like it was waiting to bite. It really felt that the handling balance was optimized for 10/10ths at the track.
However, 1 drawback was the too small front tires. They got hot too quickly despite how much I was pounding the rears. and believe me I was riding the rears hard and still the fronts cooked off first.
In short, I agree with your position that the F87C had suboptimal handling especially with regards to hard street driving on bumpy roads. And poor comfort at all times.
As for Matt Farah and Chris Harris. Matt shoots from the hip and Chris is a salesman. You can decide who to listen to.
P.S. And the most recent BMW that reminded me of all the great old BMWs was, if you can believe, it an F39 with a sport package.
You could drive it like you stole it all day long and trust it. The ride was still a bit harder than the old cars, but it drove like them.