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I waved goodbye to my trusty FR-S two months ago and the M240 never made me look back.
I bought a NC MX-5 back in 2007 and it was a dream come true as it ticked all the right boxes: very light, two-seater, rear-wheel driven, balanced, well engineered, great gear box, and not sophisticated at all (the only driving assistance was the ABS). I changed for the FR-S in 2012 (first month of deliveries) after love at first sight. A bit heavier, it was also a bit more powerful, had the same gear box command, was not convertible (the MX-5 was quite the PITA in freeze-thaw season with many floodings of the boot and the cockpit) but had rear seats. I missed the claustrophobic feeling but in the end it was very practical as I could fold the rear seats and put my road bike inside the car. Both those cars are wonderful to drive but as the years go by, the lack of power gets increasingly bothering.
However I was not really looking to change but Toyota nicely invited me for a track day last summer. I was to drive my own FR-S, the new model-year one and the new Supra. The Supra was a blast (such is the gap with the FR-S) and smoothly took a place in the front row of the cars-I-would-fancy-one-day. The price tag is ridiculously high but it is a great car with a nice cockpit and great handling. That is when I started shortlisting car with similar specs.
I scanned very wide, from US muscle cars to the 370Z. My heart had a soft spot for the Stingray and the Cayman but the low-milage-used-car price of the former and the running fees of the latter were enough to douse my enthusiasm. Then I met a customer of my employer's who had a S3 and got curious about the entry levels of German premium brands. The search was quickly over since only the 2-series was a coupe. The specs of the M240 reminded me that the Supra is actually a BMW in the disguise of a geisha, and on top of it all the price tag for a manual one was way more affordable...
There is no BMW dealer closer than 100km from home, but one of them had a 17k km, full options x-drive M240 in the right colours ready to be tried out, so off I went. That was all I loved in the Supra in terms of driveability but without makeup! I put a deposit on the same evening and brought her home four days later.
It is still not a two-seater, but it has a lot of muscles to flex and does not get bullied at the red lights by F150s like the FR-S did. The expressions of the engine have a way to bring smiles and while the driving position is not as race-y as other dedicated coupes, it is sport-y enough to make it a driver car.
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