csle36
New Member
Hello fellow maniacs. Recently picked up a new 25’ 5BW blk/blk manual. Ive done just over 1000 miles as of this writing and the car continues to impress every drive. Ive been a BMW guy most of my driving career. I still have my 96’ e36 M3 since 2009, had a e92 M3 for about 4 years and most recently traded in my owned since new 2017 M2 for the BW. The e36 is my high school dream car, and continues to be the biggest hole in my pocket. Its gone through many iterations as a track car including a widebody and a stroker dry sump s54 swap to most recently a complete oem body restore and a return to more street/track setup. This “final” phase should be wrapping up soon and im looking forward to enjoying that car again after a long hiatus. Next is my dream car as an adult or since 2014 when the 991.1 GT3s began terrorizing track days. 2 years ago I made the plunge and got a 2018 991.2 GT3 manual. That car has lived up to the hype. Its not scare you fast, but if you are into high rpm naturally aspirated engines its truly a unique experience only a GT car can deliver. Not to mention the whole engine in the back thing, 911s are truly special and unique driving experiences that I think any car enthusiasts would appreciate. So that brings us to the BW. As most of you, my car ADD typically kicks in around year 3-4, well I had my M2 for 8.5 years because I was car shopping for 4 years. I guess every time it came down to considering the available new options (CTR, gt350, g87 m2, etc) the compromises/gains vs price of entry all seemed not worthwhile. The OG M2 was just a fun reliable daily, and I mainly sold it over boredom (it not feeling special enough to keep longer term) of driving the same car for 4 years as a weekend car and 4 years as a daily. I mainly was looking for a fast executive sedan to replace the smaller m2 so could have a nicer ride on our shitty bay area roads. So RS6, F90 M5 were all considered. After years of pouring through my favorite auto journalists reviews (savagegeese, henry catchpole, jason camissa, chris harris, throttlehouse, you get the point) I noticed something that I had only seen when they reviewed 911 GT cars. It was this unapologetic overwhelming joy and enthusiasm for the driving experience they just had. This was happening after driving a cadillac? What stood out more was how they all mostly complained about the stiff ride in the m5 and rs6, not surprising when they are riding on bigger wheels and smaller sidewalls, and to mention the overwhelming praise of the mag ride dampers vs the adaptive units the germans use. This was it, a supercharged american small block, a manual gearbox being compared to the pristine GT 6spd in my GT3, and unrivaled ride compliance for a performance car. Once it clicked for me and I started shopping for one, I realized they did the face lift and interior upgrade for 25’ and that pushed me over the top. I was set on buying from a local dealer so i could service the car there. In Norcal that means accepting you are gonna pay over msrp. So there were 2 locally, and only one came close to my ideal spec. So on a sunny Sunday I went down and got my black beast. Every time I drive it I feel more in tune with this machine. GM engineers did an incredible job creating communication between man and machine. Being able to execute this so well in 2025 is so special in itself. I mean 4130lbs is couple hundred lbs heavier than a xdrive auto g80 m3, and a e39 m5 that this car harkens to is over 25 years old and weighs 4000 lbs, its just remarkable the 5BW weighs what it does with modern safety and tech included. Looking forward to using up my whole 100k bumper to bumper warranty. Current plans are eibach springs…and thats about it, maybe some tech bronze wheels to keep it oem plus. Cheers
