Originally Posted by epikeddie

Being that my best friend is a fleet manager over at the largest BMW center in the Western United States (Crevier BMW), I've had my fair share of experience with the BMW Performance Driving School and their M-badged cars including the E90/E92 M3, E60 M5, Z4M, X6M (this was last week since this car is brand new), X5M, and a 135i.

All of those mentioned cars are absolutely phenomenal! I'm contemplating picking up a E90 M3 within the next year as a replacement for my RX8 as well.

When people talk about race suspension, I just have to mention - how "race" do you want to go? Do you want triple adjustable shocks w/ on-board reservoirs like Motons, Penske, JRZ, Ohlins, and etc.? I doubt any of those setups would last more than a month on street surfaces.....that....or....your back would go out first.

It's silly. The M cars handle in a very neutral manner and they are no more "crazy" on the track than a RX8 in the suspension department. I think people are also mistaking that these cars have double / triple the power of a RX8. Do you approach a corner entry at the same speed with heavier weight and gobs of power? No.

The only time I thought a car was built too "race car like" was a Porsche 911 GT3. Otherwise, I think the RX8 has a street suspension and the M cars have a street suspension. Don't get ahead of yourselves guys lol.

Even the S2000 has a remote reservoir on the rear shock versus the RX8. So does that mean their suspension is more "race" than a RX8? I've owned both cars so I know they handle differently on a track, but they post similar lap times around Willow Springs - with a slight advantage tot he S2000 because of weight and power.

Originally Posted by Highway8

I have no axe to grind with BMW owners, although I do come across a lot of starbucks brinking ******, but they drive all kinds of vehicles not just BMW's.

Outdated may not have been the best choice of words, what I meant was that BMW keeps using similar suspension from year to year and just tweak little things. Well atleast this is the impression I have gotten from reviews on BMW's I have read.

I never called or implied that a BMW was a shitbox, it is a very good handling car, my point was that with the DSC on you can get away with a lot of things that you cant with it off and you are only cheating yourself if you leave the DSC on.

Everytime I do a HPDE I witness atleast 1 intermediate driver spin out or go off track in their BMW, and every time it is in the 2 or third session. Corvettes do the same thing all the time too. The fact is that when you have torque it is easy to spin the car out if you have not learned the feel of the car. I have talked to several drivers after the fact and everytime the admit they had just turned the DSC off or down.

I have a good friend with a e46 M3 and he admits that anyone could get in his car and drive it fast because the DSC takes a lot of skill out of driving the car.