Let's hope the wrenches get nice and dusty: 2016 M3

[Beej]

Top view is great for parallel parking.

Side view, is that so you can see left and right from the nose of the car?

Yep now I use top view all the time. Here's side view - that yellow line is about where the front of the car is, which hopefully will reduce how many front splitters I go through.


Verbal diarrhea incoming.

No ragrets, not even the transmission. 1-2 shifts aren't always as imperceptible as the rest of the gears, but it's outstanding otherwise. It's like a video game and the seamless power delivery is addicting.

I've said that the e46 and e39 have the perfect amount for the street - enough to have fun but not get into too much trouble. Man I don't think I was too far off with that, and I still haven't calibrated myself to how this builds speed. Where as DSC was sorta intrusive and annoying on the old cars, it's actually helped me a few times in the f80.

That's when you can get the power down, anyway. I'm having real trouble with that, particularly in this weather. At around the 40 degree mark, it'll spin them up in 3rd gear in the dry and 4th in the wet - and that's from a roll, no shift needed. They're old Pilot Sports, but still. There aren't winters (or even all seasons) made in the factory 20" sizes, so maybe I'll pick up a set of the OE 19's and grab rubber for those. I haven't seen any aftermarket wheels that I love at stock ride height.

I don't know if the headlights are coded to do the witchcraft for oncoming traffic yet, but they definitely will light up the side of the road with high beams without blinding the car in front of you, which is some cool shit. They also do the 90's Buick-style "cornering light while turning" too.

It gets more attention than I'm used to, both good and bad. From the dude that said "god damn" as I came around a corner to the dude that road raged after a not-at-all-aggressive pass.

I think it says a lot that even during my last days with the e39 and e46, I still grab the f80's keys on the way out the door.

Broken shit: steering wheel heater doesn't seem to work, so I'll head to the dealer one of these days for that. Somebody must've rammed one of the plastic jack points off at some point, as I found it wedged under an underbody panel, too. No sheet metal damage so I've just ordered a new one to shove in there.