Thank you Kid. Thats good to hear. Theres a Buick/Pontiac showroom a half mile from me.. I think maybe Ill take a ride (or a walk) over there today.. I read from online inventory, they had 2 in stock, but both with the stock automatic tranny, of course. So I wont be able to tell much about the stick, but at least Ill be able to sit in it, and get a feel for the interior, and maybe theyll even let me listen to the engine!
I gotta tell you, for some reason, the thought of owning this car has taken up residence in my brain. Its captured something in me, and Im no kid. Im old enough to remember the original goat! Only thing is, can you imagine what all my M3 friends are going to say?! Over the 6 yrs since Ive owned my '99 M3, Ive made alot of close friends all of whom are bmw drivers. Since Ive heavily modded mine, that drew us even closer, as we shared time helping each other out with our superchargers and turbos, and intercoolers, etc, etc.
Whats weird is that as recently as a yr ago, I would no more have considered a domestic car than I would have considered rooting for the redsox (im from NY

). Whats turned me around? I think one thing is that I started to realize car makers today are world wide partnerships: ford-volvo-saab-etc; chrysler-mercedes; etc, etc. The result is that even Consumers Reports who never found a domestic car they didnt love to hate has turned the corner on american cars. Finally, they seem to be supporting domestic cars as the peer of most other makes. Well, nobody has the reliability toyota and honda. But that aside, after owning my M3 since new in '99, Id be very surprised if a Gto, or a mustang, for example, wouldnt be at Least as reliable, and probably a good deal more so. Can you imagine what the press would say if any american car had as many maladies as my BMW did: tranny lost 5th gear and needed replacement at 43k miles; Unibody around the rear shock towers cracked needing a weld in replacement fix at 47k miles; the radiators and their plastic bits routinely crack off the throat leaving you stranded; and just last month, at just 65k miles, the head had to come off for a complete rebuild due to worn valves. Thats one lousy track record.. Ok, true, I added a Vortech sc system at just 5k miles on the car, and this is known to increase the wear clock.. But NOT by this much!
No doubt, these problems are one of the reasons Im looking at the gto, and yes, the mustang too. Im going to think long and hard before doing any major upgrades to my next car which change the basic architecture of the car, like super or turbocharging the engine. Thats one of the reasons IM looking at V8s only. And the 400 hp gto is probably as fast as my Supercharged M3; maybe even faster.. Anybody know what they put down on the dyno? My M3 pulled 353 rwhp, and 290 wheel trq, and that was on a 96 degree day according to the dynojet reported temperature reading in Fla, which is equivalent to about 430 engine hp, and 355 engine ft lbs.. And at just 3200 lbs, its easy to see how well this car moves. Its also got Fikse FM10s all around, and a lowered Koni suspension assembled by Dinan engineering for BMW. Clearly this is a one of a kind custom delight. Yea, I know, I gotta be nuts to get rid of it. Maybe Im just mad at it; its been in the shop for a month now, getting the head rebuilt, new radiator put in, and the biggest delay is getting the blower back from Vortech, where we sent it for their minor Rebuild, since the car was going to be down anyway to fix the valves. Well, its suppposed to be delivered to the shop today, so they can button it back up, test it, and tell me to come pick it up, hopefully. But, with each major repair, i get a little more gunshy; a little more cautious about hammering the throttle, etc. You know what I mean. Well, even if I dont pull the chord, its sure been fun fantasizing. If I Do do this, how am i going to feel next year when the 450-500 hp SVT stang is released? Or, at the same time, when the next gen M3 with the 400 hp V8 version of the M5's V10 is released?! So many cars to drive, so little time