JG

x

Ken-

I find it hard to believe that an E39 M5 can beat the 550 Maranello, the Diablo, and the 911 turbo S... Pleeeaaase.. where did you get this data?? did you make it up???

Ken-

Dump the ugly M-coupe, and get the 4-wheel drive (foul weather friendly) 911 twin turbo... End of discussion..

The Captain

A true driving enthusiast wants to drive their Audi in all kind of conditions. Why? because we can! Theres nothing better than a rip through ice,snow mud, gravel...anything! Asphalt is fun, but if you just stick to that your not getting the full experience.

KJK

First of all, many explicatives at you for your accusatory tone. I got it from the M5 board. One of the guys from Europe posted it. Go to bmwm5.com and click on messageboard. You will have to ask the guy that posted them. I know it was faster than the Euro M3 even before I saw the posting. Maybe the truth hurts a bit.

Ken-

I just find it suspicious that you got this over at the M5 board... A multipurpose 4-door performance car beating out lighter, more powerful, single function, no-expense spared sports cars?? I think BMW's are great (own one myself) but the math doesn't add up...

KJK

Well, if it actually will pull close to a 1 g and it has the power they say it does, I am sure a good driver could stay quite close to those cars. I don't know where the guy got the numbers. I guess if it was so biased he would have put the E34 3.8 M5 up there too. I have also seen 8 min 30 seconds somewhere, which seems a little too slow. But hey, 25 seconds over 12 miles is not that much. Of course, all of these numbers would depend on the driver and it was not as if one guy drove everyone of those cars.

Ken-

The times for the E39 M5 seem way too optimistic, on the otherhand the times for the E34 M5 and E39 540 Sport seem too slow.. If it were the same driver on the same day (consistent conditions) driving each car, I think we would've seen different results..

bill mills

Yes, I know, Crimes against nature and all that stuff too. Mom really has no business carting the kids around in one of those 7,500 lbs trucks unless she has a CDL. My neigbor is a factory rep for Ford and even he says those big SUV's (even the Expolorer) are no fun to drive.
I thought that was the Bimmer you were talking about. I have done some work for BMW at their plant in Greer, SC where the Coupe, roadster and Z3 are made. It's cool little car. My personal preference would be the roadster with the removable hard top. I spent several weeks there when the Z3 was introduced to the Automotive and Life Style press so I had a lot of time behind the wheel with the top down in the up country of SC and NC. For me, there is nothing like that top down feeling. By the way one of the design guys from Germany told me they had made a working V8 prototype of the Z3, Yikes!

JG

Yeah, sometimes it would be nice to have a convertible, but I like the 50/50 weight
distribution on the Coupe, handles great and its a little more unique- the roadster
is definitely a hot car though. I heard that BMW is going to eventually throw the new
M3 engine in the roadster and coupe (assuming they don't stop production on it). Hmm,
340hp in an Mcoupe/roadster, that would be silly. I like the thought of a V8 also though, that would be interesting to see.