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Hi Team, look what I can buy for $63K! thoughts?

I’ve seen it in person and uh, woof.

It’s bizarre. It looks both over designed and undercooked somehow.
 
For $63k you can get an Elise and an Exige. Fun for everybody!! I have teenage twins and I told my wife I wanted them to learn how to drive on a stick shift and I wanted to get 2 Elise’s.
 
All cars have compromises and the less they cost, the more they compromise. It’s all about your personal sweetspot.
35k club nd2
50k supra
65k m2
85k c8
105k emira
125k 911T etc etc
if on a budget, who can convince me 105k Emira > 63k m2?

105-63 is like 50k
A car is like your clothes. Do you want to wear something that calls attention for all the wrong reasons? I'm sure Costco has great prices but...
 
The BMW steering rack in my Supra is the reason I'm here. Otherwise the car is pretty damn amazing, and the B58 is a beast. It's the damn steering though, which actually, the faster I drive, the less it seems to matter to me. That said, It's the low speed, puttering around town stuff in which the weighting is just off...and directly, the joy is lacking. I'm a pretty responsible driver around town (take out my aggression on the track), so I spend a good amount of time in the Supra wishing it had something it never can. No amount of improved dampers or alignment has given me the steering feel I crave...
Precisely, you can get some of it back by having solid monoballs in your upper/forward control arms with minimal NVH, but you're still never going to get the same road feel that you'd get in the Emira.

If that matters, really depends on the buyer.
 
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I’ve seen it in person and uh, woof.

It’s bizarre. It looks both over designed and undercooked somehow.
There’s one in the port of Baltimore, heading to my dealer. I’ll report back my live impressions
 
I just unloaded a 2023 BMW M4 Xdrive Competition. Very nice car and blindingly fast. Will beat many a 911. I had sworn off BMWs but I was very impressed with that car. I bought it to sell it, but it was very nice. super fast.
 
Uhhh...
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Also,
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I heard Smoking Tires roasting the M2 on their most recent podcast. I think they described it perfectly, the top half of the car looks like a smaller car and the bottom half looks like a larger car and they somehow stuck it together.
 
M3/4 great cars owned one - loved my great big grill and carbon exterior & carbon bucket seats were so special. I’ll be test driving the M2 when it comes out I also thought what the heck are BMW doing !!! Back is ridiculous but may not look as bad in the flesh - also don’t mind ugly sometimes - I’m currently driving this and from a poor demo route didn’t think the Emira gave me £30k more Fun for same 💰 upgraded Disco to Defender 🥰 which is fab. M240i love all the tech heads up display, blind spot monitoring etc, big screen, adaptive suspension, sunroof, comfort access, HK, interior lighting, heated seats, heating steering wheel same seats as M2, x drive etc and achieves faster 0-60’ of course not the handling or looks v’s Emira. I may need to search my Emira itch one day in the future once all niggles resolved and dealer near me as still love the look of the car but at the mo 4 seats gives me more practicality for my 2 yr old Granson who absolutely ❤️💜 👵 purple car and loves going out in it, so that perfect for me for once I didn’t just think of myself. ( car needs quad tips on ) Like we say everything is choices in what gives us want we want and compromises
 

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Great choice not as good to look at as an emira but miles better value for money don't bother with the m2 back end looks ridiculous and won't be much better that the car you already have.
 
M3/4 great cars owned one - loved my great big grill and carbon exterior & carbon bucket seats were so special. I’ll be test driving the M2 when it comes out I also thought what the heck are BMW doing !!! Back is ridiculous but may not look as bad in the flesh - also don’t mind ugly sometimes - I’m currently driving this and from a poor demo route didn’t think the Emira gave me £30k more Fun for same 💰 upgraded Disco to Defender 🥰 which is fab. M240i love all the tech heads up display, blind spot monitoring etc, big screen, adaptive suspension, sunroof, comfort access, HK, interior lighting, heated seats, heating steering wheel same seats as M2, x drive etc and achieves faster 0-60’ of course not the handling or looks v’s Emira. I may need to search my Emira itch one day in the future once all niggles resolved and dealer near me as still love the look of the car but at the mo 4 seats gives me more practicality for my 2 yr old Granson who absolutely ❤️💜 👵 purple car and loves going out in it, so that perfect for me for once I didn’t just think of myself. ( car needs quad tips on ) Like we say everything is choices in what gives us want we want and compromises
You touched on a good point which is the tech. You can get a very nice M4 Comp Xdrive for $90k new. The tech in it is very good and very broad. Does about everything. So much there is a separate manual for it. Completely unlike the BMWs of the last 15 years where I thought the tech was not good and a lot was wonky to use. That being said, BMWs are everywhere. Emira's....not so much.
 
Seems we might be getting some M2 review content within the next day or so, so we’ll have an even better understanding of how it stacks up in the fun category. I think if we’re arguing value, this is definitely the wrong place to be doing it. Lotus’s have never really been “bang for your buck” cars. At least to me, never having owned a Lotus before, the brand has always represented the “fun, lightweight, and unique” car. I agree we lose even more value now with the price hikes, and BMW’s are amazing for the sheer fact they can do it all. Found myself cross shoppin the m4 xdrive but then came quickly back for the wait cuz the Emira is just so unique (and beautiful).
 
I have a M2CS (F87) and I am keeping it and getting an Emira. Now that said I am grateful for being able to have both but they are very different cars. I have driven both hard on road and track.

If I were the poster, I would go F87 M2C and put M2CS wheels and all the M bits along with Ohlins Road and Track coilovers, and more aggressive alignment. I would also focus on lightening unsprung weight (ex CCB'S, lighter wheels) which has helped my M2CS become a monster handler because of carbon ceramics and -2.8 front alignment with zero toe. It largely fixes the steering numbness that plagues non CS M2's and all F8* gen BMW'S. You can do all of it for well under the cost of an Emira. I predict 55k US for a low miles M2C manual, plus 8k for Ohlins, 1k installed for camber plates, 10k for CCB'S. You could go AP Racing steel brakes if you don't want carbons and still get some unsprung weight reduction and far better brakes.

If you are in a market where it is legal, and for some reason 400+ hp is not enough, you can tune the S55 out to absurd HP numbers. It can handle it as the cooling in the M2C is spectacular on track.Or be judicious and get a CS tune which exploits the top end better.

That is all I would do and from experience it transforms the M2C. My friend just did it. If I didn't have a M2CS. I would get a M2C and do this.

F87 WAS THE LAST PRETTY BMW. Also way more practical than Emira as well. My family and dog fit it it for weekend trips.

Again, I love Emira and it will likely be a keeper for its beauty, analog, no frills, handling and the way it makes me feel.
 
CS‘ are big bucks
Yeah, I am lucky I found one in my preferred spec tbh (Manual, CCB, Hockengeim Silver). They are super rare as well. Surprisingly different than the stock M2C when you drive it hard, particularly on the track. Remarkably similar when you are driving it easily around town. Some magic there.
 
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