Turning your back on the 911 dream. For now…
By Straight-Six, published on 28 February 2007
The Guide has had the pleasure of getting behind the wheel of the entire Porsche line-up, and then some: from the 211 HP Boxster all the way to a RUF RTurbo, with its pleasantly disturbing 520 HP engine. Their utter clam, precision, unflappability and driving purity came through again and again. The more we drove them, the more we craved the Stuttgart hit; we had become an addict.
Three years later, we were staring a new 996 Carrera 4S in the metal with a chunk of change in our account. Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that we inspected one for 30 minutes without once being approached by a salesperson. Something more profound occurred: we sat down in the cockpit and found its design to be dated: the buttons were cheap, the omnipresent carpeting and leather smacked of a bad night out…in the 70s!
We stepped out of the car and took another blow when we saw the €90k price tag – before adding a single option. Our craving began to evaporate, and not because we couldn’t afford it. No, it was because something else was showing up the 911 as being over-priced, too obvious an option and narrow in focus: the E46 BMW M3.
The M3 weighed in at €30k cheaper; possessed one of the finest engines ever built; enjoyed a pedigree that stretched back 35 years; a beautifully built interior that was matched perfectly by the subtle muscularity of the elegant exterior; performance that equalled the Carrera 4S; all-round practicality and a discretion that 911 owners would never understand, let alone savour.
We realised that where the 911 would tick perhaps 2 – 3 boxes on our want list, the M3 nonchalantly ticked every single one. Yes, it’s that good that much more of the time than the 911. The M3 is a connoisseur’s car, and makes no apologies for it. And that’s why it will take a few more years before we confront the 911 dilemma again.
Turning your back on the 911 dream. For now…
There comes a moment in every car lovers’ life when they must face down a single and immortal grouping of numbers: 911. They may as well be dialling the emergency services given the plethora of reactions this debate elicits. But sooner or later, you’re going to need to make up your mind. The Guide has [...]
2 Responses to “Turning your back on the 911 dream. For now…”
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Antwerp’s Slaets welcomes us into its horological cave of delights « The Prodigal Guide
26 November 2010
[...] fondle and examine as many watches as we could stomach. Needless to say, we shredded the tires on Straight-Six’s M3 in an effort to get from Brussels to Antwerp as rapidly as possible. This is about as good as it [...]
You never feel completely safe in a Porsche 911 « The Prodigal Guide
14 June 2010
[...] lucky enough to have an Audi S4 and a BMW M3 in the Prodigal garage. Great cars both. And – particularly the S4 – extremely safe [...]