Ye but reliability wise they are not great and 4cyl in a Mustang when a V8 is available makes little sense.

Regarding my M3 had a friend with one leased and his engine needed to be replaced, this was still under warranty but otherwise would have been $25K repair and he never raced or anything abnormal. I’ve heard the DCT transmission is also $20K if it needs replacing.

here is a thread with numerous people who needed to have their engine replaced on the M3.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786615

maybe the odds are just one in a thousand but to me I didn’t want a $20K repair bill hanging over my head.

besides I hate BMW service departments and I’ve been to three different ones they’re all horrible.

On on top of that I was getting suck *** rental cars to drive instead of BMW, I mean I’m leaving a $68K car they give me a Civic to drive.

I am still considering the BRZ the new version has higher final drive ratio meaning better TQ to the wheels. I changed the FD ratio on the S2000 mainly to get the better TQ multiple, feels more power.

One thing I dislike about the Cayman is how long they are geared 47 mph first 80 in second 110 in third gear. I’m not saying Cayman a bad car but 80 in second gear means less shifting on back roads where I’m driving 20-50 mph, less reason to work the stick shift where a BRZ 3rd gear might equal Cayman 2nd gear.

Anyway I am serious about not needing 440HP Mustang GT power, while it’s good for the acceleration feel but with so much law enforcement near me I don’t really need to have that power. After having the M3 and the S2000 really can’t say that I needed the extra power the M3 gave me.

I really wish the BRZ was closer to the S2000 (240 HP from 2L) that was a gem of an engine while the BRZ from my view is just an OK engine but in a fantastic and light package.

Looking back in in time really the BRZ is not all that slow, back in the 80s that would be like a Corvette acceleration.

Was just looking at BRZ 1/4 mile time 14.7 sec looking back 1984 Corvette was 15.2 seconds. We’re talking V8 mustang and IROC V8 numbers from the late 80s.

I think now we’re in the golden age where two ton sedans are doing 0-60 in 3 seconds and SUVs in the low 4 seconds that people might look lightly at a car with a car in the 7 second range.

As I’m ok with my even slower Legacy wagon which is only 175hp. With the wagon, I can still get up off the line as fast as most commuters who are more worried about their phone and their lattes than they are about driving.

I’m really thinking can live with a BRZ as a hard top S2000 substitute. Still need to test drive. I’d love the S2000 again wish I never sold mine, but my leg was developing a numb area because it was rubbing against the center tunnel, I maybe could have got a new seat to alevite that issue instead of selling the car but at that time I couldn’t afford a weekend fun car.

What about an RS3?
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/20...ium&utm_source

Hah, I hadn't thought of that one either in this discussion. It's actually a very viable choice, but the OP is not necessarily looking at a high horsepower machine. Maybe a regular S3? That's running plenty of torque and fun.

The BRZ is nice and the only mods you can do to it are cat backs and headers and even then you have a very limited gain for actual hp. The turbo option is too complicated and costly and at that point, I'd say Cayman or one of the milder 911s. But nothing wrong with a S3 considering it is awd too.

Thanks guys. I’m doing more research and soul searching.

Think of narrow it down to BRZ on the one hand to get the S2000 feel with more room, or the 911/Cayman to get the M3 feel (more upscale) but smaller package. I’m almost leaning towards the BRZ because it’s just so much cheaper all the way around. Plus I like simple things that aren’t too pretentious.

As I said before 175 MPH cars while nice, are not essential for me and almost a demerit. I know that sounds hard to believe but really with both traffic and speed limits it’s hard for me to own the M3, not hard but just feels like I was driving an expensive 3-series car 90% of the time but paying the M car prices for repairs.

when looking at 911 of course I’ve considered GTS or GT3 or Turbo but feel like the base car would fit me better because it’s not too powerful.

I drove my friends 911 Turbo when I owned my S2000 and while it was so fast that back roads became a non event, like I’d be going 60 mph on a 30 mph curve and it would seem like I was doing 30.

I drove a Z06 test drive and it just about scared me that it accelerated too quick speeds get silly that it’s not safe on public roads.

so was looking now on the BRZ forum, to see how people think of the BRZ vs S2000 here is one sample, this is what I was thinking before I even read this quote, I want a bigger (more room) hardtop S2000. My S2000 had the removable hardtop, I’m still sad that I sold it. But it was very tail happy in the rain and not easy at the limits. It was great for so long until it was at the limit them it was ‘oh ****!’

Here is the quote:
“Owned two S2000s and now the FR-S.

The S2000 is much more edgy and tail happy and much less forgiving. You don't drift the S2000 it just spins. To drive it fast you have to be a good driver.

It is faster and in many ways feels more hard core. But...
It's a convertible, if you have winters it sucks, it's also a tight fit, uncomfortable for daily driving if you actually put on more than 12k a year. No storage.

The FR-S feels more composed, easier to drive and is more comfortable to drive all the time. And in many ways, despite it being slower, I personally think out of the box it can be driven faster with much less skill. The S2000 to me would be a good weekend project car, not so much a daily driver.”

The M3 issues you had were all maint items including the actuators.
Not sure why you keep saying its reliability.

If you think BMW maint costs are high, definitely don't even think of any Porsche.
The parts and labor are more than double.

I don’t want to argue lol

I’ve owned ~20 cars with excess of 1.2 million miles driven between my family and the M3 was the only car with this crippling ‘maintenance’ requirement which was less than 50k mostly highway miles, never tracked or launch control starts.

But having to leave the car multiple days and pay $2K for a parts/labor that cripples the car, not sure that’s what I’d call maintenance.

I never said the battery going weak was was unusual in the M3 but that the cost of said battery and the inability of the BMW service department to diagnose it was not to my liking needing more than one visit etc.

I'm not arguing but putting your situation in perspective.

This is something you should of considered before getting the M3 which features a unique high performance V8 engine that shares little to no parts with its mainstream models. The layout and complexity of the engine, not to mention its designed to rev to over 8k RPMs brings with it additional maintenance.

The fact that it took 2 days to do the work is an issue with the dealer and not the car.
After warranty expires its best to go to independent shop for the best service at a fair price.

BMW M cars, AMGs, 911s all have more complex maintenance than the BRZ or any mainstream model that can go 100k miles with just average oil changes.