so, i went and test drove an M3.
01, 90k km on it, Laguna Seca blue. gorgeous car.....
dealers asking 28k out the door.
originally from Ont.
some trim pieces show wear and tear. (one would expect that, but my jetta with 116k km is immaculate inside.....)
trunk handle cover piece is loose.... and the car's battery was dead when i tried starting it.
once the booster came out, though, here are my thoughts :
shoot... gotta leave the office. so to be continued.
i'm back.
so, the salesguy starts the car, and it fires right up. to be absolutely honest, it was underwhelming, the exhaust note when starting. 128 sounds nicer.
steering in parking lot speed, pretty heavy but about par with my jetta.
less loosy feeling though. the car was wearing dunlop wintersports on comp package wheels. (can you imagine the costs on 19" winters?)
steering wheel felt great in my hands.
clutch was even heavier than my jetta. (which is heavy compared to my brother's civic)
not much feel in the clutch (i thought that was weird) but takeup was crisp. almost stalled it once. it took up so quick.. maybe it's aftermarket clutch?
shifter. first was a little hard to get into. and at slow speeds, i wasn't changing gear fast enough for m3, clutch kept catching out and engine had to be revved to make smooth shift. pretty heavy shifter too.
brakes, couldn't tell ya. it was normal. i didn't do crazy things during the 15-20 min test drive.
so in couple minutes, i merged onto highway 2 with 100 limit. once i was under way, the first thing i noticed was how heavy the car felt.
jetta feels heavy compared to civic.
golf/rabbit feels even heavier compared to my mk4, but the m3 felt even heavier-er. that may have had something to do with making the car feel so stable.
few minutes more later, when rev limiter was raising itself to 7500 rpm, the salesperson told me to change into 3rd and boot it on off ramp. NICE. it kept accelerating thru the curve and didn't lean at all. (even with winter tires.... 19"s..)
even in 4th, going 60ish, when i put the pedal to the metal it surged forward at the rate that is comparable to my jetta doing that in 3rd with turbo on full boil.
it felt nice having the power.
the seats felt comfortable enough. (for 20 minutes)
now, the negatives. interior is just ok. could definitely use some TLC. it wasn't neglect, but it wasn't love either the way interior looks. at least everything works.
front fog light, they arn't same on both sides... what's up with that?
rear trunk handle.. like mentioned above. loose.
driver side mirror is separating glue from the reflective surface.. just the bottom edge, but ...
side turn signal light housing on front fender has yellowed from sun damage, i suppose.. (my jetta's is crystal...), some hazing in the rear light cluster as well.
was in an accident in Ontario. (damage, $800.... who reports accidents under $1000 anyway?)
and no service history. car is reportedly safetied by the dealership and is currently in good running condition, but noway to tell what was or wasn't done.
i'm gonna pass on this car, even though the color is mesmerizing.maybe for 19k, but for 28k, no.
