Don't touch that M3 just yet

[David Beatty <dbeatty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Someone much wiser and admittedly manlier fellow than I wrote:
<<<<Peter,
You're gonna hear this from a lot of Digesters - Don't touch the car!.
You really need an "Adaptive Period" with the car to learn to use it as
far as performance mods go.  In stock form - bone stock - an E36 M3
takes at least a year to learn how to drive.>>>>

<<<<<If you absolutely have to modify it, yous houl do relatively
non-invasive mods first.  By that we're talking custom wheels, shift
knobs, chip/software downloads, carbon fiber trim and that sort of
thing.>>>>

<<<<<For example, I'll bet you for every 5 people that modify their
suspension towards a 'sport' mode, 2 of them regret it afterwards when
they find out how rough the car rides once the 'newness' of the mod.
wears off.>>>>

<<<<Go slow when you modify...saves you lots of $$$$$ in the long
run.>>>>

I say (after break in) touch, caress it, treat it rough if you got the
jack and don't mind the extra wear.  These cars are compromises for soft
americans and yuppie poseurs, they beg to be modified.  The m3 is the
fastest 4dr you can buy, which is sad considering it could be even
faster without the extra $10k in lthr, gimmick computers and
buttwarmers.  Any motorcyclist will tell you:  you can't have too much
power, too much grip, too much brake or too little weight.  Why does the
glove compartment door on my //m rdstr weigh about 8lbs?  No one learns
to swim in the shallow end.  If you wrap it around a telephone pole,
there's one more low mileage //m engine to put in a 2002 (that was a
JOKE).  When I find a car that will do 0-60 in 2.8 and 0-100 in 5.9 like
my scoot, I'll probably say enough.  

There's a name for people who make cosmetic changes and no mech mods:
poseurs.  Sorry if I just hurt someone's feelings, but someone had to
tell you.  that's not to say poseurs don't get women, they just don't
get women worth having (i.e., women that know cars).  

If they don't like their suspension mods they probably didn't need them
for their purposes, hence essentially a cosmetic change (no, you can't
see it, but you can talk about it a lot).  Besides, they can sell the
car to me :-)   

Still research is a smart move.  I've ridden a few re-jetted and
stiffened, re-geometried bikes and found them weaker off the line or
skittish in curves under 80mph.  Not an improvement for my purposes.  I
can imagine a chip bought just because of a high peak hp could have  the
same effect.

Sorry, I'm just venting.  I went looking for a hi-power, no frills,
reliable, tall-guy, new sports car for under 60k and found none to be
had.  I love the rdstr, but would have loved to have found one with less
frill's even more.  Besides, let's patronize the tuners before the EPA
limits them to selling shift knobs.  I'm no bubba, so consider this
opinion, not advice.

BTW, anyone ever run across a Rotus?  I'd like to hear your comments.

David D. Beatty
99 //m rdstr

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