Something other than an M3?

[James_B]

I sold my C63 in March to get something a bit more fun, and swapped it for an M2. Three months later I realised I was going to need a four door, so swapped that for an F80 M3, which as I detailed on another thread had to go back a few weeks later.

It was a great car, just not a great example of the model, and I'm tempted to get another, but rather than jumping straight in, I'd like to have a think about what else I could get.

I'm not going to mention a specific budget, as I can (hopefully) stretch to everything out there that will fit the criteria.

I'd like...

A four door five seat saloon or estate car that will do 0-100mph in under ten seconds, that handles quite nicely and isn't much bigger than a three series.

I think an RS6 or a Panamera are both a bit too big, but may try a test drive in each to see how they feel in and out of my car park and out and about in London.

Any thoughts welcomed.

If there are any exceptional or very good cars that don't quite tick the box in terms of acceleration ( but in exchange come in much cheaper than a pre-reg F80 M3) I should probably consider those too. I'm aware that spending £60k+ on a "sensible" car isn't necessarily sensible...

[James_B]

Yipper said:

The saloon market is fading away and people are switching to SUVs and hatchbacks.

Some options:

RS6
M5
SQ7
Golf R 5dr (cheap remap makes it faster than an M3).

Thegolf's probably too small (I'd likely get the new RS3 if I wanted to go down a size), but can a cheap remap really make it faster than an M3?

I assume that even if this is the case that it'd not match the remap I'd be getting done to the M3?

[James_B]

Shore said:

Ford probe

I have to ask, was there any particular reason you posted that?

It's a slow, old car that doesn't handle well, and clearly isn't what I'm looking for.

[James_B]

Yipper said:

Yah, for about ~£500 remap, the R will do ~3.6secs to 60mph (compared with ~3.8secs for a stock 2017 M3). The traction on the R and its AWD is astonishing. Spend about ~£6k, and you can get it down to about ~2.9secs and ~10.8secs on the 1/4 mile.

Who's doing that remap? I've had a look, but can't see anywhere claiming those figures on a remap alone, have you a link to have a look at?

I do quite like golfs.