on Wednesday
I mentioned a pal of mine who was considering getting an M3 and actually test drove a few. Before I talked him out of it and into a C63.
He'd tried out a rather nice M3 four-door (we actually ran it as a Spotted) and kicked the tyres of a couple of coupes before I unleashed my full AMG evangelist repertoire on him, detecting a level of scepticism I reckoned needed dealing with. He bought it, and, a couple of weeks ago, the C63. I felt vindicated.
Every time those shift lights started glowing an icy shiver of doubt crept up my spine. Maybe I'd done the wrong thing. Compared with that manic, hard-edged howl and the M3's engagingly pumped up character surely the C63 was just going to feel like a fat Merc with a big V8. How was I going to explain this to him?
He'd already read Wednesday's story by the time we met up at the weekend and the frown was etched on his face. "But you said..." After an awkward pause we rumbled off to a photo location to snap the two V8s together and I looked back at the xenons in my mirror. Actually, the Merc does look equally badass, even in estate form. Probably more aggressive than the M in fairness, the bonnet bulges and DTM-esque wheelarch extensions especially impressive in the mirror. Contrived or not, that angry bark as the AMG V8 catches and fires is a perfectly judged statement of intent - loud enough to make the driver grin, discreet enough not to jar too much with the family wagon looks.
The M3's replacement has already been confirmed of course and the C63's will be seen later in the year. Though very different in character both cars represent the end of the normally aspirated V8 era for their respective brands and, so, both are significant and poignant moments.
And since last Wednesday the same dilemma has been playing through my head. If I could have one of them which would it be? After my last few days in the BMW I've got to say I've really, really fallen for it. I trundled into work this morning with the V8 rarely above 2,000rpm and it was smooth, refined and as comfortable as any other 3 Series. And then on a slip road I hit the M button, went mental for a quarter of a mile with the needle beyond the '8' on the rev counter and then slipped back into the Monday morning crawl. With a big fat grin on my face. For that brief moment the M3 felt so sharp, so on it, I wondered how you'd want anything else. And, as our owners affirmed, it's that ability to flit between the two extremes at the press of a button that makes the M3 such an appealing do-it-all fast car.
But the C63 is more nuanced. It doesn't rely on multiple modes and preference settings to offer its best. OK, so the gearbox is sluggish compared with the M3's DCT but the power is always there, dependent on simply how far you feel like pushing the throttle. It has much better steering, the brakes are superior and there's a fluidity and natural poise to the passive dampers the M3's EDC items can't match. And if the engine isn't quite so manic as the M3's it's not far off in the top end and much, much stronger low down. Personally I love a fast wagon too and that's an option BMW has always denied M3 buyers.
I keep going round in circles imagining both cars in the car park as pictured, the keys to both and the option to drive one away and keep it indefinitely. After five days of deliberation I still can't call it.
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