Nice to see the thread hasnt gone the normal way and turned into a slagging match.

Mine is the new shape M3 with SMG gear box. Changing gears at 8000rpm in the quickest mode makes for incredible gear changes. There is no way 99% of drivers could be that quick. What that translates to in accleration time I dont know. Over the past few year all my cars have been AWD. With the latest DSC system and M Diff its pretty good even in the wet. Cornering speeds feel at least the equal of any Scooby Ive had in the wet , but putting 340bhp through the rear wheels in the wet can sometimes provoke some squirming

I'd love to find a car that cost half as much and had the same qualities. The UK STI is close at a 33% saving. The other car I'd consider is another S3. Not a great car as std, but superb with some mods.

I think anyone that finds themselves behind the wheel of a UK STI or P1 has still got a great drivers car that deliver some serious smiles per mile. In fact on todays roads I think you get more legal smiles per mile than with the M3. My speed in the M3 needs sorting, but it begs to be driven hard. The temptation to hit the 8000 rpm in every gear is too much some times. By the time you have got to 4th the speeds are unprintable on here which is not good. If you think a Scooby sounds good on full throttle, go try an M3

Jonathan

 

OK ive owned 2 scoobies a UK prodrive PPP on 97 P reg it was new and i owned it 3 yrs,spot on car loved it done 2 track days and quite a few northern meets very god fun.

the second a Scooby STI VERSION 5 type R sonic blue 98S reg bought 1 year old with 16.000 miles chipped etc all the bells and whistles and 330bhp to boot,sold it 10 months ago now due to being sick of things going wrong and the final straw was the big ends going and costing £3000 to put right and 2months in the garage till i could afford it,ask me a year ago and i would of said scoobies and me are forever.

But now alot of money throw down the pan and seen the light of reliable power and excellent build quality i own a

M3 Evo coupe 98S in blue with all the toys you could ever want yeah its not quiet as much fun on the twisty country lanes but in striaght line it would beat the STI hands down 9the reason most M3 owners don't win races with scoobies is)

1,it takes alot more skill to drive the M3 fast (RWD)
2,more mature owners tend to own them ( not me like)
3,BMW M3 says it all when it comes to key ring in the tea room
4,and they cost that bit more to fix(but they rarely go wrong)

I suppose thats why the BMW M3 cost neck end of £40,000 new, you pay for it somewhere don't you.

so would i own another scooby ? probably given the chioce of one or the other id still pick the M3 ( and the resale has got to be better on the M3 )compared to what i lost on my two scoobies frightening when i think back. hope this helps mate cya Neo

 

If you want to finish the story, get an R-34 - maybe a bit over budget though?