I've owned a Terzo for 2 years and apart from the odd 328 GTS, P1 or Evo borrowed from friends I've been quite happy with the performance of my cherished motor.

Only when my brother lent me his brand new M3 for a few hours did I realise what performance and quality I need to aspire to.

I can only say it was awesome. Even in sixth, it pulled smoothly from 2k rpm with outstanding torque and seemless power.

OK, you might say that modded scoobies might possibly keep up and I can believe that over twisty roads that this would be possible, but what astounded me was the complete package....down to the rear mirror which had two ways of detecting glare and self adjusting accordingly.

When I read about cars such as Type R's, Seat Leons, Focus RS's etc keeping up with standard scoobies, I can only say that tonight I toasted a 172 Clio without drawing breath.

Soon to be advertised 1 Terzo for sale.....I wish

Dont want to start anything here but would a PPP'd STI give it a run in your opinion. (300+bhp and 300lb/ft torque) Off the mark it would probably put about half a second on it to 60 but what about after that? Ive never driven an m3 but i have driven a modded sti with 300+bhp and been in mike woods prodrive sti which was an animal. I think the m3 will have some competition. What do you think. Maybe/maybe not????

I agree, 0-60 would be no contest, 4WD and a good clutch/technique would win any day.

When I drove the M3, I found myself often dropping down to 3.5k rpm (ala scooby) and then accelerating, only to discover this was pointless as the max power was always near enough 'on-tap' and that concentrating on the horizon instead of needless gear changes was more of a priority. The drivetrain electronics were pretty good though - especially the Sport / Normal switch which when activated made throttle / steering response more 'crisp'.

Maybe a new STi would compare, but P1's I have drove in the past have demonstated a 'bit' of torque steer on roads with large cambers and that this was definately a different beasty.

iv driven both of these cars on the same day & i gotta tell ya your talking complete ballrocks the new m3 will eat the sti even with a ppp i doubt the sti has enough grunt to get past the m3. the new sti is one of the most disappointing cars that iv drove.