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      02-01-2013, 04:39 PM   #33
Remonster
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Drives: E90 M3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT26 View Post
Do not forget that at the same time BMW offered the 1er M Coupe and M3 GTS to North America but rejected the M3 GTS due to its stripped personality against the more performance luxury orientated M3. M3 customers would not give up the M3's luxuries for that price.
That's because the GTS was too expensive, it was priced into the 911 GT3 / GT3 RS territory and the lighter, lower (center of gravity) 911 was more appealing to people interested in track days. And you know what else? A GT3 is still a great street car. I was once instructed by a guy who daily drove his GT3, I got to ride in it for a few laps and its suspension and bucket seats are totally streetable. Also, taking out the back seats to fit a roll cage limited the car's appeal to those who actually spend a lot of time on the track.

People bought up all those stupid limited edition M3s we got in the US the second they were announced even though those cars had almost no meaningful hardware changes (Lime Rock Park Edition, I'm looking at you) so I think it's obvious that an F80-based M3 CSL which is significantly lighter, more powerful, with better brakes and more track-focused suspension would sell well if it was around $100,000 in the US. You don't have to throw out the interior, either, just give us a pair of bucket seats up front and offer the option to have the rear seats replaced by a roll cage for those customers who want it and don't bother limiting production, seats are critical and in the US we always get screwed because of our overprotective government regulations, but Porsche offers great buckets in the GT3 so I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to get them in an M3 CSL (or maybe even as options on the regular M3).

Last edited by Remonster; 02-01-2013 at 06:04 PM..
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