I wanted to find a few of you who have driven both and get your input on how well the Z3 compares in handling and cornering against the FD.

Thanks,
Bart

Are you asking about a normal Z3 or a M Roadster? My friend has a M Coupe and I know it handles GREAT. Although I can't really answer your question cause I've never driven it, never asked to either. I can ask him and I'm sure he won't mind, but keep in mind I haven't driven my FD in 10 months and I thought my roomates Taurus SHO handled decent the other day!

The M Coupe handles quite a bit better than M Roadster...but the Roadster is pretty good, oversteer can be severe and it is hard to take it to the limits. When its going to come around...not much time to react (ask me how I know!).

I prefer my FD on the track...but the Roadster is hands down better on the street. Its all about preference.

LS6 FD: I was really speaking of the standard issue Z3 but I think I may have asked the wrong question. I guess I should have actually asked which one had the best potential in the handling and cornering categories. The reason is that I am trying to figure what is the best hybrid canidate.\


xchaos : You stated "I prefer my FD on the track...but the Roadster is hands down better on the street." What characteristics makes the BMW superior for the street? And what makes the FD superior for the track?

Also just because I am curious what would you prefer on the track your FD or a M Coupe ?

Thanks yall,
Bart

Personally I wouldn't swap anything into the M series but that's just me.

If you're thinking of a normal Z3 then you may as well swap a LS1/LS2 into a Miata since someone has did it before and I think they're trying to make a kit.

My FD is set up to about the limits of comfort for the street. Meaning the ride is a bit rough, it tends to track some, it's low to the ground, etc. The M BMWs handle pretty good and are much more compliant on the street. That being said, you can do alot to the BMWs that take out that comfort as well.

The FD provides alot of driver feedback compared to these M BMWs. BMW does a damn good job in this department though, making them excellent street machines. I really miss my e36 M3.

I prefer my FD, more so than ever before today. I would love to have an M Coupe, but the higher fun factor for ME is this FD. I enjoy working on and modifing my cars and I would be doing much less of that if my "fun" car was an M Coupe.

Never actually driven the BMtroubleYou (hee hee that's what the Porsche forum guys refer to them as), but even the Bimmerheads shake their heads about it's undeveloped underpinnings. Excepting the M coupes, those cars are nice cruisers and - to my highly warped point of view - perfectly suitable as gifts for trophy wives.

Maybe some serious upgrading would change that, though. I am not that familiar with them, maybe check their forums.

The FD is a highly-developed double-wishbone quick-steering light-weight stiff-chassis highspeed-stable machine - stock. When upgraded they are stiff but razor sharp handling gods. Their achilles heart is the short-lived twin-turbo rotary, but the solution to that is all over this forum.

I think on pretty smooth pavement my LS1 FD would outhandle my BMW M. But on bumpy pavement the M's suspension keeps the car stuck better. Also the BMW brakes are way way better than the stock FD brakes. Not even close here.

They both handle really well. Here is the thing about the BMW. It rides so nice and smooth you'd never guess that it handles. The R1 FD... rides like a race car. I'm more impressed the BMW than the FD. It has four seats, a real trunk, solid build quality, no rattles, a nice smooth ride and still handles great. The FD has none of those attributes and handles great. That leads me to believe that BMW did an overall better job.

You get what you pay for.

/\/\/\/\ well said.

I'd love to see an Mcoupe with an LS1T56 swap... the best of both worlds. I think the Mcoupe was a design exercise in how stiff BMW could get that chassis, so it is a miuch different machine than the convertibles.

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LS1T56FC widebody '87 sport - SOLD
current car - '04 WRX STi silver debagded wingless
my cardomain

Well, my only comparison is this:

When my 85 GS used to belong to my brother, it still had the streetported 12A in it, and full suspension mods (read: still nowhere near FD performance levels). At the local autox, it would put about 1/2 second on another friend's M Roadster - and that guy has plenty of driver's schools under his belt. I wasn't that impressed.

Of course, since then, he has put together a custom turbo kit for his M Roadster (making over 500rwhp), and I'm in the process of putting together a 500rwhp (on spray) 302 setup for my car...so they'll both be perfectly retarded on any autox track (I know, I know - no nitrous at the autox, but we're more likely to meet up at the local 1/4 track, where he has already trapped 130 mph).

I can't wait for a rematch.

IMO, the "normal" Z3 is a POS - a fancy, heavy Miata. I wouldn't even compare it to an FD...but that's just me!

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85 RX7 302 - 302/AOD, Granny's mounts. Still not running...yet.