[Moflow]

Q1: I have always been a Japanese car guy, the MKIV Supra, NSX and FD3S RX7 all came out when I was an impressionable 10 year old child (or thereabouts.) I was lucky enough to buy a 350Z when I was in my 20's and it served me really well as a car that nearly matched the performance of those dream cars at a much lower price point, albeit 10 years later.

After owning the Z for a time, I decided I'd save up and buy the next thing that was "THAT CAR" and by that I mean the car that just checks all my boxes and concentrates equally on speed and engagement. For a long time, I assumed the Supra would be it, but it was taking forever. Then I thought "Naw, maybe the Focus RS will be that car." But then the RS came out and it just wasn't quite there...I was impressed with it, but the Z was still running strong and a new car wasn't something I needed, just something I wanted. The M2 was in a similar place as the Focus RS, almost perfect but just barely not quite compelling enough to get me to jump for it with the Z still reliably chugging away.

When the M2 Competition came out, it was that tiny little extra push to put it over the top. I was nervous about owning a non-Japanese car (this was also part of the problem with the Focus) but i'd already kinda made my peace with the Supra being a BMW and when it was completely confirmed that the Supra was not getting a M/T, that took it off my list after waiting for what seemed like decades for that car.

Q2: I wouldn't say i have regrets, but I would say I have anxiety. I didn't really think about it before hand, but waiting until there's that "perfect" car has made me extra paranoid about stuff happening to it. And of course German cars have great build quality, but build quality isn't necessarily the same as reliability. I would say that i'm slightly bummed out that the M2 doesn't feel quite as "sports car" as the Z did, simply due to packaging. But the trade off there is increased practicality and it's a tradeoff i'd make again and again, as I use the M2 as a daily so it's really not something I should complain about.