Quote:
Originally Posted by GerardzM
I love my car as well....and I'm certainly not trying to turn this into a sibling rivalry as these normally do.
I am legitimately excited for the results and would love to see the process posted here. 
But I know I'm not the only one who's sat down and looked at the cost of certain upgrade paths vs trading in. We all know these cars are very finicky and we see first hand what it takes/costs to get major upgraded performance out of them. Case in point, some of the struggles in various threads either regarding heat/octane or both.
Perhaps it would be best to start with something that's a bit more track worthy 'out the box' and build from there.
.....I guess this is just the internal debate/struggle I've been having with myself as of late lol.
Again, not bashing fellas, just a legitimate concern/thought I wanted to share. |
I think that is definitely a worthy debate. To me it all depends on what your end goals with the car are - and on how hard you expect to be running it. Do you see yourself ever upgrading the brakes or suspension? If not that is a + for the M2C (still need to swap pads & fluid though). If plan to upgrade them then it's a washout.
Now the cooling. Again really depends on what you plan to do. I've personally never found a stock cooling system to be sufficient with how I drive on the track. It's a small sample size (E92 M3, OG F87 LCI, '18 GT-R, & '19 ZR-1) but I can't run flat out for a full session in any without temp issues of some sort - especially when it starts getting warm down here. So for me that is somewhat a washout - except that I agree my total cost due to N55 will likely be more than if S55.
Power - to get similar power levels yeah agree you are likely going to have to drop more into a N55. And then there is definitely a ceiling to the N55 if you were wanting to go big power. Power delivery, all that good stuff, up to debate.
So I'm fairly new to the F87 platform - here's how I got to an OG '18 vs the comp. Even though I consider this to be a light duty track car I am going to push hard when I'm out there and I don't find much enjoyment in not being able to utilize the car fully for a complete session. This car will only ever see HPDE's on the track so I will do what is necessary to be able to run 30 min hard multiple times a day. What that means for me is that I knew I would be replacing every cooler in either car. I also knew that I would be going to BBK's both front & rear no matter which car. The Essex AP Racing BBK on my E92 M3 have ruined me for stock brakes. With one of my primary tracks being COTA (hard on brakes) and running sticky tires this was a definite for either the OG or comp. Suspension I figured I was likely to upgrade but wasn't 100% prior to purchase.
With all this in mind now down to N55 vs S55. The top end of my desired power level is within reach of either motor - albeit easier to achieve in a S55. Anything more and I would not feel comfortable without addressing safety at a higher level - which to me is a big step and compromises the road worthiness of the car. Safety in this regards being cage, fixed back seat, 6pt harness, etc. Money wise the cost for power at this level washes out in the price difference between the two.
So now money wise for me they are about equal so that is dropped from the debate. Looks - I think they both look really good. Interior - I'm completely fine with the OG trim level. I honestly didn't pay much attention here (didn't even notice the seats were changed on the comp...). So I was good with either here - if I wanted more luxury I'd look at a F90. If I had paid more attention to the comp interior then the seats would have been a big negative. Being able to use the Schroth QFP with the OG seats is a big advantage in my opinion. I can also admit that sound played a big part in my decision. This is a car driven purely for my enjoyment - street, track, wherever - it's all about fun. The sound is a big part of this to me for a street / light track car. The N55, especially with DP & MPE has got it. The S55 not so much... A competition car would be a different discussion. But for a car with the sole purpose of maximizing my enjoyment - the OG M2 is the choice over the comp for me. Throw in the CAE shifter along with everything else I've done to it and it is just a freaking blast to drive.
So to me it all comes down to what your plans with the car are - and what you expect to get out of it. I think the M2C gives you more bang for your buck out of the gate - but a lot of that will be negated if you plan to take your car further than stock. And like
ZM2 said how you drive it makes a big difference. This is not meant to come across as any type of bragging in any way - but I can put down a pretty decent pace. I was able to run down many cars that day that should imo be quicker - GT3's, GT4's that were being driven pretty decently - with the car not being close to giving me full power. What I'm getting at is that the OG is still a very quick car - even in this situation being down on power. And pushing that much is definitely going to result in a lot of heat.
When we are able to consistently get full power (and we will get to that point) then this thing is going to be a rocket.