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When the BMW M235i came out two years ago, we fell in love. Instantly, we decided we had to have one. Here was an M-car aimed right at us: compact, fast, attractive, and with a starting …
I got to do the same driving experience at the BMW facility in 2016. First, we got to do the offroad stuff in an X5, which was a lot of fun. Next was an autox course in an M235i, which was a hoot. Then we did the short course like you did. We got to run the M4, M235i, Z4, M5, X5M. Ran each of them for a solid 6 or 7 laps. No instructor in the car, we were free to hammer away as hard as we wanted. All of the electronic nannies were on, so it cut into the fun a bit, but I still got to really hoon them.
All I could say was holy E36 M3 on a donut!!! I had a smile on my face for weeks after that. It's as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. My personal favorite was probably the M4. But the M5 was simply amazing for a large sedan. Like you mentioned in the article, it was easy to hit 80mph at the end of the "front straight", especially in the M4 and M5. That's incredible, considering how short the straight really is. Thrust like a booster rocket. As for the X5M...no SUV should be that fast or handle like that. It's silly...silly awesome. I walked away with a love for how BMWs drive. Just awesome, simply awesome.
And the crazy thing is I think you could tow the others to the track with the X5M as well
Got to run the M3, M4, and M2 back-to-back at Lime Rock last year. The M2 was the most playful by far. Felt like a proper M-car of old. Did whatever you asked it to. Very neutral.
The M3 wasn’t far behind, but the M4 was just weird. I couldn’t balance it anywhere near the limit. Total 7/10ths car ... which is weird for a BMW
I bought a fully optioned CPO M235i a couple of years ago; at the price it's hard to beat- although I'd probably take an M2 if I had the scratch.
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