How do you replace a 911 GT3?
Well, the obviously answer is: you don’t. Arguably the most iconic sports car in history, the Porsche 911 is something to aspire to, something to save your pennies for diligently (those of us not in the one percentage). So, when you do buy that dream 911, it’s a car to hold onto for a very long time, and not one you’d sell for something different.
That was the plan anyways when I plopped down a significant amount of hard-saved cash to buy a 991-generation Porsche 911 GT3, back in January of 2019. The noble goal, after having purchased my absolute dream sports car, was to hang onto it for as long as I can, and to drive the piss out of it. I can say the latter was somewhat achieved, but the former aim has come to a screeching failure a few weeks back.
Long story short, life changes that comes with being an adult have hindered my financial ability to keep the GT3 around, sad as it is to say. I could have done the poor college kid lifestyle (ramen every meal!) to hold onto the 911, but ultimately, I am not of college kid age, and other areas of life can indeed be more important than owning a certain car. What’s the use of having a 911 GT3, if it means I can’t afford to travel anywhere? That’s not a reality I can live with.
So, the Porsche had to go, and I needed something slightly less expensive to own and maintain to replace it. Being a pure-blood car enthusiast, it would have to be another sports car; “adulting” may have compelled me to sell the GT3, but I’m not yet of the age to move to sports sport utility vehicles. Since I won’t be commuting with it, the primary purpose of the car will be spirited driving on mountain roads. For that, it has to be a sport car.
Back to the question, then: what do you replace a 911 GT3 with?
There was good news: I’ve already done the homework on cars I would’ve bought instead of the GT3. I wrote a post about it in my GT3 ownership diaries, and it was naturally the place to start in my search for a replacement vehicle. The list isn’t very long: BMW M2 Competition, Ford Mustang Shelby GT350, Porsche 911 Carrera T, Mercedes-AMG GT S Coupe, and the Nissan GT-R.
One car emerged out of that group quite easily: the BMW M2 Competition.
Let’s first discuss why the other cars got eliminated. The GT350 has some not so good reputation for engine troubles. In getting rid of the GT3, I wasn’t about to jump back into a similarly pricey 911, so the Carrera T was out. The AMG GT is inarguably the best-looking car of the bunch, but it’s too impractical for the weekend grocery runs that I will be doing. The GT-R was a strong contender, but having already owned a WRX STI, the box for turbocharged all-wheel drive machine has been ticked.
What hasn’t been ticked on my list of automotive things to sample is the inline-six, rear-wheel drive recipe that BMW is most famous for. The M2 Competition is the obvious choice: the consensus best M car of the modern generation, the pugnacious little coupe carries with it the mechanical heart of its bigger stablemates the M3 and M4. The bulging fenders and muscular stances give the M2 a sort of skunkworks, hacked together appearance that just screams special. The M4 may be faster and more powerful, but from what I’ve read, it can’t compete with the smaller M2 for sheer thrill.
More importantly, the M2 Competition is priced decently enough within my budget to buy one brand new. And who doesn’t like a new, never before farted in car?
With the decision quickly made, it was then to spec an M2 to my liking. Thankfully, the ultimate 2 Series doesn’t come with many options. After the absolutely dizzying array of options available in the Porsche 911, I was quite happy to be able to pick a few things and get on with it. The crucial decision is whether to have the six-speed manual gearbox, or opt for the 7-speed dual-clutch unit. Initially, I was going to go with the stick; it’s $2,900 cheaper than the automatic, and because I don’t plan to commute in the car, the pains of operating a manual in traffic is moot.
Somewhat ironically, it was during one of the last drives in the GT3 that swayed me to the dual-clutch gearbox. Stuck once again in San Francisco’s notorious traffic - even on a weekend (we are indeed back to pre-COVID levels), the thought came to me that I never want to go through this in a car with a manual transmission. Underneath the enthusiast boasting of “driving engagement” and “purity”, it really does suck to sit through a traffic jam doing the clutch and pedal dance a thousand times.
The splendid PDK gearbox of the 911 GT3 have utterly spoiled me: it’s easy and civil in stop-and-go traffic, yet supremely active and engaging when pushed on a bendy road. As far as compromises go, a proper dual-clutch gearbox is truly the best of both worlds. Luckily, the unit in the M2 Competition has the same excellent reputation as the PDK (though oddly, BMW is likely to never use it again in any future production model), so there won’t be anything to lament in not picking the manual.
Perhaps except for the wallet. Nearly three grand for the privilege of convenience is what I would call a first-world solution.
With the gearbox selected, the lone must-have option is the $1,200 Executive Package. That sum will get you wireless Apple CarPlay, full adaptive LED headlamps, a heated steering wheel, and other minor bits. The only other major option is the $1,000 sunroof, which for my purposes is an utter waste of money. You also get to choose whether or not you want the wheels accented in black or silver, and whether you prefer orange or blue stitching in the interior. Any of those would have been perfectly fine with me.
Lastly, we come to the exterior color, which in buying new I get to be picky and insist on the shade I want. The palette on offer in the M2 Competition is all but five hues; outside of the traditional black, white, and silver gradient, there’s only an orange and blue to choose from in terms of anything exciting. Naturally, I went with boring: Alpine White. White is my favorite color on a car, and it’s nice to go back to it after a detour of silver and blue.
It was then time to cast the net for exactly the M2 I want: white, dual-clutch gearbox, and the executive package. Thankfully, I didn’t have to search far: the local dealership – BMW of San Francisco – had the exact spec on its showroom floors. A few phone calls later, I traded in my Porsche 911 GT3 for a brand-new BMW M2 Competition. No doubt I left a significant chunk of money by trading in the 911 instead of selling privately, but time is also money: the ease of trading in the car and having a check in my hands is worth whatever lost there is.
And thus begins my exciting car life with the M2 Competition, dubbed the M2 Diaries. Plenty more to come in the coming months and years.
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Date acquired: October 2019
Total mileage: 17
Mileage this month: N/A
Costs this month: N/A
MPG this month: N/A