Finally got a chance to try the E9x M3. It was an E93 convertible so it's very heavy and soft. The brakes don't stop the car well and there is a lot of body roll and steering delay.
The S65 has great sound but I think it has too little induction and too much exhaust. The S54 is a better balance. Both have extremely sharp throttle response. Being such a small displacement V8 with ITB and dual intake, it has very little rotational inertia so I have to nail my rev matching for both upshifts and downshifts. I admit I'm spoiled by modern auto rev match so I'm quite sloppy with these more raw cars.
This engine has no torque but endless revs. I'm just too used to the torquey B58 and 2UR but I definitely appreciate its appeal. The feel of revving it to 8200rpm is both exciting and worrying at the same time since I feel the whole car isn't put together well enough that it can fall apart any time. The clutch is already mushy and the transmission feels like plastic. It has 100,000 km so I think I would have to spend at least $5k to get it back to proper function.
In the end I still prefer the E46 even though I am not a fan of I6 sounds. But the main thing is I want a 2UR more, but it really really needs a manual.
Driving a car with the perfect powertrain (B58 6MT) really spoiled me. I may get very excited about certain cars with lots of character during a test drive, but every time I get back in my car I just feel "this is just perfect and I should never sell it." F30/32 340i/440i with manuals are getting rare, so if you want a new one definitely give the manual Supra a chance. It may be expensive with dealer markups, but you will want to keep it forever.
