[23109VC]

Thank you for all the great responses! I am on the fence about what to get when I am done with my M550i. My M550 is a great car and I love how comfortable and practical it is - it just lacks the driver involvement of an M4. I recently did the resonator delete which makes it sound a lot meaner - but it’s hard to compare a quiet luxury car to an M4 with the sport exhaust with the top down!

I know what you guys mean about the vert sounding so good when the top is down. When the top is down you hear so much of the exhaust..and the M4 exhasut is a sportier more raw sounding car. It lacks the V8 rumble, but sounds equally good in a different way.

One thing that really surprised me is how WELL the M4 vert handled…on the test drive I did I was able to take some hard turns and I was amazed at how hard the car gripped. The cornering was flat compared to my m550. What is really amazing is that the M550i and M4 vert are almost the exact same curb weight!! They both weigh about 4300 lbs. It’s hard to comprehend how DIFFERENT the two cars feel when driving. Compared to the M4, the M550 feels soft and spongy…despite them weighting the same. An M4 vert, that weights 4300 lbs, shoudl not handle the way it does! Even if I were to mod my M550i suspension - by adding lowering springs and upgraded sway bars - I somehow doubt that I would recreate the handling that the M4 has…there must be a lot of other changes / differences in the suspension setup, geometry, and settings - that it’s a combination of lots of other tweaks makign the M4 feel so much more planted and crisp.

The only other car that I am looking at now that would draw me away from an M4 vert is a 911. I have alwasy dreamed of owning a 911..but the problem is they are priced so high - that to get a 911 that is on par with an M4 in terms of performance, tech - it would be lot more expensive than an M4.

A 911 is a different car, much lighter, even the cab versions are much lighter than the M4 cab. You also pay a lot more for similar performance and you would also end up in a much older car. As an example - a CPO m4 Vert sis bout 85-90k. That is a 2022. A CPO used 2022 porsche 911 is easily hitting $140-150k. To get back to the $100k price points you are in the older gen 991.2, like a 20187-2019…..


Factor in the fact that an M4 vert would have real usable back seats makign it capable of hauling 4 people in comfort vs the 911 that is really just a two seater - it makes the M4 an ever more compelling purchase.

I do think a 911 is much more of a “statement” type car.. you pull up to some place in a 911 and “it’s a Porsche”… but then again, a G83 is a head turner as well. When I was on my one test drive in the vert I had a guy at a stop light eyeballing it hard!

There is a part of me that just “wants” a 911…but when you factor in features, practicality, and price -it’s hare to argue against an M4. And a Vert would be soooooooo much fun in so cal!

[M4ord]

Originally Posted by 23109VC

Thank you for all the great responses! I am on the fence about what to get when I am done with my M550i. My M550 is a great car and I love how comfortable and practical it is - it just lacks the driver involvement of an M4. I recently did the resonator delete which makes it sound a lot meaner - but it’s hard to compare a quiet luxury car to an M4 with the sport exhaust with the top down!

I know what you guys mean about the vert sounding so good when the top is down. When the top is down you hear so much of the exhaust..and the M4 exhasut is a sportier more raw sounding car. It lacks the V8 rumble, but sounds equally good in a different way.

One thing that really surprised me is how WELL the M4 vert handled…on the test drive I did I was able to take some hard turns and I was amazed at how hard the car gripped. The cornering was flat compared to my m550. What is really amazing is that the M550i and M4 vert are almost the exact same curb weight!! They both weigh about 4300 lbs. It’s hard to comprehend how DIFFERENT the two cars feel when driving. Compared to the M4, the M550 feels soft and spongy…despite them weighting the same. An M4 vert, that weights 4300 lbs, shoudl not handle the way it does! Even if I were to mod my M550i suspension - by adding lowering springs and upgraded sway bars - I somehow doubt that I would recreate the handling that the M4 has…there must be a lot of other changes / differences in the suspension setup, geometry, and settings - that it’s a combination of lots of other tweaks makign the M4 feel so much more planted and crisp.

The only other car that I am looking at now that would draw me away from an M4 vert is a 911. I have alwasy dreamed of owning a 911..but the problem is they are priced so high - that to get a 911 that is on par with an M4 in terms of performance, tech - it would be lot more expensive than an M4.

A 911 is a different car, much lighter, even the cab versions are much lighter than the M4 cab. You also pay a lot more for similar performance and you would also end up in a much older car. As an example - a CPO m4 Vert sis bout 85-90k. That is a 2022. A CPO used 2022 porsche 911 is easily hitting $140-150k. To get back to the $100k price points you are in the older gen 991.2, like a 20187-2019…..


Factor in the fact that an M4 vert would have real usable back seats makign it capable of hauling 4 people in comfort vs the 911 that is really just a two seater - it makes the M4 an ever more compelling purchase.

I do think a 911 is much more of a “statement” type car.. you pull up to some place in a 911 and “it’s a Porsche”… but then again, a G83 is a head turner as well. When I was on my one test drive in the vert I had a guy at a stop light eyeballing it hard!

There is a part of me that just “wants” a 911…but when you factor in features, practicality, and price -it’s hare to argue against an M4. And a Vert would be soooooooo much fun in so cal!

To me, it sounds like you have already made the decision and now your just wrestling with the intangibles. Your observations about cornering during the test drive are spot on. A year into ownership and one of the things I enjoy the most is back road twisties where I am focused on executing good cornering techniques. I have never had a car that performed like this and have come to enjoy cornering the most. Good luck with your decision, and safe travels no matter what it is.