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...But man, oh man. The pure butthurt in the video comments from the BMW fanboys is hilarious...

Seriously! I haven't read the comments since the video aired, but I remember rolling my eyes at their cries of sacrilege. They didn't seem to get that the comparison was based on price, not on class of car. It was simply about, "What can $25K get you new as opposed to used?"

The ST was not built to compete with the M3. It's a performance variant of an economy car, as opposed to a performance luxury car, with a drastically different price range and target demographic. The simple fact that it does compare favorably with regards to driving dynamics is a testament to the ST, rather than a shot against the M3, but the fanboys couldn't see that. They were too busy getting their panties in a bunch.

 

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The e46 M3 is seen to the BMW faithful as the epitome for what a performance BMW should be...

I really appreciate the honest feedback and perspective, djdennehy, especially coming from a former M3 owner. I love driving my FiST, and if (for whatever reason) I needed to replace it tomorrow, I'd get another FiST in a heartbeat, with no hesitation. It's not the fastest, most prestigious, or "best" car available, but for me, it checks off nearly all of the boxes of what I personally want in a car. It's inexpensive, sporty yet practical, economical, and holy crap is it FUN! However, I've never owned or driven an M3, nor am I likely to, so I'm certainly no authority to compare which car is "better", but so many of those butthurt BMW fans bashed the FiST simply because it wasn't their beloved BMW, and that kind of elitist fanaticism is so self-limiting. It's so refreshing to see that you're open-minded, and I commend you for that. I have no doubts that the M3 is an amazing car, and can't say a negative thing about it (other than the potential repair and maintenance costs of a 10-year-old M3 would scare me), but I think the FiST is an awesome bargain for what you get, and when it comes to new cars, I'd be hard-pressed to name one that would give you this many smiles per dollar.