>>I think I would have liked the M3 vert much better with a manual transmission. My son's '11 M3 sedan has an MT and I don't have the same issues with his car, because I'm able to be more in control and compensate for things like torque issues at slower speeds.<<
Yeah, mine's a 6-speed and maybe that does make a difference. Today was my third day in the car (I don't have time to use it during the week) and I finally was able to push it a bit (cornering-wise) on some NJ Turnpike on-ramps and off-ramps, and with the firmest suspension setting it cornered as if it was on rails and didn't seem to push at all. That said, this was 7/10th driving and not 8/10th, 9/10th or 10/10th, so it's still possible that it could push a bit at the limits. In fact, I'd be surprised if it didn't, as pretty much all street cars are deliberately designed with a bit of understeer built into them because the typical driver is going to lift mid-corner when he overdoes it, and the last thing BMW wants is to be sued by the survivors of a $2 million/year investment banker whose wallet was bigger than his driving skills.
It's going to take me a while to build up to 9/10th and really find out just how much push there is, because a highway on ramp is the only public road on which I feel okay doing that and they aren't really long enough to give me all that much seat time, lol. (I think my track days are behind me, as I eventually started to find myself a bit bored and thus losing focus after a couple of laps, and that's when it's time to park it.)
I think I'm most impressed with the car's steady-state cornering capability-- in turns of skidpad-style g-forces, it feels significantly better than my old '91 911 C2 felt on street tires (despite that car's modified Eibach & Koni suspension), and WORLDS better than my '98 M3 sedan or 2002 WRX. The one thing I CAN'T call this car, though, is "tossable"-- i.e., it's no Boxster S. Instead, it's a beautifully built four-seat GT with a vicious V-8 in it, and perhaps most importantly, the top goes down! In fact, it's the first car I've owned since my '87 Mustang GT convertible that makes me sad when I've gotten to wherever it is I'm going, because that means I have to turn it off and get out of it.