Okay no hard feelings then
I really like Carlos Lagos. I watched his 1 hour long youtube video on the F80/F82 presentation and his trip to road america to test drive the cars.
One thing that occurred to me during that 1 hour long video, towards the end, he starts talking about the K&N dyno they did with the F80 M3. This is the one you kept referring to early on where you said M3 is not as much overrated as the F10 M5. You said same people, same dyno, one instance they dyno M5 and get 620 hp at the crank, in the other they get only 445hp at the crank for the M3 (vs 500+ hp at the crank many other dyno runs show for the M3). What I then realized is, they made one big mistake, or not really mistake, but something that should have been outlined clearly. The dyno they did for the M3
was on the 4th gear vs all other dyno runs for the M3 in other places
as well as their own F10 M5 dyno run was always on
the 5th gear. Big difference there! He even talks about in his video about them picking the 4th gear specifically for this car and says they wanted to see the area under the power curve.
Now I know why that dyno run was like that
M3 does make 424 whp as much as the M5 making 550 whp. His is the only dyno that has such low numbers and he is using the 4th gear. In retrospect, his E92 M3 that he tested on the same dyno got some ridiculously low 306 hp number, which is again probably the lowest recorded in history.
Anyways, listen, I hear what you are saying. I don't hate the M5 and I may even buy one in the future myself and modify it. One of the biggest problems I had with the M5 was how quiet the cabin was. Sound sound sound. The problem again for me was, my car was a lease. I couldn't spend 4-5k on some GTI exhaust with downpipes to make it louder. I couldn't lower it in H&R springs. Sure I could if I wanted to, but it made no sense.
Buying an M5 and owning it outright is tough for me. Every car I have driven in my life has been new. Always bought them new. M5 new is very expensive and depreciates so much in value. In 4 years it will be worth less than half of what it is, so will many cars, but the percentage in M5 ends up being tens of thousands of dollars more. When I was leasing my car, there were no 2014s available. To me LCI is a must. Maybe in a year or two, I'll miss the classy look and the gorgeous interior of the M5. Get a used one, and mod the crap out of it.
As I said in my own review, the cheapness of the M3 and it's lawnmower exhaust is really getting to me.