They’re certainly both very nice looking cars but when the new M4 was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show a couple years ago I sat in it and noted immediately that the car is smaller than the M3 (my Miata is a 2006 M3). Smaller isn’t necessarily bad, but I also had an M1 (the original pop-up headlight car that was built from 1990-1997 - there was no 1998 model) and it was indeed a very small car.
Nonetheless, it does have just about everything you need for every type of driving from commuting, to long distance touring, to autocross (and boy, is it good at autocross). I relocated the spare tire from the trunk to below the trunk floor (this requires a simple exhaust system modification) and the car became an excellent and economical traveller for two people.
The M1 interior is small but comfy and the only real flaw I could find was that the interior lighting is absolutely laughable. From the factory, there is one postage-stamp sized light on the RH side of the tranny tunnel which provides excellent illumination of the passengers left knee (and nothing more). If you NEVER drive at night, I guess that doesn’t matter, but I took some very long trips in my M1 and loved driving it but trying to read a map, find coins for tolls or locate something in the car was a massive PITA. The Miata aftermarket is extremely active and this problem is very widely recognized. I added a second postage stamp light on the LH side of the tunnel and more importantly, a rear view mirror/map light unit - and the car became just about perfect IMO.
The M3 (2006-2014) is a somewhat larger and better equipped car with more power and perhaps a bit less dedicated sports car character. Don’t get me wrong, the M3 is wicked fast on a twisty road, but it has power windows and mirrors and an interior that doesn’t make a so many calls on your tolerance, patience and back muscles. The one flaw with it is that the trunk opening is too small for a standard golf bag - which is significant flaw for a car intended for summer use in the North American market. They did this in the interests of body rigidity (smaller trunk and door apertures = stiffer structure), but they could have done it another way at minimal cost IMO.
More to the point, on the newest M4 model, Mazda has, in my view, made the mistake of reverting to a much smaller and more sparse interior and in particular, they have seriously boobed by not providing ANY glove box on the passenger side. The only interior storage is the centre console which is pretty tiny and a tip-forward box which is over the driver’s right shoulder - where it is inaccessible by the driver while seated in the car (unless you’re a contortionist) and certainly not very usable, even by a passenger, while the car is in motion. Even the cup holders are back behind your shoulder - how the heck anyone could use them is beyond me.
This may sound like nitpicking, but I’ve owned two of these cars and other sports cars and have put more than 500,000 km on them and I have found that being short of shortage places to keep your sunglasses, coins, parking access cards, maps, phone chargers and other stuff - does begin to wear on you after a while.
Anyhow, I’m sure the new M4 goes like mad and it sure is pretty!
Pete
Nonetheless, it does have just about everything you need for every type of driving from commuting, to long distance touring, to autocross (and boy, is it good at autocross). I relocated the spare tire from the trunk to below the trunk floor (this requires a simple exhaust system modification) and the car became an excellent and economical traveller for two people.
The M1 interior is small but comfy and the only real flaw I could find was that the interior lighting is absolutely laughable. From the factory, there is one postage-stamp sized light on the RH side of the tranny tunnel which provides excellent illumination of the passengers left knee (and nothing more). If you NEVER drive at night, I guess that doesn’t matter, but I took some very long trips in my M1 and loved driving it but trying to read a map, find coins for tolls or locate something in the car was a massive PITA. The Miata aftermarket is extremely active and this problem is very widely recognized. I added a second postage stamp light on the LH side of the tunnel and more importantly, a rear view mirror/map light unit - and the car became just about perfect IMO.
The M3 (2006-2014) is a somewhat larger and better equipped car with more power and perhaps a bit less dedicated sports car character. Don’t get me wrong, the M3 is wicked fast on a twisty road, but it has power windows and mirrors and an interior that doesn’t make a so many calls on your tolerance, patience and back muscles. The one flaw with it is that the trunk opening is too small for a standard golf bag - which is significant flaw for a car intended for summer use in the North American market. They did this in the interests of body rigidity (smaller trunk and door apertures = stiffer structure), but they could have done it another way at minimal cost IMO.
More to the point, on the newest M4 model, Mazda has, in my view, made the mistake of reverting to a much smaller and more sparse interior and in particular, they have seriously boobed by not providing ANY glove box on the passenger side. The only interior storage is the centre console which is pretty tiny and a tip-forward box which is over the driver’s right shoulder - where it is inaccessible by the driver while seated in the car (unless you’re a contortionist) and certainly not very usable, even by a passenger, while the car is in motion. Even the cup holders are back behind your shoulder - how the heck anyone could use them is beyond me.
This may sound like nitpicking, but I’ve owned two of these cars and other sports cars and have put more than 500,000 km on them and I have found that being short of shortage places to keep your sunglasses, coins, parking access cards, maps, phone chargers and other stuff - does begin to wear on you after a while.
Anyhow, I’m sure the new M4 goes like mad and it sure is pretty!
Pete
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