Or a TTS (300hp in a IMO more livable coup than the Miata), but neither of these options are available with a clutch, so it’s probably instant disqualification to the OP.
I (used to) hate run-flats with a passion. When I bought my 135i, first thing I did was ditch them. They were hard riding, incredibly heavy and had terrible grip. I went for performance tires and a can of Fix-a-Flat, as my experience with my Elise and S2000 was that flats were simply so rare for me that I didn’t care. And as far as performance tires go, I wouldn’t expect anyone to have those in stock, but good old Tire Rack can overnight to just about anywhere so that was not a concern for me.
Last year, we replaced the tires on my wife’s X3. She insisted on run-flats and I obliged. The new generation of those tires has really come a long way. Not the equivalent of great performance tires, but certainly very good tires especially in her SUV application. The local tire shop had them in stock, and again, in a worst case, more were just an overnight shipment away.
I have a 2018 M2, which had only slightly more power than the 2018 M240i. For new cars now you’d be looking at M2 Competition which has 40 or so more hp than mine.
But, I drove the M240i at the BMW Performance Driving School. We used 340i’s and M240i’s). Those cars don’t handle a lot differently, also not a lot differently than my 2015 328i. The M2 is a very different car, and again it’s not about straight line power much at all in the 2018 comparison, and even now wouldn’t be just about that.
I think you can only evaluate this with test driving. The M2 isn’t for everyone v the M240i because for one thing it’s noticeably stiffer and noisier (they removed particular insulation parts which some people, so I’ve seen on user forums, have gone out and bought and installed on their M2’s). But the handling in for example aggressive mountain and coastal road driving I did out West on a 5k mile road trip earlier this year is really something else. Again I don’t think the M240i and F30 328i handle all that differently and the 328i was fun on other Western mountain roads the year before, but not on the same level as the M2. I also found the M2 a comfortable enough long range cruiser, seats are particularly good compared to regular 2/3 series seats. I wondered about comfort because on shit roads in my area (northern NJ) the M2’s ride is an acquired taste let’s say. But where they actually maintain the roads it’s fine, which most places in the wide open space in the US they do. Very happy with it, no regrets v M240i.
As far as reliability BMW ranks pretty high in recent years as brand per Consumer Reports, The F30 328i has a very good record according to them and anecdotally I’ve had no significant problem with mine in 5 yrs. They don’t rate M cars, no problems so far but only had it a little > 1 yr.
I’m not looking for minimum cost of ownership in a car though, if somebody is then BMW is fairly obviously not the first brand to look at.
PS on run flats. M240i’s I assume come with all season runflats no spare, was true when I looked a that car anyway. My 328i also did. I didn’t like them and replaced when with all season non-runflats. A spare kit just takes up some space in the trunk.
The M2 came with summer non run flats, no spare (summer tires are one reason the M2 is so impressive in warm road handling, besides being bigger than the M240i’s tires). Again I bought a spare kit.
Although I’ve never had a flat, driving a long time.
It depends on the model, maybe? There was a dipstick in my 3’s. Its placement was strange, but it was there.
Regarding the run flats: I pulled them from my 330 and ran with performance tires. For my X3, I’ve used the run flats. I haven’t had an issue and no problems at all finding a replacement set (once in 6 years).
As many have pointed out, you don’t have to stick with run-flats.
Consider the MB C43 AMG Coupe.
You can go for new or a very low mileage slightly used. Really fantastic cars, IMO.
Also, consider the Alfa Romeo Giulia with AWD. Probably the best handling/driving car in it’s class. Really a fantastic driving car. Reliability probably not near the top.
Audi S4 should be in the running as well.
If you want the highest reliability, abandon all joy for driving - buy Toyota or Honda.
If you do an apples to apples, oranges to oranges comparison you’ll find most cars are about average.
A 300+ hp BMW will be the about as costly to maintain as a 300+ hp Subaru.
BMW doesn’t do 20k $ cheap to maintain econoboxes, so in comparisons where that is stressed they’ll suck. The cars that rule those lists will suck to drive…
Is a BMW cheaper to maintain than a comparable Audi, Benz or Volvo? That’s more about luck and the quality of your mechanic than the manufacturer…
Or get a Telsa and have both. The thing is, EVs are generally more reliable than ICEVs because electric motors are by far more reliable than internal combustion engines. Fewer moving parts, if nothing else. And I’ve never heard anyone say Teslae aren’t fun to drive. Acceleration-wise, they’ll blow the doors off any ICEV on the road.
Are BMWs fairly reliable these days?
Mine sure has been. Except the tires. They’ve all had to be replaced and I am most definitely not a high mileage driver.
Since I love the car, I’ll give BMW the benefit of the doubt and blame my tire trouble on all the bits of jagged junk that have filled the streets in my neighbourhood for years. There is a major LRT construction going on.
I also don’t have to stick with BMW.
I have a 2011 BMW 335i xDrive with a manual transmission, which I bought certified pre-owned in 2013. It hasn’t had frequent problems, and it’s never broken down and left me stranded by the side of the road, but the few repairs it has needed have been costly. The biggest was when it needed an entire new transmission (this was in 2017.) I went to leave work one day, and it wouldn’t shift into reverse. The guy at the shop said BMW doesn’t make replacement transmission parts to fix the transmission, you have to buy a whole new transmission. (This was confirmed on BMW discussion boards.) The cost of the transmission alone was $5000, then labor was over $1000. The other major expense was when it started overheating and needed a new radiator; I believe that was around $1500.
BTW, I too used to be of the mindset that a manual transmission was important, but no more. I grew up around only automatics, and came to feel I was uncool because I couldn’t drive a manual, so I made it a point to learn and then bought a manual car (the 2002 VW GTI I drove for 12 years prior to getting my BMW.) When I bought my BMW, I still felt it wouldn’t be an “ultimate driving machine” unless it was a manual, still thought manuals made you “sporty” and automatics “turn you from a driver into a mere operator” and only by driving a manual could you be a Real Driver who can Feel the Road and there’s nothing like the Feel of Stirring Your Own Gears and all the rest of it. I now realize that’s all a load of hokum. OP, I don’t know if you’ve kept up with car technology, but today’s automatics are leaps and bounds ahead of what they used to be. 8 speeds, locking torque converters, electronically controlled–and that’s just “conventional” hydraulic automatics. Then there are those you’re labeling “hybrids,” which are mechanical transmissions with clutches, not hydraulic torque converters, that give you the best of both worlds. Today’s automatics give you better fuel economy than manuals and unless you’ve got race car driver-level skills, you’re going to get better real-world performance and acceleration out of a manual too. If you’re still locked into the mentality that only a manual makes you a Real Driver, I know nothing can convince you otherwise, but there are literally zero advantages to a manual on today’s cars.
No automatic will give you the control and subtlety of power delivery that a clutch pedal will. end of line.
not all automatics are horrible though, some are acceptable, they just wont ever give you the feel and control of feathering the clutch.
in my opinion, transmissions from best to worst are;
Manual; the best, most robust, simplest, and most reliable of all transmissions, also the most fun, a great anti-theft device, as most idiot car thieves are unable to drive a manual, also gives you the ability to pop-start the car in the event the battery dies, most clutches last a long time (140,000 plus on my '07 VW Rabbit before I sold it, and still strong) and manuals generally never/rarely need expensive transmission fluid flushes/replacement
Dual Clutch/Automated Manual/DSG (all names for the same thing) the best compromise between automatic and manual, two nested manual transmissions with computer controlled clutch paks, under normal driving conditions the next gear in the sequence is pre-selected, spun up and already engaged, and to shift, the transmission simultaneously and nearly instantaneously switches the active clutch pak to the next gear, nearly instant shifts, uninterrupted power delivery, and faster acceleration than a manual, but you lose the subtlety and interactivity of the clutch pedal, as the clutch paks are basically on/off switches, downsides are increased mechanical and electronic complexity as it is literally two manual transmissions bashed together, also requires regular and expensive transmission fluid changes
Torque Converter based planetary automatic, the “normal” automatic, boring and inefficient, uses a fluid coupling between the engine and transmission to allow the engine to idle when stopped, the slippage of the TC inherently wastes power and energy, locking TC reduce some of the waste but don’t eliminate it, needs billions of gears to approximate the feel of a good manual
E-CVT; I’ve never driven one myself, as the most common variety is in my automotive enemy, the Toyota Prius, and i’d rather get a root canal without novocain than drive one of those utterly soulless, gutless transportation appliances, but on paper, the Witchcraft Toyota uses in them is pretty amazing, wonder how they’d perform in a car that’s actually FUN?
Belt-Driven CVT (Conventional CVT); no, just NO! the worst of all worlds, soulless, no fun, unreliable, amazingly expensive to service, JATCO manufactured units (Nissan and Subaru) are infamously unreliable and have a reputation of self-destructing and being financially impractical to replace (most are not even repairable)
CVT transmissions are serviceable in small, low displacement motors like in mopeds/scooters and snowmobiles, but have no place in a passenger vehicle when better alternatives exist
I’m put off by the range anxiety and the constant competition with your previous record of getting the most mileage out of it. Also, the lack of ICE noise; I think I’d miss that almost as much as being able to refuel in well under 10 minutes and never having to spend a moment planning and worrying where my next full tank is coming from on a long road trip.
That’s not something specific to EVs. You could feel the same way about gas cars.
That’s an advantage to me. But it may be an age thing. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to dilike noisy things even more than I did before. And unless you hava real noisy engine, the tires and wind make more noise than most engines do today except at low speeds.
AIUI, you can usually get a decent recharge in about 20 minutes with a Tesla Supercharger. Not full 100%, but 80% or so. It probably will be enough to get to the next charger, although there’s software that’ll tell you how much you need for that.
Think of it as a nice break from the drudgery of long distance driving, which drivers should be taking more of anyway. Take short walk, get the blood flowing to all parts of the body, feel refreshed for the next leg of the journey.
As I said, there’s software that’ll do that for you.
Theoretically should be more reliable. In reality so far Tesla quality/reliability has been poor. Maybe when they finish climbing the learning curve to being a real car company that will change.
Anyway having to worry where to charge and the length of time compared to gassing up eliminates EV’s for me. Somewhat depends how you use a car (I like road trips to remote place, carefully plan where to charge then have to wait 10’s of minutes not a couple of minutes doing it? no thanks), also where you live (even at home I’d have to run an extension cord across the sidewalk…that is when I can even get a space in front of my house) as well as personal preference.
Also if I wanted to blow the doors off I’d have an M8 not an M2. 0-60 in 4 (w/ faster DCT, not slower manual) is quick enough for me. And an M2 isn’t a car nobody ever said wasn’t fun, it’s a car virtually everyone who drives says is a total riot, including hilarious exhaust noises. Note OP is asking specifically about the M240i, its close relative. As discussed I’ve driven the M240i (on track which I haven’t actually done with my M2) and it’s a fun car also, more versatile in some ways, might be the better choice for some people between the two, but I prefer my M2.
And how many Tesla superchargers are there compared to gasoline stations? Maybe the Tesla will be practical when there’s a supercharger in every small town in the country.
If my trade-in appraises high enough to make the cost of an M2 within reach, I’ll definitely test-drive one!
Yeah, same here. Like I said in the OP: “I’m not too worried about the cost of ownership; I’m used to ev-er-y-thing about my 370Z being expensive. I’m just hoping that I shouldn’t expect worse-than-average reliability (if I take care of it, of course).”
I direct your attention to the list I presented in post #6. Not one of those cars meets my criteria. 
Right?! When my Mazda RX-8 became unreliable while still within the warranty period (and broke my heart), I overcorrected and got a Honda Accord V6 coupe. Almost immediately, I realized that I really wanted another sports car. Super nice car, but b-o-r-i-n-g! I used to tell people that the V6 was the only thing that kept me from crying every time I drove it. Heh. I had to wait a few years to not be upside-down on the loan, but the minute that happened I got my 370Z.
Geeze, assume much? :dubious: This might blow your mind, but I simply *prefer *a manual.
How was tracking the M240i?
I’ve tracked two previous cars, but have never taken the 370Z out. The track sessions I like are on Fridays, and due to changes at work it started to become harder for me to take a random weekday off. Mostly, though, I’ve been too worried about the oil overheating. I actually bought an oil cooler a few years ago, but couldn’t find a shop I trusted to install it so it’s still sitting in its box. (Hmmm, at this point I should probably try to sell it…)
Anyway, it’s been forever but I’ve been thinking about whether I might want to track whatever I get next. Plus, my 18-year-old nephew just got his license and I’d love to take him some Friday next summer (especially for the skid pad part). I’ll have to see what car he gets, whether he’s interested, how his folks feel about it, etc.
I direct your attention to the reason why you ended up driving a Datsun. 
(never gonna stop.)
My wife’s car would occasionally give a puff of smoke when started. Forums indicated this could be a sign of over filling the oil, but it was right where it was supposed to be on the dipstick. At the next oil change, at the dealership it was purchased from, I questioned the invoice because it had one more quart of oil that the specs called for with an oil and filter change. Long story short, it had the wrong dipstick. Wrong part number. I believe there was a TSB (technical service bulletin) on the issue, and it was replaced under warranty.
A reliable sensor would have been preferable to an incorrect dipstick in my case. :smack: