My dad and his friends were very into Japanese stuff and Japan back in the 60’s and 70’s which paid off in the 80’s when everyone was trying to copy them. We had a '78 Corolla growing up and an '85 Camry.

The story with the Corolla that I remember most was that my dad and his friends literally organized a group buy for the Corolla. They were just cheap little things back then and he got like two of his friends to also buy one at the same time at a steep discount since they were agreeing to buy three cars at once.

Notably, i grew up in Boston. I think there was a lot more hate for foreign cars in the midwest, closer to where the big 3 were headquartered.

I love my F87, but I would note that it rides pretty harshly and has a small fuel tank, both are annoyances when using the car as a DD like I do.

Much of the fun of the car comes from it’s “spiky” nature, with big torque overwhelming the rear tires for a brief moment (or longer should you want.) It’s not really a “drive with your fingertips, feel the precision” type of vehicle.

It’s other party trick is probably just the overall agility of the M2. It’s very quick to change directions and pretty small (a little shorter than an E46 if i remember correctly.)

Having driven a 3.8L V6 making 105 hp around a race track a few hundred times, let me tell you, the novelty of that kind of a powerband wears off.

PNW winters are the worst for this. Don’t swap tires? Oh sorry it snowed and you won’t be able to go anywhere for three days. Swapped tires? Oh sorry. It won’t snow for the next two years all winter long.

That 5th ave? Nice picture.

You need to shift the red spot to the right. An E46 is a 20 year old car at this point and knocking on the door of “classic” status. It’s the 10-20 year old cars nobody wants, cars that don’t look new but are a dime a dozen on the road.

I’ve never driven a Golf R, but I suspect the M2 will be trickier to handle. I consider it an “intermediate car” when you turn off the electronic assists. Obviously, if you leave them on, the car will be relatively safe, but still feel “looser” than a Golf R.

Assists off, it will still generally tend towards understeer, but power oversteer is absolutely an option any time you’re in the three lower gears near the limit. Nothing crazy difficult to catch and it oversteers in a smooth predictable manner. But the wheelbase is short and you’re dealing with turbo lag. Harder to keep in a straight line than my old 350z, but easier to save than anything mid engined.

Other cars to consider might be a C7, maybe a Mach 1 mustang or a zl1 Camaro if you want straight line speed. The M2 is a lot more practical and easy to drive than those cars, but you want a weekend ride, so it might be worth putting up with less refinement.