Just got my 2009 Ivory Pearl GTR on Fri, Apr 3. Had the weekend to drive it, and since I wanna reach my 1K breakin, well I ran every errand and found every reason to drive this weekend!! 250 miles down, 750 left to go, haha.

Driving impressions:

• It's a much larger car in person then how it looks in pics...but its a good large, not like its portly, just muscular. The car has presence and even non-gearheads keep surrounding my car when I park.
• I had a BMW M3 as my trade in. There are a few things I like on the M3 better---steering is more solid on the M3. The GTR also had a scary tendency to have it's steering pulled left or right by grooves and unevenness in the road. I had SMG on M3, and tho GTR's is waaaaaay better, I liked that I had paddle shifters AND I could use the M3 stick to change gears. As one who has always had a stick shift, I'm just more naturally inclinded to shift from my right hip, then up on the steering wheel. Last thing, and this is no big whoop, but BMW includes more luxory niceties like auto headlights, auto rain sensor, and a much better stereo. But other then stick and steering, the luxories I can live without, especiially given all the other GTR's superior traits.
• My two favorite parts of the car are the transmission and the suspension. The M3 had a nice squat, connected to the road feel....but the GTR is like hunkered down stance and a throw all u got at me kinda attitude. And how u get attitude outta a suspension is beyond me, but thats how it feels . The trans is silky smooth, worlds better then the M3's SMG. Must be the duel clutch, my guess. Surprises me too that the trans shifts up so quick to 6th gear when driving "normally". But punch it in 6th and it drops to 3rd in a half a heartbeat....wow!. But both are also very real-world civilized. My wife wudn't drive the SMG, she said she wud the GTR----if she can get the keys from me, haha!!
• And don't get upset with me folks, the engine is world class too. But hey, I'm still in my break-in period. Also, the suspension and trans I can live with everyday....to truly enjoy the engine I need a track.
• I adore the looks, and I never drove a car (even when the M3 just came out and I got lots of looks then) that had people following me, damn near stalking me as theyd follow me to ever stop, people giving thumbs ups, even 2 cops came behind me and instead of pulling me over like i thought, they ended up pulling aside me and also giving me a nod or a thubms up. No doubt its a legend and both GTE devotees and even non-gear heads appreciate the car.
• I was attempting to purchase super silver color, but the deal fell thru. I'll do another post slamming that crappy dealership for playing games and deceit. But I went to another dealer, got mine at MSRP. But the only color they had was white (ivory pearl). I would never have chose that color, but once I saw it in person I thought it was the best color ever. The black and gray accents on the car contrast so sharply with white, that areas like the front grill simply "pop". I'm sooo happy with the color I got, and when I put it next to silver, I knew I made the right choice.

Well that's enuf typing for an intro.
Glad to be on the forum and looking fwd to making new friends.
Keith

 

congrats....I get my 09 Black one tonight or tomorrow!!!!

 

Thanks for posting your impressions. I'm not normally a big fan of white cars but the Ivory Pearl is great and you saved 3 grand!

 

Congrats!

The "walking" around in grooves in the street symptoms you mentioned will subside after you suspension breaks in in 700-1000 miles. Make sure your tire pressures are not set too high, that the car has been properly aligned, and drive the suspension on the COMFORT setting for the first 1000 miles to let the dampers travel through their full range of motion and break in. If you do all of this you should notice a change soon. Have fun!

-Matt

 

I picked up my 2010 Friday evening. It was worth the wait for the new model, so much more for so little.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/16/2...-you-get-more/


I can even use the launch control without fear of voiding the warranty with the $20,000 fine.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/29/n...aunch-control/

http://www.exoticsandluxury.com/warr...-warranty-safe