The big news today is this amazingly nice BMW M3 variant called the GTS. Watching the video makes it hard to not fall in love with this car. What first comes to mind to me however is just how closely comparable the high end aftermarket tuning scene is to BMW’s factory tuned effort. This idea is what I want to talk about.
This factory tuned GTS uses many familiar tricks of the aftermarket trade. Having been behind the scenes with so many high end builds over the years, it is interesting for me to compare the money spent in aftermarket modifications and the associated results vs a factory tuned effort such as this one.
BMW has priced this model at a USD equivalent of $170,200 at today’s exchange rates. If you remove prestige, collect-ability and resale value from the equation there is a very valid question here…what does more than $100,000 in upgrades get you? And from my point of view, even more interesting is comparing that $100+k to what a comparable budget would yield with aftermarket tuning and support.
This topic has also come up in conversations about the GT-R Spec V and the fact that it too costs nearly $100,000 more than the normal GT-R. In the case of the Spec V I feel quite confidently that such a large sum of money would go a much longer distance with a properly consulted aftermarket tuning plan.
Rather than focus solely at prices and comparing what if scenarios, what I find really interesting is looking at the parts selection and quality that the factories use vs aftermarket equivalents.
Having a look at that BMW GTS burnt titanium exhaust, it is hard to not draw a comparison to my own personal favorite M3 exhaust by Amuse’s BMW branch Ericsson.
As we introduced Ericsson parts to the BMW community and to this day continue to promote and distribute their parts, the most common complaint by BMW enthusiasts is the price of the system. It is without a doubt expensive, nobody could argue that it is cheap. But the question that begs to be asked, is compared to what…If an aftermarket E92 M3 was produced to take on the GTS, I would bet that using quality parts like this would still result in a car that is potentially faster for less money than the GTS.
For comparison’s sake, BMW’s mention top billing of the following categories of upgrades to justify the price of the GTS from a more standard E92 M3: Double adjustable coilover suspension upgrade (aftermarket I’d suggest JRZ), adjustable rear spoiler (aftermarket I’d suggest Voltex dry carbon), upgraded wheels (Neez), upgraded brakes (Endless or Brembo), light weight seats and interior (Recaro ASM RS-G and Ericsson dry carbon door panels). The majority of the modifications they’ve done, I’d argue could be done already within the aftermarket and I’d bet my own hard earned money that some of the aftermarket parts (especially that Ericsson exhaust would far exceed the quality of the OEM BMW piece…BMW has already said only the rear silencer is titanium whereas Ericsson’s full system is titanium from the rear all the way to the headers).
Where the factory has the aftermarket beat is on the R&D and engineering front to build a cohesive package that performs in balance. Doing an aftermarket build takes lots of trial and error and skilled specialists for fine tuning things such as alignment and suspension damper settings. Getting a solid warranty on a build NA engine in the aftermarket is also a little more scary than using BMW’s engine in the GTS. There are many areas with refinement, tuning and reliability that the aftermarket may have a disadvantage.
There’s no right or wrong answer to this debate of comparing the value and performance of a factory tuned car vs an aftermarket tuned car. But it is a fun debate to have and I’d love to hear what you all feel on the topic, as we continue to see more really cool limited edition performance models of our favorite sports cars.
Speaking just for myself, I’d much rather take the money of a Spec V or a GTS and build my own tuned variant…and if someone wanted to put me up to the test, I’d gladly bet my own money that my car is faster than the OEM tuned variant for the same price or less by the time I’m done with it. That’d be a really fun challenge!
