Originally Posted by Mike1

Yes, I've chatted with Nigel a few times, Moseley is just down the road from work. Haven't been there for a while though so not sure if he's now retired? ( he often mentioned it )

I ummed and aahed about which one to buy when they were both 5k -6k cars last century.... But in the end the rhd and fun factor swung it so it was the Ford for me ( although I've owned more BMs than Fords and currently have a 325 so not that anti BMW ) . I think a lot of it will depend on what tyres the two cars were on at the time of test driving them as well. When I had Bridgestone S-02s on mine years back it had a lovely balanced feel, all standard apart from the stainless exhaust. My friend's M3 was on Michelins and to me it didn't feel as confidence inspiring....some journos of the time thought that too so it depends on the individual car you drive, the conditions/roads you drive it on and personal preference to a great extent.All taste and fancy for sure but not a major handling gulf in my opinion. You're right about crazy money now for them though - my friend sold his and bought an almandine 2.5-16 Merc ( another nice handling 80s car ) and had a big wodge of money left over a few years back.. .....M3s are fetching even more now

Put it like this, every year Autocar have a big Handling Day and pick a short list of cars they rate for overall handling. A panel of journos ( 7 or 8 ) drive them all and rate them all. The year a Sapphire Cosworth got picked..... It finished 3rd..... Behind the Mx5 and Porsche 944 which people, even these days, rate highly. Surely it can't have been all bad..... There was a BMW M car in the short list that year too