You know, I'm kinda with you. Don't know if you have a PFL or FL, but the much loved and raved about pops&bangs of the PFL always felt way too artificial to me, which is why I actually like the FL sound much better. It's more of a quality V8 sound w/o all those artificial machine gun noises, and when it does pop&bang it's much more random or actually correlates to driving hard. It's back to the more intended function to be an anti-lag system to keep the turbos spooled during brief throttle liftoffs if you drive dynamically, instead of just popping&banging when tooling around town for no other reason than annoying all the bystanders.

However, so far EVs just don't do it for me. The composedness is part of it. When it comes to EVs, RWD has been downgraded to being the cheap entry level model, because they are less powerful due to only having one motor, whereas in the ICE world, RWD is the more desirable setup for those who want the playfulness that comes with it and hone their car control skills. The RWD Taycan is the entry model and kinda lame next to the other models. Even with AWD in the ICE world, you can have all of the engine power go to the rear wheels for example via drift mode in the E63. That's not possible in an EV. You can't send the power of the front motor to the rear wheels, so EVs are always forced to power the front wheels in order to get full power. I drove my friend's RWD Model 3 when he got it. It was ok. There was some playfulness, but you can't turn off ESP or at least put it in a Sport mode. You can with the M3P and the track mode, but the drifting feels super artificial and it still intervenes if you turn it all the way down. Tesla just doesn't understand this. At least the Taycan lets you turn off the ESP properly, but it's still constraint with only being able to send the power from the front motor to the front wheels.

 

Thanks for your reply^
So what's the answer?

 

Haha...that's the $64,000 question. For me it's wait and see at the moment and keeping my FL coupe for a while. The thing is I don't actually need a car. I mostly buy them out of desire and the freedom and utility they offer is sort of a byproduct. I don't get that fuzzy feeling with an EV. I would have to have a real need to be willing to spend money on an EV. It might be that my future doesn't involve car ownership moving forward. Honestly, at the point where a car becomes just a means of transportation for me, I might as well just Uber it everywhere. I just don't see the point of a car anymore if I have to accommodate it (stopping and charging when it demands it), instead of it accommodating me.

 

I think I'd give the new W206 C-class AMG a try later on. I just sold my 2020 C63s today - really enjoyed the car though too tempted by the once-in-a-lifetime resale values as of late. See you all again when the new hybrid releases. Btw, thanks Mr. Swiss for all your help and insights.