Trying to get advice on a car choice and I figured 6Speed might be a good place to ask.
Between these two cars which is the better purchase? Prices are the same... I know this is a BMW group but please try not to be biased.
2014 BMW M6
5,000 Miles
or a
2012 Porsche Panamera GTS
35,000 miles

 

I recently got rid of my 2012 650i in favor of a 2012 Panamera 4S. Although your choice is a slightly different one I'll offer my thoughts anyway.

The 6 Series is a gorgeous vehicle and with the M treatment it looks even better. The LED lights are a nice touch.. The tech in BMW is ahead of Porsche.. Outside of that the Porsche is head and shoulders a better car in my opinion.. The stability/handling. The NaturallyAspirated V8. The short and long term reliability. The fact that Porsche's hold thier value better. Etc etc.. I would test drive both first but for a guy who has owned four straight Bimmers I would go with the Porsche..

 

I love both marques but at the end of the day what do you need? 2 doors or 4?

 

Ok... I have a 2012 PTT and my wife has the 2014 M6 convertible. That M6 is a beast!!! It sounds wonderful, is fast as heck, and has a ton of tech in it. Tough decision. The M6 will blow the GTS out of the water. It is fast. My PTT has enough power to give it a run. So between the two I would buy the M6. That is hard for me to admit. Unless the GTS is chocked full of options. Typically the M6 comes with everything that BMW has to offer.

 

I like EmmHola's advice, he hit it spot on. Besides the power and handling, I also look at these cars from a uniqueness angle. That Porsche GTS is a very rare car, you can do a comparison on cars.com or autotrader.com and search for both cars and the results will say it all.

There are tons of beemers out there and I mean tons but not porsches which makes it even more appealing. On my drive to work everyday and I commute about an hour to work in the DMV area, I probably see on average if I'm lucky 1 or 2 porsches a day.

But again not everyone cares about that stuff. I would pick the porsche anyday.

 

My wife had a 650i before her M6. She would tell you that she would never go back to a non-M car from BMW. You can't compare a 650i to an M6. Like comparing a regular panamera to a Turbo.

 

Agreed you don't see many Panamera's but you see a whole lot of Bimmers and an untrained eye can mistake your M6 for a 640..

 

Pure performance and options---- M6
Rare, esthetics, resell---- GTS

 

You may very well be right... I've driven the M6 on several occasions but decided against upgrading to an M6 and opted for the P4S.. For some of the reasons mentioned above...

 

I would also consider remaining warranty on GTS vs M6 which is partially new and how long you are planning to keep the car.

Also, M6 is a coupe and GTS is a 4 door car. If you do not need 4 doors, then I'm assuming a 2 door car might be more "fun" to drive.

Personally, Porsche is whole different category and is a lot more prestigious and definitely more reliable compared to BMW (especially lately).

So again, it all depends on how long you are keeping the car for, warranty, lease vs buy etc.

 

The m cars are not what they used to be. Besides, all bmw's are starting to look the same. I cant tell the 4 series form the 6 series, or the 1 series.

 

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

I have a 4S (which is not a GTS but not totally stock either) as well as 650 coupe (with Dinan stage 1 and Shockware, my car has adaptive drive) and I have owned almost as many BMW (including about a dozen M cars my last a very modified 07 M6) and I will not disagree that the M cars of today are lacking (though they gained in weight) what used to make them special. Did I miss something or did you not mention the price of each car which would be part of any advise I would give. One thing I will say if you need a back seat go with the GTS, I am not that tall and my 10 year twins can barely fit when I am driving. The BMW has more high tech stuff (my car was a rep demo with 114.4K sticker and has everything though I keep it all turned off) and the torque from that turbo charged engine is a lot of fun (as others have said it is fast) and my car even with the dinan upgrades is still not as powerful. So if you want power, 0-60 speed (like RWD better than AWD) and good looks and you do not need to carry for adults EVER than take the M6.

 

I have agree with a lot that has already been said:

1) If you don't need a 4 door car, then get the M6, or a 911 (LOL).

2) There is no question that BMW reliability is poor when compared to the porsche. BMW is having a real problem with reliability of their cars especially the V8's. Their V6 cars interestingly do not have near the problems the V8's do.

3) Porsche cars are more rare, and in my opinion more prestigious, but I don't really care about that.. I just love the Porsche product.

4) I like the BMW product, but I don't love them. They just don't age well, but if you are only going to keep it a couple of years under warranty, it may not be a big deal.

Good luck.. you are choosing between 2 very awesome cars and will be happy either way!

 

Last BMW I owned was a 650i convertible, which was perfectly balanced and bullet proof for the 25 k miles I put on it, so cannot comment specifically on the M6, except to say that its styling and raw strait ahead power are very impressive. The GTS that you are looking at has a lot of mileage. If it is CPO'd, how many years left on the warranty?

The perspective in the previous posts is very good, particularly that relating to 2 vs 4 door and practicality. I will say that I do not even think about trying to outgun M's or AMG's at stop lights with my PGTS or, for that matter with my 991 TTS (what is the point?), but if that matters to you go for the M6. Handling and driver satisfaction, however are very much in favor of the PGTS, IMO. It is as close to driving a 991 as one can get. The power is definitely under-rated by the factory and the engine is NA, so with the exhaust note and PDK is pure fun without any drama. All wheel drive in the GTS is impressive in the wet or snow with winter compound tires.

Bottom line for me would be to look for a lower mileage PGTS that is CPO'd with the right options and then decide.