"The Best BMW M3 Ever"

[exdeath]

Meh, people complained at every stage of the evolution.

The E30 people cried when the 4 was replaced by the straight 6. I'm sure the whining will continue well past this v8.

Now that mainstream BMW has a 'gas guzzler' V8, the euro-peons have no room to talk about our 'gas guzzlers' anymore.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: Sunrise089
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mwmorph
Edmunds always has the worst acceleration numbers</end quote></div>
Actually, they are usually really slow, but oddly inconsistent. Every now and then they'll come out with a time quicker than all the mainstream mags....I remember their SVT Lightning time was really quick (off the top of my head)

My real worry with this M3 is that it will lack soul. People who have actually driven the previous and current M5 don't seem to be overflowing with praise for 3 different shift patterns, 5 suspension settings, 2 power levels, etc. For a long time buyers have been able to choose AMG products for the overall power levels and performance, and M cars for the passion of driving. I think BMW can still salvage it's reputation, but not if the M3 drivers like a 4/5th M5. The 335i coupe seems to have been very well recieved, but I suspect the 335 has been forgiven a bit more than the M3 would for being cold due to the amazing engine. For $60,000 the M3 will have to offer few/no compromises.

One more thing - does anyone suspect the M3 might have a hard time outrunning a 335i in real-world conditions? The high strung V8s and V10s in the M5 and RS4 haven't exactly been too quick when their horsepower is taken into account. The 335i on the other hand is very quick for 300 horses in a medium-weight car. If the M3 can only run to 60 in 4.6 odd seconds, and is therefore only a couple of tenths below the 335i....well it better have a LOT more passion behind it for $15,000 in cost.

Low 12s is not quick for a 4000lb sedan? That's what yesterdays supercars were running (F50, Diablo, etc.)

The 335i is underrated, it is closer to 325-330hp and offers nearly the same acceleration numbers as the current generation M3. I would not be surprised if the E90/2 M3 gets low 4s and low 12s, which is a healthy dose of quickness for that car. Of course it will have to dance through the corners even better than the current generation. 15k more than the 335i is a bargain. However the 335i at nearly 50k is not.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: exdeath
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>
Meh, people complained at every stage of the evolution.

The E30 people cried when the 4 was replaced by the straight 6. I'm sure the whining will continue well past this v8.</end quote></div>

Now that mainstream BMW has a 'gas guzzler' V8, the euro-peons have no room to talk about our 'gas guzzlers' anymore.

Oh, I'm sure they'll cry about something. 🙂 Displacement, or something equally stupid, perhaps.

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: mariok2006

Low 12s is not quick for a 4000lb sedan? That's what yesterdays supercars were running (F50, Diablo, etc.)

The 335i is underrated, it is closer to 325-330hp and offers nearly the same acceleration numbers as the current generation M3. I would not be surprised if the E90/2 M3 gets low 4s and low 12s, which is a healthy dose of quickness for that car. Of course it will have to dance through the corners even better than the current generation. 15k more than the 335i is a bargain. However the 335i at nearly 50k is not.

I agree the M5 is quick in overall terms, but not compared to the E63. The horsepower is almost identical, but the Mercedes is quite a bit quicker every time I've seen them compared.

I also agree the 335i is probably underrated, which is what worries me. It is by no means guaranteed that a 330hp 335i with a near-perfect torque-curve will be significantly slower than a peaky M3. To me, the M3 is NOT anywhere close to a bargian over the 335i unless it easily outperforms it in every respect.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: Sunrise089
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mariok2006

Low 12s is not quick for a 4000lb sedan? That's what yesterdays supercars were running (F50, Diablo, etc.)

The 335i is underrated, it is closer to 325-330hp and offers nearly the same acceleration numbers as the current generation M3. I would not be surprised if the E90/2 M3 gets low 4s and low 12s, which is a healthy dose of quickness for that car. Of course it will have to dance through the corners even better than the current generation. 15k more than the 335i is a bargain. However the 335i at nearly 50k is not.</end quote></div>
I agree the M5 is quick in overall terms, but not compared to the E63. The horsepower is almost identical, but the Mercedes is quite a bit quicker every time I've seen them compared.

I also agree the 335i is probably underrated, which is what worries me. It is by no means guaranteed that a 330hp 335i with a near-perfect torque-curve will be significantly slower than a peaky M3. To me, the M3 is NOT anywhere close to a bargian over the 335i unless it easily outperforms it in every respect.

Of course it will, that is what an M model does, it is the better performing variant.

I agree, the E63 seems to be quicker than the M5. I think that is due to the tricky nature of launching the M5, it does have a higher trap speed though.

Here is a nice comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF7z1nABPd4

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Sunrise089
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mariok2006

Low 12s is not quick for a 4000lb sedan? That's what yesterdays supercars were running (F50, Diablo, etc.)

The 335i is underrated, it is closer to 325-330hp and offers nearly the same acceleration numbers as the current generation M3. I would not be surprised if the E90/2 M3 gets low 4s and low 12s, which is a healthy dose of quickness for that car. Of course it will have to dance through the corners even better than the current generation. 15k more than the 335i is a bargain. However the 335i at nearly 50k is not.</end quote></div>
I agree the M5 is quick in overall terms, but not compared to the E63. The horsepower is almost identical, but the Mercedes is quite a bit quicker every time I've seen them compared.

I also agree the 335i is probably underrated, which is what worries me. It is by no means guaranteed that a 330hp 335i with a near-perfect torque-curve will be significantly slower than a peaky M3. To me, the M3 is NOT anywhere close to a bargian over the 335i unless it easily outperforms it in every respect.

The Mercedes has a far superior engine with a much better torque curve. However, at high speeds, the BMW has better acceleration.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: iamwiz82
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: drnickriviera
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I do like what Edmunds is saying about the car's purity, but the E36 M3 will always be the car I wanted to have. The V8 of the new car kind of goes overboard for me...along with iDrive, active steering, blah, blah...</end quote></div>

My brother bought a E36 M3 a couple months ago. It's a nice well designed car, but BMW really cheaped out on the quality of the parts. Shocks and bushings 30-60k miles. Lots of the exterior rubber is nearly gone. Stereo is crap</end quote></div>

The newest E36 is almost 10 years old now. You are expecting rubber and plastic to last that long?</end quote></div>

It will if it's well taken care of and not ragged out.

No it won't ,rubber deteriorates over time when exposed to the elements (I'm talking suspension bushes here not dash etc) ,also the E36 has some badly designed rubber bushes (as do many other cars).The rear bushes on the front wishbones are pathetically weak (excl M3) as they have large voids & don't take long to rip through the rubber.I replaced mine with polyurethane ones which are far stronger ,however their damn noisey too so I'm gonna ditch them for the solid rubber ones as fitted to the M3.
Also the front bushes on the rear trailing arms are a bad design too ,the rubber bush becomes unbonded from the outter metal shell allowing the arms to go from side to side if left long enough ,giving lethal handling especially in the wet!.
Again I replaced them with polyurthane bushes ,no noise problems there though! 🙂
Having said all that ,despite my E36 being 10.5yrs the interior is still fine 🙂

Cobalt
Get the above mentioned bushes checked out 😉

Originally posted by: exdeath
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>
Meh, people complained at every stage of the evolution.

The E30 people cried when the 4 was replaced by the straight 6. I'm sure the whining will continue well past this v8.</end quote></div>

Now that mainstream BMW has a 'gas guzzler' V8, the euro-peons have no room to talk about our 'gas guzzlers' anymore.

Rubbish the ,the majority of our cars are not V8s ,where as I believe a lot of US cars are still V8s ,true?

Btw re making the M3 a 'gas guzzling' car ,well maybe but its not going to be the majority of 3 series models sold ,so minimal impact I'd say 😛😉