RE: BMW M3 farewell diary

[anniesdad]

The cars colour is Space Grey, same as mine. I've got the 18" wheels on mine same ones as the Palmersport car non-EDC, with-DCT it's a hoot.

[Zwolf]

NORTS said:

Where are you getting these stats from? Brochure states 1580Kg for the Coupe.

http://www.carfolio.com/

[Lasitha]

It is quite hefty. I weighed my coupe and with a full tank, without me inside it weighed 1640kg.

It has some extras lije heated seats, PDC front and rear etc. This is an 07 car, manual.

[NORTS]

Agreed but my point is people are cheering that the M4 is going to be light but if you look at the BMW quoted figures for both and it will only be about 40kg lighter than the E92. Not disputing the M4 will be faster etc. but I don't think it being 'light' is going to be its big selling point.

[isherdholi]

anniesdad said:

The cars colour is Space Grey, same as mine. I've got the 18" wheels on mine same ones as the Palmersport car non-EDC, with-DCT it's a hoot.

No mate, the car featured here is Stratus Grey. It is very similar to Space Grey though. (Mine is Space Grey too - the best colour )

The giveaway is the black bits (wheels, exhaust tips, etc) which means its a limited edition. Stratus Grey was one such limited edition colour,

[cerb4.5lee]

Enjoyed watching the vid at Bedford & I bet it is nice to enjoy the M3 in that environment...rather than people giving me funny looks when I had mine sliding it out of junctions!

I really wanted mine with a manual but I do agree totally that its suits the DCT far better & it did look great fun on that track!

[anniesdad]

isherdholi said:

No mate, the car featured here is Stratus Grey. It is very similar to Space Grey though. (Mine is Space Grey too - the best colour )

The giveaway is the black bits (wheels, exhaust tips, etc) which means its a limited edition. Stratus Grey was one such limited edition colour,

You learn something new every day. I can see the darker wheels, but thought that was just a colour option available to spec. on any car, but not the tips maybe I should have gone to specsavers!

[Patrick Bateman]

isherdholi said:

No mate, the car featured here is Stratus Grey. It is very similar to Space Grey though. (Mine is Space Grey too - the best colour )

The giveaway is the black bits (wheels, exhaust tips, etc) which means its a limited edition. Stratus Grey was one such limited edition colour,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU-xizOuod4

[mlhj83]

ratty6464 said:

mlhj83 said:

Enjoying mine every bit:

Bedford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESkHt_UpAjE

Blyton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG1KRLU3Rxg

Silverstone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm_rp6MHNj4

Alpine Adventure:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8941...

Norway:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150440...

Isle of Man:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76338312@N06/sets/721...

Wales:
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74...

Edited by mlhj83 on Tuesday 28th January 18:11

Do you rate the bmw pads? How much do they cost for a set?

Yes, they were brilliant, had them for about 10k miles and about 7 track days. Good cold bite and modulation. Downsides are that they are noisy (expected) and cost over £700. Sold them not too long ago as I wanted a proper race pad.

I've now got PFC 08 and have been flawless in terms of performance and thermal capacity. 20-30 mins of full on hot laps at Bedford GT circuit and Anglesey with no fade and a consistently firm pedal.

That said, brake fluid makes the most difference in the standard setup for heavy use. I went through a couple of flushes of OEM fluid, and then a couple of flushes of Castrol React Performance and now I'm running SRF which has been rock solid.

OEM discs have been bullet proof and finally wore them down to minimum thickness after 40k miles and more than 10 track days. Have also change the caliper piston dust seals/boot once as well (at 40k miles) as they disintegrated from heat.

Also, I swap between OEM standard pads and PFC 08s, depending on what driving I'm going to do.

Anglesey vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvC6WH3yTpI

Edited by mlhj83 on Thursday 30th January 21:08

[Schermerhorn]

If you put those M3 GTS/CSL style wheels on that grey M3 instead of the standard 19" ones that have been painted black, your car would look awesome.

[krallicious]

I did the same with my old car. Fluid change to SFR, OEM discs and BMW Perforance pads and it worked very well. Still miss mine a lot and I doubt I will ever use a better engine again.

[BBS-LM]

Dam, i forgot how desperate that M3 GTS looked.

[cerb4.5lee]

You are giving it a really good send off Dan

I wasn't really that keen on the GTS at first but I had a browse around a couple of them when Soper Lincoln & Astle Scunny both had one in & I warmed to them very much...they don't come cheap though!

[Wills2]

Schermerhorn said:

If you put those M3 GTS/CSL style wheels on that grey M3 instead of the standard 19" ones that have been painted black, your car would look awesome.

Yep the car needs the CP pack.

[161BMW]

Loving this send-off piece.

Stunning photographs
Great videos

Out of interest why is the E92 M3 GTS not called the E92 M3 CSL .... i dont understand .... so what is the requirements for a BMW M to have CSL nomoclenture or GTS nomoclenture :-)?

[epom]

Would love one.... shame the GTS has a real spolier

[Dagnut]

Best M3 for me. The weight criticism is unfair as M3's have never been light in comparison with the rest of the range, bar the E30.
Of all the M3's, is the one the sits at the pinnacle of the range better than the rest.

You get a V8, an extra 150bhp over the next N/A car down the range for a weight plenty of only 80kg..that's not a lot...anyone who says they can notice the extra weight of this car over a 335i or 330i is talking b0llox..and that's the point..its lighter than it's peers from Audi and Mercedes and relatively speaking it's lighter than cars in the same range.

[Wills2]

Neither was the e30 M3, all M3s have been heavier than the standard range with IIRC only the e46 CSL the exception that proves that rule.

[LoonR1]

Dagnut said:

Best M3 for me. The weight criticism is unfair as M3's have never been light in comparison with the rest of the range, bar the E30.
Of all the M3's, is the one the sits at the pinnacle of the range better than the rest.

You get a V8, an extra 150bhp over the next N/A car down the range for a weight plenty of only 80kg..that's not a lot...anyone who says they can notice the extra weight of this car over a 335i or 330i is talking b0llox..and that's the point..its lighter than it's peers from Audi and Mercedes and relatively speaking it's lighter than cars in the same range.

No no no no no.

PH is populated by driving gods who can feel the effect a small stone wedged in the tread of the left rear can have on the car. Obviously this would make the car undrivable due to upsetting the balance, as they drive along at the absolute limit.

I'm amazed how many people have owned one of these who feel they should comment, or maybe they haven't and their whole knowledge is based on what was written by a journalist a few years ago.

Edited by LoonR1 on Friday 31st January 19:23

[mlhj83]

I honestly do not think the weight of the E9x M3 is as big an issue as many make it out to be.

Firstly, it should be noted that it is actually the lightest 4 seater performance car in the current generation of competitors in it's class.

Secondly, it is balanced, has a low centre of gravity, and a low polar moment of inertia.

Thirdly, M have engineered the chassis to account for its mass.

As you can see from my previous post about all the travels and track days I've done, the car is extremely agile for the dimension that it is, and one has to be careful about changing direction too quickly, as oversteer is far more likely, given the quickness of the steering changes. The car is setup to understeer slightly once the car has already settled into a corner (mid corner understeer), but not on corner entry, which makes for fast direction changes.

A better objective view on the M3's chassis being well engineered for the weight, is to look at how well the Ring Taxis move around the track despite carrying 4 people.

Sure, a lighter car is almost always better, but a properly designed chassis is far more important.