BMW E46 M3, what is it to you, iconic, overrated, epic etc.?
Discussion
Never driven one but every time i see one and realise that it's not just a cooking E46 3-Series, i do realise just how good they look. I do spot a nice silver one when going through an industrial estate on my daily commute. He puts his foot down and gets the back end out on the exact same corner every time. Sounds fantastic!
culpz said:
Never driven one but every time i see one and realise that it's not just a cooking E46 3-Series, i do realise just how good they look. I do spot a nice silver one when going through an industrial estate on my daily commute. He puts his foot down and gets the back end out on the exact same corner every time. Sounds fantastic!
Get one Icon especially in silver a good old Beemer colour lol323ti said:
Owned one with smg gearbox for nearly two years.
I thought it felt heavy, numb, soft and unstoppable. Meaning utterly sh*te brakes.
It needed a small fortune spent on suspension and brakes to be able to last a few laps on track.
M stands for Meaningless to me ever since. Motorsport is something else entirely.
The amounts of body-roll and dive when pushing a bit were almost comical.
Terrible seats without any lateral support, steering without any feel...
To me it felt like a somewhat sporty BMW for the elderly bloke with a hint of a midlife crisis.
My midlife crisis would have been much more enjoyable if I'd just spent the cash on some fit bird.
Sounds like you bought the wrong car for your needs.I thought it felt heavy, numb, soft and unstoppable. Meaning utterly sh*te brakes.
It needed a small fortune spent on suspension and brakes to be able to last a few laps on track.
M stands for Meaningless to me ever since. Motorsport is something else entirely.
The amounts of body-roll and dive when pushing a bit were almost comical.
Terrible seats without any lateral support, steering without any feel...
To me it felt like a somewhat sporty BMW for the elderly bloke with a hint of a midlife crisis.
My midlife crisis would have been much more enjoyable if I'd just spent the cash on some fit bird.
Limousine and hookers next time?
Gooly said:
mwstewart said:
Great cars but like the majority with family saloon origins tuned to be a sports orientated GT,they can feel underwhelming at first, but reward more and more over an extended ownership period.
I think they are excellent bits of kit and can cover ground at an incredible rate of knots given what they are. The engine is special.
This sums it up well IMO. If you take one out on a first drive, particularly if youre used to ground-up sports cars then they do feel underwhelming; surprisingly lifeless (and quite slow) steering, pretty heavy, inert handling, rubbery gearshift like all BMWs, etc. I think they are excellent bits of kit and can cover ground at an incredible rate of knots given what they are. The engine is special.
However as a day to day car there are few better ways to cover lots of ground very quickly in comfort whilst carrying your shopping, luggage, passengers etc. The issue with the E46 M3 is that people present them as special, weekend-car type sports cars and ultimate drivers cars etc which they 100% arent imo (or at least when standard). The M3 will always be a very quick and very capable family saloon car, which is the beauty of it; aside from having one of the (IMO) best engines ever made, the rest of the car really doesn't feel that special.
IMO, at least for what I feel a sports car should feel like, an M3 needs coilovers, brakes that aren't completely pathetic (single pot brakes on a 330bhp car... really?), square wheel setup, shorter shifter, light flywheel and a shorter diff ratio in order to feel lively and playful. With those mods they are absolutely ballistic imo, if still a touch heavy (especially convertibles with their 1700kg curb weight)
I opted for a 6-speed V8 E34 540i in the end, a very different driving experience but surprisingly similar pace with the right mods but I would happily own an E46 M3 with the above mods as well.
Edited by Gooly on Tuesday 3rd April 14:30
I bought an E36 328i instead and will chuck £5k+ at that to make, what is for me, a more exciting and interesting car (though it is still the everyday car as opposed to a weekend fub machine). Not to mention quite a bit lighter than a standard M3.
Gooly said:
The issue with the E46 M3 is that people present them as special, weekend-car type sports cars and ultimate drivers cars etc which they 100% arent imo
IMO, at least for what I feel a sports car should feel like, an M3 needs coilovers, brakes that aren't completely pathetic (single pot brakes on a 330bhp car... really?), square wheel setup, shorter shifter, light flywheel and a shorter diff ratio in order to feel lively and playful. With those mods they are absolutely ballistic imo,
Some of which I'd have done had I bought one as a weekend car. Plenty of "imo" in your post, seemingly without you ever running one.IMO, at least for what I feel a sports car should feel like, an M3 needs coilovers, brakes that aren't completely pathetic (single pot brakes on a 330bhp car... really?), square wheel setup, shorter shifter, light flywheel and a shorter diff ratio in order to feel lively and playful. With those mods they are absolutely ballistic imo,
popeyewhite said:
Ultimately disappointing. Looks terrific, poor in the wet, no torque, quite slow.
"Quite slow"? Compared to what?Mine didn't feel slow, granted I've had much quicker cars since but quite slow was not the impression it left on me.
Lovely cars, getting on now of course but still look better than a lot of what BMW have put out since imo.
popeyewhite said:
A Subaru STiVII I also owned at the time. It actually had less bhp and made the E46's performance seem slightly shameful - for an M car.
I was only used to a slightly modified 200sx when I had a go in one and it left me flat aswell. The kerbweight of the M3 and the fact they only come alive at very high revs I think didn't help. Plus you tend to have very high expectations because everyone raves about them, so that also helps to lead to the disappointment.
cerb4.5lee said:
I was only used to a slightly modified 200sx when I had a go in one and it left me flat aswell. The kerbweight of the M3 and the fact they only come alive at very high revs I think didn't help.
Much like the S14, the S52 is a high revving engine and designed to be worked hard. People used to criticise the S14 for displaying the same characteristics and called the E30 M3 slow. It actually came down to the fact they simply weren't driving it as you need to. I'm not saying that to offend. I know of E30 M3 owners who never even came close to using the full potential of their car because they drove it like a 325i.cerb4.5lee said:
I thought it felt slow compared to my TVR, but if I'd had the cars you've had I'd be describing it as a milkfloat! 
It's all relative of course, I think the 0 - 100 mph of my M3 was about 12 seconds, my current car will hit that in about 5.1 but that doesn't mean I would find the M3 slow. It all depends on what you're doing at the time and probably what mood you're in!I would always recommend the E46 M3, it was a brilliant car that could do everything well and had real road presence. Probably a struggle to find a really good one now, I never seem to see the Phoenix Yellow ones any more and they were everywhere back in the day. Mine was Laguna Seca Blue, inside and out, a fabulous thing.
The stats disease will always eat me up though, I remember the CSL coming out and it drove me mad that it was a fraction quicker!
Gassing Station | M Power | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff