E92 M3 first impressions
Discussion
Took delivery of this yesterday. Photo taken with my phone so not very good quality.
Loads of buttons and settings, it will take me a while to get things set up.
I am not sure I like the "soft" throttle settings, e.g. the power button off. It seems to make the car harder to drive smoothly, although that may be because I'm coming from a Porsche with a sporty throttle. I can't do heel+toe with the power button off either.
Steering seems to get lighter at slower speeds; which is counter-intuitive to me. I assume this is some kind of dynamic thing to make the parking easier, and will try and turn it off.
I was really pleased with the gear change, much better than I was expecting. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't like the girth of the steering wheel rim either, but I had forgotten about it within a few miles.
The power dome is very visible from the driver's seat even when the seat is set quite low. In white the car seems to attract a fair amount of intention, it's very obviously different from a standard 3-series.
The traction control has three settings, on, off and MDM. With it on, you get the usual fun-killing effect, off is off obviously. With MDM, it seems to let you get a very small amount of slip angle. I am trying to work out how to make MDM my default setting and off the setting that gets activated when I press the M button.
All in all a good first 24 hours. Looking forward to being able to rev past 5500rpm when it's run in. I think the next week will be spent reading the manual and getting a feel for what settings suit me best - first time I've ever had to adjust more than the seat position and mirrors in a car.
Loads of buttons and settings, it will take me a while to get things set up.
I am not sure I like the "soft" throttle settings, e.g. the power button off. It seems to make the car harder to drive smoothly, although that may be because I'm coming from a Porsche with a sporty throttle. I can't do heel+toe with the power button off either.
Steering seems to get lighter at slower speeds; which is counter-intuitive to me. I assume this is some kind of dynamic thing to make the parking easier, and will try and turn it off.
I was really pleased with the gear change, much better than I was expecting. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't like the girth of the steering wheel rim either, but I had forgotten about it within a few miles.
The power dome is very visible from the driver's seat even when the seat is set quite low. In white the car seems to attract a fair amount of intention, it's very obviously different from a standard 3-series.
The traction control has three settings, on, off and MDM. With it on, you get the usual fun-killing effect, off is off obviously. With MDM, it seems to let you get a very small amount of slip angle. I am trying to work out how to make MDM my default setting and off the setting that gets activated when I press the M button.
All in all a good first 24 hours. Looking forward to being able to rev past 5500rpm when it's run in. I think the next week will be spent reading the manual and getting a feel for what settings suit me best - first time I've ever had to adjust more than the seat position and mirrors in a car.
Boulder said:
The 18's definately look better than the 19 option.
The car sits better and the smoked finish is nicer.
Great choice
Yeah, I was a bit worried that the 18s wouldn't fill the arches and the car would look wrong with them on. The grey finish on them was a nice surprise.The car sits better and the smoked finish is nicer.
Great choice
I've noticed that the steering weights up quite heavily (I think) as you close in on maximum lock.
I agree the 19s look slightly better. However I also take edb49's point re handling/ride being important. On the E46 the 18s had the edge here - although the 19s offered slightly more outright GRIP (as opposed to better ride/handling) on a smooth road. However, BMW engineers have stated this time round that the 19s will not corrupt ride/handling (which begs the question why aren't they standard?). I'm going to back to back my 19" shod car with a car on 18s on both road and track in a few weeks and will let you know how we get on. Personally I think any differences will be so small as to mean the choice will really be down to which look you prefer.
Edited by Pugsey on Monday 5th November 08:33
Edited by Pugsey on Monday 5th November 08:34
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