e39 M5 to e46 M3

[jgy6000]

Hi All,

I have had my Carbon Black e39 for a short while and i love the car to bits. But i have recently been looking at e46 M3's, more so the convertible. Im 25 and get the feeling th M5 is a bit too grown up for me im after something a bit more youthfull. Has anyone made the change from M5 to M3 and will i notice the power drop?

Hoping to get around £6000 for the M5 and then with an extra £3000 buy the M3

Thanks

J

[TrickyTrevM5]

Hi - interesting topic.

I have an e46 m3, and have owned it for a couple of years now. Its a great car, with a fantastic engine and engine note. before it, i had a silverstone blue e39 m5. I dont know whether you would be able to notice a difference between the e39 m5 and the e46 m3 in terms of off the line acceleration. The e46 m3 has lots of torque and weights considerably less than the m5, so the gap between the two is less extreme than the bare numbers suggest.

that said, i really want another e39 m5 and have been looking for a really clean one for a while now - the straight six is great but the v8 sound gets under your skin and i miss it - even after several years. thing is though, the e46 really shrinks around you and eggs you on when you are one a twisty road, which is cool, and as good as the m5 was, i dont remember quite the same feeling - more one of piloting a hot-rod... even so, i still want one...

so my advise would be - give one a try - you need to get the m3 into the top 2-3k rpms to really feel what the engine can deliver. its horse for course in the end.

good luck!

[ortontom]

i too did the swap and bought an E46 M3 CS, its great but i do miss the V8 and the better ride the E46 is sometimes too firm, hey im 40 and love a love handle..E39s were too old for me to do the miles i do..

[Reindeer]

Trev, how many miles has your M3 done? Any rust?
I may be looking at swapping my M5 for one.....Maybe...maybe.....maybe

[TrickyTrevM5]

Reindeer

I have sent you a couple of PM's (sorry)

Basically, it is always looked after by BMW in Stevenage - who kindly relieved me of 600 quid for new brakes yesterday (like the M5 they have a tendancy to warp).

Cheers

Trev

[nonuts]

Speed wise until significantly illegal speeds there is nothing in it from my point of view. However the torque curves are very different so depends if you have any issues with the much flatter torque curve on the e46, it can make it feel slower than it is.

[Patrick Bateman]

jgy6000 said:

Hi All,

I have had my Carbon Black e39 for a short while and i love the car to bits. But i have recently been looking at e46 M3's, more so the convertible. Im 25 and get the feeling th M5 is a bit too grown up for me im after something a bit more youthfull. Has anyone made the change from M5 to M3 and will i notice the power drop?

Hoping to get around £6000 for the M5 and then with an extra £3000 buy the M3

Thanks

J

I saw your ad on m5board.

Shame you're so far away.

[MikeHull]

jgy6000 said:

Hi All,

I have had my Carbon Black e39 for a short while and i love the car to bits. But i have recently been looking at e46 M3's, more so the convertible. Im 25 and get the feeling th M5 is a bit too grown up for me im after something a bit more youthfull. Has anyone made the change from M5 to M3 and will i notice the power drop?

Hoping to get around £6000 for the M5 and then with an extra £3000 buy the M3

Thanks

J

Damn, looks nice in the pics and a bargain at £6k! I'm in the market for an M5 at the moment. While West London is a trek, Im actually in North London next weekend. If you still have the car I may get in touch to view it.

Any chance you could PM me some more details when you have chance please?

Thanks.

[longfellow]

Reindeer said:

Trev, how many miles has your M3 done? Any rust?
I may be looking at swapping my M5 for one.....Maybe...maybe.....maybe

Slightly off topic but Reindeer, if you consider selling, I would be interested in hearing from you.
Thanks,

[Niffty951]

I understand this may not be the most popular post given the way the topic has run so far but I recently had an e46 m3 convertable and currently drive an e39 m5.

I personally could never go back to another m3 having now had the m5. I found it felt a bit lacking compared with other m's I've owned. The 3.2 engine superb and in my Z4mc it felt beautiful but the m3 (perhaps more so for being a convertable) just felt a bit too heavy for it.

I found the car a bit frustrating to drive, too nose heavy, slow to turn in to feel like a racer and too stiff/hard to relax in on a long drive.

The e36 was similarly hard to relax in but felt just focussed enough, responsive on the controls and throttle to keep a smile on my face.

The e39 I find to be more like the e46 dynamically but more responsive due to the extra torque and more relaxing due to the softer/quieter ride.

In ballance I couldn't make the move the other way

[jgy6000]

I have just been out in the M5 for its last proper hoon . I rarely drive it and sometimes i forget how great it actually is. The power delivery and the way it puts it down through the rear wheels is just fantastic!!! I have owned quite a few cars but this has got to be the BEST car for the money for such a great overall package. The new owner picks it up tomorrow and im sure he will look after it as well as i and all the previous owners have done.

Its just not the right time for me to own another M car so the M3 idea has been put on hold.

I will own another M5 thats for sure. Be it e39 again or e60 . My first M but not my last!!

[Niffty951]

I love last drives have a few good memories myself. If you are looking for an memorable drive on a budget I recommend looking at the Audi S3 (orignal).

They have v.comfortable interior/seats, cruise nicely, v.nippy and seem to be selling for pence at the moment. Also ludicrously economical if you fancy that refreshment after the m5 I remember trying to get max mpg out of mine once on s run. Was hoping to hit 40mpg but got almost 53 over 200 miles ish. I was driving super eco but still amazing from a car I had Dyno'd at 265hp.

[DVandrews]

Wifey has an A3 2.0t boosted to 260bhp, it's a hoot to drive, a real sleeper. Not as fast as the M5 but no slouch and the MPG is getting on for double..

Dave

[Naddy786]

Niffty951 said:

I found the car a bit frustrating to drive, too nose heavy, slow to turn in to feel like a racer and too stiff/hard to relax in on a long drive.

Really, really surprised to read that! Don't think I have ever heard or read an M3 being called nose heavy? (they have perfect 50/50 weight distribution!).

I have recently sold my M3 CS and it was without doubt the best car I have ever had. It lived for the bends! :-)

I also found it an amazing car on long drives. I did 5 hour stints in it without any issue whatsoever.

[Niffty951]

It is a matter of comparison, the e46 being worse than an e36 by no means makes it a bad car. In fact it's probably no worse than an e36 evo but the 3.0 I had was very keen to tuck the nose into a corner where the e46 felt reluctant to turn in. You had to actively dab the brakes on high speed to stop it feeling like it wanted to push on nose first.

The e39 has a similar feeling when turning tightly, for a mini roundabout or the like but the low down grunt means that the feeling can be instantly neutralised even at 1500-2000 rpm in 2nd by a quick stab of the big toe and hold on the throttle (barely detectable by the sound of the engine). It just feels like you have slightly more options than in the m3 where you'd have to be thrashing it at 4000rpm plus to have that kind of adjustability.

I imagine a CS against a convertable would also be chalk and cheese driven back to back. I've never even driven a hard top e46

[gaz1234]

i agree on the ride being hard, in fact harder and more uncomfortable than my nissan!

[RossShand]

My wife and I toured Europe (about 10k miles) last year in our M3 (e46). We spent 2 months on the road camping and hotelling. Initially thought M5 but mpg and 'big old mans car' image put me off. Plus I always wanted an m3 :-)
Ride is fine even on 19s
I've driven many cars over the years and still struggle to think of a car that's such a good all rounder...love it.