E92 M3 Competition Pack

[RS Grant]

SiT said:

That was a great little read thanks Grant, although it's not helped me quell my urge to buy one - in talks with an owner already......

Could you let me have you address and phone number so I can pass it to my wife if no sorry when I buy one!!!!!

Si

MikeGoodwin said:

Can I also have it please Grant since it was your car that also forced me to buy one...

SiT wait till you hear the v8 scream. Make sure you Get the spec you want. The condition you want. With the mods you want. Could take you a while to find the one you want.

Hahaha, I've got big enough shoulders to carry that burden lads. But I'll practice my best 'I'm sorry' face just in case they get past my (now heavily secured!) front door.. which will be tough, given that I'm not sorry at all and love how I'm silently influencing these purchases!!

[RS Grant]

Jez m said:

I'm with you on that, also mid 30's and have left my day's of droning exhausts behind me now! Can't be dealing with that noise. I'm looking at the de-cat pipe from Evolve. https://www.evolveautomotive.com/evolve-cat-delete... Seems like a good compromise in terms of releasing power and not creating an over the top noise from the full on X-pipe replacement.

DCT map is definitely getting done soon, if anything just to improve the Auto mode as on full attack M mode i can't imagine how it could be any faster changing gears!

Need to start a readers car thread on mine, just gave it a clean and wax!

Your car looks great Jez, it inspired me to get mine booked into my detailer to clean it up and give me a good base to work with!!

I've looked at the Evolve Test Pipes as well, although it requires a remap as well so until I start to get a used/bored of the power in the standard car then I don't want to bump things up any further.. that way I'll be able to really appreciate the difference that the test pipes and remap seem make according to the Evolve website and reviews that I've seen on them.

[RS Grant]

alec.e said:

Spotted today on M74 between Glasgow and Lockerbie, I was in the Transit who gave you a thumbs up.
Looked awesome on the road.

Thanks Alec, I was on my way down to Preston at the time and I had a few waves and flashes over the past few days.. surprising because to many (including my girlfriend!) it's just a grey BMW 3-series! But that's part of the appeal to me, the M3-specific stuff is quite subtle so it'll fly under the radar of those who don't know what they're looking at... but those who know will spot it instantly.

[RS Grant]

cerb4.5lee said:

With hindsight it wasn't the M3's fault and I just had far too high expectations of it, and I unfairly compared it to my Cerbera because they both were V8's/Manual/RWD with a LSD.

I've realised now that you can't get much/If anything to match the thrill a Cerbera gives you. Although I did really enjoy the M3 at crazy speeds and it was really good at going sideways!

The M3 just felt so ordinary day to day to me(that's its plus point in fairness), whereas in the Cerbera if you were doing 30 or 130 you still had a smile on your face. It was an event at any speed.

Yeah, on paper they may sound similar.. but they are poles apart in reality.

I'd LOVE to try a TVR however I'm not sure I have the amount of patience to deal with the wee niggles that come with ownership. My friend with the Cerbera also had a Tuscan at the same time and despite both leading pampered lives, they both threw up niggly little issues for him... in fact, on the drive we had in the countryside the speedo of the Cerbera just stopped working and it didn't phase him at all... 'oh, the speedo's stopped' was all he said?! I'd have pulled over to try and investigate and/or got annoyed that it had broken something and interrupted my countryside drive!!

The M3 is a much easier beast to control when you get the rear sliding, from what I've seen of how twitchy a TVR can be.. another friend had a Tuscan and one day I was following him through town in a 40mph limit, it was damp but not raining, he accelerated off a roundabout at a normal rate but the rear of the car just went and he ended up facing me?!! Don't get me wrong it's great fun reminding him of that, but I'm not sure I have enough spare pairs of boxer shorts to have a car which can do that myself!!

[RS Grant]

cerb4.5lee said:

Yes and my Cerbera was an absolute pain in the backside to live with and it was only my toy so I mainly used it at weekends. You just can't rely on them as a daily(full stop!).

I used it occasionally for work and I always remember it being wet once and I only lightly used the throttle and it just stepped out for no reason...it always kept you on your toes!

I loved the chassis on the M3 and I found it predictable and great fun to slide at low speeds(I'm not talented enough at high speeds!).

I really appreciate chatting to you about the two cars and you appreciating both sides. Usually I get absolutely blasted for having a view on the M3. Yours is a total stunner.

Ditto with the high speed slides.. I'm a long way from a drift god myself, which is partially why (living in Scotland!) a car which can spit the back out like a TVR may not be the way for me to go!!

Thanks Lee, I appreciate talking to anybody about any kind of car really; I try to be realistic and refrain from being a fanboy for one thing or the other, regardless of how much I may like a car.

I think it's tough for some people to hear that their car (or a car they really enjoyed owning previously) has flaws or hasn't been as well received by others as it has/was by them. End of the day, I've been lucky enough to own a variety of cars and still haven't found a car which I would call perfect and that I didn't want to change in some way... perhaps that experience gives me a slightly broader mind about stuff, I don't know.

Also like we said, on paper, a Cerbera and E9* M3 appear to contain the same ingredients but in reality they go about their business in very different ways and are very different animals. Before I started working with Michael (my friend with Cerbera & Tuscan) I had read plenty on the net and watched videos/TV shows which showed that TVRs were clearly very quick cars... but even after talking to Michael at length about his TVRs, before we got to the point of going for a drive in his Cerbera, I still wasn't prepared for the experience; the brutality of the performance and the noise is something you will only get by experiencing it. Without that experience, I suppose it'd be easy for someone to look at the basic details (RWD, V8, LSD, etc) and call BS when they see somebody questioning the M3 engine/experience.

[RS Grant]

Prepare yourself for a slightly longer update here, it'll be a bit wordy and I'll break it up with some pictures..

You may remember that I posted above about buying some carbon mirror caps and at the same time buying some M Performance Front Grilles as well because I wasn't sure if the ones fitted to the car were OE BMW parts or not. Well, I finally got round to changing them over and the good news is that the original grilles were BMW parts, the new ones obviously look newer so they got fitted and I'll give the others a clean up and either keep them as spares or sell them on.

No big differences really, the new ones on the left and the original on the right:

Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr

After seeing one of the posts above by Jez showing his cleaned up and waxed Space Grey E92 M3, I felt like mine could use some professional help to bring it up to the best standard possible so I could then just add layers of protection on top of it as I went. I booked it in with a local guy who I have been following and have been impressed with his portfolio, even so, this was the first time I'd used him so was obviously a little apprehensive about leaving my P&J with him. I need not have worried though, he's done a cracking job and the finish is amazing. It's actually pretty hard to capture in photographs, but here are a couple after I collected the car last week.

Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr

This next thing came out of the blue; when browsing the forums one night, I noticed a post from someone asking for an M3 Competition Pack to use in an upcoming magazine article. So I sent an email off and waited to hear back, assuming that the person would be swamped with offers because, well, why wouldn't you want to see your car in a magazine?! ...anyway, I assumed that I'd get the 'thanks but I've got something sorted' type reply and that they would just go for the closest/easiest option available, bearing in mind that I live an hour or so north of Edinburgh and they were based in Lancashire.

Anyway, I got a reply saying that because my car was that bit different to the norm and hadn't been played around with, that they'd really like to use it in their upcoming feature between a new F82 M4 Competition Pack and an E92 M3 Competition Pack. I couldn't believe it, to say I was excited would be a massive understatement!!

So I booked some accomodation near Preston for the overnight before meeting the BMW CAR magazine guys and some accomodation in the Lake District for the overnight after we were done.. cunningly turning it into a 'weekend away' for me and my girlfriend, which went down well; until she realised that I'd be leaving her in the hotel first thing on Saturday to go away and do car things for a few hours. Oops, I may have forgotten to mention that to her initially

Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr

...and a wee teaser shot which I got sent from the BMW CAR guys:

Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr

It was a great wee break away and I really enjoyed meeting the guys from the magazine. It was nice to talk to people who were just as enthusastic about my car/cars in general as I am, which is certainly getting rarer these days. Here was the final fill-up of the trip, three visits in three days and to be honest it was better on fuel than I had expected it to be, averaging ~23mpg over the trip.

Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr

On the way home, I stopped at Gleneagles Golf Club to recreate a photo I took almost exactly 5 years ago when I was out for a run in my dearly departed E46 M3:

Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant Farnan, on Flickr

All in all, the past couple of weeks or so have been brilliant. I've really enjoyed driving the M3 for an extended period and look forward to seeing the other photographs and write up/verdict when the magazine arrives; which should hopefully be done and dusted in time for this months issue... so keep your eyes out for it appearing in the shop.

[RS Grant]

Been a bit of a delay updating, didn't want to post the feature up while the magazine was sitting in the shops for obvious reasons!!

I had also asked to get the actual images from the magazine feature, however they've not appeared. They may have been sent on a USB along with the couple of copies of the magazine which I got and some little b*stard at Royal Mail may have decided to liberate the USB from the envelope before they arrived with me, or the small drag/hole could be innocent and have happened when it was put into the letterbox; who knows, but I do now regret not taking many/any decent shots of the cars myself during the day though.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Anyway, I've scanned the feature below...

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Feature Page 1 by Grant F, on Flickr
Feature Page 2 by Grant F, on Flickr
Feature Page 3 by Grant F, on Flickr
Feature Page 4 by Grant F, on Flickr
Feature Page 5 by Grant F, on Flickr

Really well written feature which mirrors my feelings and opinions of the cars perfectly.

There's no denying that the F8* tech, brakes, real-world performance are all way ahead of the E9* cars; but they just feel a bit like a (very) fast BMW 3/4-series to me. As I've said many times, a big reason I went for my E92 was 'that' engine which is the USP/focal piece of the car, a V8 spinning to 8000+rpm is quite something. In comparison the engine in the F8* cars sound crap in my opinion (actually sounding broken/like your exhaust has been stolen on cold start) and you can put any exhaust you want on them and it doesn't change that fact either... but add an exhaust to an E9* car and it only enhances the experience and occasion of that V8 further.

In other news, there's been a lot of chat recently about E9* cars needing recalls for cables and being a later built car; I thought that my car had managed to swerve these... but unfortunately/fortunately it's one of the cars which requires the second recall about the blower/heater wire. So it's booked into the local dealership to have that work done at the start of next month.

The car was also subject to vandalism the other night:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

The local birds have clearly taken a dislike to something which I have said or done, this was the result of a single night of bombing.

Apart from that, the car has done very little apart from the odd drive out to stretch its legs and put a smile on my face!! Over the past couple of weeks I've been thinking about whether I should switch the car out for a 1M, which is a car I've coveted heavily since it's launch... but unsure whether I could let the E92 go, given it's very unlikely that I'd find another one with a good spec and manual gearbox if I decided that (looks aside) the 1M wasn't quite as special as the M3.

At the same time, I have been researching and deciding on which way to go on some uprated front brakes for the M3 because the standard stuff isn't really up to the job and while I don't want to track the car or drive it crazy hard, I don't want to ruin the standard set up... plus I'm a bit of a tart and big multi-pot calipers will look much nicer tucked in behind the wheels!

Edited by RS Grant on Monday 18th June 12:59

[RS Grant]

Terzo123 said:

Lovely car.

I saw the advert for your car when it was for sale last year. It was about that time when I was humming and hawing about buying one. I did think about going to see the car and then, it was sold.

Well your post kicked me intò gear, although things didn't quite go to plan as I ended up in a C63.

Cheers, it seems I beat a few folk to the punch with this car... C63 isn't a bad place to end up though, they sound like thunder and go very well indeed. If it wasn't for my dislike of auto-boxes then I may well have gone down that road too.

[RS Grant]

MikeGoodwin said:

Awesome Grant. I'll grab a copy and have a read

I assume that the feature goes some way to mirror your thoughts about an E9* M3 as well Mike? It's not as accessible as the newer car and as such in the real world as a daily, nowhere near as quick as you may expect or experience with a punchy turbo powered car.

Jez m said:

Thanks for sharing the magazine article.. a great read! Your car looks superb in the photos.

There is an E92 M3 feature in Modern Classics magazine which i haven't read yet, but is supposed to be a good one!

Cheers Jez.. that feature sounds like a good one. I've been trying like a bear to get hold of a copy of the Modern Classics magazine but so far have turned up nothing; which includes going to my 'go-to' source of WHSmiths?! So it's looking like I'll have to investigate ordering a back copy directly.

[RS Grant]

teddosan said:

RS Grant said:

After two and a half years with my Golf R ( https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...) which I absolutely loved, it surprised me on so many different levels, I've never really been a 'VAG fan boy' but I don't have a burning hatred for them like a lot of people on here seem to have!! ...if you haven't driven one properly, which I understand is difficult on a 10-15 minute test drive, then I urge you to try and get hold of one for longer and drive it on some interesting roads because they really do show their worth the harder you drive them; until that point they feel very VAG-like and plain IMO.

Just stumbled upon this thread, and it is a great read, with great photos. I have just got rid of my Golf R, that I absolutely adored. Completely stock, manual, absolutely brilliant. Sold it cos I got followed one to many times by scrotes on mopeds, and didn't want to put my kids at risk.

So I'm now looking at M3s. F80s and E90s. I'm genuinely torn which way to go... The low down torque shove that I loved in my Golf is definitely there in the F80, but the theatre of the V8 in the E92 is also attractive. The amount of financial pain I'd take in the F80 in terms of interest and depreciation also scares me a little, but then I think that maybe life is too short and I should go for it. But then... that V8.

After a few months of ownership is there anything (apart from the Adaptive Lights, obvs) that you miss about your R compared to the M3? I NEED HELP!

Apologies for the delay replying to you.

Funny you should mention this, my mum has just put a deposit down on her F80 M3 replacement and she has gone for a new MK7.5 Golf R. It's not a decision which she has taken lightly because she loves her M3, but after nearly 3 years and 18k miles... it's time for a change and after a house move out to the sticks at the tail end of last year, the addition of '4WD' is something which will help give her a bit more confidence when the bitterly cold and icy roads arrive again.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

In regards to my Golf R and my E92... after living with the M3 for a while, there are a couple of things which I'd say that I occasionally miss/think about:

- Seating position: while it's not HIGH in the M3, it's not anywhere near as low as it was in the MK7R.. something which I was reminded of after test driving Golfs with my mum recently; I think you can sit really low (for a standard mass produced road car) in the Golf.

- Mid range power/punch: again, it's not an issue if you have the ability to use your paddles/gearstick and select the correct gear in the M3; which given my car is a weekend/fair weather warrior is something I really enjoy... but should it be a daily driver, it may grate on your nerves after a little while. It's a high revving car, so despite the 4.0 V8 headline, do not expect it to be a big meaty muscle car... you'll find the real shove is located high up the rev range at 5k+, in contrast, the MK7R used to get going once the turbo spooled up anywhere above 2-2.5k rpm and run out of puff around 6-6.5k.

- Adaptive headlights: I notice the lack of these occasionally when driving quickly at night, but I don't ever find it frustrating or annoying.

Apart from those things, I really am struggling to think about what else I miss about my Golf. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy my Golf, because I absolutely loved that car and would have another one in a heartbeat... although it'd probably be an estate version alongside the M3, but not instead of the M3. The BMW gets a LOT of compliments about the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way it goes. The tech might not be up to the cutting edge of the newer stuff but it's perfectly good for me; USB, BT Audio, Sat Nav, DAB, HDD for music, xenons, climate... I'd definitely have specced it slightly differently if I'd been ordering it new, but given that I was 7 years too late for that and my choice was massively limited because of my manual gearbox requirement; I had to make some compromises, but even so my car still has everything I need.


Having had access to my mums F80 LCI for the past three years, I'll do a brief comparison between her F80 and my E92 for you:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Engine & Performance:

I've mentioned above, the E92 is a high revving engine so it needs revved right out to make the best progress.. even so, I'm unsure whether it'd pull a meaningful distance from my old Golf R in a flat out drag race, possibly over 100-120mph but that's a rare occurance... certainly in the UK!!

The F80 actually feels completely different to the E92; to be honest at points, I've felt like it is almost too powerful for a UK backroad.. god knows what some of the cars which have been modified to 500bhp or more feel like?!! I can only assume that their owners are considerably more talented behind the wheel than I am or don't drive on the kind of roads which I use when out for a blast in the car.

If you are used to the Golf mid range and are planning to use the car as a daily driver, you may want to try and find an E92 which you can test for a decent length of time; focusing on testing out the flexibility in the mid range, because it may not be for you. Rev it out to 8000rpm+ and you'll enjoy it, I'm absolutely certain of that, but the gearing is quite long so revving out 2nd sees you around the motorway limit and 3rd can put your licence at risk... where as, sit at 2000-2500rpm in 2nd or 3rd in an F80 and you'll access the flexible powerband much more quickly and therefore make quicker progress/dispatch overtakes more easily.

I'd like to see what a flat out drag between the two cars would result in, but finding an appropriate place and suitable pilot for my car or the F80 isn't really something which I can see happening so may just have to leave that as one of lifes mysteries.

One area where the E92 absolutely destroys the F80 is on engine noise, both induction and exhaust. The F80 sounds absoutely horrible on cold start, like someone has stolen your exhaust overnight.. once warm the exhaust sounds 'ok' but a bit farty, although I think there is some synthetic jiggerypokery piped through the speakers so when really going for it, you do get a good induction howl inside the car.
The E92 V8 sounds great on cold start, settles to a quiet burble and when opened up it plays a fantastic V8 tune for you... the induction howl is authentic and lovely too, not a great deal extra which you can do to improve it, but it's so good as standard that it doesn't really matter about aftermarket options... but slip an aftermarket exhaust or modified standard exhaust on the car and the noise really comes alive in the E9* cars, whereas in the F8* cars it doesn't improve things at all for me.


Handling & Driving Experience:

The E92 and F80 are similar cars when it comes to handling, both being very good at stringing a section of Scottish B-road together at pace. But how they go about it and how alert you have to be if you are really going quickly and using all their available power is quite different. As I mention above, at times, the F80 can almost feel too quick to use 100% of the available power and torque... with the real factor being the huge slug of torque that you get when you mash your foot down and the turbos spool hard. I'm not a driving god, I'm not an idiot and I'm not keen on pushing the limits of grip/skill/luck on the road; but I don't like driving with the traction control on in any car, preferring to control the cars behaviour myself.. but there have been times where I have been forced to run with the traction control on in the F80 because it's extremely easy to find yourself controlling a wayward rear end after the torque has ignited the rear tyres without any hesitation; even in dry conditions.

In comparison, I have found that my E92 has to be really provoked to break traction (unless it's wet/damp/icy) even without the traction control on. Even under hard acceleration with traction control turned off, the car will load up the outside tyre but not let go.. even if you do exceed the limit of grip then it's very easy to control because the power delivery is so linear and smooth with no big spikes in torque or power at any point. I think this is probably why some people think that the car feels a little lacking in power/torque in the midrange, but glancing at the speedo usually confirms that you're pulling well... at least in my experience anyway.

At no point have I found that either car has ever threatened to understeer on me, both turning sharply with a really positive front end. As well as this, both cars are manual gearboxes and while the F80 gearchange is better... it's not worlds apart or considerably better than the E92. Having owned a manual E46 M3 previously, I'd say that the E92 gearchange was a bigger jump in quality from the E46 than the F80 was from the E92... I am still a firm believer that the manual gearbox (in either model) gives far greater control than the DCT option (regardless of how good it is!) does, especially in the F80 when the combination of the ferocious gearchange and huge midrange punch can mean that on WOT gearchanges the car can spin the rear wheels and ruin underwear at will.


Day To Day/Running Costs:

Neither car is going to be peanuts to run, the F80 has a service pack on it until 2020 so can't comment on service costs. There has been nothing which has gone wrong with the car in the ~3 years which we have had it and outside servicing, only been back for a rear brake shield recall. Over a very mixed bag of driving... mainly town/50mph limit dual carriageway stuff in the first two years or so and then in the past 6-9 months it's done more countryside 60mph limit/70mph dual carriageway stuff; it's showing 24.9mpg long term average on the OBC.

My E92 has been around since October last year and so far has had an EDC control unit, rear wheel bearing and ABS sensor done under warranty. Recently having the Heater Blower recall done on it too, but apart from that it's been good as gold for me. Long term average on the car for me has been 18.5mpg according to the OBC, which I don't think is too bad bearing in mind that it doesn't get used daily and gets driven quite quickly if it's brought out at weekends/evenings.

Tyre sizes are similar, or identical if I push my car from 265/245 to 275/255 which doesn't seem to cause any issues with other owners, so costs will be the same for those. Road tax is different, my car being in the mega £555 bracket and the F80 being in the lower £315 bracket. As for insurance, I've no idea about difference there, but my E92 M3 is roughly double what I was to insure my Golf R.


Verdict:

Given that my mum is away to switch from her F80 to a MK7.5R, there is the opportunity for me to buy her M3 at trade value. So I've thought quite long and hard whether it is something which would put me in a better or worse position than I am in with my E92... sure, I've known it since new and I helped specify the car so it's got everything which I would have added to an F80 order (colour aside..) of my own. There would be no servicing costs for a couple of years, it would remove the small worries I have about the well documented throttle actuator and rod bearing issues popping up on my E92... but given that I intend to keep my car fully covered by warranty (upgrading to a BMW warranty later in the year) to make sure I don't have to pay for any issues which arise, it shouldn't be a big problem even if I did get caught by one/both of these things at any point.

So as much as I like mums F80, my plan is to hold onto my E92 and continue to enjoy the car and the glorious engine over the nicer 6 months of each year.. if I regret my decision then I will have a far better chance of finding an F80 with a manual gearbox than I would finding an E92 Competition Pack with a manual gearbox again. So I'll stick with what I've got and so far my only definite plan is to upgrade the front brakes because I feel they are definitely one of the few weak points in the E92.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Hope that helps you a wee bit and gives you a 'real' perspective, having had a fair bit of experience in all three cars you mention. If there's anything more you want to ask then fire away, I'd be happy to help.

[RS Grant]

Joscal said:

Great post RS grant! I have a similar opinion to you. I used to own Jezs car and went for a test drive in the F80 when I was changing and whilst it was accomplished and bloody fast something was missing (coincidentally it was black too!)

I ended up getting a new F10 M5 which again was seriously accomplished and ballastically fast but I never really gelled with it. The traction is terrible in anything but dry conditions (winter tyres I’m sure would fix this but I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle)

I really don’t think you’ll go wrong keeping the competition pack the prices may only go one way as they will never be repeated.

I’m now zooming around in a 330e as the traffic here in Belfast is atrocious so you can take all I say with a pinch of salt!????

Haha, M3 > M5 > 330e... that's some journey!!

I'd absolutely love an F10 M5, M6 or M6GC but as hard as I try, I cannot engineer any scenario where I can justify something that big at the moment. But if that situation changes then I'd gladly start looking for one of them.

[RS Grant]

I have said on here before that I planned to increase the volume of the exhaust on my car at some point because I thought that it was really quiet (cold start aside) as standard. After being unable to hear an aftermarket system on an E92 in person, I couldn't handle the sound of silence anymore so I got a local company to split the backbox and carry out the common/popular '2-pipe mod' by wrapping the two larger perforated exhaust pipes inside the backbox.






Pictures borrowed from PCW Exhaust Mods ( Click Here) who I would have used because he's done 000's of these now and is very good at his job, but a combination of distance and my impatience meant it ended up going somewhere local instead... although they used exactly the same method and materials that Paul does.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Here is a clip of my car at Cold Idle, dropping into Normal Idle and then when the oil had warmed up sufficiently, a few static throttle blips:

Click Here

Here is a clip of my car with a little Full Throttle, then some Part Throttle bumbling around...apologies for the sound of GoPro mount shaking at times but it was on as tight as I could manage:

Click Here

I've got to say that from inside, you don't get any of the 'rip' that you hear in the exterior videos. It's clearly more noticeable inside, but it's a deep bassy burble that you hear instead... I'm not sure if you will pick up on it with an interior video, which is why there isn't one here, but when I get a chance then I may give it a whirl and see.

[RS Grant]

Jez m said:

ohhhh look forward to listening to those clips tonight!

I have mine booked in with PCW in late September (earliest i could get in). Can't wait for a bit more noise!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on them later on... have you decided which way to go with yours yet? 1.5-pipe, 1.75-pipe, 2-pipe, etc?

With hindsight I should have booked in with Paul ages ago, but it got to the point where I needed some extra noise and I couldn't wait.. plus there have been lots of people up here who have had the exhaust mod done by the place I used so I was happy that they knew what they were doing.

You're going to LOVE it afterwards, it really adds to the experience of the car.. I've had nothing but positive reactions from mine as well.

[RS Grant]

Re: the exhaust mod: you definitely notice it inside, however, it's not intrusive. Window down slightly and you notice it far more though, I've tried to do a bit of recording inside the car but struggled to capture a proper representation of the sound... but I'll keep at it and if I manage it then I'll fire up a video.

Anyway, onto the update; first off I bought and fitted a BMC replacement filter element. It's not something which has added any noticeable BHP on the arse dyno, but there has been an increase in induction note which only adds to the experience and fizz from the engine.

Before:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After (I did clean the airbox after this!):

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr


I've also decided to try and tailor the car to my taste a little by adding a touch more 'Competition' to the Competition Pack; hopefully enhancing rather than ruining what I love about it. The plan of action looks like:

Definite:

- M Performance Steering Wheel with LED Display
- Michelin Tyres (still undecided whether to go Michelin 4S or Michelin Cup 2..?!)
- Recaro CS Front Seats, Recaro Sliders & Lower Seat Mounts
- AP Racing Big Brake Kit

Potentially:

- AutoSolutions Short Shift Kit; although I really don't mind the standard shift action at all.
- Upgraded Suspension; but losing the EDC functionality is a big downside for me.

First of all, I thought I'd get an M Performance steering wheel bought and fitted because that would be a simple telephone call to BMW to order the part and get it booked in for fitting... as it turned out, I tried two dealerships and a well known specialist who all told me that it was an NLA part and not something they had seen/could get hold of for some time. Great.

After a post on M3Cutters suggested that they WERE still available, I remembered that another local dealer had been very helpful when I was looking for M3 CSL parts a few years ago.. so a phonecall to them saw them confirming the availability, sort out some discount and get the car booked into the service department to have it all fitted within a few days!!

There weren't many pictures taken, just a before and after really...

Before:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

After:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I'm still to figure out exactly how to navigate and program everything which is available in the display, but I absolutely love the alcantara finish and the shift lights/display. I also can't recommend Harry Fairbairn in Kirkcaldy enough; from the initial telephone call to the attempts by reception, sales and service people to drown me in tea/coffee while I waited for the work to be completed... everyone was extremely friendly and professional which really impressed me and therefore will definitely be back, despite it being out of my way and not my local dealership.

[RS Grant]

Jez m said:

Looking

I've just looked up & ordered the BMC filter. For ~£52 it's worth it if it add's a bit more induction noise.

That steering wheel looks incredible. I really really want to get mine re-trimmed in Alcantara by Royal steering wheels and now that i have a commuter car it will make it easier to get done. Did you do the fitting yourself? Assume it is pretty straight forward?

Yep, for the money the BMC is a bit of a no-brainer.. had been something I wanted to do ages ago but it just kept slipping my mind. Would have been easier to hear the difference in the induction note without the exhaust barking away at the same time!

Re: the steering wheel, I didn’t attempt fitting this one myself because of the wiring that it comes with for the shift lights and central display. Had it been the M Performance wheel without the display or removing/replacing a standard retrimmed wheel then I may have switched it myself; but thought that if there were any wiring niggles or issues then it made sense for it to be in a BMW workshop with a trained technician using the correct tools and computers to rectify it... rather than in a garage/storage unit with an angry Scotsman swearing at it.

[RS Grant]

Leon R said:

I had the Cup 2's on mine before I replaced them, they were unbelievable when up to temp but I wasn't driving the car hard enough regularly enough to make me want to get them again.

I am being given a similar run around to you with regards to the steering wheel, might have to contact your dealer and see if they can help.

Can give you the name of the guy I spoke to at HF if you'd like? He didn't seem to understand why there would be any issue in sourcing the steering wheel and he was absolutely right, zero fuss at all.

I think I'm going to go for the 4S and just accept that they're possibly overkill for my requirements on the road and try to manage them a little more closely IF and it's a big IF... the car ever goes on Knockhill. I'm going to the Nurburgring at the end of the month, but I don't personally rate that as a proper track session for me/my cars; instead see it as more of a fast back road drive because I don't plan to ever push hard enough to call it a track day... so I think the 4S will be more than sufficient on there.

[RS Grant]

I took a few extra pictures of the M Performance steering wheel at the weekend there, so thought I'd share them.. the first being a wee boomerang video of the start up sequence.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Then I cycled through the different screens/readings available on the display.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

[RS Grant]

However, as I said I'd do in the journal.. I'll post up about both good and bad things of my E92 ownership!! So in that spirit; what joy Grant giveth the M3... the M3 taketh away from Grant... and when I started the car on Sunday I was greeted by:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

...and flashbacks to my nightmare E91 335i Touring days:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

With Simon & Garfunkel's 'The Sound of Silence' automatically starting to play in my mind, I began the process of fault finding:

- Firstly trying the 'turn off-turn on' method of fault fixing.
- No joy.
- Then I decided to take it for a little drive down the road to see if it cleared.
- No joy.
- I stopped, turned the car off, opened the bonnet, looked at the engine at a few different angles and then closed the bonnet.
- Started the car and the EML was still on, but reduced power had gone and it drove ok..?!

Amazed at the healing power of my own gaze, I decided to just continue to my friends house and on to the car show that we were meant to be going to. I arrived at his house, turned the car off, locked it.. and when I got back in, within a few minutes, there were no warning lights or 'bongs' at all... so it fixed itself and reset the warning lights?! Fantastic!

Here are the only two photos I've seen of the car that was taken on Sunday:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Having done a fair bit of reading before I bought the car, I am fairly sure that this will be the start of a throttle actuator on its way out.. timing could be a little better given I'm going to be taking the car to the Nurburgring in the next few weeks but I'll get it booked into the BMW dealership asap and have them look at it/fix whatever the issues is/was.

[RS Grant]

MikeGoodwin said:

The 4S is incredible even in the wet. Id say its an even better version of the SuperSport which I had on my old Megane.

Have a think about this.... 4S grips like hell, so if you like exiting corners slightly sideways with ease in MDM then you might miss that. Maybe sport plus or all systems off will let you do that.... but I dont use them

I was tempted to get some cheaper tyres (Eagle F1, Hankook) to make use of the chassis and sideways functionality and just burn through them a bit more, wishing I had now.

That's my concern, I don't like flying around on the steering lock stops with smoke pouring off the rear tyres or anything... but I do like the car being able to break traction to a certain degree. That was something which really sterilised the Golf R driving experience for me and one of the big reasons that I loved the switch to the M3, the interaction and need to control the chassis rather than just plant your foot and have that excitement removed and replaced with almost non-stick grip.

I'll maybe try to have a look at other options because until now I've only considered Michelins, either 4S or Cup 2 flavour.

[RS Grant]

First things first, the car was dropped at BMW this morning and has now been diagnosed with a throttle actuator fault... which is no big surprise.

The downside of being a 'drop-in' customer was the fact my car didn't get looked at until later on in the afternoon; meaning that contact/ordering of replacement parts through my warranty won't be happening until Monday, which is an unavoidable annoyance. Another downside usually being that I couldn't book a courtesy car, however I know the guy who looks after the Harry Fairbairn BMW Dealerships so he was able to sort me an M140i demonstrator and save me from catching the loser cruiser! I was almost away in their M2 demonstrator before a salesman revealed that he had an appointment booked for that car... maybe next time!

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

It's the first time I've had an *40i engine to test out and it's absolutely awesome. This has the optional ZF 8spd gearbox and it pulls far harder than I expected it to. Handling needs a bit of work and it definitely needs a proper LSD (in my opinion!) but the drivetrain is still extremely impressive... leagues more fun than the previous 114i and 116d that I've had when the M3 is getting work done!!

Forgive the state of my driveway, I've got an F80 squatting for the weekend and I'm currently preparing winter storage for my cars so they've all found their way home at the moment.