The E46 - a sporting model too far?

[Dunk76]

Tuesday morning pondering caused by sitting behind a 330 Clubsport in traffic on the way into the office.

There's no arguing with the fact the E46 was a big seller for BMW, but after staring at the back of this Clubsport for a while, it left me wondering if the marketing team on the E46 went a sporting model too far?

It's predecessor - the E36, had three to chose from; M3, 328i Sport, and Alpina B3 (ignoring the very limited run M3 GT, and Imola editions). The E30 had the same - M3, 325i Sport, and Alpina C2. So depending on your tastes, you could have road racer, hot cooking car, and leftfield Buchuloe bruiser.

The E46, had, at one point, six big engined sporting models to choose from;

M3 CSL
M3 CS
M3
330 Sport
330 Clubsport
Alpina B3

About three too many?

Or something to suit everyone?

[m12_nathan]

Were the CSL and CS on sale at the same time?

Clubsport was just a rubbish rear spoiler and the removal of the sound deadening from the bonnet, and maybe a special colour too? Basically not different enough from the sport to worry too much about IMO.

[Dunk76]

I think the CS and CSL were on sale simultaneously?

The Clubsport is a point in case - a marketing exercise in charging a premium for a spoiler, some nice-ish wheels and a few other bits.

[r5gttgaz]

Although if you count all the E30 M3 editions you could have...

E30 M3
Evo1
Evo2
Tour de course
EuropaMeister
Ceccotto
Ravaglia
Sport Evo
Cab

Maybe more...

[Shropshiremike]

I can see your point but aren't Alpina a maker in their own right?

[Dunk76]

Well they weren't all available simultaneously were they? I don't think half of them were officially available in the UK either?


ETA: Alpinas have only ever been available through main dealers in the UK, and they are supported through BMW - hence why I included them. I agree they're slightly academic in many respects, as they're more than just cynical marketing ploys.

Edited by Dunk76 on Tuesday 30th October 09:59

[m12_nathan]

When did the CS come out? CSLs were only built between july and december 2003, pretty sure the CS came out well after that.

Edited to actually make some sense.

Edited by m12_nathan on Tuesday 30th October 21:07

[belleair302]

The CS model was available from June 2005 until May 2006. All CSL's in RHD (535 out of a total run of 1,358) were made in mid to late 2003, so no crossover.

Edited by belleair302 on Tuesday 30th October 18:41

[[TW]Fox]

CS was the runout model of the M3. I beleive it replaced the regular M3 and did not run alongside it.

330Ci Clubsport is simply a 330Ci Sport with a cool wing, some crap wheels, better choice of colours and less sound proofing.

Alpina B3 is made by Alpina, not BMW (Well you know what I mean).

[sleep envy]

r5gttgaz said:

Although if you count all the E30 M3 editions you could have...

E30 M3
Evo1
Evo2
Tour de course
EuropaMeister
Ceccotto
Ravaglia
Sport Evo
Cab

Maybe more...

plus the 320iS if you want to be fussy

[istoo]

my angle, i am looking for a 330 sport, cant afford to run an M3... i believe the 330 sport will give me what i am looking for. And in fairness having driven an M3 as well it isnt as all out as the M3 is. But different models? I know TVR change models in the UK before they hit 1000, otherwise are required to provide full safety testing (expensive) and such like, so it could be a commercial reason.

[clonmult]

r5gttgaz said:

Although if you count all the E30 M3 editions you could have...

E30 M3
Evo1
Evo2
Tour de course
EuropaMeister
Ceccotto
Ravaglia
Sport Evo
Cab

Maybe more...

And the incredibly rare 320iS - that was a 2 liter version of the original M3s engine, slightly higher revving, and only a few hp down. I want one purely for rarety value.

[r5gttgaz]

clonmult said:

r5gttgaz said:

Although if you count all the E30 M3 editions you could have...

E30 M3
Evo1
Evo2
Tour de course
EuropaMeister
Ceccotto
Ravaglia
Sport Evo
Cab

Maybe more...

And the incredibly rare 320iS - that was a 2 liter version of the original M3s engine, slightly higher revving, and only a few hp down. I want one purely for rarety value.

That is not an M3 though. If your going on that we could call the 3.0 E36 M3 the 330csi as that was what BMW intended originally.