M3/M4 EVO: Long Term Tests BMW M3

[Bartek S.]

There are more comfortable ways to travel than with the M3, but few are more exciting.

Sometimes I seriously doubt that the M3 is the best in its class. Shocking, I know. Heresy almost. The slight headache I’m hoping paracetamol will cure in about ten minutes’ time is quite possibly due to the M3 owners’ forum sticking pins into a gangly Catchpole voodoo doll. But the Lexus IS-F is more relaxing to just jump into and drive and is also a lot easier to reach the limits of. So too the C63 AMG. And as art editor Paul Lang commented when he handed the M3’s keys back to me after borrowing it the other day, in normal driving the BMW can actually be mildly obstreperous if you’re not used to it.

He’d discovered that, particularly when it’s cold, if you mistime building-up the revs as you engage the clutch then the transmission will happily try to bodypop the car away from the lights or into a roundabout. (He also suggested that the M3’s bonnet bulge makes it look like it’s trying to conceal an erection, which probably tells you all you need to know about the workings of Paul’s mind.)
More:evo

 

[Mr Robert]

...
So, on an everyday basis, I think you’d probably get more enjoyment out of the Merc or Lexus. But then I have a drive like the one last week and I remember why the M3 is still the best. We were in Wales for this month’s KTM group test and YB57 UYA was there as a support car. At the end of a day in which I’d driven a Caterham R500 for five hours from Surrey to Wales, the M3’s Goth-spec interior – Novillo Black leather topped off with Titanium Shadow (light black) trim – was hushed. But on the drive to our overnight resting place the car was fantastic. On a lowland road, tightly walled on either side, following the meandering path of a small river, the following KTM was nowhere to be seen in my mirrors after just a mile as the BMW got up on its Michelin-shod toes, dancing around the corners as only it can.

At 7000rpm the V8 howls and the throttle is sharper and cleaner than a paper cut. And it is a fast car. Very, very fast. Compared with its competitors it might be a case of delayed gratification, but cometh the hour…

 

[warot]

"MPG this month: 23.5"

Beat that C63

 

[Tarek]

^ You mean 4.0l vs 6.2l?

That figure is pretty much after nannying the car

 

[Sunny]

Lol, you talk as if it is BMW's fault that it only needs a 4L.

And I don't think anyone nannys an M3 for a month, least of all a car magazine like Evo.

 

[bmwownage]

Day to day, one probably dont' need a C63 to have the C63's enjoyment, all you want is to blast people off in traffic light starts.. can do that easily with those Australian V8s (Vauxhall something, i dont' know the model name under Vauxhall), the exterior design of those is a good copy of MB, BMW and Audi together, they really manage to put them together! and those things are extremely quick, at least in a straight line, and they probably cost half as much, even though i hate them.
So when MB said they weren't looking at lap times when developing the C63, or when they just want to give a 'everyday driver' some joy on normal roads, well, you don't need a C63 to do that right? and just imagine having a C63 and you get beaten in twisty mountain roads by some jap boy racer cars like Subarus or Mitsubishis costing about one tenth of a C63 each.

 

[Tarek]

Lol, you talk as if it is BMW's fault that it only needs a 4L.

And I don't think anyone nannys an M3 for a month, least of all a car magazine like Evo.

No it's not BMW's fault for having an anemic engine and i'm sure that u are aware of that figure is done on a nannying mode not revving at 8000 rpm,right?

and just imagine having a C63 and you get beaten in twisty mountain roads by some jap boy racer cars like Subarus or Mitsubishis costing about one tenth of a C63 each.

Well those tuned japanese ricers are gonna keep up with Porsches on twisties let alone M3 and C63.

 

[warot]

No it's not BMW's fault for having an anemic engine and i'm sure that u are aware of that figure is done on a nannying mode not revving at 8000 rpm,right?



Well those tuned japanese ricers are gonna keep up with Porsches on twisties let alone M3 and C63.

let's see if BMW gets an award at the international engine of the year ceremony... oh wait:

Winner of 3 to 4 liter category: BMW 4.0 V8

"Throughout the 10-year history of the International Engine of the Year Awards, there has been only one occasion – last year – when BMW did not top this category. After Porsche’s triumph with its 3.6-litre Turbo in 2007, a rather special motor from BMW has arrived on the scene and taken the trophy back to its spiritual home of Munich.

The victor here is the replacement for one of the International Engine of the Year Awards’ most successful winners, the 3.2-litre straight six that was designed for the E46 M3, and that lives on today in BMW’s Z4 M. For the 2007MY M3, Helmut Himmel, the man responsible for all M engine project management, decided early on that the car would be powered by an eight-cylinder unit. The result, S85B40, is a lesson in advanced engine engineering, both in terms of the materials used and production technologies adopted, as well as an ECU that can process more than 200 million calculations a second via three onboard microchips. "

It's all in good fun Tarek

 

[Sunny]

No it's not BMW's fault for having an anemic engine and i'm sure that u are aware of that figure is done on a nannying mode not revving at 8000 rpm,right?



Well those tuned japanese ricers are gonna keep up with Porsches on twisties let alone M3 and C63.

Better anemic than the 4000lb fat chick!

 

[Tarek]

let's see if BMW gets an award at the international engine of the year ceremony... oh wait:

Winner of 3 to 4 liter category: BMW 4.0 V8

"Throughout the 10-year history of the International Engine of the Year Awards, there has been only one occasion – last year – when BMW did not top this category. After Porsche’s triumph with its 3.6-litre Turbo in 2007, a rather special motor from BMW has arrived on the scene and taken the trophy back to its spiritual home of Munich.

The victor here is the replacement for one of the International Engine of the Year Awards’ most successful winners, the 3.2-litre straight six that was designed for the E46 M3, and that lives on today in BMW’s Z4 M. For the 2007MY M3, Helmut Himmel, the man responsible for all M engine project management, decided early on that the car would be powered by an eight-cylinder unit. The result, S85B40, is a lesson in advanced engine engineering, both in terms of the materials used and production technologies adopted, as well as an ECU that can process more than 200 million calculations a second via three onboard microchips. "

It's all in good fun Tarek

That wasn't my point and has nothing to do with what i said man,and we are not gonna repeat all the hefty discussion about engine awards rules and judges personal preferences

Better anemic than the 4000lb fat chick!

Yeah the fat chick who is lighter than the anemic one

 

[warot]

That wasn't my point and has nothing to do with what i said man,and we are not gonna repeat all the hefty discussion about engine awards rules and judges personal preferences



Yeah the fat chick who is lighter than the anemic one

Why won't these "MB guys" just admit that the M3 is the benchmark? Makes me hate MB cars because of that.

hehe

All jokes aside, both these engines are fantastic. Accross the range, there's not one bad engine in this category, Lexus included. Kind of scary how far we've come since the E30 days.

Plus on a side note. If you were handed a car key to a sports car, would you "nanny" it? Also, look at first picture.

 

[klier]

420/4,0 = 105 hp per liter.....

457/6,2 = 73 hp per liter......OUCH!!!!

If BMW bores out the V8 from 4,0 to 6,2 liter, the BMW would have had 651 hp......aaaaaah, the power of a BMW Motorsport block

 

[Tarek]

Why won't these "MB guys" just admit that the M3 is the benchmark? Makes me hate MB cars because of that.

hehe

Plus on a side note. If you were handed a car key to a sports car, would you "nanny" it? Also, look at first picture.

Well do u actually believe that figure came from pushing the rev to the limit? please don't say so

 

[Mr Robert]

Why does some assume that the figure was achieved a month when the car was driven only very very gently? Does it say so?

 

[kovachian]

420/4,0 = 105 hp per liter.....

457/6,2 = 73 hp per liter......OUCH!!!!

If BMW bores out the V8 from 4,0 to 6,2 liter, the BMW would have had 651 hp......aaaaaah, the power of a BMW Motorsport block

And 2 hp out of a .00344 liter RC nitro engine comes out to 581 hp per liter, and that's naturally aspirated. The M3 would need to make 2,324 hp just to match it. OOOO!!!


What's wrong BMW, Merc, Audi, Ferrari and every car maker on the planet, don't know how to make a real engine?