Larry Cable

I couldn't believe it when it 1st popped out ... literally it looks like something you'd hang a pair of pants on ... and as you say how hard is it to reach back and grab the belt!!!

I dont think I'd try ... clearly there are faster drivers in the world than I, maybe they were all out that day, but I know I can pull off an 8:00 BtoG in a 997.1 GT3and with no traffic in front maybe a little bit faster ...

Now it was my 1st time in an M3, and it wasn't mine so I wasn't going to put it ***** to the wall, and I could not fully disable the DSC (I was in M-Dynamic mode) but I let a number of .1 and .2 cars pass me because they were clearly faster ...

Its a great car, but its too heavy, it does not have the brakes, nor in my opinion does it have the same degree of handling, grip or feedback as the GT3 ... is there a $50k difference, I dont know ... I do know (now) that if I were making a buying decision I would not hesitate to buy a GT3 vs the M3 ...

In particular, I would note that the feedback the car gave me (or did not) was what was was most noticable (in its absence), and it was this that robbed me
of my confidence to drive the car closer to my limits ...

The DSC was a PITA it cut in several times, *and* I noticed it doing so ...
a completely different experience to driving Jim's RS where I actually never
thought to turn sport mode on, or turn of SC or SC+TC and at not point did
I think ... "oh there is the car intervening" ...

1198r

Larry Cable

+1

Yoops Racing

ok it should be for 170k ......
Hopefully Alpina will get and make it better.....

Larry Cable

Exactly, for this kind of cash ... get a .2 RS ... it will spank the GT@ badly, the only reason to get one of these is for the exclusivity or if you are Jeremy Clarkson ...

A better bet would be a low mileage CSL, with a brake and suspension upgrade and a cage ...

you see quite a few of these at the ring ...

Larry Cable

the car I had, had the full "nannies off" disabled ...

amaist

That's exactly what it is. The successor to the E39 M5.

I love mine. On the road.

The CSL was great but not entirely necessary if one was willing to swap parts.

I was running an E46 M3 on JRZ Bimmerworld suspension full of Ground Control hardware and with 4 wheel StopTech kit. A 996 GT3 driver had to put a good effort to get away. If I bothered to develop the car further it would have been probably as fast as a 996 GT3 if not faster for lesser cost at the time. There are still corners that I can't take as fast in the GT3 as I took in that M3. Running 265 wide PSCs front/rear made for some insane corner entry speeds.

No BMW makes no cars I would consider bringing to the track even with modifications. The M cars are fun on the road but got way too heavy to be of any use on the track. The turbo engines from the non-M cars are a joke on the track. They can't take the punishment.

BMW has pretty much abandoned the Ultimate Driving Machine idea and went with pure bull**** as a marketing strategy. It does sell them cars, though. Nerds like us don't change much in terms of sales. I do like their cars for the road when compared to the other luxury brands but there is not that much differentiation these days.

I still haven't figured out the point of the X6. A vehicle for people who want the space limitations of a coupe combined with the weight and size of an SUV. A crappy SUV and a crappy coupe in one.

amaist

I seems strange. In my copy the DSC button does fully disable it. Otherwise I'd have a very miserable winter

Laguna_Dude

I had an '11 M3 w/comp package and it allowed me to turn off all the aides. You set the M-button variables in the iDrive menu...

fer2367

Could not agree more, every time I see one I think "what were they thinking and why would anyone buy it over an X5 or a 3 series coupe?"

tcsracing1

BMW is a great brand, but have steered away from the track car segment probably due to it being small market for them......

M3's have always been great grand tourers/ DD, and the last BMW hot rod which was neat was the Z8.

Does anybody think BMW will build a supercar in this economy?

carrering

Larry was in a "fleet" vehicle. they have it set so DSC cannot be disengaged. He was on M dynamic mode though so it reduced the interference a little. still the car didn't like being airborne.

IPguy

After the E30M3 right?

amaist

E30 rear suspension is a mild upgrade on the whole torsion bar business that Porsche used during the era.

The E30M3 was great when it came out but BMW improved on it. Give me a late model euro E36 M3 (with the S50B32 motor) any day over any E30 M3. And the E46 M3 CSL is very special. The intake alone is worth the price of admission.

TRAKCAR

E36 M3 with Euro motor was the last BMW I loved. Even the US E36 M3 I liked.
E46 Ok as a daily driver but already getting too heavy..