After a wash!!

[NZ_M3]

Originally Posted by GTAStradale

Thanks! About E92 M3...hmm, interesting question. Well to be objective, i think its an excellent car as an overall package. For that money, the performance is quite impressive. And the car is the great compromise. Its extremely comfortable, quiet, you can go to IKEA and transport all the furniture, you can travel 10 hours flat out with no pain in your back.....but at the same time you can distroy an arrogant guy in porsche or aston martin you meet on the road.

BUT.....and there is a big BUT. The car is soul-less. Whist impressivly fast, there is no feeback from it. As if you sit in the sofa and play a game on the playstation. And that is sometimes annoying me a lot.

To compare it with a CSL would not be fair, since the cars are made for completely different purposes. I had a chance to find an amazing mountain road and within 2 hours, I drove both cars up and down many times. I was astonished by CSL's front end grip and the lightness. Later when I went the same route with my E92, you feel the heaviness on a front end. Surprisingly, I found E92 more difficult to drive fast as I am never 100% sure what the car will do. It feels very disconnected from the road.

What are your thoughts?

Your review of the E92 M3 seems to be the common feedback I hear about this car - don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily disagree with it, but I think it really doesn't do the car justice and the amount of negative press against it is often unjustified ... let me digress:

If you cast your minds back to the height of the E46 M3 GTR days you'll realise the similarities of what BMW was attempting to achieve with the E92 M3.

4 litre 90 degree V8 - check
Vents in the bonnet - check
Aluminium suspension - check
CSL type intake and DME - check
light weight measures - check (I know I know, debatable about this, but look, light weight fender, roof, suspension ect ect - they went further than the CSL truth be told).

There was a lot of CSLness built into the E92 M3 ... then somebody in the M department realised that they had to make the car usable, and also be competitive against the likes of Audis and Mercedes in terms of luxury amenities .. so they added all these 'extras' back into the car and made it user friendly.

I think it's this user friendliness that make people say the E92 M3 is soul-less, soft, lack in feedback ect ect ...

Having had the car since Aug last year and over 8000km of travel in it (I've yet to take it to a track day, but I have had fun chasing quite a few of these on a proper race track in the CSL, so it has given me a pretty good indication of their performance level and capabilities) I can honestly say that this car is far from soul-less, lack in feel or feedback or "soft" - far from it.

This car communicates in a different way to the CSL - yes the steering sensation is probably dulled by the electronic power steer system and the pure mass of the car, but it is still very direct point to point. This doesn't mean it isn't sharp, it just has a very high front end grip limit contrasted to the E46 (I personally feel the E92 has better front end grip than the CSL and a chassis that's very well sorted).

The V8 engine is a master piece in this car. Every time I get back in the CSL I think to myself, wow, never realised how 'rough' the inline 6 felt compared to the sweet revving V8 - it is that noticeable. And wind your window down for that intake noise (the car's sound insulation is simply too good and muffs all the proper noises) - whilst not quite the banshy that the CSL induction gives, it is a step up from the stocker E46 M3 by miles. The ZF built 6 speed gearbox is also nicer to use than the getreg item found in the E46.

The speed in the E92 is also deceptive - because of its mass and it's ability to soak up undulations in the road it gives a false sense of 'boringness" in the drive - just gaz down at the speedometer and you'll notice how you've already lost your licence many times over (I've certainly surprised myself numerous times stepping on this car) it is deceptively fast.

I think BMW set out to achieve what they intended to achieve with the E92 M3 .. a car just as quick (if not quicker in a striaght line) as the CSL but with lot more refinement and usability.

Is it a CSL replacement? - not a chance, never intended to be ... but is it better than the E46 M3? ... by a mile.