I don’t love the sound of the M3 but it depends on the exhaust. Some of them sound F1’ish. Some sound like a blender with a tin can in it. But the sound never bothered me. When you can get that kind of performance out of a 3.2L I6, everything else is just nit picking.
The 4.2 V8 of the S4 sounds pretty sweet though. Of course thats the muscle car guy in me speaking.
ugh i totally agree. but to each their own, i know of a few people who love that sound.
now as far as getting that power out of a 3.2 i6. i am not that impressed. one of the reasons i dont like the e46 m3 is its lack of ability to tune later down the road. it took alot to get the 100hp/lit out of that motor and thats evident by the fact they dont handle boost and require a good amount of annoying engine tuning. from what i hear it is as bad ad the motronic in the audis in that everything goes through the ecu. what a pita.
yes i know the m3 is an out of the box hero and thats where the popularity comes from. but for me half the fun of cars is changing them and getting every ounce of performance you can…what fun is it if it already comes like that…and then it costs 30k to do something different for minimal gains (arent turbo kits for e46’s only pushing 400whp or something?)
I saw a comparison of the RS4 to the M3 and it was funny because they already compared the S4 to the M3 and said the S4 was better.
hmmmm, 425hp w/smg >* anyway, nobody likes the new body lines of the bmw but give it a couple years and it will grow on everyone just like the wrx did. Oh, and you can garuntee that with a M badge it will handle. Unfortunately it will probably have buttons on top of buttons on top of levers to control everything and just confuse the hell outta everyone. BMW technology is a little too advanced for there time imho. People tend to like simplicity when it comes to sport/race cars.
It does seem like the I6 is pretty well maxed out from the factory. But then you have to look at cars like TVR’s. I would consider them the kings of pulling maximum performance out of minimum displacement.
I know what you mean about the ability to mod the engine though. It sucks that anything you want to do with these motors are giving next to nothing for power and cost 3x more than doing it to another car. I used to hang out at E46fanatics.com a lot and saw that everyone did lips, wheels, brakes, body kits, etc. but no one touched the engine.
I like the M3 sedan idea…I think they designed the new 3-series too small
:tup: to bringing the four door back for us married with children guys.
When I was young and single I never understood 4 door sports cars.
Now I can only buy cars that fit baby car seats.:biglaugh:
I must be getting old. I get excited about Subaru, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Saab, Volvo wagons.
yeah ive heard about that
however i heard it was just the m3 coupe :gotme:
The M4 is nothing more than the sedan version. BMW is attempting to change the number designation because it is a 4dr.
And to everyone bitching about a 4dr M3, they did make 4dr M3’s before…
The E36 was available as a sedan from 98-99 (in the US). It was also available with an automatic (and not an SMG automatic, but a full blown automatic slushbox).
No, they are not even attempting to change the number designation. With the new series of cars (e90, e60, etc) they decided to create the odd numbered cars in 4 door, with the even’s as 2dr cars. They scrapped the idea very very quickly.
^^^ yes thats what I was referring to. The M4 was just the sedan version of the new M3. It was a stupid idea from the get go (thanks Bangle, I’m sure that asshat had something to do with it…) I’m glad they’ve scraped it.
tail lights on the new 3 series :tdown:
BUMP!
figured i’d bump this because i knew the new design would grow on most everybody, including myself. Just curious to see how/if people’s opinions may have changed after seeing this design for a few years.
I like it. I think its a great design from the outside. Greatly prefer it over the E46. The interior I think lags significantly though.
I like the coupe… its such a pretty car… there is a dark blue one rolling around by UB that makes me sooo envious 
I still hate the headlights.
i just wish the interior was better since thats the only part of the car you really see when you drive.
I actually like the sedan better than the coupe. The fenders look better, and I have seen a black sedan rolling around, it looks amazing
im still a coupe guy, but a freidn jsut got a new 2009 335i sedan, and i like the facelift