By the CAR road test team
Long Term Tests
05 November 2010 10:00
Seatbelts and door pockets â€" 5 November 2010
My mother always told me to be polite, and it seems the M3 has learnt the same lessons. Climb in and it passes both you and your front passenger their seats belts. It always elicits a thank you from my other half, and impresses other passengers â€" granted, it’s nothing new or unique, but it’s the little details that make or break a relationship and so far the M3 is a keeper.
And the door pocket is great too! There’s no silly little aperture through which you can push mobile phones and the like, but then can’t fit your hand through afterwards to fish them out. Instead a big cubbyhole folds out of the M3’s door, and with three compartments it’s perfect for the fuel log book, my personal belongings, and an odd bit of red bodywork that was in the back seat when the car arrived â€" I can’t figure out where it’s from, whether it’s even from my car, but I feel compelled to keep it. And as it's lined nothing rattles about either.
By Ben Pulman
BMW M3 hello â€" 25 October 2010
I’ve never really gelled with the BMW M3. There, I’ve said it, what essentially amounts to sacrilege in the CAR office, because while everyone else seems to adore the M3, I’ve never really gotten on with it. I first drove the Coupe just a few weeks after joining CAR, but it was only on a boring motorway slog, and it was the same story with the M3 Saloon a year later â€" decent cruiser, nothing else discovered. And then when CAR put the Coupe up against the Evora and 911, I thought the BMW came across as big and heavy and cumbersome in comparison. And there you have it, the same line I used on the editor to persuade him to let me be keeper of the M3’s keys for the next six months: I'm the unbiased soul who needs convincing...
But really, why are we running an M3 when it’s been around for three years â€" in fact on the day I joined CAR, Chilton et al were in Spain testing the new M3 Coupe against a 911 GT3, R8, RS4 and Golf GTI. Three reasons really...
Reason number one â€" the new Competition Package, which is essentially a sop to those who wanted a CSL but can’t afford the new £120k GTS. £3315 nets you 19-inch alloys (that are particularly reminiscent of those sported by the E46 CSL), a 10mm suspension drop (nicked from last year’s M3 Edition), electronic dampers and a tweaked DSC system. And as BMW claims most M3 buyers actually opt for the dampers and bigger wheels anyway (18s are standard), the Competition Package is supposed to represent good value. It’s debatable whether the CP actually makes much difference, but it’s excuse number one for running an M3 anyway.
Two, and at the same time that the more focussed Comp Pack was revealed, BMW conversely announced that all M3s would now be fitted with its stop/start system to shut the thirsty V8 down in traffic. The M3 already had the misleading named Brake Energy Regeneration â€" it’s just a trick alternator that only charges the battery under braking or on the overrun, rather than any real hybrid-style recuperation â€" but the stop/start system does improve the fuel consumption and CO2 figures. A seven-speed DCT Coupe is now claimed to manage 25.2mpg and emit 263g/km (from 23.7 and 285). BMW’s stop/start tech is one of the best out there, but a boffin at Lotus once told me that sports car drivers tend to turn off any stop/start system, so will it work or will we just turn it off?
And the third and final reason for running an M3 is that you really don’t need an excuse to run an M3. When there’s the chance to live with a 414bhp 4.0-litre V8 I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t shout YES! More importantly, with the new hot 1-series packing a forced-induction straight-six, and the next M5/M6 set to get a twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8, the M3 is now powered by M Division’s sole naturally aspirated engine. The way things are going, it may be the last high-revving engine we ever see them make. That’s excuse enough for having an M3 on the fleet, but then there’s also the looks (from the shotgun exhausts, to the bonnet bulge) that carbon roof, and much, much more.
By Ben Pulman
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