And the current gen M3 is still beating the coupe/sedan direct and indirect (sports cars) in comparison tests (which it has won probably 90% of them) nearly 5 yrs later.
The whole "weight" issue is also overblown and tends to be taken out of context vs its direct competition and for its generation (5+ yr old cars). Yeah, it's heavy vs. true sports cars, but again, what BMW did with the M3 was actually reduce the weight quite a bit (aluminum subframe, suspension, driveshaft, engine, CF roof, plastic fenders, etc) vs the competition. First and foremost, a street car that needs to protect its occupants. I'll gladly give up 200 lbs of "extra" weight to protect my occupants (including children), and have energy absorbing seats, airbags everywhere, DSC/MDM, and can pass new crash safety tests (not designed around only known tests) etc when there are 2+ ton SUVs on the road that can potentially kill me. Also, a lot of M3 buyers buy the car because of the combo of both performance and luxuries, ie. comfortable seating, sound insulation, heated seats, leather, electronic gizmos, convertible/sunroof, etc... Not having a back seat, hearing a ton of road noise, jarring suspension, having a bare bones interior, or seeing through plexiglas windshields is not what most consumers want out of this car. Is there a weight penalty to this stuff, yes, but like anything else there is no 'free lunch' and everything is a trade-off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Munit
What makes the m3 amazing is you take these guys from Top Gear and many other car mags/reviewers who drive all of the fastest supercars that the world offers and at the end of the day they come back to the m3 as one of their top picks and a perfect car. 99 percent of cars would feel like rubbish after driving a 458 however this shows that this e90 m3 was really a marvel.
Heavier on the scale but superior in every weigh to prior generations and if nobody told you the weight, it would perform like a lighter car. The sound is sublime and nice than the csl, it looks great and is so easy to drive. Although the new m3 will be faster, it will be hard to give such an aural experience
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