Steve Dinan drove the new M3 recently in and around Spain on some twisty mountain roads and reported on it in the recent Roundel issue. As respected BMW tuner and onetime racer, I was interested in his impressions and thought I would share them with you in case you haven’t seen the issue. It's a great article and you can hear the excitement in his report.
Here is a summary:
Quote:
“The new M3 is simply the best combination of BMW handling and ride to date.”
“BMW has reduced the under steer over previous models of M cars – a welcome change. I am sure that once we get to play with the car, we can reduce it still further…but for the production car, I am very impressed.”
“I notice not only good handling traits but a surprisingly good ride”
I was worried when I found out the car weighed over 3600lbs, that it would feel heavy. It doesn’t….I cant understand why it needs to weigh so much”
“I notice how linear the power band is, with almost the same torque output over a 3500 rpm range. This makes the car very easy to exit corners; easy to squeeze the throttle on the way out. The top-end power too, is impressive for a four-liter engine.”
“…you just keep looking down at the tach expecting to need to shift, but the engine just keeps revving.”
“EDC; this too has been improved…in the new M3, all three settings are good.”
“…I also notice the limited slip unit has been improved – more lock on drive”
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Steve does wonder in an editorial piece on why the M3 has to be so heavy. He finds it disheartening even though he believes this car handles its weight well. Each generation seems to get heavier, he feels, because the market place demands it – we want a lot of “gadgets” and BMW is happy to give to us. In addition, the air bags add a lot of weight and must be included in all modern M cars. That’s a big difference over E36 and E30 M cars. He is however; impressed with the effort BMW went to reduce weight. It’s frightening to think how heavy it would be if they didn’t.