Autovisie review translated for you

[v1p3r]

Link posted by Romo (I think??)

http://www.autovisie.nl/expertise/ri...w_m3/index.xml

The parts in " " I'm not too sure of...maybe some Dutch speaking members can help with those few lines:

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Do not expect the decidedly bearlike grunt of an Audi RS4, the evil thunder of a Corvette Z06 or the exciting battle cry of a Ferrari F430. The V8 of the BMW M3 sounds at normal use almost disappointingly refined, although you can hear that a bundle of muscles lies under the hood. Only when you fully depress the accellerator, into the red of the tachometer, then the V8 produces a goosebump-inducing howl, with the intense, metallic tone that is so typical of an engine with high power output. A brand new engine that is derived from the V10 that powers the M5, but is so different that BMW without hesitation calls a new engine.

Aficionados will immediately look back nostalgically, because who in goodness name wants a bigger and heavier V8 in a car that with a high-revving in-line six was already capapble of so many brilliant things? Don't worry: the eightcylinder weighs 202 kgs and is therefore 15 kilos lighter than the much praised 6 pot. It is afterall the most high revving production engine BMW has ever manufactured.

The machine delivers 420 hp just before you reach the limiter, that points to a sporty character. In practice you notice that the 4l v8 very smooth and without lurches reaches full throttle, but 2500rpm is required to deliver really strong pulling power. the v8 pulls like a train to the limiter, with the bloodthirsty and wild determination that I only know from the Ferrari F430. The power buildup is beautifully linear and thereby has enormous range in the gears - it reaches 120 on the speedo in 2nd - you can drive for kilometers in the same gear, with solid to spectacular acceleration under the pedal. That was great on the sinewy and slippery, dust-covered mountain roads in the countryside of Malaga – we could concentrate fully on the road.

For now the M3 is only available with a 6 speed manual. Next to the gear lever you have 3 buttons at your disposal. With POWER you can sharpen up throttle response, with EDC you can choose from two additional, firmer characteristics from the electronically controlled dampers, and with DSC OFF you can turn the stability and traction control off. Together with that you have the ability to create a favourite setup on the on board computer for the M-button on the steering wheel. This is of course used to, with the press of a single button set the whole car to it's sharpest, without having to play with all of the buttons on the centre console.

The transformation that the car undergoes when you press the M-button (all programmed by BMW for us) is simply astounding. It is clearly noticible that BMW distanced the two extreme personalities of the car even further apart than in the M5. Namely, in the normal mode the new M3 drives noticibly normal, you experience it as a normal 3 with a powerful but docile engine. But as soon as you set all systems to maximum attack with the M-button, the v8 reacts with the speed of a tiger that had it's tail stepped on.

Compliments for the stability control. The DSC is set up as such so that understeer is nearly immediately "om zeep wordt geholpen, want daar heb je toch niks aan. Het staat echter wel driften over" all four wheels "toe en" oversteer gets neutralised when you enter at the maximum slip angle. Due to that you can go sideways to hearts content, with the DSC on. The fourth generation of the BMW M3 Coupé has more power, consumes less and is lighter than its predecessor. The only bad news is that is that the new M3 is also more expensive."BMW wil er maar liefst 20 mille méér voor hebben dan voor de oude." Still the M3 is importantly much cheaper than it's rivals: the Porsche 911 and Audi RS4. For both marques enough reason to worry...
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[Romo]

Not my link, but doesn`t matter, I have read it in Dutch, I can tell anybody it is a verry good review, verry verry good indeed.

[Epacy]

Nice quotes here:

"the v8 pulls like a train to the limiter, with the bloodthirsty and wild determination that I only know from the Ferrari F430"

"it reaches 120 on the speedo in 2nd"

[aerisolphaln]

At the end the write-up says that the M3 is much cheaper than its rivals, the Porsche 911 and Audi RS4.

In England the M3 is within a few hundred pounds of the RS4 and getting up into 911 range - not exactly what I would call much cheaper.

Maybe this is good news for when the M3 does make it stateside.

[M3onTwomps]

Originally Posted by Epacy

Nice quotes here:

"the v8 pulls like a train to the limiter, with the bloodthirsty and wild determination that I only know from the Ferrari F430"

"it reaches 120 on the speedo in 2nd"

I'm sure that's 120km/h or approx. 75mph. Not bad.