Drove the demo Yesterday--Wow

[lando]

The bad news (for me) is that the truck carrying my car got stuck in a blizzard last night on its was from South Carolina to St. Louis. The car will be at the dealership tonight, but I will be unable to pick the car up until Monday evening.

The good news (for all of us) is that the new M3 is an absolute beast. The car looks stunning! The dealership took delivery of a AW/B M3 with pretty much every option including the 19's. The sticker was just north of $70K. After seeing the 19's I am afraid I made a mistake by going with the 18's--the 19's look great and apparently are on extreme back order (as pointed out by many on this board).The rear pipes look substantially larger than those on the E46. After seeing the AW, I am very happy with my color choices (AW/Bamboo). After 17 years of jet black cars, I am ready for a change. The rocker panels look really good and when combined with the flared fenders and mirrors, make the car look really wide. From inside the car, the powerdome is very visible and serves to remind you of the unbelievable engine that resides below.

Speaking of the engine--wow! The car sounds and rides very differently than my recently sold E46 M3. Although the E46 seats were great, the E92's are better (more comfortable). At idle, the engine is noticeably louder and has a throatier sound. You blip the throttle and the car comes to life in a way that the E46 did not. The car seems to have an inexhaustible supply of power. At five and six K rpm, the engine does not sound nearly as wound up as the E46. The car really begs to be driven to the redline (hey, it was the demo). The sound of the engine is really quite amazing. As for handling, the car feels better planted than the E46. I took some long and curved exit and entrance ramps and the car felt very solid with less body roll than my previous car. The clutch effort was noticeably lighter as well--so much so that I may even teach my wife to drive the car (no flames, please). Although the car, in my opinion handled noticeably better than the E46, the ride was significantly more compliant--hats off to the M engineers. I will post more once I pick my car up on Monday.

To sum it up, the M engineers significantly improved the car--what a difference 7 years of technology makes!


AW/BB, Tech, Lux, Htd Seats.

[mhutchins14]

Nice summation Lando. I'd like to see pics of your interior. I got ext bamboo w/aluminum and haven't seen any pictures of that combo on the forum. Not sure which trim you got but looking forward to pics of the interior

[lando]

I got the wood interior--I will post some pics.

[Epacy]

Sorry to hear lando. This would have been a great weekend to get familiar with the car.

I hope Plaza gets theirs in soon as Newbold won't let me test drive if I'm not buying.