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08-25-2007, 08:42 AM | #45 | |
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Hopefully, history won't repeat itself and the CSL will be offered in the states. Last edited by ruff; 08-25-2007 at 09:03 AM.. |
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08-25-2007, 08:55 AM | #46 |
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Looks like the latest and greatest may not of came out on top, which would translate for me as a huge disappointment, no way around it. BMW marketing is a joke, at least for enthusiasts, the rest sure seem to buy into it though.
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08-25-2007, 09:06 AM | #47 | |
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I still reckon that 95% of people will be absolutely delighted when they first drive it. |
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08-25-2007, 09:13 AM | #48 |
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Is any one else brave enough to attempt a guess at top 4? Remember the criteria are M DNA not the best overall package. If best package was the criteria I suspect the new M will come up tops.
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08-25-2007, 09:35 AM | #49 | |
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1. E46 CSL 2. E86 M Coupe 3. E63 M6 4. E92 M3
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08-25-2007, 09:48 AM | #50 |
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08-25-2007, 09:56 AM | #51 | |
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x10 I am really surprised to hear that. Can you provide any more detail on what changed your mind? I remember you saying you thought long and hard after you initially drove the new M3 and you choose it over the E46 CSL.
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08-25-2007, 09:57 AM | #52 | |
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1st - E46 M3 CSL 2nd - Z3 M Coupe 3rd - E30 M3 4th - E92 M3
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08-25-2007, 10:46 AM | #53 |
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1st - E46 M3 CSL
2nd - E30 M3 EVO 2 or something 3rd - One of those I6 old M5s 4th - Z4 M coupe Steve, when does the magazine come out in September in Europe? |
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08-25-2007, 11:44 AM | #54 |
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08-25-2007, 11:48 AM | #55 |
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I wonder if BMW has done any changes from those presscars to the production cars?
- Brakes the same? - Same steering feedback? (I know there been complaints on that on those red presscars) - Smoother gearbox? - and so on.... or is the car tuned exactly as those red press cars. |
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08-25-2007, 11:57 AM | #56 |
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as far as i can see so far, the e90 m3 will be comparable to the rs4 and maybe even close pricewise in the us. both are awesome gt cars. so i guess if it's a more trackday car your looking for, you will have to look elsewhere, e.g gt3, m3 csl (if it comes to the us) from all the reviews it seems that the e46 m3 is rawer, which is guess is to be expected since each iteration has been more civilized, mostly to cater to the us market.
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08-25-2007, 12:47 PM | #57 | |
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08-25-2007, 01:23 PM | #58 |
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The rumour has it that the exhaust system BMW used on the cars in Spain wasn't production version...Maybe that's the reason for the sound being somewhat muted on the UK cars...
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08-25-2007, 01:41 PM | #59 | |
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The final four in rank order would thus be: 1. M1 2. E30 M3 (or a derivative thereof) 3. E46 M3 CSL 4. E92 M3 (apologies for my cyncism, but car is still not yet launched, and it therefore does not make sense to eliminate it half-way through the article!) SteveD - I know I'm pushing my luck here, but is there anything reassuring you can say about the steering on the E92 M3 now that you have driven it in the U.K? |
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08-25-2007, 02:41 PM | #60 | |
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When I initially jumped into it after driving my M3 CSL across the Wales I noticed the difference, but after a few days I had forgotten about it and just got on with driving. It's not a 'great' steering, Nobody will ever praise it as being one of the best, and it does take a little time to adapt to. I just realised, that probably wasn't very 'reassuring'... |
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08-25-2007, 02:45 PM | #61 |
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08-25-2007, 02:48 PM | #62 | |
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The car I drove yesterday was a production car and will be sold eventually to customers, whereas the car I drove in Spain was pre-production and will be crushed and recycled. Brakes felt the same, but without the use of race pads. I wasn't so keen this time around about EDC, the chassis felt a little more artificial than the launch car, and I noticed the dampers 'adapting' to the changing road conditions. It made me wish for a conventional springs/dampers configuration, but since nobody has driven a non-EDC car yet it is difficult to say if this would be the right choice. Gearbox was definitely slicker and much closer to the RS4s, better than the Z4M this time around. And as I already mentioned the fuel economy was much better. It felt just as quick, but the exhaust seemed slightly quieter, although it was still the loudest car of the group behind the CSL. I would say the changes are all good, and my only reservations concern the steering and adaptive dampers. |
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08-25-2007, 02:57 PM | #63 |
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Another point worth sharing. I was dwelling on the question of whether the M3 was better than the 335i in the kind of normal daily drive, rather than the kind of roads that play to its increased performance.
I drove along in 5th gear at 2000 rpm and then put my foot down to see what happened. The exhaust note hardened, and it took around the count of 1-2-3 before we were at 3000 rpm. So I see two bonuses there, firstly it sounds a heck of a lot meaner than a 335i, and secondly it pulled hard from low down in 5th. So it has plenty of big-engined grunt low down in the revs, and yet it pulled from 6000 rpm to 8500 rpm faster than any other car in the test (M5 and M6 included). In fact over that last surge of rpm, I would say it felt like one of the fastest cars BMW have ever produced. So compared to the 335i it loses nothing in terms of low-down grunt, but would destroy it over the last few thousand rpm. I cannot imagine anyone feeling short changed if they moved from 335i to M3. |
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08-25-2007, 02:57 PM | #64 |
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Are you sure about this? This topic has been discussed here a little, and the outcome was that in "sport" mode, the system does an initial adjustment to the dampers and then leaves them alone while driving, meaning, in sport mode, it acts as a passive system. On the other hand, in the other modes, it is supposed to indeed act as an active system. Do you have insights to this?
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08-25-2007, 03:07 PM | #65 | |
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If it's anything like the adaptive dampers on my ML63, it does the adaptive bit in 'normal', whereas in 'sport' it stays fixed, so if you haven't allowed it to settle in 'normal' before switching to 'sport' you can find it rather unsettled. So I cannot be sure, but I'm just sharing my observations to point out the areas to check for yourself if you can. |
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08-25-2007, 03:11 PM | #66 | |
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