A consummate all-rounder
Smaller V8 engine, four seats
BMW’s famed M3 badge began with the E30; a hyped-up version of its staple ‘family sedan’, designed purely for racing purposes back in 1986. The modifications were essentially performance add-ons to an already existing shell; wider flares on a coupe bodystyle, some splitters and spoilers, sports suspension, and more power.
The car won the World Touring Car Championship on debut, and thus the cult following began. A convertible soon followed the coupe, and the brand evolved the M3 through three more designations before arriving at the current E92 M3, which comes in coupe, sedan and convertible bodystyles, and manual or dual-clutch transmissions.
BMW M3 Engine
The M3’s four-litre V8 may be slightly smaller than that of its nearest rivals, but this doesn’t make it any less potent. Developing 309kW at a tremendous 8300rpm, which is more than enough for its rear-driven rubber, it revs freely and doles out precise torque – 400Nm – through all seven gears.
It is matched to BMW’s seven-speed M DCT, which stands for “M Double-Clutch Transmission”. It can handle the V8’s high-revving 8400rpm limiter, and is largely devoid of that awkward dual-clutch hesitation between gears, found in the simply awful lurching of the preceding SMG semi-automatic formerly found in the M5 and M6. Even after five years, the DCT is one of the better dual-clutch autos on the market.
BMW M3 The Interior
The M3 is typically Germanic in its design and execution, with clear, sharp lines wrapped in leather and soft-touch surfaces, glitzed up by carbon fibre and aluminium highlights to push its sporty bent.
The heated leather seats are heavily bolstered and extremely comfortable with tonnes of adjustment, and visibility, even rearward, is premium.
A dedicated four-seater, the Coupe offers a roomy rear seat area and relatively easy entry and egress through widely sculpted front doors – so wide, that the seat belt is handed over your shoulder by an electronic arm. The boot is enormous, wide and flat with no room sacrificed to a spare tyre (the M3 has run-flat rubber), with the rear bench folding down to open it up even further.
Standard features include keyless entry, a premium 13-speaker sound system with voice activation and Bluetooth, GPS, phone and MP3, cornering headlamps, and a full array of airbags and safety equipment.
BMW M3 Exterior & Styling
It used to be an option on the stripped out CSL, but now the M3 comes standard with a carbon-fibre roof (keeping its weight to a skinny 1600kg), and when combined with the bonnet bulge and vents, painted 18-inch alloys and flared guards, there is no mistaking the M3 for its lesser sedan siblings. The Coupe is easily the most fluid and resolved design in the 3-Series.
BMW M3 On The Road
Any driver who complains about an M3 not suiting his or her’s style of driving needs to sit down and read the user manual, for the DCT M3 throws up 56 different sport settings and combinations for the driver to choose from, all accessible from buttons on the shifter.
It has six automatic drive mode and six manual Sport mode settings that either smooth out the shifts or speed the patterns up and blip the throttle on the down-change during spirited driving. Add to that the options of two different power levels (Normal and Full-Bore), and three suspension settings on the electronically-controlled dampers (Comfort, Sport and Plus), and three levels of traction/stability control (Nanny, off-enough, and off-off).
Thankfully, the M button on the steering wheel is like a memory switch, and can easily be preset with your favourite performance settings so, when you hit a bit of twisty tarmac or enter the racetrack, one touch of a button sets the car up exactly how you like it.
The rear-drive layout offers precise steering and feedback through the wheel, and involves the driver with a crescendo of sound from firewall and tailpipes, particularly with all nanny devices and soft settings turned off. Those who fretted that the M3 would lose its signature howl when it changed from six to eight cylinders several years ago need not have worried – though with extra low torque comes extra wheelspin if the throttle is not used judiciously, and the growl of acceleration can quickly become the shrill squealing of rubber, particularly in the DCT, if the right foot falters.
Respect it, however, and the wide rpm and torque band can get even a green driver out of trouble instead if into it. With wheel-mounted paddles or a shift lever to choose from, or simply leaving the car in an aggressive Sport auto setting, the M3 is rewarding, exacting and involving.
BMW M3 Challenges
Some people still cannot get their heads around a dual-clutch system as a replacement for traditional torque-converter automatics, and it does have its faults, such as laziness off the line and when reversing from a standstill. Also, the DCT launch control – something that used to almost shut the old M5 down after one or two stop-starts – still needs a few cool-down laps before going again, or limp mode may come on to protect the drivetrain.
And the Coupe is still only a dedicated four-seater. The seats may fold down to reveal a huge cargo area, but its competition has a centre seat for five adults, and this may be more important to some buyers.
BMW M3 Competition
The usual suspects from Audi and Mercedes-Benz are the German marque’s direct competition. Audi offers the A5 in Sportback form along with it and the A4’s sedan, wagon and cabrio bodystyles, and its S variants house beefy, beautifully tuned V8 engines and dual-clutch options. However, none have the number of suspension setting and level of performance tailoring of the M3, and the 2012 RS4 hyper-car is currently only set for Europe, and in a single wagon bodystyle.
The Mercedes C63 is a hammer of a car; a refined but blunt instrument of power. The naturally-aspirated V8 in the Coupe variant can be pushed even further with a specific AMG Performance package, which ups power from 336kW to 358kW through a seven-speed ‘box.
Another option in this class come from Jaguar with its supercharged XF-R, though it cannot be bought in coupe form, and Jag’s XK-R is a 2+2 coupe with only token rear seats.
BMW M3 Verdict
Bang for buck abounds, and the M3 is truly a consummate all-rounder. Ducking to the shops, darting around a track, driving on a highway – there is a setting for every one, or simply stick it in drive and steer it.
Some may argue a $160K car should offer almost everything and is hardly value, but particularly next to some of its more expensive and extensive competition, the M3 is, even after almost five years in its current form, a standout performer.
* Images Sourced from BMW Europe
