06 m3 comp vs 11 m3 comp...my 2 cents

[1cleanm6]

Hey guys,

I had the pleasure of driving a 2006 e46 m3 competition package and i wanted to give my 2cents of the two cars compared. Ive owned a 2003 m3 also. I had always wanted to drive an e46 m to see how it compares.

Power: My e92 m3 is just way faster, in anygear and any speed. Not to say the e46 M is slow because its definately not. I can still see a lot of cars having problems with it. However it just goes to show you how much faster the e92 v8 really is. Second and Third gear pulls WAY harder. If you guys complain about torque in the v8 do yourself a favor and NEVER drive the e46 lol. The vehicle is just so torqueless. Both engines are truly beautiful though once pushed. I can just imagine how amazing this engine must have been in 2001 when it came out.

Brakes: Since the 06 competition comes with different brakes (i believe 13.6 inches), the e46 m brakes wonderfully. However once pushed on the e92 just grabs harder (not crazy amount better but noticable). The feel in both of them is very similar. Once again i bet these were amazing for its time. No complaints for street driving on any.

Steering/handling: The steering feel on the e46 m feels much stiffer which i love so much. The 06 m3 is running yoko ad08's, which if you know about tires ITS GRIPS LIKE HELL!!, which is why in my opinion the steering feel is very hard. I was running same tires at one point on my e92 so im very framilar with how they react. Overall the e46 m handles very beautifully, a lot of grip. My zcp on conti cs3's handled much better stock for stock though. Its unbelievable how balanced both feel with the nod easily going to the zcp 11' m3. Stock limits, the 11' m3 zcp just is a lot more balanced and handles a lot better in my opinion. I cant imagine how good it would be if it came with ad08's.

Exterior/Interior: The e46 is straight out looking dated, beautiful but dated. The interior of the e92 is much more better looking, and in my opinion has WAY better quality. I cant really comment more, back in days the e46 m would make me drool!

Weight: The e92 feels like a fatter/wider car, and thats where it ends.

To my suprise, with the e46 m still in our driveway I dont even bother driving it anymore. It got plain boring very fast to me, to my suprise. I just go outside and droll over my e92 m. I never knew how much better the e92 m was, and now im convinced its ONE HELL OF AN IMPROVEMENT. Overall package its just a beast! God damn the v8 will be missed .

[MrHarris]

The E46 M3 will be always be a classic to me. I love that car.

I feel the E46 gives the impression it's more nimble mainly because it just feels 'smaller.' I personally like the steering better on the E46, but everything else goes to the E92 --- and the interior, my god does it shit on the E46. Nice review.

[FruitCake]

after having coils on both my E46 and E92 I have to conclude the E46 pwns the E92 on the track

miss my E46 with coils

[1cleanm6]

Originally Posted by MrHarris

The E46 M3 will be always be a classic to me. I love that car.

I feel the E46 gives the impression it's more nimble mainly because it just feels 'smaller.' I personally like the steering better on the E46, but everything else goes to the E92 --- and the interior, my god does it shit on the E46. Nice review.

I dont know how to express this, the e46 was always a car that i thought was AMAZING until i drove the e92 m afterwards. I had always wondered how much better the e92 was but now i know for a fact its way way better. I think the e92 is the e46 bigger/badass brother lol.

e92 m

The v8 screaming is just priceless

[1cleanm6]

Originally Posted by FruitCake

after having coils on both my E46 and E92 I have to conclude the E46 pwns the E92 on the track

miss my E46 with coils

I had jic coils on my e46 m, my e92 has kws.

I disagree my e92 would pown my e46.

It handles much much better, way way faster, and i can see on the track the e92 having much better brakes/lasting longer.

[regensburg94]

Interesting point of view. I think the interior/controls of the E92 are bland and awful (and much less quality-feeling) compared to the lovely curved-dash E46, but I guess to each his/her own.

On the exterior, I feel like there's no comparison - the E46 just has much better proportions, has a near perfect stance, etc. Everything you look at after a while will seem "dated" - not sure that's a legitimate complaint - but I'd say the E46 has a timeless look to it.

[FruitCake]

Originally Posted by 1cleanm3

I had jic coils on my e46 m, my e92 has kws.

I disagree my e92 would pown my e46.

It handles much much better, way way faster, and i can see on the track the e92 having much better brakes/lasting longer.

thats cuz u had JICs lmfao
and there's no such thing as "i can see on the track.."

[sensi09]

I had a ZCP e46 m3 too, but it's been awhile since I've driven it.

The e9X is much faster, but anyone feel that the e46 was more raw so it felt faster at times?

[sensi09]

Originally Posted by shift@red

e46 m3 was not a raw car.

even compared to the e90/e92?

[sensi09]

Yeah well I meant raw in relative terms, wasn't comparing to anything else. There are certainly more "raw" cars like the GT3 out there.

[GOLFFRR]

I had 2 e46 M3's (Black and White) and i must say although i love my current e92 my favorite M still was my white e46M3. Something about the white stock e46 with just the basic 19inch stock rims that was just . But had to move on to the next beast

[1cleanm6]

Originally Posted by shift@red

I agree with almost all of your point. I owned 2 e46 m3s; one an 04 fully modded NA car (30K in parts/labor) and also an 06 zcp and now an e92 m3.

The e9X m3 is better in every aspect except for lower speed steering. At speed, the e9X is just as good if not better, but at low speeds its simply too boosted. The best Ive ever had in a BMW was my z4mc though.
The e9x m3 had a broader powerband, and i think a huge upgrade was the 3.85 rear in the 6mt as opposed to the 3.62 in the e46 m3.

I have a couple questions though for you about your post:

You say..."I had always wanted to drive an e46 m to see how it compares."
you say prior to that..."Ive owned a 2003 m3 also"
and then you say..."I never knew how much better the e92 m was"

Im a bit confused here. If you owned an e46 m3, you wouldnt need to drive one to 'see how it compares' and at the same time you would know 'how much better the e92 m was'. So whats the deal?

I had an 03 m3 back in 05 i think it was. Since i got rid of it in 2006 i hadnt driven one since so i had forgetten how was the car. The only thought i member is that it was a damn good car. I just had to refresh my memory

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

I had 2 e46 M3's (Black and White) and i must say although i love my current e92 my favorite M still was my white e46M3. Something about the white stock e46 with just the basic 19inch stock rims that was just . But had to move on to the next beast

I've owned two E46 M3's too (...one being an '05 Comp Package), and I really miss that '05 IB coupe on TEIN SS-P's. I still catch myself staring when I see one on the street. The E9X is definitely the faster car, but there is something about a ZCP E46 M3.

[mb1]

I had a hard time deciding which I wanted. I recently picked up a 2006 M3 with under 19000 miles and have driven the e92 a few times.

On the interior, IMHO, the e46's quality is better. I never warmed to the e9x interior even after having a e92 335.

Exterior, it's close. I love them both. The E46 is a little dated but still looks amazing. I love the 92's carbon roof.

No question, the 92 is WAY faster and the engine sounds makes my E46 sound pitiful especially at full throttle. That v8 sound is to die for.

I like the handling and steering much better on the 46. I'm also a fan of the smaller size feel of the older car. The 92 feels slight more GT than sports car to me. I'm probably in the minority in that I like the 46's 6mt better than the newer car. Getrag vs ZF maybe.

They both have that M car feel that is awesome.

I'm planning on looking for a e90 M3 as a family car in the next year or so before BMW completely ruins the M with turbos.

[Technic]

The areas that I remember about my 2004 E46 compared to my 2008 E90 M3 are:

Interior: the E46 M3 interior was more attractive (dash layout, door panels and seat) and with a much better quality leather and plastics than my E90 M3. There's absolute no comparison, IMO.

Exterior: one thing that I never comprehended from BMW was that the E46 bumpers and the way they were styled into the body were outdated right after its 1999 introduction, IMO. So by 2004 my E46 M3 bumpers were already passed the dated look expiration date. I tried a Vorsteiner front bumper and the ZCP/CSL wheels and it did quite an improvement, but still the tacked-on look -where most other manufacturers were already styling their bumpers flush with the bodywork/fenders- was distracting. I still do double takes on passing by E46 M3, but it has to be a very clean, OEM M3 and not heavy modded as it really does not look as good as I remember that summer of 2004 at the dealership lot.

In contrast, the E9x M3 is just stunning without too many exterior mods, still even after 4 model years. The exterior was really cleaned, integrated and streamlined into what I call "a single line", and not like a combination of big flared fenders with two oversized bumpers attached to a body. The best single styling/exterior feature that BMW did with the M3 was to make the Coupe front standard regardless of body style. That was a masterstroke for the Sedan...

Performance: there is no comparison, the E9x is better in all areas. And the one that I like the most is the total lack of "age" rattles under any driving conditions. The one thing that I noticed right away after delivery of my brand new, 03/04 production E46 M3 in May of 2004 -with just 27 miles in the odometer- was that it felt like a 30000-miles M3. There was a "tin" feeling in the body, like it was not as solid as a 2002 330i that I just traded in for this M3.

Changing the OEM spings for Eibach really changed that feeling considerably, as the OEM springs were too stiff even for regular street driving. I still remember as well before replacing the OEM springs how the body almost physicaly cracked when I crossed a messed up railroad crossing one morning, like the M3 was going to fell apart and all 4 rims were bent.

My E90 M3 is 29000+ miles, and its body is as solid as the day that I bought it. EDC ride with OEM springs was fantastic, the Eibach springs made it even more so. Definitely the 200lbs or so over the E46 M3 are mostly the difference, and while most member in this forum do not like any increase in weight, I for one think that this was a good compromise over what I used to get in ride and body quality over the E46 M3.

I don't feel that the E90 M3 steering is better or worse than the E46 M3 steering, just different. I can still put my E90 M3 wherever I want in the line with as much accuracy of the E46 M3 and get as much information out of the front tires as before, IMO.

I drove that E46 M3 for 3.5 years, and it was -up to that moment- the best car that I've owned, just because it was fast, the handling limits exceeded by much what I had experienced before, it has a luxurious cabin and it looked really mean on the outside. There is a reason that this M3 has been sold 3 times over within days of posting after I sold it the very first time. But honesty, to me all that was quickly forgotten when I bought my E90 M3. BMW better come up with a much improved M3 (easy fix: interior layout and offer Cinnamon leather as a regular option) to really make me forget that quick about this one...

[jimmy ny]

bad post old 6 cylinder m3 does not compare. it was really a slow car in my circle.

[1cleanm6]

Originally Posted by FruitCake

thats cuz u had JICs lmfao
and there's no such thing as "i can see on the track.."

your kidding right? JIC is one hell of a company, they have awesome coilover systems. They were one of the top notch coils for the e46 along with the kwv3, tck, etc

The e92 m equipped with the right tires will eat a e46 m up. The e46 m has ad08's which are AMAZING tires. I know because i have a set in my garage.

[vividracing]

Originally Posted by 1cleanm3

Hey guys,

I had the pleasure of driving a 2006 e46 m3 competition package and i wanted to give my 2cents of the two cars compared. Ive owned a 2003 m3 also. I had always wanted to drive an e46 m to see how it compares.

Power: My e92 m3 is just way faster, in anygear and any speed. Not to say the e46 M is slow because its definately not. I can still see a lot of cars having problems with it. However it just goes to show you how much faster the e92 v8 really is. Second and Third gear pulls WAY harder. If you guys complain about torque in the v8 do yourself a favor and NEVER drive the e46 lol. The vehicle is just so torqueless. Both engines are truly beautiful though once pushed. I can just imagine how amazing this engine must have been in 2001 when it came out.

Brakes: Since the 06 competition comes with different brakes (i believe 13.6 inches), the e46 m brakes wonderfully. However once pushed on the e92 just grabs harder (not crazy amount better but noticable). The feel in both of them is very similar. Once again i bet these were amazing for its time. No complaints for street driving on any.

Steering/handling: The steering feel on the e46 m feels much stiffer which i love so much. The 06 m3 is running yoko ad08's, which if you know about tires ITS GRIPS LIKE HELL!!, which is why in my opinion the steering feel is very hard. I was running same tires at one point on my e92 so im very framilar with how they react. Overall the e46 m handles very beautifully, a lot of grip. My zcp on conti cs3's handled much better stock for stock though. Its unbelievable how balanced both feel with the nod easily going to the zcp 11' m3. Stock limits, the 11' m3 zcp just is a lot more balanced and handles a lot better in my opinion. I cant imagine how good it would be if it came with ad08's.

Exterior/Interior: The e46 is straight out looking dated, beautiful but dated. The interior of the e92 is much more better looking, and in my opinion has WAY better quality. I cant really comment more, back in days the e46 m would make me drool!

Weight: The e92 feels like a fatter/wider car, and thats where it ends.

To my suprise, with the e46 m still in our driveway I dont even bother driving it anymore. It got plain boring very fast to me, to my suprise. I just go outside and droll over my e92 m. I never knew how much better the e92 m was, and now im convinced its ONE HELL OF AN IMPROVEMENT. Overall package its just a beast! God damn the v8 will be missed .

Excellent post, great to read your comparison and opinion. Thanks for taking the time

Graeme

[dpsfm3]

Great thread and a what a great car e46 ZCP was for me, one of my all time favs.

IMHO the e92 is even better, a natural evolution of the iconic M3. I bought the e92 immediately after test driving it and have been having a great time with my new V8!

I'm already planning to buy a 2014 or 2015 M3!

[1cleanm6]

Originally Posted by vividracing

Excellent post, great to read your comparison and opinion. Thanks for taking the time

Graeme

PLEASE POST PIK OF THAT MATT GREY M3 ON THE CORNER

ROOL:

[motosan]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

I've owned two E46 M3's too (...one being an '05 Comp Package), and I really miss that '05 IB coupe on TEIN SS-P's. I still catch myself staring when I see one on the street. The E9X is definitely the faster car, but there is something about a ZCP E46 M3.

Agreed! Especially it looks good with some many variety of colors, unlike the e9x M3 looks only good with few colors....

[IFX]

i think alot on here are just saying the e9x is plain "better" car simply because it's faster..