New M3 Owner Initial Review

[Accel Junky]

I read a lot of reviews from both individuals and magazines before I took delivery of my M3. I had the chance to do extensive driving in a variety of environments including the Nurburgring and wanted to share a few quick thoughts based on what stood out to me as a person who has owned 35 performance vehicles from a variety of makes. For whatever it is worth to others...

1. Engine

Firstly...the sound. I don't get the complaints. It sounds downright ANGRY. I don't know if it is the sound piped in or what but it is pretty loud for a stock exhaust but also tame enough to drive comfortably. Great for guys like me that are so tempted to swap the exhaust. The sound piped in doesn't bother me and I can't tell whether it is the real deal or speakers. Frankly it seems seamless and I would not worry about this at all. The engine note in the car sounds very raw and almost muted-V8-like compared to what I normally hear from an I6. The burping sound when you let off the throttle from a quick throttle roll is pretty cool.

Response...I've owned a lot of cars (37 now) many with forced induction. Many with tiny turbos, twin turbos, big turbos etc... I can easily feel the lag in lower RPMs. I'm fine with it because I'm used to it but it is absolutely there. On another note on the Nurburging coming out of corners the car would struggle to accelerate right away after the traction nannies kicked in. Almost like a weird recovery period before respelling. But outside the track situation, I could sense the turbo lag without question. In sport plus, the throttle response is lightning quick but you still have the spooling. I'll have to report back on this subject as I drive more.

Pulls like a freight train in 6th. Really no need to downshift on the highway or autobahn to pass.

Rev match feature = super cool. Takes getting used to but ultimately I think this is good for at least the cool factor.

Overall, very pleased with the engine.

2. Suspension (standard)

Ride - Rides a lot like aftermarket suspension on my other cars. Feels like a factory "modified" car. Kind of cool as I am used to and like that feeling. Semi-raw...definitely not luxuriously smooth. If you want that, I recommend getting the adaptive if it does what it is supposed to do.

Handling - On the Nurburgring I left all of the nannies on due to my lack of experience on the track and with this car. That being said, it was balanced. i really didn't sense much understeer and the traction nannies kept the rear end in check. Absolutely felt at home on the track. Exactly what you would expect of a true M car.

Overall, very pleased with the track-like feeling of the handling and the raw suspension feedback.



3. Interior

The carbon trim is amazing. Looks super slick. Don't make the mistake of passing it up.

The seats I do not find as comfortable as others but they weren't bad by any means. I'm not a comfort kind of guy, but I felt some discomfort on longer stretches. As far as holding you, with the adjustable bolsters I found the seats to be excellent. Design looks amazing and the fixed headrest was perfect for my posture.

Though the nav screen sticks up out of the dash, I eventually stopped noticing it. No big deal really even though it was a questionable design choice.

Cockpit view is a lot better than I expected. Once I raised my seat up a little (I'm a strong 5'10") I felt like I had good command over the payment. Not as good as my NSX (which has a ridiculously good cockpit view) but much better than the bulging hood would suggest.

The rest of the materials seem to be fine. I thought some of the door panel plastics looked cheap in a beige 3 series interior, but in black this interior seems like typical recent BMW quality.



4. Manual Trans

The 6MT feels great. No complaints. Clutch pedal effort seems perfect.



5. Options

I wish I had been able to get the LED headlights. They look better though whether they are worth that much money...I don't know. These are not bad and the halos are pretty slick looking still. The standard headlights don't seem to have that typical HID look that I'm used to seeing from inside the cockpit. Seemed a bit like a halogen color.



6. Efficiency

Pretty impressed with the MPG. I was able to get the advertised highway MPG with medium effort. Overall, including close to 1200 miles of highway driving, cities, villages, 3 all-out Nurburgring laps and many autobahn blasts and top gear roll ons, I averaged 21mpg.



7. Color (Yas Marina Blue)

Yas Marina Blue is a very unique color. It stands out and you'll get noticed. One thing I wanted to note was that it is lighter in person than in many pictures. I think the majority of pictures make it appear darker than it really is. It isn't washed out out by any means though. When I first got in the car I questioned the blue but as I drove it more looking out over the hood I started to feel like it was a special color.



Overall Review

I am very pleased with the car. It has the total package feel that I have come to expect from an M car. The icing on the cake for me is the purposeful track-like-feeling it comes with from the factory: the aggressive ride quality and sound. Makes it feel like a tastefully and moderately modified vehicle right out of the factory.



Bonus: Track thoughts vs my NSX turbo
I had the chance to track my turbo NSX (owned 4 years) today (10/19) within days of driving the M3 (owned 1 week) on the Nurburgring. I wanted to add a little something to this review as a result. Driving the high-powered NSX at Atlanta Motorsports Park gave me some important perspective on the M3 given the close proximity of the events and that AMP features a lot of elevation change much like the 'ring. The NSX was very tricky to drive. The power delivery is violent and the balance of the car is not for beginners. I was eventually able to get some pretty fast laps in but only after being bitten twice and spending considerable time acclimating to its ways.

In comparison, the M3 was absolutely forgiving and balanced. With the electronic nannies engaged, it made me into a superhero. I would have surely stuffed my NSX into a wall at the Nurburgring if I was pushing it like I had pushed the M3. The M3 was utterly composed in my inexperienced hands and just ate up all the hard late braking and tossing that I threw at it.

The NSX is an amazing car. There will never be anything else like it but my overpowered example goes to show that the M3 is a powerful, balanced car that is much friendlier to casual track day folks.

[M4TW]

Welcome to the club! The power interruption is likely due to DSC cutting power and the engine taking time to recover. Try hammering on it less coming out of corners so as to not provoke the DSC as much. There is a lot of torque to manage due to the anti-lag measures working so well.

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by Accel Junky

I read a lot of reviews from both individuals and magazines before I took delivery of my M3. I had the chance to do extensive driving in a variety of environments including the Nurburgring and wanted to share a few quick thoughts based on what stood out to me as a person who has owned 35 performance vehicles from a variety of makes. For whatever it is worth to others.......

Welcome to the family or back to it.

What's better is both you and the Wife sport duel M3s lol

[DrtyJrze]

What did your wife think of her M3? (Or did you guys decide to drop hers off early)

[luvmybluesbb]

Great review, pics, and love the shirts!! Congrats to the both of you and enjoy your rides!

[Lynchmob6]

Awesome…congrats to you both! Thanks for the review and enjoy the cars…that is really cool!

[dkhm3]

well congrats! 2 m3's!

[RickMonet]

Nice videos and thanks for the review.

Looks like you were in Sport(?) throttle mode as the rev match was on for downshifts. What do you think of the auto rev matching feature?

[imserious]

Originally Posted by M4TW

Welcome to the club! The power interruption is likely due to DSC cutting power and the engine taking time to recover. Try hammering on it less coming out of corners so as to not provoke the DSC as much. There is a lot of torque to manage due to the anti-lag measures working so well.

Can also be helped by changing throttle sensitivity to normal or sport.

Sounds exactly like nannies cutting power due to too much throttle input.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for the review

[rubber_ducky]

Great review. Thanks for posting

[Bob815]

We were on the plant tour together. I recognize your t-shirts. What a small world.

[Accel Junky]

Thanks, all. Just thought I'd put my $0.02 out there. Full story with pictures coming soon on the trip and the dual delivery. Needed to get my thoughts on the car out there while they were fresh in my mind.

Originally Posted by DrtyJrze

What did your wife think of her M3? (Or did you guys decide to drop hers off early)

She loves hers. She dropped it off right away because she preferred to ride with me (we did spend 20+ hours on the road). But she did drive mine a bit and seemed happy so far. I will post some more about what she thinks once hers is redelivered and she has had time to spend in it.

Originally Posted by RickMonet

Nice videos and thanks for the review.

Looks like you were in Sport(?) throttle mode as the rev match was on for downshifts. What do you think of the auto rev matching feature?

First lap I did with my M1 which I believe was whatever the medium steering setting was and the throttle setting with the rev match. That was in the video. Subsequent laps I did with my M2 which was sport plus on everything (or whatever it is called). Personally...I think the rev match feature is really cool. Makes it sound like you are a pro! I'm surprised it is disabled in the other modes. It takes some getting used to but eventually I was OK with it doing its thing.

Originally Posted by Bob815

We were on the plant tour together. I recognize your t-shirts. What a small world.

Awesome! Did we talk? I know I met someone who had just picked up a 3 series Gran Coupe and I met another person who was picking up an M3.

[fugmaglottu]

The power interruption is likely due to DSC cutting power and the engine taking time to recover.