Those are indeed big words and I would also like to say this. This new M3 will hopefully follow the legacy the E46 had. i.e. be the benchmark of its class and win engine of year awards... over and over again. And to be honest, it's not that far fetched to me.

the return of the prodigal son

Then P Zero Corsas and SMG IV/DTC/ZSG and slap the competition.

Really BMW, tires and transmissions do make a difference.

Fancy robotised manuals and ultra-clingy rubber isn't a pre-requisite for a great car, IE. The M5 just happens to have been engineered into a corner so as not to be compatible with a manual transmission.

BMW clearly learnt from this oversight and have engineered the M3 to be the complete sporting machine with or without a manual gearbox. You'll see; the difference in performance between the manual and ZSG/SMG equipped cars will be slight.

Some of us still like to use our left feet for putting the clutch in and for braking - despite the fact that we'd invariably be faster in a semi-auto.

Just me, it's strange how you can change your avatar to "M3 sucks" after only 2 reviews and don't change it back after several positive reviews saying it is not soft and it's better than the previous M3 and even better than the RS4.

^where are those reviews exactly?

Im still hoping Im wrong. The Sportauto supertest will be very crucial to me. If the car fails there then there is no return.

It does help a lot. Power is nothing without control. And there will be a difference between the manual and SMG/ZSG.

Wha..!?! Power is nothing without control? What - are you telling me that one has no control over a car with a manual transmission?

[Inserts Mr Incredulous smiley over here]

No sir, for the skilled driver we've seen that the artform of precision driving far outweighs the technical developments of automated sequential transmissions and throttle blipping software.

Make no mistake it's good technology and it works well in cars like the M5 and 599 Fiorano - and it's particularly flattering to the less than talented. But it's not the be all and end all to dynamic superiority. Just ask cars like the F1, CGT, Zonda F, GT3 RS, CCR, R8 and so on...

The difference will be N-E-G-L-I-G-I-B-L-E in the stock E92 M3.

Why put so much stock in someone else's opinion? Try the car yourself. Make up you own mind. I guarantee the M3 doesn't suck, but it may be a different animal to the E46. If it had simply honed the hard core qualities of the E46, it would have gotten critisized for that: Too taxing, too hard core, too noisy at high speeds etc. etc.

Autocar:
BMW M3


A deeply impressive car with a huge range of abilities and very few flaws

Doesn't seem like the worst review to me.

Remember, it's not like BMW suddenly doesn't know how to make a car like the E46 M3. I'm sure they've set out to make exactly what they've accomplished. In the end, they as well as all other car manufacturers are interested in moving boxes (just like a manufacturer of washing machines) we enthusiasts may project a lot of emotions into what is otherwise a dead machine, something I doubt the average employee at BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Alfa etc. does.

Avatars such as X sucks or X owns Y, just gives a negative slant to what should be a positive hobby and or passion.

Personally I hope the M3, RS4 and C63 turn out to be fantastic, what may or may not be a hypothetical best is of little relevance to me.

Those cars:

a) could have been even better
b) some, have semi automatics as optionals (R8)
c) will get semi automatics (most likely GT3/RS the PDK)

Where have we seen the for the skilled driver art-form of precision driving far outweighs the technical developments of automated sequential transmissions and throttle blipping software ?!

Is it in F1, WRC, LeMans, DTM ?!
Are you really telling me those guys miss talent, skills, fitness, reflexes ?!

If it's 0.2 to 0.4 sec. , by F1 standards, it's breading space not N-E-G-L-I-G-I-B-L-E, worthy of the investments.
Ofcourse the SMG IV/ZSG will more than that, and even better vs. the
SMG III.
Ofcourse, one could say such seconds or fractions are not important, but then why not settle for a nice 335i ?!
IRL (meaning traffic not track), you won't really notice the difference (not much anyway).