German Car Zone

An excerpt from the second page.



Check out the torque peak differences: the V-10, 6100 rpm; the V-8, 3900. This makes the M3’s engine feel far more flexible and it often doesn’t even need a downshift for passing, responding so strongly on the highway that a couple times we mistakenly thought we were in fourth gear when we were still comfortably in sixth. Throttle blips under heel-and-toe downshifting are spectacular and happen almost naturally. But, not surprisingly, the best part is the shrieking crescendo from 6000 rpm all the way up to the 8400-rpm sweet spot. Sorry, 420-hp Audi RS 4; this one sounds better and pulls harder.
Dropping the hammer from a standstill, we blasted to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, 0.4 second quicker than the previous car, with the quarter-mile dispatched in 12.9 seconds at 111 mph, an even larger, 0.7-second gain. The surface wasn’t ideal, however, and we expect even better numbers once we get one to our usual test track. Even so, that’s already enough to outrun the $69,785 Audi RS 4.


See full review


First Drive: 2008 BMW M3 - A Powerful Sound - Car and Driver - July 2007

I'm not the least bit surprised. Nice going BM.

Just_me you asked me if i really belive the 335 is more fun to drive..
and i said NO..
Now i just dont know

Read this:

When we’re talking about new 3-series BMWs, expectations run high, particularly so for M versions, and we arrived hoping for full-on fabulous which the M3 mostly delivered. The surprising exception was in the steering department. The M3’s hydraulic rack has a much quicker, 12.5:1 ratio than regular 3-series and features two settings, normal and sport. In its normal setting, the steering is feather light, far lighter than regular 3-series’, and, according to BMW, “enables the driver to park the car much more easily.” Come on, is this what we really need on the M3? At 100-plus-mph speeds on the highway the steering borders on scary light in its regular setting. It’s certainly accurate, however, and the sport setting clears up much of the lightness problem, but it still has a larger-than-we’d-like dead spot on-center and could use even more heft, in our opinion. Worse is that the level of tingly, tactile feedback coming through that thick-rimmed wheel seems to be dialed back a bit compared with the last M3 or even a current-gen 328i or 335i.

Is it? I've heard numbers as low as 4.3sec for the RS4!

I must have missed this earlier, does the M3 come with that active steering that is optional on other models? From what i know this is an love or hate option. I think it would be a bad thing to make it mandatory - especially since much of the critisism against it is just what we are hearing from this review!

No active steering on M3. M3 uses the new EPS (electronic power steering) system.

Best regards, south

I am still waiting for the official NRing time for this car- I am sure many of us will be surprised.

I am glad that Active steering did not make its way to the M3.

nope but it seems to be some special kind of steering like chonkoa said..
EPS..

plus it has one other thing that has been talked about much ..
that is Runflats..
i wonder if thats really a good idea

Runflats!! Yikes!!
I used to love them so much till I last week.
I now have to replace all four of them and that is over $1K. Took a small ridge on the express and now I have bulges on all four tires. Over 60mph, my car vibrates.

BMW,
PLEASE NO RUN FLAT TIRES ON THE M3!