M3, the most expensive piece of technology based toy I have bought for myself. It probably expands on my personality. A little reckless, pretending to be refined but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the power.
I’ve decided to break away from the usual format of our reviews for this one since following the format would make the review too long and still won’t be able to cover some of the coolest things about this fine piece of engineering.
First of all, all the cool stuff:
- stock 18″ staggered wheel configuration (i.e. wider tires at the back)
- LED indicators for soft red line for current engine temperature
- Signature M details
- Leather
- Individual breaking
- Handling!
- Engine.. oh boy, oh boy this engine is crazy high tech!
Let’s take it from the top.
Why is 18″ staggered wheel so cool? It’s because the wider rear wheel provides so much more traction for the rear wheel drive. When you drop the clutch while the engine is revved up to about 4000 rpm, you need all the traction you can get. This configuration also allows easier steering than having the wider rubbers all around. Besides, it just looks so much meaner with wider and bigger rear tire.
One of the most unique features of M3 is the dynamic engine temperature warning lights (need to find the official name for this). When the engine is still cold, the LEDs on tachometer is lit down to 4500 rpm. Warning the driver to avoid revving the engine too high while it hasn’t had the chance to warm up. Nothing like a few shinny light emitting diodes for guys. You know, we love shinny things and bright lights.
Everywhere in this car is the M signature colour blue and red. Not only that, there are tons of “M3″ or “M” letters littered around the car as if you could forget that you are driving an M3. Not that I’m complaining or anything but just seems little excessive. Just a little. All these high-tech features and flashy trim doesn’t over power the characteristics of the car because there is still plenty of luxury to be found. Specially the leather. I opted for the classical black leather for my option and that leather quality is better than I expected. Super soft and smooth leather is far superior than your regular leather seats in other 3 series. It is something to be felt rather than read. So, take a trip to the BMW dealership and go feel the seat. I trust my readers will have the sufficient acting ability to not make it too obvious. I am not responsible for the strange looks you might get for showing up to a dealership and telling a sales person that you came to just feel the leather.
Ok, so much for the non-driving related goodies. If you are gonna spend this much money on a sports car, you must spend it for the drive. The shear enjoyment of knowing that just about anything on the road will be insufficient to keep up with you in just about any condition (except for snow of course. I will get into that later).
I’m no skilled race car driver but I still enjoy the brute forced acceleration. Let’s get one thing straight. It’s not about how fast you can go. Even a dog on a shopping cart can go fast if you have long enough of a downhill and lots and lots of WD-40 on the wheels. It is all about how fast you can get up to that speed you want to be travelling at. Let me put that in one word. Acceleration. Nothing can be compared to the feeling of being pushed back into your seat when your leadfoot gives away to the gravity. The handling of this car assisted by the computer controlled individual breaking of each wheels however will make you feel like a very skilled driver. All of a sudden, you gain confidence to attack the corner. Little mistakes are corrected by the car. Couple that with the ultra stable handling at the high speeds, I understood what they mean by performance driving. I must admit that I don’t drive all that fast but when I do, it makes my face hurt from all the smiling.
Before I get lost in my happy memories, let me point out the most important component of this car. The one part that really makes this car what it is. The BMW inline straight 6 engine. From 3.2 litter normally aspirated engine, 333 horses are released. But that alone isn’t all that important but the fact that the red line is at 8200 rpm! That means it’s torque is probably one of the most flattest amongst the production line cars on the south of $100,000 US. What does this mean? If you were to be in a drag race, your shift point is so much further than your competition. While other will have to shift up, you are still in your high output power band. No wonder they can pull off 4.7 seconds for 0 to 60. The joyous sound that keeps changing as you spin the engine towards 8200 rpm redline probably can replace the need for a car stereo majority of the time.
Obviously, I’m somewhat subjective on this review. However, I promise to point out the flaws and “I wish it did…” in the following pages. Because for the price of this car, I really think it could and should have had more luxury.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2004, 11:42 pm | 
He Says | 
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