THE NEW BMW M3

Pretty good review except:

"Contrived, maybe; an exciting prospect, definitely. But in the meantime, perhaps just a little of the M3 magic has been lost…"

and still no mention of competitors. the M3 may have lost of the rawness relative TO ITSELF. but i'm pretty confident that the only competitor who will come close is the RS4.

"come close," enthusiast? The new M3 is a car that I will look at, without a doubt, and I will be impressed with it. However- correct me if I'm wrong, but the RS4 has beaten the M3 in at least one comparison test. Something tells me Audi has stolen what BMW has lost in its "M3 magic." The RS4 is more like the M3 than the new M3 is in its feedback and overall driving fun, whereas the new BMW is more detatched.

Perhaps I'll end up with another Audi, after all. Or maybe I'll just keep the S4 and get a second car...

BMW lost some of it's "magic?" How can this be? Lexus must've stolen some of it. Give it back Lexus, damn you!!!

shut up.

gee whiz...which lexus stole it? where are they hiding it?

This car is going to be sick! Sure there are criticisms, but honestly you will only feel those criticisms if you take your car to the racetrack everyday and beat the crap out of it. For someone who is planning on using it as a daily driver their will be very few complaints, its pleasant at low speeds and when you wanna rip it up it can do that as well! Now the only problem is I dont know which car to get I have a deposit down on the new M3 and the new Audi S5 which supposedly can now do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds (yeah right!) Any suggestions on the decision I make?

I believe the 4.5 sec to 60 for the S5.

Do you need AWD where you live, if so S5. it will also be cheaper then the M3. Either way, you won't be dissapointed, at least i wouldn't be.

jmr .. why not then get the 335 coupe with awd? That car will be cheaper still then that of the Audi S5 and within .2 of a second 0 to 60. The M3 is the way to go. Performance alone with that high revving V8 and the sound and the look is awesome. People are criticizing it to be more civilized, but have to be to be able to have more clients. For the ones who want track like performance, then wait for the CSL version. Otherwise, this car will be awesome.

BMW- that would be a very good alternative to the S5, but I like the look of the S5 better in and out, and Quattro is known to be better then BMW X. I love the 335i but the S5 to me is just better, but you pay the price for it. I have a 2007 A4 3.2Q S-line, if the 335i had come out ealier, i would have taken it over my A4, but it wasn't out yet.

Also, he only asked about the S5 and M3, he never brought up the 335i/335xi. So i gave him my opinion on those 2.

Jmr .. I like the Audi S5, but comparing to the M3 is hard to do. We still have to wait to see an actual test with times and such, but the M3 is more unique and desired. The balance of the M3. In regards to AWD or not, a good set of snow tires will cure most traction woes. Plus you as well as most know that if you have high-performance tires on an AWD car, that if it gets bad you are going to have to replace your tires for snows anyways. My brother has basically the same car you have, but his is a 2005 During our last really bad snow storm in chicago, I watched him go a little too fast into a turn. He is a mechanic for Audi to boot. From my point of view it was funny, but not from his.

BMW- You can compare the S5 and M3, although the M3 will be better performance wise and the RS5 will be a much better comparison to the M3.

and yes , Performance tires on a AWD car in the snow is not good, better then RWD with snow tires still for the most part, but not good. I have a pair of 18 inch performance tires and 17 inch snow tires for the winter. I love both BMW and Audi and have owned both, right now its Audi for me, but if the next A4 or A5 doesn't have a engine to match the 335i, besides a "S" or "RS", it might be the BMW next for me.

S5 is beautiful...and fast.
but it's on the softer side. frankly, it's more comparable to a 335i.

A little sad news for e46 M3 fans, including myself.........

I'm a bit dissapointed.. sure it's a very very impressive car but it has lost a bit of the M3 magic. It's an M3, but different and more grown up.

"Whereas the old CSL required plenty of in-depth fettling to extract that extra edge from an already focused package, it seems the positioning of this new car leaves a much easier gap in which to place a hardcore version."

Exactly. Now bring on the M3 CSL!

It's to bad the M3 didn't live up to the hype, this just makes me wonder if BMW is loosing their focus!

Considering they've let their biggest icon fall victim to it's competitors (Not to mention the fact it can't even top players that have been around for more than a year already), makes me think they've sold out to make better 'everyday' performance cars & not just pure driving machines.

noooo!!!! another similar review?

these guys must have copied the other reviews and test drives. they probably never even driven the car before.

i refuse to believe it. harumph.

It seems to me, that all BMW have to do is to make the steering better, they should be able to do that and in a hurry. Then it would be near perfect. But if i had the money i would by it anyway, or the 335 coupe!

generally the 1st batch of M3'S have a few faults. but are fixed for the 2nd batch.

Indeed. Remember the '92 debacle?

m3 is the shiznit