Just wanted to show the new M3 a little love since everyone has been so quick to blast it recently with any little negatives they can find. Seems the M3 might be a little more grown up than before but it's still more of a performance machine than other vehicles in the class.
Some quotes (and I'm not ignoring the bad and putting the good, the worst thing they said was the Servotronic steering was slightly disappointing):
"The rear end starts to drift, but that's okay -- your backside feels hardwired into this thing, and you know within a quarter inch how far it's going to step out."
"It's quick and precise; beautifully balanced and brilliantly responsive; deeply confident and inspiringly competent when you ask it the big questions. Yep, the new BMW M3 is everything the BMW faithful have been waiting for -- and then some."
"Some hardcore M3 purists will find that a little hard to get used to. And they will be missing a key point about this car: that it has more depth to it -- more layers of expertise -- than any previous M3. It might seem a little too well mannered, but it is faster around the Nurburgring Nordschleife than the V-10 powered M5 sedan, says M GmbH boss Gerhard Richter."
"On almost any given stretch of twisting blacktop this M3 is 911-fast."
"The new BMW M3 goes on sale here in the U.S. in spring 2008, with a pricetag tipped to be in the low $60,000 range. Some of the purists might grumble, but the reality is the M3 has grown up. It's no longer an edgy, race bred sport sedan, but a fast, civilized GT with a useable (occasionally) rear seat, and a trunk that holds more than a couple of soft bags. You don't have to be a hero to approach its limits, and when you do overstep the mark, it will look after you.
There are those who want to be challenged by a car: those who want to conquer white knuckles and sharp intakes of breath; those who take pride in taming the beast and swallowing their fear. For the rest of us, though, the new M3 makes us look about as good as it gets on the road, and not too shabby on the racetrack, either. Which is why it's the best M3 yet."
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