Just how far can you go when turning a standard tin box, even a sporty one like the BMW 3 Series coupe, into a supercar? As I approached the silver coupe waiting in the car park at the airport at Pau, south France, I was wondering. I knew it would have the power, but would it be accessible? Should be exciting: 420 bhp at 8,300 rpm, and a lighter car than the standard coupe, and not overweight compared with some supercars.
From the side, though, it looked a bit like a tarted-up coupe from a distance with big twin-spoke alloy wheels, a few extra vents, and not much else evident. Or was it just understated, for the driver that likes to be anonymous?
Big air intake, carbon fiber roof
When you get near you can see that there is much more to it than that. The big air intakes below the grille get a lot of air into the engine compartment, and the roof is not just painted black – it is carbon fiber, which althyough saving very little weight (11 lb or 5 kg), does reduce the center of gravity slightly. Tap the front fenders and you can tell they are lightweight plastic, and I already knew the hood was aluminum.
Visually, though, the BMW M3 is discreet and could pass off as a standard coupe, because there are no big eyebrows over the wheelarches They are just swollen subtly to leave room for the fat wheels. Perhaps too subtly – and for many afficionados that will apply to the whole car.
Really better than any other souped-up sedan or coupe?
So you might be wondering what sets this apart from modified sedans or coupes like the Audi RS4, Jaguar S-Type or Mercedes-Benz C55 AMG? The formula is to stick a big engine in, stiffen the springs and put larger brakes and tires on. They are all at it these days.
When I slid into the seat, the illusion remained - the interior is like any other current BMW except for the M logos and the little M button on the steering wheel. All very discreet, and as close to standard as could be.
The first important point, though is that the side cushions of the driver's seat can be pumped up to get just the right amount of lateral support you want – as on the latest Porsches.
Pedigree of racing success
The BMW M Center, which has a history of developing M3s to the state where they can win the Nurburgring 24 Hours Race outright, was given more freedom with this model than some others. That is why they were able to produce a new engine and make a lot of changes to the basic coupe to turn this into an M3 – the suspension has been almost completely redesigned to improve handling, which is not bad anyway.
Mind you, as soon as I looked up from the smart and clear instruments over the hood I could see this was something different – a power bulge. Not as extreme as on cars like some American V-8s, but still, a bulge needed to house the engine. The reasons for this are that the new V-8 has a wet sump, and the individual air intakes to the cylinders are quite tall.
Start the engine, and you are immediately aware that there is some power wanting to get out, even if it is fairly discreet. The car has only done 1,000 miles, so I was not surprised that the gearshift seemed quite stiff around the town, an impression that was to remain, except on the track where you are more forceful. Not up to Porsche' slickness, but maybe it will be after 5,000 miles or so.
Great cruiser on the autoroute
Once out of the town we head off on the autoroute towards hillier more interesting country. After the tool booths, I shift up and then floor the throttle in second, and feel the revs build, fairly quietly at first. Then around 4,500 rpm, the muffled exhaust note turns into a staccato roar which builds up very nicely as I hold the revs to about 8,000 rpm, just before the limiter cuts in, and I slip up to third, and then snick across to sixth, as we are already doing over 80 mph.
There were not many curves on the autoroute, but it was evident that the BMW M3 will cruise all day at more or less whatever speed you want. I later discovered that the car was very quiet and comfortable at any speed from 90 to 120 mph.
Remarkable but unexciting
Remarkable but unexciting, and on smooth roads you don't know that the ride is on the firm side. Later, we came to some country roads, with a variety of surfaces and curves. The M3 turns in smartly enough, as you would expect – although that engine is quite far forward, which is part of the problem of building around a standard underbody.
The ride is firm, soaking up most bumps, but becoming quite joggly at lower speeds on poorly surfaced roads, more a sports car than a coupe here. On these roads, the car cornered like a dream, though, no roll to speak of,turning in nicely, following the line you set exactly and a great pleasure to drive.
In everyday use, you can either drop down to fifth and tool along at lower speeds – the engine and transmission are very smooth at 1,500 rpm, - or if you want to accelerate quickly, use second or third.
More performance there – but poor fuel consumption
You can feel that there is much more performance than you are using in these conditions, and you can see that the fuel consumption is pretty heavy, even though BMW insists this is a more efficient engine than the previous six.
So far so good. The BMW M3 is clearly a great car to drive anywhere, yet the engine does not have much power low down. In fact, I was left wondering whether it had been that much better than half a dozen cars I could mention.
Now for the track test of the M3
But this is not what M3s are about. They have always been about high-speed performance of the sort you can only test on a track, so we headed over to the Pau Arnos circuit the next day. This is a fairly slow circuit, with many hills, and two pretty slow corners – hairpins really - and some fast curves, with the home straight cut in half by a chicane. In practice, just about all corners.
I drove out onto the track, still wet in some places from heavy overnight rain – some critical – and soon confirmed what I had found on the road: to make the M3 fly you need to keep the revs between 5,000 and 8,500 rpm. Yes, this is a real supercar engine, and a very smooth one at that.
Still, that means you get that staccato roar whenever you have the power on – and it sounds better as the car is driven past by the way, as you would expect.
Use the M button for track work
After a couple of laps of exploring the lines for the corners, I pressed the M button. The character of the car changed. First, the engine is far more responsive, on and off the throttle – which results in jerky throttle action if you use it when driving slowly round country lanes.
Then, the steering assistance gives sharper response, and the optional adjustable dampers are turned to the hard setting. More important, the stability control, which you can turn off, lets the back end break away before helping you correct.
So off I went, using more revs and more road – not quite enough road on some corners as they are blind, and take a little more learning – but enough to get the idea and have a whale of a time.
I found that the brakes – no need for carbon ceramic here, just racing pads to allow for really hard work – were terrific, pulling you up sharply without drama, thanks partly to the excellent suspension geometry, so I could brake hard and quite late. Actually there are only a couple of places you need to do that at Pau Arnos.
Let the tail hang out
Coming down into the second bend I braked late, and the M3 pulled the speed right back in a straight line, and I turned in, looking for the apex which is out of sight, and the M3 responded beautifully, going exactly where I pointed it. Immediately after is another tight downhill bend. Then it is hard acceleration round the curve, missing the wet patches, and into the hairpin, where the back end obligingly slid out, enabling me to get the power on early and correct the slide in one manoevre.
Hanging the tail out and bringing it back is a joy in M mode. I mostly did just that on the slow bends, but if you are really aggressive you can tweak the wheel coming out of the apex, floor the throttle, and come out in a long tail slide. Not faster, but more fun, and best reserved for tracks.
Excellent steering and poise
The first thing that these tests showed was that the car steers with precision, and turns in as directed, and goes just where you point it. You can swoop down through fast curves amazingly quickly – carrying a good 10 mph more through the fast bends than I would have expected, and still more to come. All the time I was pressed hard into the side of the seat, and the handling remained neutral on these fast curves, maintaining good poise.
The car sat very flat without any pitching and with little roll whatever you did. The seat is also just as good for high-speed driving as for cruising on motorways.
On slower corners, you can either leave it to the stability control, or hang the tail out or turn the thing off and do as you will.
Without doubt, the M3 is a great driver's car, allowing you to enjoy the handling, the braking and the steering. In this respect, it is well ahead of the competition.
This makes the M3 a fine everyday car – even if one that you need to rev hard, just like you would most supercars. In this respect it is true to the M3 pedigree. Now, though, there is so much power on tap that you need to live where you can exploit it to get the full enjoyment from the M3 – trackdays would be one solution.
Yes, this BMW M3 coupe may look too like the standard car, but don't let that fool you. This is a supercar - more information
here.
