The E46 is the outgoing M3 and is probably the best performance car bargain on the entire planet. The beating heart of the M3 is a 3.2 litre straight six engine producing a very tasty 333bhp, about the same as a brand new Nissan 370Z. This meant the car was good for a 0-62 time of 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. Wave goodbye to getting stuck behind 40mph dawdlers then. This is a saloon car however and the M Division of BMW made sure the 269lbs per square foot of torque hid a long way up the rev range, 4,900rpm to be exact, which means that you'll have to work the gearbox reasonably hard to get the best out of the engine. On the flip side it means the car isn't to brutal when you don't want it to be. The engine in this is a best of both worlds affair.
So is this thing any good in the corners? The answer is yes, very good in fact. The engine is mounted up front but critically behind the front axle which means you don't get any understeer. The nose on the E46 is very direct and of course, should you want to unstick the rears that isn't hard to do either. It also has very thick tyres to ensure that grip remains astronomical. There are a few more things that BMW did to keep the car good in the corners. The car was light weighing in at 1549kgs which is light for a saloon car. There are a few things that weren't done however. The suspension is the same as a standard M BMWs albeit stiffened and lowered. The differential was the same and the brakes were made of the same material albeit, bigger.
The stiffened and lowered suspension does have a secondary effact on the character of the car. It makes it just a little bit uncomfortable. This is a saloon car which means the lack of comfort isn't a good thing. My reccomendation would be to avoid any rough roads!
What will comfort however is the way it looks. This is a very good looking car with an aggresive stance. It looks cool does the E46 and one of the things that I like the most are the side air vents for the engine with an M3 badge on them for good measure. I also like the twin twin exhaust pipes, very cool. I also like the interior which is like a standard E46 3 Series only with some sports seats and some sporty stitching. It's a nice place to be in short.
Like the Civic Type R you'll have to make allowances for maintainence and fuel and yes insurance but this car is a bigger bargain than the Civic when it comes to the initial purchase. I saw one today for under £8,000 and to put that into perspective for you, you could buy a near entry level Ford Fiesta for more money than that! You could only just buy a Kia Picanto with that money. How does that sound to you? "I just got an M3 for the same price as a Kia". Sounds pretty good to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment