[bmw] E46 M3 vs. E36 M3

[peter cain <cain@xxxxxx>]

I bought a nice '97 M3 4-door this past summer and love the car. It does
everything well. How well, I did not know before today. I had wanted to
try out an E46 M3 but the local dealer does not have demos, but today
they got in a used one with low miles, so I tried it out. Great to
drive, better sound than the E36 M3, but......... Coming onto a limited
access highway, no traffic, I nailed it in 3rd gear at about 90 kph (55
mph) and it responded nicely, but definitely no better than an E36 would
do. On the shift into 4th the response was pretty flat. I have had a
better poke in the back in an E36 M3 in 5th gear. Pretty disappointing
for a car with 333 hp. My guess is that it feels like it makes a few
more hp than the E36 but I cannot believe that it's 93 more hp, and it
doesn't feel like more than a few lb-ft of torque than an E36. Not worth
the big money they wanted (=3 times what I paid for the E36).
Peter Cain
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