[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

M3 vs 328i

[Lberg wrote: I'm trying to decide between purchasing a new 328i Sedan with 
the Sports
Package or an M3 Sedan.  Having never owned a BMW before, I'd like to get as
many opinions as possible about the pros and cons of owning one vs. the
other.]

I don't own a M3 or a 328i, but the following information I quoted from Car 
magazine might be some help to LBerg's question:

"If you're looking for old-fashioned, unbridled tail-out fun, the 328i is 
the better bet. Step into it from the M3, and you'll be all over the place. 
But when you're settled, the red car becomes a congenial travel-mate, always 
at ease. This BMW leans more and kneels deeper than the M3, and yet there is 
a reassuring fluency to it.

If the M3 is the more physical, better-mannered car, then the 328i is the 
more communicative, friendlier, more forgiving one, even if our test car's 
brakes were not so good: after a few high-speed decelerations they juddered. 
The M3, by contrast, brakes almost as well as a Porsche 911, and it will do 
so time after time thanks to high-tech, heat-dissipating two-piece compound 
disc/hub units.

The latest M3 has fixed BMW's internecine embarrassment. The personality gap 
between the M-car and the 328i is as broad as it should be. You couldn't 
call the latest M3 flawless, but if speed is all to you, you'll be able to 
maintain it all over the place. The price gap has broadened, too. In Britain 
early next year, the M3 will cost 'under ?37,000', so we're talking of a 
difference of between ?10,000 and ?12,000.

This new M3 must be the performance car deal of the decade. Anything that 
comes close, while offering similar comforts, is at least 10 grand more. 
Crushingly competent as the M3 has become, though, it's a shame that its 
maturity has squeezed out the glorious handling balance and feel that made 
the original, 1986 M3 so great. That's what happens if you try to broaden a 
car's appeal."