There is a broad torque band that means head-snapping fun from 20 mph or 120. Maybe the greatest thing about the M3 is that it is not raw power from your right foot to the engine block. (Whew!)Īnd it loves to spend time near an incredible 8,000 rpm – all delivered through a six-speed gearbox, its only transmission, with throws that are sharp, short and smooth. Under the hood, a robust, naturally aspirated, twin-cam, 3.2-liter, in-line six-cylinder engine busts out more power than a Jaguar XJ8 or a Porsche 911 Carrera. Turn the key and it rumbles to life, growling and buzzing. Rolled out of the driveway, it’s a demon. Seated quietly in your driveway, it is an unassuming, sleek and smartly designed coupe with chrome M3 badging, fender flares, spoked wheels and scalloped headlights that flow into the rest of the body. The new M3 is engineering prowess from every angle, but especially under the hood. At 240 horses, the old M3s were a nice bump up in the food chain – until a Corvette ate them for lunch. Previous M3 models have been solid rides, but lacked the punch to deliver a truly gutsy ride against other muscular entries. So will a four-tailpipe exhaust system and a range of harmonics that sounds better than a German pipe organ on Oktoberfest weekend.įirst delivered as a late 2001, and unchanged for 2002, the M3 is the performance version of BMW’s very popular, very successful 3-Series. Careful: One hundred and three horsepower per cylinder will do that to you. Performance nuts will gush, gearheads will gawk, and your neighborhood-friendly police officer will pull you over if you even think about edging into the power band of this two-door sports coupe. The reality is, that’s all it is: Potential. The dream of driving an M3 is that there’s all that potential car enthusiasts crave. And how infuriating is that? Try 333 horsepower worth. And occasionally, when a radar gun isn’t looking, you might be able to take an on-ramp at faster than posted speeds.īut don’t even think about stretching the M3’s legs, winding out its engine or making it scream. Oh, you can tool around in stop-and-go traffic impressing your friends that the M3’s blast-of-gas power will zoom you from stoplight to stoplight. Unless you live near an Autobahn, or they begin building a bridge over the Atlantic, you can’t really drive one.

Chalk up the new BMW M3 to one of life’s truly unfair realities.

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