BMW E92 M3 Coupe 2007 Review

Overall rating: 4.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.0/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.5/5.0
X-factor: 5.0/5.0

So, though M cars make up a significant percentage of BMW's prestige sales volume across the globe, there's much more riding on the success of this fourth generation M3 than a few percentage points on a graph. This is the car that will launch or rekindle love affairs with the blue and white badge. BMW's return on investment on M cars is measured over decades not just the next calendar year.

Short circuiting the rhetoric we can vouch that if the new V8-powered E92 M3 is the yardstick, then styling nuances aside, the future of the Bavarian brand is in very safe hands. This is a hero car worthy of the moniker.

Quicker, faster, nimbler but more refined, the new M3 is a different car from the E46 hotshoe it replaces. By the same token, in its own way it's just as soul-stirring as models past.

Though a four-door variant has just been announced in Europe, the two-door E92 3 Series-based car is the sole model currently offered Down Under. The bad news is, unless you already have your place in the queue, you will very probably have to wait at least 12 months to drive 'your' M3. The full Australia allocation for 2008 is sold out, says BMW.

Such is the enthusiasm for the new M3. More's the pity, a fair proportion of those new owners will never have the desire to wring the new car's neck. Such buyers however will be rewarded by the most luxurious M3 ever. Indeed, unlike some other markets, the Australian-delivery carbon-fibre-roofed six-speed manual car comes comprehensively equipped.

Included in the Oz-spec M3 is BMW's Electronic Damper Control and all the M Drive functionality you'd expect. The car befits its top-end 3 Series role too, with all the bells and whistles included -- top-end leather upholstery, heated front memory seats, full navigation and audio/television set-up and more.

Indeed the major options listed for the M3 are limited to an electric/glass sunroof (a no cost option but it means you forego the c-f roof -- adding 22kg), an electrically-powered rear roller blind ($550), BMW Individual premium audio system ($1900) and 19-inch 'M' forged alloy wheels ($3800).

MECHANICAL
That the M3 is based on the E92 3 Series coupe is a given. What a casual observer might argue is BMW's claim that 80 per cent of the car is changed from its donor model.

In terms of parts visible only the standard 3 Series' glass, door skins, rear bootlid and headlights are retained. When we called BMW to task on the question of the 3 Series base chassis, the techs argued it too is significantly changed. There's extra strengthening around the suspension mounting points, for example.

Almost all the M3's running gear is unique also -- from the steering rack through to the mechanical-locking M differential. Even the electronic manipulation of the various driver aids is unique to the M3. While the car shares the M5/6's programmable M mode, in the case of the 3 it not only alters stability and traction control settings, but also changes the damper settings and both the throttle and steering mapping. The latter is a first for an M car.

The M3's brakes are bigger and beefier than any 3 before it. The discs 'float' on their alloy carriers like those on a racecar or high-performance motorcycle. Such fixtures allow the big cast iron cross-drilled and ventilated rotors to expand and contract at their own rate, rather than that of the dissimilar metals of the wheel hub, etc, thus eliminating warping.

It almost goes without saying also that the M3 features top-notch suspension componentry at both ends. Up front there's a modified MacPherson strut set-up that is not dissimilar to that of the donor 3 Series. At the rear, BMW has redesigned its already accomplished multi-link independent system. With the exception of one track control arm carried over from the 3 Series, the M3's rear suspension is unique. Forged alloy is used to minimize unsprung weight. Even the variable-valved dampers have alloy bodies.

Bodywork has been stretched, bulged and in some places squeezed to make the M3 more efficient through the air, and better supply the 17 cubic metres of air the high revving V8 engine consumes every second when provoked.

But the big mechanical story of the new M3 is that engine -- the first V8 to ever grace a production M3.

Plenty of claims about race technology making it to the road are made by manufacturers, but few can claim their road car engine is born under the same roof as the engines physically bolted into the same brand's F1 cars. BMW can -- at least in the case of the M3. The block of M3's naturally-aspirated 4.0-litre dual variable valve timed direct fuel-injected DOHC V8 engine is cast at BMW's foundry in Landshut north of Munich, which also builds the engine blocks for the BMW Sauber Formula 1 cars.

With redline on the high side of 8500rpm, this is one of the hardest revving and sonorous road car engines on the planet. It produces over 100hp/litre -- 309kW at 8400rpm to be exact -- and a useful but by no means record setting 400Nm at not far short of half those revs (3900rpm). And despite having two more cylinders and nearly an extra 400cc of capacity, the new engine with its eight individual throttle butterflies (just like a proper race engine) weighs in 15kg lighter than the outgoing E46's 252kW inline six.

Such is the level of technology in the new M3 engine that The Carsales Network took the unprecedented step of publishing BMW's full powerplant 'reveal' media kit.

At launch BMW has mated the new V8 to a conventional six-speed manual gearbox. Featuring integrated, temperature-related oil cooling, the gearbox features double-plate clutch "optimised for mass inertia" and is a further developed version of the same box that is fitted to the 335i. In the real world this translates to a gearchange that is absolutely fuss-free yet precise and a clutch action that is both light and progressive.

Although BMW will eventually offer a SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox) like the M5/6 or perhaps a DSG-style dual clutch automated manual transmission, in its current guise the car wants for little.

Ironically, given its performance focus, the M3 is the first 3 Series sold Down Under that features BMW's so-called Brake Energy Regeneration. This system is part of the company's 'Efficient Dynamics' suite of technologies aimed at reducing fuel consumption. It is not true energy regeneration from brakes (as a diesel electric railway locomotive might use, running electric motors backwards to provide magnetic braking force in order to charge a bank of batteries) but rather the use of smart technology to limit the drain on engine power by the alternator.

In effect, in normal use the alternator only charges the battery when the driver is off the throttle, or indeed on the brakes. BMW claims this generates (pun intended) both fuel and performance savings. It seems in this day and age, every little bit helps.

The end result of all this is a car that will sprint from 0-100km/h in 4.8sec and record an average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle of 12.4lt/100km. Top speed is limited to 250km/h or thereabouts -- M cars' limiters have traditionally been somewhat generous.

The real measure of the capability of the latest M3, at least as BMW is concerned, however, is how fast it laps the Nürburgring, or more particular, the 20km-plus Nordschleife or Northern Circuit. BMW, which has its own development centre at the infamous German public road circuit, won't be drawn on its ultimate M3 lap time, but claims the new E92 not only "significantly" outperforms its immediate predecessor but is also the fastest M car ever around the track.

PACKAGING
One of the chief attractions of the M3 -- in all its four generations -- is the blend of super sports performance and everyday functionality.

Save for more heavily bolstered front seats and the same 'leather carbon structure' finishes as pioneered in the Z4M, in everyday use the M3 is a 3 Series coupe. There are two full-sized adult seats up front and in the rear and the boot will accommodate all the workaday and weekend needs of 'normal' car.

You might have trouble attaching a roof rack to the carbon-fibre roof to cart around your carbon-fibre Colnago, but no doubt BMW has a solution for that.

Given the specialist nature of the rubber and the differential wheel sizes (8.5 x 18-inch front and 9.5 x 18 rear), the M3 does not carry a spare. As an M car, nor does it resort to runflats. In their place BMW offers a 'mobility kit'. In reality this compressor and goop is purely to get around ADRs. Face it, if you are unlucky enough to get a puncture you're staying where you are 90 per cent of the time.

At least you can entertain yourself programming the 'favourite' buttons that BMW has added to complement the maligned iDrive system. The eight buttons, situated on the centre stack (above the CD slot), can each be programmed to perform a function -- as diverse as kicking the navigation system into action to a preprogrammed destination or even tuning in your favourite television station.

The only button we really needed (or wanted) to program was the M button on the chunky thick-rimmed steering wheel.

SAFETY
Same as packaging above -- this is an E92 3 Series coupe in terms of its safety accoutrement. Standard equipment is at the highest level and crash structures, etc, are at the pointy end of the field -- as you'd expect from an iconic German marquee.

That said the 3 Series doesn't score as high as some, especially in areas such as pedestrian safety.

The active safety armoury of the M3 is arguably a step above a standard 3 Series coupe, however. This car handles better, can react quicker and brakes with eye-popping power. While most manufacturers publish only 0-100km/h times, BMW also states the M3's 100-0km/h time and distance. At 2.8sec and 34m, they are impressive stats. And its brakes will cope with full effort stops all day.

In this type of vehicle, we should also praise BMW's development of its stability control system. As in the case of the M5/6, the new M3 boasts 'M Dynamic' mode for its stability control. When selected this allows the driver a substantial amount of latitude to enjoy the M3's chassis (even tail-out antics) without totally dispensing with the safety net a good stability control system offers. Think of it as a sassy 'safety au pair' rather than some marques' frumpish 'safety nannies'!

As these sorts of cars often attract buyers that confuse their ambitions and capabilities, offering this level of assistance is smart. Of course, for the Geoff Brabhams of this world (see video link hereabouts) the whole thing can be dispensed with and caution (and tyre smoke) thrown to the wind.

COMPETITORS
BMW wouldn't be BMW and M wouldn't be M without the 'encouragement' metred out by Audi's go-fast department and Mercedes' AMG crew. As such the main competitors come from the outgoing RS4 and upcoming C63 respectively.

Interestingly these are both sedans (and wagons!) to the BMW's coupe variant. As noted above BMW will take on the Benz directly when its sedan arrives in late 2008. Whether that fight happens locally is yet to be determined, however.

Lexus will throw its 5.0-litre V8-powered eight-speed auto IS250-based IS-F into the ring in late 2008. By then we'll have confirmed that Benz is hunting bear with its C63 thanks to very, very sharp pricing. Shoooosh! You can't tell anybody, though.

Audi would like to suggest its new V8-powered S5 can take it up to the M3 but in reality the svelte new coupe is too flabby and too soft to be a serious competitor. That job will have to go to the RS5 when (if) it arrives.

As the M3 consistently punches above its weight in terms of performance per dollar, it's also worth noting that a fair proportion of M owners come to BMW out of the likes of 911s and other exotica. Why? Without doubt this is the most practical performance car in the world today -- no wonder BMW Oz has delivered over 2000 M3s Down under since the model designation was officially introduced in 1994

We could wax lyrical about the competence of the car, but by this time you've probably realized we're firmly in lust with the M3. This is an amazingly competent and capable motor car that is truly fast, both in a straightline and point to point.

That it is an altogether more refined car than the outgoing E46 won't please everybody. Given the choice of setting a time on a racetrack, the V8 probably won't outpace the six significantly. On a Targa stage, especially if conditions were less than perfect, there's no doubt in my mind the E92 would be seconds a kilometer quicker. It is simply easier to drive fast for longer.

The new engine is not as visceral as the six. Gone is the metallic thrash of the E46's mega inline engine, replaced by the rising, ever rising (all the way to eight grand and change!) trumpeting tones of the F1-inspired V8. At idle, it's clearly an eight too -- the burble is simply delicious.

BMW Driver Training chief instructor (and therefore biased!) Brabham says the new car is better balanced than the E46. It's more tunable on the throttle thanks to more torque and less understeer.

With a sly grin and half an armful of opposite lock during a hot lap at the Island, Geoff also explained the new car accelerates while it's drifting, not just showing off like the E46. Later we had the chance to try the same trick -- though not nearly as neatly.

The seats need a touch more lateral location for the racetrack but are near perfect on the road. They have more aggressive lumbar and side to side adjustments so its worth spending the time to get your driving position adjusted just so -- lest you end up sitting on the seat rather than in it.

We also loved the steering wheel. It's almost too thick of rim, but it's round -- not the affected flat-bottomed tiller some brands afflict cars with.

BMW highlighted the benefits of the new M3 over the old by comparing the two cars' performance at the Nordschleife -- we did it on the piece of road that in Targa Tasmania is known as the Cethana stage. A wonderful 37km or thereabouts this road crosses to ranges and marvelously changes rhythm time and time again. The M3 was in its element.

The gearbox is as easy to use as that of a small hatch. Third gear was perfect for the tight stuff and fourth gear was perfect for everything else.

While the M3's torque number is not outstanding, what is impressive is the spread over which it is delivered. There's decent urge available from around 1500rpm which means you have an effective powerband of over 6500rpm. No need to mention that in fourth gear this generates eyewatering speed.

Using iDrive to preset our M button we opted for DSC on M Dynamic mode and just upped the damper settings. We chose to leave the steering and throttle settings alone. Set up like this the car was stable but nimble and predictable. Even on the damp roads we encountered, fast progress barely troubled the traction control system, such is the natural grip of the car.

BMW fitted track compound brake pads for the Island session but on the road we were driving stock units. While they didn't exhibit the initial 'hot' bite, on the road the brakes were plenty powerful enough and very easily modulated.

In both environments the Michelin Pilot Sport rubber was exemplary. Track day fans take note here, however -- the tyres edge sypes are very shallow in contrast with the main central grooves. It looked as though a hard driving track session could leave the tyres technically illegal despite the fact there would be plenty of meat left in the centre.

Criticising an M3 for using its rubber at the track is a little like saying you don't like champagne cos the bubbles tickle your nose. Suffice it to say replacement rubber will be one of the costs of enjoying your M3 to the full. We'd happily incur the bills if it meant another opportunity to ring the new E92's neck -- on the track or those glorious Tassie roads.

To those who suggested the move to V8 power would kill the M3 as we know it. We've just one message -- get over it...