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just in case you didn't already know: AMS (Auto Motor und Sport) did the first real road test. I mean they've made their own performance testing and achieved their own results (numbers)... no Jerez standard numbers.
To be honest with you I don't really understand what they're thinking about the E46 M3 after all ! AMS gave the car it's best possible rating (5 stars). This is one star more than the CLK 55 AMG got and the same rating as for the Audi RS4.
On the other hand they are complaining about many things in almost every sentence. At a certain point one starts to believe they think the car is crap. AMS was never the biggest BMW supporter out there... they usually prefer Mercedes and if a Porsche is involved, the winner is set. AMS don't like the design of the E46 M3 too much. They call it a "boy racer" design because the car "shows off" it's power. Furthermore the car is too loud inside (...for AMS). They say, at high rev it really sounds like half a Ferrari V12 engine and it became annoying for them (hmmm... do they really call them selves "enthusiasts" ???)
Anyway - AMS was impressed with the performance. They clocked the car from 0-100 Km/h at 5.1s which is 0.1s faster than the 5.2s claimed by BMW and 0.2s faster than the CLK 55 AMG. But they achieved nowhere BMW's "brake numbers". 100-0 Km/h in 38.2m is still good but nowhere close to BMW's promised 35-36m. Maybe they had a difficult surface while testing - who knows.
After all they think the car is a bargain as it is way the most powerful car on the market for a base price of DEM 100'000. But AMS believe that the M3 has lost it's identity as it is no race car and no middle class car. They think it is just the most powerful 3-series ever. As per AMS the M3 is now closer to the 5-series than to the 3-series... so for them it is indeed some kind of "smaller M5". The M3 grew up !
OK - after reading this article I like the car even better because I never agreed with AMS so far *LOL* !
btw... somebody asked recently what color the car below is. Here's the answer: it's imola red - that's the AMS test car from the above mentioned test.
Cheers
Andreas
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