Andreas-Performance of E46 vs E36 M3 (archive)

In your previous post you reported after a test drive that the new M3 is MUCH faster than the E36 M3 or M Roadster(Euro-321hp). This is really surprising me and not in line neither with my personal judgement(subjective) nor with the various performance measurements(objective) made by most of European magazines. The most famous French sport car magazine Sport-Auto reported during their first test drive (in Spain-19" wheels car)that they exactly reproduce the times of the previous M3. In a second test in France with a car having the 18" wheels they only marginally improve the time recorded. Their measurements are in line with those reported by several other Eurpoean magazines including German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.

Also looking into BMW official brochures you can find the following figures (E46 vs E36) :

0-1000 m 24.2 vs 24.7
0-100 km/h 5.2 vs 5.5
80-120 km/h (4g) 5.3 vs 5.7

So on the 0-1000 m exercice the difference is only 2%. This is not MUCH faster to me , this is only hardly perceptible.

I am even more surprized when you mentionned that you had a M roadster. I always though that in such a car the impression of speed was higher than in reality.

Would like to hear opinion of other people who drove both cars. May be that my current E36 M3 is particularly good, I remember having red that E36 3.2 M3 early produced (end 1995,1996) were faster (1 sec on the 0-1000m) than cars produced later on (some changes apparently made on the engine to meet more severe noise and pollution regulation).

Follow Ups:

here's my point of view... (more) Andreas 15:50 3/11/2001 (1)
- could it be... Bruce 17:52 3/11/2001 (0)
Autocar figures ... Ian T 13:02 3/11/2001 (0)

[ Follow Ups ] [ E46 M3 Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]

Questions, comments, or problems, please visit the Roadfly help desk.