New (well, at least official) info on the new M3 on www.bmwusa.com. Fairly
detailed brochure available in PDF format. Just wish there were more
pics...
--
Charles C. Shyu
http://home.earthlink.net/~shyuc/shyu.html

"Charles C. Shyu" wrote
Here are a few...

http://www.v10.pl/BMW,M3,Coupe,2007,galeria,66.html


Pete

Charles C. Shyu wrote:

Quite a machine. Until you consider the cost. And then you might
think, "and this beats a Corvette how, exactly"?\

I mean, individual throttle butterflies are cool and all...

"dizzy" <dizzy (AT) nospam (DOT) invalid> wrote

The difference between a scalpel and an axe? Don't get me wrong, the
Corvette offers incredible performance at a remarkably low price and
(theoretically) it can be serviced at any Chevy dealer. OTOH, the interior
sucks (albeit there's a $24K solution) and it has various other limitations.

R / John

John Carrier wrote:

I suppose. I am glad to see reports that the new M3 will be less
hard-core, more gand-tourer, than the outgoing model. I don't see the
point of such hard-riding cars for the street. IMO the extra-hard
suspension should be an option.

"dizzy" <dizzy (AT) nospam (DOT) invalid> wrote

LOL!

On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:00:18 GMT, dizzy <dizzy (AT) nospam (DOT) invalid> wrote:

You mention HARD SUSPENSION. I was in the market to replace my E38 740i and
looked at several E65 730d cars before buying the 6 month old example I have
however, I digress. One of the "wonderful" models was a 730d SPORT????

It had the option of 20" wheels amongst others that made it very desirable until
I drove it.

The suspension was rock hard - thump thump thump on every little road
imperfection and coupled with the 20" wheels and very low profile tyres (tires)
the ride was terrible. the wheels made the car "white line" (that is wandering
about being guided by the raised white line and reflectors (cats eyes).

There was no way I could have lived with such a monster. Maybe on a NEW smooth
asphalt surface Ok but on bumpy roads with pot holes and white lines and your
concrete interstates Wow.............. Drive me mad.....

Another I tried was a stock sedan fitted with the optional adaptive suspension.
Hard and soft settings but this was also fitted with the 20" wheels. the hard
setting wasn't as hard as the sport as the car still had stock springs and only
the damper setting were being changed but it was still "nervy" on the white
lines and bumpy on the normal road surface. On the "comfort" settings it still
wandered about due to the 20" wheels but the ride was like a boat and I actually
felt sick and so did my wife after about 20 minuets driving.

We decided to give that one a miss too.

I bought a 730d with stock suspension and I can honestly say that in everyday
driving and fast country driving it runs circles around the so called "Sport"
version for ride and comfort. On a race track things might be different but in
the real world -------

On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 06:17:24 GMT, dizzy <dizzy (AT) nospam (DOT) invalid> wrote:

To me, the more relevant question is "It beats the previous M3
how?" Once you dip under the 5secs 0-60 line, costs rise exponentially
for every tenth second, which is less and less practical for a street
car (in the US, you can ignore the top speed altogether unless you
like the prison social scene). If I had an E46 M3, I don't think the
additional tenths shaved would warrant the expense.
epbrown
--
How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill

On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:57:45 GMT, E Brown <three1983s (AT) att (DOT) net> wrote:

For sure, but what you may be missing is the cost effectiveness of the
crotch-rocket motorcycle once you get into the, say, sub 4 second 0 to
60 zone.

The adrenaline rush of a modern crotch rocket is in a different league
altogether. It leaves you despairing of *any* car's performance.

Thank ghod that I'm old enough (too old?) and wise enough to stay away
from more than a quick blast on someone else's modern bike. Damn, I
nearly killed myself one time on a Triumph Speed Twin in
1960-something.
--
Dan.

E Brown wrote:

Well, it's no secret that they felt they needed the displacement to
keep-up with the competition... Kind of sad to see them go-away from
the I6 in their top cars. OTOH, V8's can sound really nice...