All Entries Tagged With: "BMW M3"
BMW Ad: It Takes A Beast…
… to tame a beast.
eBay: Alpine White E36 Generation BMW M3 Convertible
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1998 BMW M3
BIASED though yours is in favoring the sublime E46 generation 3-Series (1998-2005), there are instances when the E36 generation (1990-2000) can really catch the most ardent E46 lover’s eye. This “Alpine White” on “Modena Natural” – a kind of delicious creme caramel color given to leather surfaces – is one of those shinning, angular exceptions from 90s Munich. Given how bloated and generally cab-forward most cars from that decade now seem, the E36 M3 stood apart from the rest thanks to a low and determined stance and crisp, linear feature lines. Add the appeal of a signature smooth straight six that in this car’s model year (’98) produced 317 horsepower, a deliciously communicative helm, fast handling characteristics…
[eBay]
2009 BMW M3 Review
FROM the moment you touch the handle to watch the door unlock, you and the car are one.
Every. Single. Aspect of this 414 hp V8 rocket is designed to sync man with machine from the moment you get in to the moment you’re dialing in a sweeping curve at a hundred miles an hour. The capabilities can be frightening, but be not afraid, for the BMW M3 is balanced, sure footed, and fun.
Downshift into third and watch the revs start at 3000 rpm. Depress go and the tach sweeps the dial past 6000 rpm – the point at which you transcend mere rapid movement and engage jet propulsion. You peak quickly at 8500 where upon you use your index, middle, and ring fingers in a swift rearward tucking motion that sends the short gear lever into fourth and you spiraling into the blurred horizon.
All eight cylinders bellow, whine, then roar. When you were at idle, they tapped angrily, muscle-car style, like small hungry beasts lashing against double pained glass. You lifted the quarantine at the last light a mile back. It was the last traffic light separating you from miles of back country roads that stretch, then twist, rise and fall away like some asphalt river.
The Teutonic beasts have been at it ever since.
Hit the brakes and the M3 coolly sheds half its velocity in that narrow space between two to three seconds. You’re now adjusted to enter a sharp right hander that you handle with what might’ve been a quarter turn of the meaty helm. Your seat’s side bolsters inflate to take hold of your torso as gravity pulls you left while the car rushes relentlessly right.
You might feel your balance slipping now, but the M3 is hanging in there, holding fast and true as though the coupe were fused with the road. Nothing you’ve ever driven outside a track manages its handling with this degree of accuracy while giving the driver the ultimate assurance of control. The three-spoke wheel’s thickly padded rim seems to transmit this tense energy that assures you that at any given point this M3 can do so much more.
The handling is superior.
Finishing the corner, you’re ready to press ahead. Four exhausts pronounce your gradual toe-in. It’s like squeezing the fruits of power out onto the road. The car’s engine note rewards you with its aural range and is as pronounced in a gradual climb as it is violent surge. If anything, this measured progress past the century mark gives you more time to register the M3’s personality as the penultimate dance partner.
Skipping over to sixth gear, the quad pipes never stop the music. Their volume dials down some, and you’re left with the option of listening to music on an incomparable stock sound system or engaging in conversation that can include coherent thoughts. At sixty miles per hour, you’re not quite resting at a relatively high 2500 rpm. The car never feels at peace, it’s designed so that it’s ready to launch- even in final gear.
There’s a catch, however. You need to adjust your own mind’s settings as to where the car’s rev limits lie. In order to summon the relatively humble 290 lb-ft of torque, you need to be tickling the tach’s limit in each gear. Any torque rich AMG Benz can catch the M3 off the boil if the driver’s not sharp.
That covered, the M3 offers an ever present menace. At the flick of your wrist and rapidly applied feet, you can whip this coupe back into a high revving frenzy in a few heartbeats. And inevitably you do, repeatedly, because the machine provokes you constantly.
It’s like fighting this urge to scratch the loudest itch. After a point, you can’t help but claw.
Switching to third now and the pedal’s back to the floor. You’re climbing fast through the rpm range and then something catches your eye.
It’s on the steering wheel. A small button, not quite a quarter of an inch in diameter labeled “M”. Curiosity kills your inner cat and you tap it.
Your ass gets a soft kick as the M3 seems to lunge forward a few paces ahead of where you otherwise would be. You’ve managed to couple “Power” mode with “EDC” which have transformed your car into something else. The steering sharpens, acceleration hastens, while the suspension hunkers down and lets every road ripple register through to your seat.
What was soft and dampened before, clunks through loudly now. The gummy Michelin Pilots provide all the cushion that’s left.
In short, the M3’s now giving you 110%.
This is the knife’s edge of BMW performance. You’re pushed to the forefront, where at $67,000 you’re empowered to wage battle with supercars. You can’t win, of course. A Koeniggsegg, McLaren, Bugatti – they’ll all crush you. But with the M3, you can’t still fight like hell and feel as if you’ve got a shot; laughing all the while.
The M3 is that potent, that sharp, that empowering, that courageous, and most important, that rewarding.
Imagining your exotic adversaries powering ahead, you lay into the Bavarian now; swapping gears and turns as sharply as you know how. Adrenaline’s never left your body because in the tranquil moments you were quietly shaking, now your muscles are as fixed and taut as the hard riding suspension.
There’s no heads up display, only a small, red digital readout between the speedometer and the tachometer that reads “v=”; skipping whole digits as you speed inexorably faster. You look over the domed hood painted in hot red as your horizon points find you faster and faster. The force seems unending and the rewards from each dispatched straight and every rounded corner add sweet dividends to your automotive experience.
But you’ve run out of road. You’re back in population from having spent all those country miles in so little time. Powering down low, the car seems to crouch uncomfortably; its metaphorical thighs aching from having just sprinted and yearning to carry on.
In a world of synthetic performance, this is as much an organic experience as you’re likely to get from BMW here on out. As you pull to a stop sign and you found the slot for first, the shifter seems to have a pulse. The whole car, in fact, buzzes and throbs like some sentient being.
In the best kind of way, this tactile assurance connects the driver to the car like so few can. The M3 may not be the fastest. But all round, it’s the best.
This M car is the stuff of automotive legend.
2010 BMW M1 supercar designed in Spain?
By Steane Klose
THERE I was packing my swag, grateful for the little shade provided by the Coolibah tree on the edge of the Billabong when my thoughts turned to BMW’s latest concept car. Probably not destined to be the subject of ADL scrutiny there is however an interesting story for which it provided the inspiration.
BMW’s original M1 supercar turns 30 this year and to celebrate the folks from Bavarian Motor Werks revealed their aptly named Hommage concept (pictured above) – clearly a modern day M1 in the making. It caused a stir to say the least, with obvious retro M1 cues and plenty of comic book styling – many applauded but not everyone appreciated the bold styling and crab-like face.
The official unveiling of most concept cars is often followed by speculation concerning the likelihood of a production version. In the case of the Hommage speculation was rife and the stage was unwittingly set for a very talented CGI artist to boost his profile.
The image you see above found its way onto the auto blogosphere around a week ago and was immediately snaffled by most of the major sites, with headlines touting the ‘return of the M1’ or ‘M1 production model spotted’, usually followed by a ?. Most sites admitted that they were not 100 percent certain the image was real but it was real enough for them not to declare it a fake either. Instead they chose the safe middle ground, where not making a decision meant they couldn’t get it wrong – they were smart to do so.
Based on the current M3 Coupe it is indeed a fake and the work of one very talented Spanish CGI artist going by the name of ‘Hoss’. While I have no idea how the nuts and bolts of graphic manipulation like this work, I have undertaken a little research to see just where Hoss started on his road to a production M1 that had some big name sites scratching their heads.
Take one E92 M3 BMW Coupe.
Add some Alfa Romeo Brera headlights and some curvaceous new panel work.
Those Mazda Kabura Concept wheels look sweet!
Find a suitably mysterious looking background – hard to beat an old hanger even one with a Ford GT in the way.
Blend all ingredients gently in a bowl.
And now for the pièce de résistance, Hoss’s fake M1 for all intents and purposes garnered more blogosphere approval than BMW’s Hommage – much more.
BMW Off To A "Restrained Start", UK Subsidiaries Save The Day
M.Y. 2008 M3 Sedan Can’t Arrive Too Soon.Paraphrasing (crudely) the seminal 80′s flick Wall Street: the rich may be bitching, but the super-rich ain’t.
All but the truly inflation proof are subject to the uneasy prospect of slowing markets this world round. And that maxim is coming home to the Roundel whose North American sales spun a little too long off the line – losing share to last year’s performance by 4.1%.
BMW’s press release admitted that the marque started the year with “a restrained start.”
That having been said, more of the very well-off took delivery of new Rolls-Royces than e’er before. Rolls sales were up a prosperous 64% (translating to 41 units) thanks to the new convertible.
Cheap ‘n cheerful (in this company at least) MINIs also faired well by jumping 13.3% over January last year.
This all means that for once, it was the British subsidiaries’ performance that drove share performance – not the hyper-efficient Teutons. Score two for Albion.
Still, BMW’s right to spin a positive sales outlook for the near future.
“In 2008, the BMW Group will once again maintain its top position as the world’s leading manufacturer of premium vehicles. We have once again taken on a great deal and are aiming to set new sales records for all three brands,” promised marketing man Stefan Krause.
With the impending intro of the oh-so hot 1-Series, the so/so M3 sedan, and the sure-to-be-at-every-soccer-match X6, he may just be right. Though, the BMW’s intake will be whatever the market will bear.
And there are only so many of the super-rich to go around.
Profiting From The M3
Red is the Chinese color for prosperity.
Yep, you guessed it.
It was the 2008 (E92) BMW M3. The flame-thrown flanks of the new M were so omnipresent, I’m still surprised Classic & Sports Car didn’t find cause (somehow) to put the two-door Teutonic beast on their glossy cover or weasel an all-expenses paid trip to Marbella to take part in the organized press test-drive.
Anyhow, the reason behind all this M-centered focus is that these reps. from old media understand what us new reps. from the new, improved, and much less accountable media know all too-well: M talk equals large hits. Large hits equals large advertising revenue. Large advertising revenue affords a better opportunity for the recipients to go about life, liberty, and the pursuit (is that still public domain or did Cadillac register that yet?) and maybe go out and buy their own M3.
Whenever I post an article on 4DriversOnly.com that pertains to any aspect of the M3 – it doesn’t really matter what; it could be carpet options- that site’s hit count spikes.
There is an enormous interest in the BMW M3. Not so much the M6 or even the M5 – it’s the M3 that fascinates endlessly. I’m almost convinced that I should rename the BMW 733i video segment, “2008 BMW M3.”
A knowing, but less-honest man would have already.
This of course is fine by me. I will just make sure that ADL will feature plenty of words on the new BMW so as to attract all those search engines and blog aggregators.
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