For an homologation special, BMW’s M3 offers a remarkable combination of performance, refinement and practicality. Its price tag may seem high but, as our test team discovered, it is certainly a lot of car for the money – Autocar
The launch of the BMW M3 marks an historic moment for the Bavarian manufacturer, since this is the first BMW to be developed by the motor sports division and produced by BMW AG.
The M2 is seen as a successor to the legendary M1 – a competitions inspired machine – but the M2 is much more than a production racer. BMQ has made every attempt to make the car as civilised as possible for everyday driving. It may have all the latest innovations in its make up to ensure highly competitive track performance, but BMW has deliberately not compromised comfort or equipment levels.
The 2.3-litre, 16-valve engine, developing no fewer than 200bhp at 6750rpm, easily puts the M3 at the top of the 3-series performance league.
The general exterior specification which includes distinctive wheelarch flares (desgined to accommodate up to 10ins wheels in full race trim), extended sills, front and rear air dams, plus light alloy wheels and low-profile tyres, ensures a further degree of exclusivity. In addition, BMW has carefully raked the rear screen to give a coupe appearance to the two-door shell. The boot is now slightly shorter and the lid higher.
Under the steel shell and composite body add-ons, BMW has paid particular attentions to good directional stability. Wheel castor is increased threefold, the anti-roll bars are a larger diameter and the steering modified to give increased feel.
Apart from the tuned shock absorbers and rear springs, the rear axle assembly is the same as other 3-Series BMWs. The brake system, however, is not. Both front and rear discs are bigger and thicker with reinforced callipers. Larger 5-Series size wheel bearings are incorporated on special front stub axles for increased durability.
Inside, equipment levels are high with central locking, electric windows, door mirrors and slide and tilt steel sunroof as standard. There’s also a leather-rimmed steering wheel and gearknob, hide-trimmed seats front and rear, plus a Blaupunkt radio/cassette player with four speakers and electric aerial.
Standard safety items include ABS anti-lock brakes and a limited slip differential, designed to operate with 25 per cent locking action.
BMW does not offer any extras with the M3 (although metallic paint is a no-cost option). The high standard spec goes some way to justifying the £22, 750 price tag, £5000 more than the next most expensive model in the 3-Series, the 325iX four-door.
PERFORMANCE
With 200bhp to play with in a car weighing under 25cwt, performance is naturally one of the M3’s strong suits. Our mean maximum speed of 139mph was achieved in driving rain on a very wet track, and there would certainly be another couple of mph to come in ideal conditions – BMW in fact claims 146mph. At the best one-way speed of 140mph the engine is spinning at 6600rpm, just 150rpm below the power peak which demonstrates near-ideal gearing.
The Bosch Motronic management system incorporates a rev limiter set at an indicatied 7300rpm as the limit four our in-gear figures, and this equates to maximum speed in the gears of 40, 62, 84 and 118mph.
Standing starts were conducted on a still-damp track and yielded a mean 0-60mph time of 7.1sexs. 0-30mph still came up in 2.8secs though, with perhaps only another 0.3sec to come off that on a perfectly dry surface. This compares well with BMW’s quoted 6.7 secs to 62mph and shows the superior traction of tear-wheel drive in the wet – a powerful front-wheel drive car would have been lucky to get within a second of its potential in such conditions.
The close-ratio Getrag five-speed gearbox has a dog-leg first, and the gearchange is sprung to the centre 2nd/3rd gear plane. The gate is rather vague and it was all too easy to find fourth instead of second when going for a quick ratio swap. Obviously the box was designed with competition use in mind, where first used only on the starting grid, but for normal road use it does require some care.
The M3’s 200bhp from a 2.3-litre normally aspirated engine might seem like the recipe for a very peaky power delivery, but this is far from the case. The 16-valve unit is in fact extremely flexible, and will pull without hesitation from well below 1000rpm.
Its mid-range punch is very impressive indeed, as a glance at the in-gear acceleration figures will confirm, and the power is, of course, delivered without any troublesome turbo-lag. In third gear for example, the M3 will accelerate from 50-70mph in 4.1secs, and in top gear each 20mph increment from 20-90mph takes less than 10 seconds.
ECONOMY
For a car offering this sort of performance, an overall fuel consumption figure of over 20mph is very good indeed. Our figure of 20.3mph includes the speed-testing sessions and is a tribute to the efficiency of the 16-valve engine and its Bosch management system. The average owner could certainly expect over 22mpg, giving a range of 300 miles from the 15.4-gallon tank.
REFINEMENT
Given that the M3 is an homologation car, on sale to ensure the BMW’s inclusion in Group A saloon car racing, you might expect it to have a few rough edges. But as 5000 examples have to be produced BMW obviously needed to make the M3 an acceptable road car to avoid a huge financial loss on the project. As a result the car has been built to provide the standards of luxury that a BMW owner expects, and that includes the levels of refinement.
The engine, although it can’t match the smoothness of BMW’s six-cylinder units, is still remarkably civilised. There is the characteristic rasp that many sporting 16-valve powerplants produce, but the noise levels in the cabin are very well controlled – when accelerating hard there is just enough noise to get the adrenalin pumping.
On the motorway both wind and type noise are very subdued, so that the dominant noise is from the engine. The motor is turning over at almost 4000rpm at 80mph, but that’s the price for the sporting nature of the overall gearing. In fact because fifth gear is where fourth would normally be, there is a great temptation to change up another gear to the non-existent sixth.
Although tyre noise is well suppressed, the suspension is definitely on the sporting side of firm. At high speeds the ride is very good, even on very badly surfaced corners, but at lower speeds most surface irregularities are transmitted to the interior. The very comfortable seats and driving position more than make up for this thorough, and the M3 is a surprisingly relaxing high-speed cruiser.
ROAD BEHAVIOUR
The true benefits of the substantially uprated and refined chassis are best exploited on the track. In such an environment a driver cannot fail to be impressed by the M3.
Handling is very predictable in both wet and dry conditions with mild understeer generated at moderate cornering speeds with a very gradual transition through to mild oversteer on a suddenly closed throttle. The overall feel is of a very well-balanced car, one which can be turned through corners deceptively quickly and one which also feels very safe at the limit of adhesion.
The uprated steering and revised front suspensions geometry allows a driver to feel precisely what the wheels are doing and though the rack is still a little low geared for a true competition machine (with 3, 6 turns lock to lock) it received universal praise for both response and feel. The power-assisted system is well weighted especially at speed and not excessively heavy round town.
High speed cornering is accompanied by minimal body roll and in the dry the M3 hugs the road surface, generating very high forces in the process. Also worthy of note is the M3’s ability to run arrow straight, even in very windy weather. This particular aspect was experienced when circulating the high-speed banked track at maximum speed in the wet, where the M3 tracked perfectly straight and was unfussed by the less than perfect road surface and side winds. BMW’s attention to aerodynamic refinements has obviously paid off.
Of the homologation specials that have passed through our hands recently, and the list includes the Mercedes-Benz 190 2.3-16 and Ford Sierra Cosworth, the BMW M3 is without a doubt the most well mannered from a handling point of view. There are no quirks to take into consideration, not is there any tendency for the car to move about on uneven road surfaces or tramline in the ruts often found on well-used motorway sections.
You might expect something of a compromise in terms of ride quality and though the suspension is uprated all round, and the M4 rolls on low-profile 55-series rubber with their low shoulders, the sacrifice in ride comfort is marginal. At speed the car feels well composed and is able to soak up even quite severe irregularities without complaint. It is only when negotiating road imperfections at low speeds that a driver begins to notice the increased stiffness, though to be fair, the ride quality is no less competent than that of most current sports cars.
The much improved, servo-assisted, four-wheel disc braking system (ventilated up front), provides a reassuring degree of stopping power with a progressive and well-weighted pedal action. The M3 came through the fade tests unscathed – there was a slight and predictable rise in pedal pressures through the 10 high-speed stops.
The standard equipment ABS system came into operation with a 50lb effort during retardation tests, thereby limiting the deceleration figures to a maximum of 0.80g. This figure is not outstanding for a car of this type, but when you consider the figures were taken in the wet, it doesn’t look bad at all.
AT THE WHEEL
The driver is greeted by a predominantly black interior layout. The facia, doors and surrounding areas are all moulded in a black grain plastic finish. The leather-trimmed seats are stitched in a similar shade, while the carpet material is a charcoal colour. The test car with its pristine interior certainly looked the part but we would imagine that it could look quite grubby in a very short space of time unless looked after.
The driver sits in a sports seta with plenty of lateral support and good location. The front squab is adjustable in length while the seat itself has a tilt facility and separate rake control. There is no adjustable lumbar support but the seat does not suffer for the lack of this; you sit in, rather than on, the seat and this adds the overall feeling of being “at one” with the car.
A leather-bound three-spoke wheel is provided, through which a driver can easily read the large 160mph speedometer and matching rev counter with its red line marked from 7000rpm. Set into the rev counter is an additional oil pressure gauge occupying the spot normally filled by the economy gauge in lesser BMWs. In all other respects the instrument layout is similar to most other 3-Series cars.
That includes column stalks either side of the wheel. The right-hand item handles wash/ripe if pulled, single flick wipe if pushed down, plus intermittent and two-speed wiper settings if lifted up. The left stalk takes care of indicators and dip/mainbeam settings with the actual lights switched sited in the dash at the extreme left.
The driving position feels just right; the wheel position is sensible and there is enough seat adjustment to cater for most sizes. The deals are well placed for heel-and-toe changes and when the clutch is dormant there is a large footrest tot eh left of the pedal. Headroom is adequate for drivers up to 6ft in height but not for those taller than this. You can tilt the seat slightly to gain more clearance but at the expense of spoiling the driving position.
Ergonomically speaking there is not much wrong with the M3’s layout – all the major controls are within easy reach, the door pulls are conveniently angled so a user does no have to strain to close the door, and the interior handles are flush fitting with no nasty sharp edges to rub against.
CONVENIENCE
Arguably this is the only area where the M3 falls down, with its boot space restricted by the more raked rear window, which also leads to a smaller load aperture with the bottled raised. Like other 3-Series BMW models the M3 does not have much in the way of rear passenger space. Headroom is at a premium and with the front seats well back on their runners there is virtually no legroom despite the fact that the front seat backrests are cut out to help.
The rear seats are individually shaped and the M3 is clearly intended as no more than a four seater at most.
In other respects convenience levels match those of the standard 3-Series models and includes adequate cubby space with reasonably sized door pockets, glove box an the odd moulded tray in the centre console. The heating and ventilation controls include turn wheels for the four-speed fan and temperature adjustment, with three additional sliders for direction. On the most powerful setting the fan delivers a very impressive blast for quick demisting of rapid changes in temperature. On the first two settings it also works unobtrusively enough not to detract from the overall refinement levels. The standard equipment electric windows take just four seconds to lower and five seconds to raise via the push buttons mounted conveniently in the centre console. The roof mounted controls for the powered sunroof are a little more awkward to find and require a driver to look up from the road to operate. The small controls for the powered door mirrors are more conveniently placed atop the drivers door pull. Mirrors, washer nozzles and the driver’s door lock are all heated to prevent icing up in wintry conditions.
Under the bootlid there is adequate space for two medium sized suitcases, but available space is hindered by the inclusion of boxed either side, one for the battery, the other for the jack. The spare wheel is hidden under the carpeted load compartment floor.
The forward hinging bonnet lifts to reveal the very impressive sight of the powerful 2.3litre four and routine servicing looks straightforward enough, although the air box need to be removed to get at the oil filter. Spark plug removal is far easier and the oil dipstick and fluid levels in various reservoirs are easily checked.
SAFETY
Besides aiding the aerodynamic qualities and reducing the drag coefficient to cd 0.33, the wraparound body add-ons are also designed with safety in mind. The three piece front bumper is a composite structure comprising an energy-absorbing foam impact block and a skin of glass-fibre reinforced polyurethane foam. The rear bumper, integrated into the undervalance, is made in the same way and of similar materials. Thanks to this design just one single bumper is required to fulfil all legal standards and regulations worldwide, including the very strict US standards.
The light alloy wheels feature hidden studs behind the removable wheel centre and thereby adding a degree of security against theft.
VERDICT
Steeping into the BMW M3 is a bit like pulling on a well fitting glove, one of those rare occurrences when a driver instantly feels at home behind the wheel. The driving position is right and when you begin to use the power and experience the handling you begin to feel part of the car.
The M3 is perhaps the most successful homologation inspired road/racer offered by a manufacturer to date. The car is as docile in town traffic as any driver could wish and easy to manoeuvre due to its compact proportions. Then when you hit the open road and pour on the power the chassis handles all the demands a driver makes upon it, whatever the road surface. In this respect BMW has arrived at an excellent compromise in suspension settings bearing mind the car’s raison d’etre.
The fact of the matter is that the M3 makes a very sensible road car; it looks the part with its decidedly sporty styling, is not over the top but very purposeful.
In road trim the M3 may not have the legs of the Sierra Cosworth but what it lacks in performance it more than compensates for with its easier road manners and better directional stability at speed. The Mercedes 190 2.3-16 can match the BMW in this respect but its engine of similar specification is less responsive, thanks to the larger and heavier body shell. Nor is the Mercedes as nimble as the BMW.
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January 28, 2008
1986 - 1989, Articles