TomM

E36 M3 not a performace car at all??........bit harsh isnt it?

321bhp, rwd, 5.4 to 60........

Ive raced the two of them and there isnt much in it at all, an E36 with a decent chip will keep up with an E46.

The E46 is a far superior car, but then most new models of something are, the E36 has always been slated as the M car that let the badge down - I disagree, having driven one for a year I can safely say that it is a superb car, image is a bit dated now but it still shreds tyres!!

For 13k you will get a nice M3 Evo coupe and you get alot for that money, including very high running costs!!

MorayMackenzie

E36 and E46 M3's are simply not as pure as the E30 M3!

TomM

Agreed, the E30 M3 was THE M car.

Bargain thesedays aswel!!!!

uxg

Drove an E30 and E36 M3 back to back a few months back and I have to say although the E36 was faster in a straight line the handling on the E30 was in a different class. Lively, chuckable and a hoot to drive. Can't say the same for the E36.

Recently also got taken out in an E46 M3 by a work collegue. Again brilliant raw grunt and seemd to corner quite well but the car just felt "heavy" going round corners and when it was stopping. You could just feel the weight transfering around.

Just proves you can't beat physics. Extra weight=Crap handling IMHO

You have to realise that the E30 was a homogolation special desgined for racing. The later M cars were designed for other purposes. The Alpina's take this refinement thing even a step further. I'm not saying I don't like the new M cars or the Alpina's I'd have one as a daily cruiser if I could afford one. I think the new M3 is brilliant just not as fun as the original E30 or a Scoob. That's why many still rate the E30 as the best M car. The original and still the best.

So ideally I'd like a new M car\Alpina aduring the week and use an E30 M3 or Scoob at the weekends or on a track

EvilBevel

uxg, I would normally agree with Extra weight=Crap handling as it seems logical, but then I read a test about a Merc (AMG 500 SL, not an expert there) that did the Nordschleife under 8 minutes for the full circuit . That is *really* fast, and the car was close to 2 tons ...

Probably means the tyre/suspension industry has made a lot of progress these days.

I'll look up the exact specs if you don't believe me, but I was gobsmacked.

Edit: time was 8:12, car weighs 1958 kg, spec was SL 55 AMG

Edit 2 : for comparison: E46 M3 was 8 minutes 22, EVO 6 was 8 minutes 25, MY00 UK spec was 8:37

And don't say there are no corners there

[Edited by EvilBevel - 8/21/2002 6:05:33 PM]

Trout...

Shunty,

are you implying that my BMW 330 Ci is an imaginary car!

Trout

grahamstocker

Trout im shocked

clarence

Extra weight does not always mean bad handling. Very frequently a heavy car will still handle well, it just may not be as agile or it'll need a more powerful engine to give it good acceleration or bigger brakes to make it stop as well as a light car. All the current supersaloons are no lightweights, a M5 weighs nearly 1.8 tonnes & a 996 turbo is nearly 1.6 tonnes.
The AMG 500SL (or should it be AMG SL55?) is a very powerful car & the current version have near active suspension with roll cancelling function. The current AMG SL with the supercharged engine can top 200mph if derestricted, so it'll do very well in exiting corners & also on straights (don't forget they use that car as a safety car in F1).
As for its laptime in the Ring, that sort of time doesn't surprise me at all, cos if it fails to achieve that then the car is simply too dangerous, as the chassis cannot match the engine power. To put it into perspective, a GT3 laps the Ring in 7m57s, & the facelifted NSX Type-R is faster by a few 10ths. Obviously the heavy M5 is also good enough for the Ring, or else they wouldn't use it as the Ring Taxi.

shunty

Trout -

shunty