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06/04/2009
By EWAN KENNEDY
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Competition at the ultra-sports end of the German car industry is running hot. BMW, Mercedes and Audi are introducing new high-performance models seemingly by the month in an attempt to outdo one another. As always when the big boys squabble the consumer is the winner. At least if the consumer is someone with around $150,000 to spend...
 Clever reading of the market means the newest offering from BMW is not only suited to the person who just loves to drive, but also is just right for the driver who can only afford to buy one car for the aforementioned $150,000.
Because the BMW M3 is also available as a four-door sedan this time around, not just in coupe and convertible, format. This hot sedan really is a car for all reasons, whether it's daily commuting, fanging hard around a racetrack or simply enjoying your favourite road of a quiet Sunday morning.
Though, we have to come down to earth for a moment and point out that those planning to transport their teenage families in the back seat of this sedan had better try it for size. Three younger children can be transported easily, but as a full-on family sedan the M3 may prove to be on the small side.
The BMW M3 sedan's body forward of the windscreen shares its panels with the M3 coupe. Meaning the sedan has the power bulge and cooling slots in the bonnet. Add 18-inch wheels and Michelin 265/45 sports tyres inside the widened front and rear guards and the M3 sedan achieves a nicely aggressive stance on the road. Our test car for the last week was done in a deep black with just a touch of blue when seen in some lights and looked simply magnificent.
 However the sedan doesn’t have a lightweight Kevlar roof as does the coupe. This is done partly to give the M3 coupe a point of difference, but also because it lets BMW provide the option of a sunroof on the sedan.
The 4.0-litre V8 engine has 309 kW and revs to a heavenly 8300 rpm. The sound from the engine is sure to make all car lovers smile. Even better, you don’t necessarily have to be going hard to get the lovely notes from the engine. Light to moderate throttle openings still give a pleasant automotive aural orchestra.
M3's torque peak of 400 Nm comes in at a pretty reasonable 3900 revs and even before then there's a handy amount of grunt. Note that BMW manages the magic figure of 100 Nm per litre, something few others can achieve.
Another major feature of the latest M3 is the offering of a new design of double-clutch, seven-speed transmission. It’s a gearbox that has almost all the advantages of a manual transmission, combining the performance of a full manual with the ease of operation of an automatic transmission. On our test car we found the double-clutch was reluctant to get off the line at times when the engine was cold, and was sometimes jerky in the lower two gears. Once up and running the car felt good again.
Note the use of the word ‘almost’ in the preceding paragraph when we compared the double-clutch to a full-manual gearbox. Maybe I've been a revhead for too long, but there are few things as pleasurable in driving as the enjoyment of getting the very best from a manual gearbox. If it was our money, we would spend $7300 less and opt for the six-speed manual.
But we must admit that this four-door sedan can leap from a standstill to 100 km/h in only 4.7 seconds with the double-clutch gearbox. Whereas the six-speed manual adds a couple of tenths to this time as gearchanges made by a human being are slower than those controlled by the computer in the double-clutch unit.
 Fuel consumption is higher than we expected when the official figures for the car were announced. An Australian Standard consumption figure of 11.9 litres per hundred kilometres for the double-clutch seems reasonably economical for a car with this performance, but in real life we found it often using 15 to 17 litres per hundred kilometres when commuting in heavy traffic around town. This came down to a much more reasonable 10 to 11 litres on motorways.
During the press launch of the new BMW M3 sedan we were able to give it good workout at the Phillip Island race circuit in Victoria. With near perfect balance, a huge amount of instantaneous action from the engine and the double-clutch gearbox, and brakes that make your eyes feel as though they are about to bulge out of your head this latest BMW is a truly superb driving machine. At the track you can choose to turn off various electronic aids to handling. We found them too obtrusive and overly-long in their intervention.
We were disappointed to find the brake pedal isn't set up accurately for left-foot braking, a surprising fact in a car of this sporting nature. It can be done but takes a few minutes of practise before you start off.
At $145,000 (manual) and $152,300 (double-clutch automated-manual) the BMW M3 sedan is a bargain in performance car terms. Those who love to drive and need to move to a one-car-fits-all sports machine in these harsh economic times should seriously consider one.
AT A GLANCE
MODEL RANGE
M3 4.0-litre four-door sedan: $145,000 (manual), $152,300 (automatic)
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard in all models
Air Conditioning: Standard in all models
Automatic Transmission: $7300 option
Central Locking: Standard in all models
Cruise Control: Standard in all models
Dual Front Airbags: Standard in all models
Front Side Airbags: Standard in all models
Stability Control: Standard in all models
Traction Control: Standard in all models
SPECIFICATIONS (BMW M3 4.0-litre four-door sedan)
ENGINE:
Engine Capacity: 3.999 litres
Configuration: V8
Head Design: DOHC, four valves per cylinder
Compression Ratio: 12.0:1
Bore/Stroke: 92.0 mm x 75.2 mm
Maximum Power: 309 kW @ 8300 rpm
Maximum Torque: 400 Nm @ 3900 rpm
DRIVELINE:
Driven Wheels: Rear
Manual Transmission: Six-speed
Automatic Transmission: Six-speed
Final Drive Ratio: 3.85:1
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:
Length: 4580 mm
Wheelbase: 2761 mm
Width: 1817 mm
Height: 1447 mm
Turning Circle: 11.7 metres
Kerb Mass: 1605 kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 63 litres
Towing Ability: N/A
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:
Front Suspension: Aluminium two-joint spring strut axle, anti-dive
Rear Suspension: Five-arm axle, anti-squat, anti-dive
Front Brakes: Ventilated disc
Rear Brakes: Ventilated disc
PERFORMANCE:
0-100 km/h Acceleration: 4.9 seconds
FUEL CONSUMPTION:
Type: Petrol 98RON
Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 11.9 L/100km
STANDARD WARRANTY:
Three years/unlimited km |
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