Wild Thing! Is BMW’s M3 Competition All its Cooked Up to Be?
Positive, Intuitive Steering
The M3 drives really, really well, handling is sharp, taut and perfectly balanced. Steering is positive, a huge step froward over those earlier electrified efforts. I really dig that big steering wheel, kinda phallic actually. It has a splendid feel — perhaps even an intuition about it. But one always needs to be aware — and ready to catch M3 if the rear end breaks traction. And when it does break, this M3 becomes a drift master.
Moving on, after a mostly traffic-free run, we came up on a few slower vehicles toward the end of the Pass. To be honest, I was almost relieved as I woke the MDM up again. It’s actually far better to run with the system in its Sport+ setting. It allows ample slip and retains the car’s aft wan too. So, I spent the rest of the trip with the gadgets deployed and was actually never the wiser for it.
On that, I remember how I yammered when the E46 M3 first arrived. Having spent more than enough miles relishing the bareback splendor of the old 3.2-litre E36 M3, I was mortified to learn that I’d have to turn the traction control off to liven up the rear end back then. But that was when 316 HP and 258 lb-ft were huge numbers and actually still quite viable for rear drive.
M3 Competition Just has too Much Grunt to Go Bareback All Day Long
Roll on 25 years and today’s 503 HP 479 lb-ft M3 Competition just has too much grunt to realistically go bareback all day long. Even though peak torque now shifts 800 rpm further up the rev range. So, the MDM was more than welcome. It does make me yearn even harder for the all-wheel drive M4 in day to day driving though. Even though I will never ever complain about a wild rear drive car. In fact, it will always be my first choice!
Anyway, this newly developed longitudinally mounted S58 3-litre biturbo straight six is a jewel. It’s 64 HP and 57 lb-ft up on the outgoing S55 lump and with the car weighing in at 3,815 lb, it delivers a 305 HP per ton power-weight ratio. That thanks in part to a 14 cc greater 2,993 cc swept volume thanks to a longer 3½-inch stroke, reworked turbochargers, revised 350 bar fuel-injection a petrol particulate filter to improve emissions, among other novelties.
M3 Competition delivered precisely what BMW promised it would in our tests. In fact, it was all of a couple of hundredths of a second quicker. Not sure if that makes us good at our job or BMW honest! But we had to work for that run. Somehow the launch control system wasn’t happy on our tester. We had read elsewhere that it’s seamless and consistent in other tests. So, we will leave it at a glitch.
Performance really is Mesmerizing
Performance really is mesmerizing and given a little head, it’s certainly right up there in the supercar realm. And it’s noisy. Wonderfully noisy. There’s a constant mechanical rote accompanying the gruff straight six grunt. Just like a race car.
That surefooted and power station defying handling is no fluke either. The M3 has a highly pedigreed chassis. With aluminum-rich adaptive damping control double-wishbone front and five-link rear suspension; aggressive geometry and kinematics and individual spring and damper units. And M Servotronic variable ratio steering and a M Sport Differential. Add substantial engine bay and front suspension bracing, and a rear subframe bolted directly to the body. For record M3 body rigidity.
If that’s all so impressive, then the brakes are at another level. Like this car tends to be on the throttle, it reacts just as viciously to left pedal application. M-specific BMW Integrated Braking feels ruthless, and it goes about its business with an almost raucous whirring roar when really asked. You can literally sense those punched and vented composite rotors becoming ever harder squeezed in the calipers.