on the highway... glad they have nice taillights! it was a fast little sucker. first car i havent been able to pull on though

 

M's are no joke.. Even with 13psi of boost you can only keep up with them

 

The M3? They are amazing cars, dont' get me wrong, but they aren't like an American big block in regards to straight line speed

Where I work, two of my co-workers are owners of new M3's, one has the coupe, the other has a cabriolet. Again, great cars right out of the box, but I would think a supercharged Maxima would be making ample power to beat, and not just keep up with one? They are what a little under 340 crank HP, which would put them around low 300's, (being generous) for actual wheel HP?

 

defintely...a boosted Max should be able to take a stock M3...But if it was a M5...then that's another story.....

 

In all fairness, the M3 is a 6 cyl 3.2 liter engine. We've got a 3.5. You have to give props to BMW for getting that much naturally aspirated HP out of a 6 cyl!

Oh I want one

 

Yeah, theres one of those here at work too, that car is nasty

 

I thought that the new M3s and M5s were almost even in terms of acceleration???

 

If I remember correctly, the M5 is an absolute monster at higher speeds. While the M3 isn't exactly a slouch, the M5 is borderline ridiculous.

 

m3's are faster.

 

Can't agree with u more man....M3s might be faster off the line due to slight weight advantages...but a higher speed....a M5 will definitely walk it...it's resonable considering u are paying extra $15000 for a M5....

 

Top end the M's are a little closer than you think click

 

I'm not a big BMW fan but the M series are really sleek looking cars, and they get awesome power/speed...I've gotta hand to BMW...

The M's are the only BMWs I'd ever consider buying...

 

Heh, this is the M3 they need to make, click.

 

The gearing on the M3's are incredible as well

And forget about racing one in the twisties.

 

yeah yeah M's schmems......all I know is....take a new M3 in about 5 years and let's see what it's capable of....my boy had a 2002 M3 and let's just say he's driving around in his 2001 CLK 430 AMG package now....

when asked why he doesn't drive the M3 anymore, all he'll say is "Don't ask me, I don't wanna get into it.."

 

Yeah, I dunno if you all are familiar with the new M3's and the guys frying the engines in them. To put it simply, the BMW M3 motor is like a VTEC motor on crack, and not nearly as bulletproof as the "lowly" Honda's.

 

The engines are tough as nails... the engine is not the problem; it's the propensity to select first instead of third when hot-rodding it, thus WAYYYY over revving the engine. Certain aggressive driving situations make it easy to select first instead of third... then boom.

 

[M3 engine failure archive

 

i wonder if i could get those rims for my max with nice chrome nissan emblems in the middle, then maybe a rear wheel drive conversion and twin turbos, all told i would still have enough money left over to come out below the cost of the bmw, maybe just enough for a george foreman grill to cook on. hehe
WHEELMAN

 

Isn't that what we all really need anyway

 

I also have my eyes on the X5 and Z4. They are beautiful cars.


~limsandy

 

no matter what anyone says... the M3 is just a beautiful car... that would be my first choice to buy given the price range..

 

I am With you....X5 4.6 =====>

 

Yeah, probably b/c he redlined the sh*t outta it before it was broken in....Or used the wrong oil....I forget what they spec, like an 0w40? Anyways, I hear ya on the reliability issue.....

 

the M5 has been at the top of my things-to-buy-when-I-win-the-lottery list. awsome car

 

I dream in M color. It's so refined, little things like the red line going up as the car warms up tell you BMW put tons of thinking into their machines.

 

Unfortunately, the engines ARE the problem. Yeah, over-revving may have something to do with some failures, but the SMG-equipped cars have an 8K rev limiter, yet manage to get to 8500. Then you have the few failures that blow at 7500.

Some root causes of the failures appear to be oil starvation to the #6 cylinder, causing the main bearings to spin, the rod to snap, and the said rod to go through the block, spilling oil all over the undercarriage and along the side of the car (if your driving).

Also, incorrect oil could be suspect. M3 owners are to use 1 of 2 types approved for the M3. Exclusive to BMW by Castrol, available only at dealers for...get this...$9 a quart!!!

And then there's the warming up issue, the no-load revving issue...

Sounds like alot of fun for $60k, no?

 

nothing bad to say about the M3...or the M5 because they both will rum 13's stock and will give our max's something to look at from the back BUT on the topic of cars that will kill us stock....the 2004 Mercedes E 55 AMG will manhandle the M3 AND the M5....oh yeah AND the new Audi RS6 which has a 450hp bi-turbo V-8. The E55 AMG was THE FASTEST sedan ever tested by car and driver...you dont believe me then look up the article yourself

 

Nissan should have a tuner for the Maxima, just as with BMW have their M tuner for the M5 and M3. However it would pose a problem since Maxima are FWD. I just wished for once they could have went with RWD on the mark VI Maxima, it would redefine performance sport sedan.

 

Wow that is some sh*t about the M3 engine. I'm glad I didn't spend $50+k on this Beemer. Now I can brag about Maxima engine are far better to my friend's face.

 

M3 engines, it was a design/manufacturing defect which at first BMW refused to acknowledge until quite a few owners took them to court...now they're fixing engines for free -with sometimes two-three months wait time to get the new engines because remember, the M engines are special hand-built units. They're also now offering 100k mile warranties on them...

Even if they fix this problem for good, and I had the moohlah I would not get one. To get 3.3 liters out of this block they had to stretch the stroke to be way, WAY more than the bore (undersquare engine) so that at redline, the piston speed is about TWICE the piston speed of our beloved VQs at our redline...that equates to exactly twice the wear, etc etc etc that our engines will have.

No thanks...I dont want one. If it were a freebie yes, but no way I'm plunking down this kinda cash for a frigging hand grenade.

 

the guy is like 40...the furthest thing he is is a racer....he drives it like granny!

I just think it was a piece of **** out the box...he had reliability issues with his then 93 or so Acura NSX which also vanished one day...

 

I was at my local BMW dealership about a month ago to pick up a piece of molding for the wife's BMW 3-series and they had an '03 M3 sitting there in there service area with a couple weeks of dust on it. I asked the service manager what it was in for and he said it needed an engine. I pressed him further but he wouldn't give me any details.

Still, it is one hell of a car and I would take one in a heartbeat.

 

I'm actually thinking of the M3 as a second car..... been looking at it a lot lately.

The E55 isn't just the fastest sedan. Peep this... it runs foot per foot with the Ferrari 575 Maranello in the 1/4. the 575 takes off faster off the line, but the E55 reels it in before the end of the 1/4. Crazy car.