I know this is a Maxima forum ... just give me a little leeway here your honor ...

I decided to test drive a 2003 M3 today. I must say that I was sorely disappointed, it was so horribly slow! It was the SMG version with the semi auto/manual (whatever), I hated it, the shifting was very erratic and I didn't feel in control of the car at all! The handling was very good, the power lacking. I got back into my Maxima and felt so much better . I feel extremely confident about kicking an M3's butt now ... they're gonna call me when they get a 6 speed in so I will try that next time. It's nice to test drive other cars so you can get a true appreciation of how good the Maxima is. I still have a great respect for Bimmers especially the M3s, the build quality is superb and the sound of that straight 6 - I still love it, just that on this occasion, I was kind of disappointed.

M3 Bimmer $52,000, Turbo Maxima $25,000, Look on M3 owner's face as you pass him like he's standing still ... priceless!

EDIT: No disrespect to M3s ... turbocharge one of those bad boys and we'd be talking huge power!

 

lol i would love to see the look on the face of an M3 owner getting owned by the 4DSC!!!

i never got to drive an e46 M3, but i have driven an e36 m3 and the build quallity of the e36 was absolutely great!!!

 

Everyone shouldn't run out and test drive E46 M3's now. Brand new they are rev limited to 5000rpm and remain so untill you take the car in for it's 1200 mile service. This is to allow the VANOS unit to break in (cam/ valve timing). The M3 isn't anywhere near it's peak hp at 5000 so if you drove a new one it was short shifting and not pulling like you would expect.

 

ditto.... my dad got the new M3 about few month ago... 6 speed... and after the break in period...... he let me test drive it..... and all i can say is...

 

Isn’t a beauty of M3’s in a combination of acceleration and road handling? I do think that as far as handling they should beat Max hands down.......but at the same time I would be pretty ****ed if I would get passed on a hwy going WOT in my $55,000 sports car by some “4dr family car”

 

Besides, they are missing two doors anyway.

 

Some guys at dtmpower claim the E46 M3 can run as fast as 12.7 in the quater mile.

 

stock? because I think the official number is like 13.4 sec.

 

According to them it's capable of 12.7 stock.

 

My neighbor has a 2002 smg m3 and 2000 m5. After driving the m3 I can tell you that the m3 makes a lot more power after 5 grand. That sucker revs to 8000rpm, so it sounds like barely open it up. That would be like having a VI on a maxima and having to shift at 4500rpm.

 

6-speed or nothing!

 

I don't think the M3 will be pumping out 333Hp after Bimmer recommends that those cars use 10W-60. The engine failure rate is so high that they are even extending the warranty to 6 years/100K miles.

Check this out:

http://www.mbmw.com/e46_m3_engine_failure.htm

http://members.roadfly.com/jason/m3engines.htm

 

The high rate of engine damage is true. But most of it is from people who abuse them and over rev their engines via downshifting. Despite the 8200?? redline those engines aren't built to spin much over that. They do start to fall apart just past 8500. This is all info from a friend of mine who worked as a tech at a local BMW dealer for a few years.
However my much less powerful VQ35 has been accidently run well over 9000 RPM and it held together nicely. The imput shaft bearing in the tranny was the only casulty of that mistake.

 

EDIT: No disrespect to M3s ... turbocharge one of those bad boys and we'd be talking huge power! [/B][/QUOTE]

yeah but that's another 20,000, might as well buy a maxima and make it sick sick sick ............and then still have enough to buy a 50 in sony vega flatscreen and a beater car while your max is parked

 

E46 M3's are my favorite 2 door 6 cylinder cars ever! The thing is absolutely amazing! Pulls like a damn train...and I still haven't even gotten to run one at the track yet. Maybe sometime this season when my buddy let's me trailer it there

 

Even more than a Skyline GT-R R34? That's a 2 door 6 cylinder.
Granted not many of us have ever driven one (I've driven neither) but the reviews of the Skyline are just as phenomenal as the E46 M3.
If I had my pick, just based on the reviews of both, I think I might still lean towards the Skyline GT-R R34. Who knows though...I'd have to drive both for over a week each to probably make an informed decision.

 

Here we go again, failing to understand the buy the better house in the better neighborhood theory. An M3 owner could care less how silly a Maxima drives around him. Neither could most other Maxima owners.

Where I'm completely lost is how the Maxima FWD supposedly is better than an M3 in driving. Dang, no Maxima ever built can handle nearly as well as the E36 M3. This topic which seems to come up every other week reminds me of the budweiser true commercial where the guy gets all twisted because the g/f says he has such tiny little hands.

If all a person aspires to is a turbo Max, so be it. As long as he thinks he has the best car in the world, that's all that matters.

 

To get a new M3 in the states its around $50,000. To get a new Skyline gt-r in the states it's going to be around or over $100,000.

 

if i have the $ to drive a m3, i would definitely do it in a heart beat

 

Turn right, turn left, right again, heel toe down shift hit the apex throttle steer out of a turn, row through the gears. then maybe you'll know.

Throttle Steer is good
Torque steer is very bad

 

Just a quick note. It would not be too wise to turbo that motor. Your talkin big $$$ to do this. First of all ull have no choice but to pull the motor apart to change the pistons. If I remember correctly their compression ratio is 11.4-1 stock and a turbo even runnin 6psi would be pushing it on the stock internals. But SR20DEN is also correct about the 5000 rev limit til its broken it. In the mornings even the revs are limited til the engine is properly warmed up then ull be alowed to rev to the limit.

 

 

my near stock Lex handles better than the mod'd max... RWD rules screw FWD

 

so it just so happens that tonight I asked my buddy to see if he wanted to make a run to the video store with me, b/c I know he barely gets to drive his M. we're in the drive through at McD's, and he goes, let me get some gas and you can drive home. Mind you he's had it for just a few months, has about 5k miles, and up to tonight I had sat in every seat but the driver's.

2 minutes into the test drive I was raving like an idiot about the computerized throttle blipping smoothness of the SMG, the thick leather wheel, immediate turn-in, effortless acceleration, the supercar brakes, the...well, you get the picture. After 4k rpm the engine turns into an entirely different animal. The M3 forums say 12.7 in the quarter like someone else mentioned, and after tonight I believe it.

Long-story short, 45 minutes later we get back from the video store. Just yesterday I was telling him about all the mods I had in store for the max, and tonight I told him that driving the M made me want to go out and get a set of whitewalls and call it a day. You can make a max faster than an M3, but you'll never make it a better car. Just appreciate it for what it is and be happy.

 

Larry H Thank You for that post. My thoughts EXACTLY, any car can be made fast but IMO the M3 or 5, is just perfection. Yes its overpriced, yeah there have been engine faliures but what do u expect if u rev a stock motor to nearly 9K. I just love those cars, the interior...I just can describe the feel of it, its just amazing. They dont call it the ultimate driving machine for no reason.

 

Just to reiterate how the cars are apples and oranges, here is your realistic financial choice. Because after all, the majority of people on the road have real jobs, and they have to use real money to buy their cars. Not everyone has rich parents.

a) pay cash for your 2k4 Maxima, and pay it in full day one
b) take all the maxima cash and put it down towards the M3, finance for 36 months--Payment is $912/mo.

Bottom line, when buying an M3, to get your payment under $500/mo you need to put around 40,000 down. Usually you need a pretty good job to drive an M3, I would recommend being well into the 6 figures and definitely north of 200,000. If you buy an M3 and live in the condo, rent an apt., or live at home with mommy and daddy, I think you are foolish. That's my opinion. So make sure your house is north of 1/2 mil...

 

Uh, no. I just ran the calculation. Sticker on a brand new M3 at a dealer near me: $57k. Sticker on Maxima with some options, say $30k. Checking with any resonable auto loan site (ie peoplefirst.com), Putting 30k down on the 57k car meant a 27k loan which is $730/mo for 36mo or $560/mo for 48mo.... Still a lot of money for a car, but you certainly dont need to be making 6 figures to drive one (though it would help )

 

My future brother in law lives next door and I drive his 2002 M3 occasionaly on the twisty backroads. I have to agree that it feels semi tame under 4500rpms. Once you approach the torque peak you find yourself glued to the seat. You hit 6500-7500rpm and your in hyperdrive and you stll have 400rpms till you hit the hp peak. Close to redline I looked at the speedo and it climbed just as fast from 60-100 as it did going 30-70. It's only got 262 lb-ft of torque so it doesn't have the seat of the pants power as any modern muscle car. ((aside... I drove his father's Z06 and that is a MONSTER.)) The M3 is a high reving beast. It's one of those cars in which you don't really get a sense of the speed unless you look down at your speedo and see the needle flying.

The average 1/4 mile speed I've seen according to magazines and websites is 13.2-13.4. It is definately capable of that. Turbo maxes are capable of more, but then again so is any modded car.

Although I would love to embarass one on the straightaways but I'd
never follow into the twisties.

 

This is why I suggest that people STAY IN SCHOOL!!!
Um, if a 27k loan at 0% for 36 mo. is 750/mo, what interest rate do you use to arrive at 730/mo?

Seriously people, if there's anything you should learn it's the time value of money. Learn how to do the calculation yourself, on a spreadsheet, don't rely on the web. When you go to buy a house are you gonna just trust the loan officer that the pymt is 2600/mo for 30 yrs or are you going to do a reality check? They goof = you lose. I'm not saying we have to use a slide rule like our great-grandfathers, but at least know how to use a spreadsheet, and a financial and scientific calculator would be even better. Don't simply believe everything you see on the web.

Again, just think how ridiculous that situation would be--you put 30 grand down on an M3 and you still have to pay $820/mo at 5.9% for 3 years? Nah, you don't have to have a good job to do that.

 

Your math sucks

 

I never got to drive the Skyline 34, but I did drive the 33 when we went to Yokuska. It was impressive, don't get me wrong, but after driving the M3, I think it's faster than even the R34. It certainly handles better, IMHO. I don't think I've driven a car, stock or modified, that handles like the M3 does.

 

Math is like the correct time, there's only 1 right answer. Depending on your situation, yes, reality b****!

 

Frank Fontaine yeah I get ur point about he M3 and being well into 6 figures, not necessarily north of 200K is needed but to comfterbly support a home, and family and still have that car definetly 6 figures. But if u make 5 figures, live at home and dont have a family to support then the reality of getting one is a bit better. Im just gonna settle for a 2K3 6spd for the time being.

 

That's where bang for buck comes in, you have a budget but you still want to have fun! M3 is BANG, but it's not bang for buck. Believe it or not, cars like the S2000 have big bang for buck. They depreciate so little that you can have fun with it and still unload it in 3 yrs. with a good cost/mi of operating it. With the Maxima, you'd be a fool to unload it in 3 yrs, because the depreciation is steep. As I've said a million times, the way to fight it is to keep your Max 5-6 years, then it's kinda moot.

Let's face it, unless you're rich, today a person needs to pay about 2 grand/mo for a mortgage (put 20% down and borrow 320,000). The only way to change that is to borrow less (how you gonna do that, live in a dangerous neighborhood?) or have more than 80 grand to put down (also tough when you're young, no matter how much you earn). Sales people play with numbers to try to make them look more favorable. I'm just trying to let reality poke through!