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Old 07-18-2007, 01:00 PM
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Arrow Road test: The new BMW M3


Road test: The new BMW M3

Engine: 3,999cc, V8 cylinders, 32 valves, 420bhp at 8,300rpm, 295lb ft at 3,900rpm

Transmission: six-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive

Performance: 155mph, 0-62 in 4.8sec, 22.8mpg official average

CO2: 295g/km

The new BMW M3 is a hybrid, albeit a very mild one. Its alternator, which supplies all the car's electrical needs, is driven by the engine only when the accelerator is lifted and the engine is being turned by the car's momentum. It's a form of regenerative braking, and the energy is stored in a specially capacious battery ready to supply electrical energy when the engine is under power again. Should the battery run low, perhaps because the headlights are on, the alternator engages again.

There. The red M3 you see here is, in fact, green. So those with petrol in their veins (health and safety note: that's a figure of speech) can feel better about the fact that the M3 has a 4.0-litre V8 engine producing 420bhp. But the notion of such an engine in a compact coup?© is so far from normality that the petrol-veined ones are probably past caring anyway.

This new M3, like the last two, is based on the BMW 3 Series coup?© but some 80 per cent of the parts are unique to this top model. You get a hint of this from the widened wheelarches covering revised, lighter suspension, the four tailpipes, the air vents in the front wings, the naked carbonfibre roof. The interior has its own look, with what looks, improbably, like stitched carbonfibre in the dashboard and a rev-counter whose red line moves upwards as the engine warms up. There may be a convertible version, as before, but it's not confirmed yet.

All through the breed's history as the ultimate 3, beginning in 1986, the M3 has got bigger and more potent: today's version has over twice the power of the first one and twice the number of cylinders. But is it more thrilling? That would be impressive, because the first M3 was one of the most enjoyable, engaging cars ever created to make a keen driver happy. So, time to find out.

It's odd hearing V8 sounds emanating from a 3 Series. The bonnet has gained a bulge, or "powerdome", to accommodate the hefty heart, which is in effect 80 per cent of a M5 V10 engine with many common parts. That means it develops its power by spinning its crank-shaft very quickly; that 420bhp doesn't arrive until 8,300rpm. Surprisingly, this V8 weighs 15kg less than the previous car's 3.25-litre, 343bhp straight six.

As with the M5, you can tailor the way the M3 responds with controls to alter steering weighting, accelerator keenness, suspension damping (optionally) and the degree of electronic reining-in of slithers and slides. Well, an M3 should be all about driving thrills and skills, so naturally we begin with everything set to minimum auto-intervention. (You can programme the "M Drive" button to do all this with one prod.)

And thus is the savagery laid bare. On the hill away from the Malaga coast road, with a smooth, slightly powdery surface and far from the British rain, the M3 spins its wheels the whole way up. In third gear. This is one feisty hybrid.

Exhibitionism over, a welcome and unexpected attribute emerges. The previous M3's worst aspect was its firm, lumpy ride over bumps, but this new one proves comfortably supple in the softest of its three suspension modes, bearably so even in the firmest. This leads to a worry; if a car is running on ultra-wide, low-profile tyres yet rides well, there's a chance the suppleness is achieved by building extra compliance into the suspension's joints. Unless done very cleverly, the steering's precision then suffers.

Right now, though, it's the engine that's grabbing my attention. At first, the M3 doesn't feel as fast as it is (0-62mph in 4.8 seconds) because there's no specific point at which it "lights up". The pull is strong and smooth from low speeds, helped by quite short-legged gearing in all six forward gears; the M3's potency comes from the way that pull goes on, and on, and on until the engine is howling its spattery V8 high-revs howl right up to its 8,400rpm limit.

As is often the case with very fast BMWs, it's not an easy car to drive smoothly straight away. You have to be very accurate with clutch and accelerator, especially when driving gently. Paradoxically, this is easier with the accelerator in "power" mode because its more alert action is also more precise. I'm glad of the manual gearbox, though. Once mastered, it's much more satisfying to use than the M5's sequential, clutchless shifter because you control the shift speed and smoothness.

Zooming along semi-deserted, twisting roads towards our goal of the Ascari race circuit, I'm loving the engine's eager but easy urge. I'm loving even more the way I can slide the tail at will as I power out of a not particularly grippy bend, something I wouldn't normally do in case of unforeseen hazard, but which is so easy and so natural in the M3 that I can't resist it.

You can do this to a degree even with the stability control switched on, as long as it's in Sport mode, but the M3's balance is so benign and easy to control that you can switch the system off and not feel you're about to leap into the abyss.

This easy, biddable nature is a welcome return to the way the original M3 felt. The supple suspension plays a big part in this, I think, because a supple car always responds more progressively. The very clever M Differential Lock helps too; it's a very sophisticated limited-slip system that gives the best traction without pushing the nose wide in a corner.

There's one key ingredient missing: a proper steering feel. BMW talks a lot about how the new M3's steering keeps you in touch with the road, but it doesn't. Without any real sense of what is happening under the front wheels, you end up taking corners in a series of bites, in search of the optimum steering angle to match the speed and the tightness of turn. You touch the brakes unnecessarily, just to reassure yourself. Maybe that's the price of this M3's much greater weight than the original's: much more power assistance, and so the subtleties of feedback are swamped.

At the Ascari track, we can explore the M3's outer limits without fear. I'm powersliding through the hairpin, of course; how could I not? But the remarkable thing is the way I can drift the tail through really fast, sweeping bends, keeping the power on and correcting the steering as needed. It's a wonderful feeling, one I have never quite dared to experience to this degree in two decades of motoring journalism.

But even on a track, the nose feels as numb as the tail is talkative. That's a shame. Fix that, and the M3 would be one of the most satisfying cars to drive. As it is, it must make do with being the drifter's dream. And the world's fastest hybrid.

Source: [url=http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/motoring/welcome-to-the-powerdome-1039059.html]Irish Independent[/url]
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