By mbofho mamatsharaga
At the first South African BMW M-fest fans were asked what the letter M means to them. Answers ranged from the unimaginative “motorsport” to M-power answers, which lack imagination. My favourite answer was MONSTER, which perfectly describes this beast-like machine. The BMW M3 with the competition package bestows fear into many performance cars and places a smile that is nearly impossible to replicate using any other gearhead smile-keeper.
With the renewed suspension system, it rides wonderfully. It allows you to take corners at high speed and if you will it, take corners sideways too. With this setup you can drift circles around it’s competition (excuse the pun). This contender weighs in at 1622 kilograms, which is only 22 kilograms heavier than it’s little brother, the M2. With 20 inch wheels rather than 19 inch wheels you can feel like you are more in control of the beast, but in reality you can’t tame this beast.
With a 3.0 litre straight six turbo charged engine, the M3 produces 450 horses and 550 Nm of torque. That’s a lot considering that if you want to buy this rather than the M4, then you are probably going to put your family in it. You can put your family into this car and drive it at 120kph but lets face it, you aren’t buying it to go 120kph. This monster can take you to 100kph in 4 seconds with the assistance of launch control and has a top speed of about 290kph. That is rather impressive if you ask me, the performance really capitalises for the terrible exhaust note. Okay here’s a quick game, let’s name all the negatives about this car before we get to 100kph-Go! The tires are loud, the exhaust, uhm uh. That’s all I can think of.
Now let’s talk about the looks. It’s beautiful. Full stop. Event though the interior may not speak to everyone, it’s still beautiful
If I have to give my overall verdict of this car, I’d say it is a 9/10. It is almost the perfect performer. It deserves the letter M, and it really is a monster. Don’t run, just hide because it will catch you.
We shouldn’t forget that it’s the older, faster, more fun to drive brother of the M2. This means that it has to be a little more costly, question is, by how much? Well… If your a multi millionaire it shouldn’t be a problem because it will set you back R1.4 million, but even so, you will break a sweat before you sign that cheque.
The car lad 