e36 m3 evo coupe vs saloon

[cluelesscarnut]

pro's and con's for each please.

have heard the saloon handles better but the coupe is slightly lighter and faster.dunno if either are true.

[taffyracer]

Depends on who you believe, 4 door shell is actually lighter

[DanH]

taffyracer said:

Depends on who you believe, 4 door shell is actually lighter

And stiffer so the story goes.

Dunno really, but it is definitely uglier. I've got the saloon though...

[muckymotor]

The four door also tends to escape the attentions of the big wheels and neons krew. Plus if you remove the M3 badge most people won't look twice at it.

[bob1179]

The handling of the saloon is supposed to be quite a bit more forgiving at the limit than the coupe due to a slighter softer set up.

Performance wise I don't think there is anything in it to be honest. I've always preferred the look of the saloons because they are virtually invisible on the road. They are also much rarer than the coupe.

The one thing I don't like about the saloon is that nearly all of them seem to have really horrible looking wood style trim around the dash and gearstick, but thats more personal preferance than anything I guess!

[Schnell]

Also, the 'loons dont come with those lovely 'vader' seats.

They are worth a punt, I gave serious thought to one but prefered the looks of the coupe. Plus I dont need four doors.

Also, I found that the saloons tend to have higher milages. The upside of this is that they are alot cheaper.

[andye30m3]

I wouldn't have thought you'd notice the handling difference on the UK's shagged roads, but i have have heard the saloon handles better.

Doubt you'd ever notice the performace difference between the coupe and the saloon. I went for the coupe because i prefer the look and like the vadars but had a saloon come up at the right money i wouldn't have discounted it.

Does the saloon have a softer suspension set up? I'd heard that the convertible did but always felt the standard coupe was a bit soft, nothing a set of eibach springs didn't go along way to sorting out.

[Schnell]

andye30m3 said:

I wouldn't have thought you'd notice the handling difference on the UK's shagged roads, but i have have heard the saloon handles better.

Doubt you'd ever notice the performace difference between the coupe and the saloon. I went for the coupe because i prefer the look and like the vadars but had a saloon come up at the right money i wouldn't have discounted it.

Does the saloon have a softer suspension set up? I'd heard that the convertible did but always felt the standard coupe was a bit soft, nothing a set of eibach springs didn't go along way to sorting out.

Ive gone down the Eibach route too, but find the car bottoms out too easliy now

[Cliffv8]

I went for the coupe, just looks better IMO I can't see way a coupe or saloon would handle much different their the same wheelbase, length and track everything.

[naetype]

If I recall rightly the saloon has slightly softer suspension but a stiffer bodyshell (no fold down rear seats) and apparently has marginally better handling. So I read in Evo a long while back.

[andygtt]

Yep the Saloon is definatelly much faster and handles much better... well I like to think so as I have a Saloon lol.

Seriously though, anyone been able to tell the difference? I can definatelly see how the sollon would be stiffer but I was very suprised when I was recently told the Saloon was actually lighter... amazing really as it has 2 extra doors with leccy windows etc.

Coupe is much better looking though and everyone always assumes my car is just a std 3 series with M badges on it.