Help me out here.

Help me out here.

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Discussion

bad_roo

Original Poster:

5,188 posts

243 months

Wednesday 8th September 2004
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A friend of mine wants to buy an E46 M3. Great, I say, but then comes the caveat. He wants a convertible. This is just plain wrong.

YOU DON'T SAW THE ROOF OFF AN M CAR.

Am I the only one who thinks this way?

m-five

11,387 posts

290 months

Wednesday 8th September 2004
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Depends whether he wants to drive or pose!

liquidken

1,816 posts

247 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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He is wrong, very wrong.

To me there is no point, but there we go, probably 40% of BMW's market involves people who prefer form over function. Judging by the amount of E46 verts I see on the road, anyway...

Apache

39,731 posts

290 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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Have to agree, since I got into the beemer thing (albeit a very old one) I am well impressed with the way it can be chucked into a roundabout, adding scuttleshake and weight to that seems to be counterproductive to say the least, what next, CSL cab?

ScoobyZoom

6,578 posts

254 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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Perhaps he wants a perfomance car and the ability to have the roof down? Is that unacceptable? If so you can lump Chimera and Griff drivers in the "wrong" category and the "poser" section.

Apache my old china... Scuttleshake? I think not...

Apache

39,731 posts

290 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
quotequote all
ScoobyZoom said:
Perhaps he wants a perfomance car and the ability to have the roof down? Is that unacceptable? If so you can lump Chimera and Griff drivers in the "wrong" category and the "poser" section.

Apache my old china... Scuttleshake? I think not...


yeah but, no but, Tivs were designed to be sans roof unlike an M3 cab. But, I aint driven one so confess to doing a mungo. If they don't suffer from scuttleshake they must be well reinforced which will add weight no?

rlk500

917 posts

258 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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Spot on. The fool who decided to take the roofs off M cars should be soundly horse whipped.....

Mind you the e46 M3 is too "bling" for me anyway. The 330ci is a much nicer/subtle car, IMO.

lanciachris

3,357 posts

247 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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Yup, conv is a silly idea.

On the general coupe / conv point, I regard coupes as proper sport cars, convertibles not. TVRs etc are obviously very fast and capable, but could they be faster / better etc. with a roof? yes.

Most reviews of late marcos' have said why didnt they make the spyder versions earlier and make a fortune? the answer was because it was supposed to be a proper sports car. Now its lost that purity, but obviously better known and probably will have more financial success. Not sure if its a good or bad thing in total.

XM5ER

5,094 posts

254 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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Evo had one on long term test for a while and I seem to remember they claimed that, in the real world, there wasn't that much in it with regards to performance and dynamics.

If he wants to pose, so be it, at least its not a numpty wagon.

ScoobyZoom

6,578 posts

254 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
quotequote all
lanciachris said:
Yup, conv is a silly idea.

On the general coupe / conv point, I regard coupes as proper sport cars, convertibles not. TVRs etc are obviously very fast and capable, but could they be faster / better etc. with a roof? yes.




Only the likes of a racing driver would ever get a better lap time out of a coupe rather than convertible... So are we saying that any performance convertibles are wrong? Because that is a rather daft generalisation..

Apache said:


stuff about weight



I defy anyone on the road to be able to see a noticeable difference in the drive. On the track yes but not on the road...

The M3 convertible has a place and it is only hardened track terrorists that would deny it that place.. There arent many 4seat convertibles that will see 0-60 out in under 5.5 seconds and cost less than £44,000 brand new and have space for your shopping and golfclubs now is there...

>> Edited by ScoobyZoom on Thursday 9th September 14:29

liquidken

1,816 posts

247 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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You don't happen to sell BMW's do you?

liquidken

1,816 posts

247 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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I've just seen your profile...

dazren

22,612 posts

267 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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Good car. Hard top for in the winter as well like on the old Merc SL. I've driven one down a local "test facility" at 130 leptons and there is FA wrong with the handling. A far more appealing purchase than the more expensive merc CLK equivalent.

Suggest car purchasers ignore what others think their car says about them.

DAZ

ScoobyZoom

6,578 posts

254 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
quotequote all
dazren said:
Good car. Hard top for in the winter as well like on the old Merc SL. I've driven one down a local "test facility" at 130 leptons and there is FA wrong with the handling. A far more appealing purchase than the more expensive merc CLK equivalent.

Suggest car purchasers ignore what others think their car says about them.

DAZ




How is the uber Beetle?

ScoobyZoom

6,578 posts

254 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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liquidken said:
You don't happen to sell BMW's do you?




dazren

22,612 posts

267 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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ScoobyZoom said:
How is the uber Beetle?


Uber Beetle is getting quite excited at the moment. Just had an alloy shift linkage installed yesterday to replace the crappy candifloss plastic job from the factory, we're invading Europe at the end of the month and whilst there we're calling off to see UB's birthplace.

DAZ

>> Edited by dazren on Thursday 9th September 17:39

bad_roo

Original Poster:

5,188 posts

243 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
quotequote all
Well, it looks like he's gone and bought it. Got this email today.

"Thanks for your advice on the M3. Made me think long and hard about buying one, but in the end I decided that I’m a ponse and go for looks over substance! I think that if I was gunna really drive it hard and do track days etc, then the coupe would have been the better buy, but for general punking around and blasting down the odd motorway the M3 ticks my boxes."

pentoman

4,814 posts

269 months

Thursday 9th September 2004
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I have read rather differing information on this before. Magazines tend to fall for the usual BMW M crap and say it's the best thing ever created in the whole world ever, but occasionally one will sneakily mention it's not great and is somewhat shaky.

I guess some people just see it as an M3 with no roof, others as a pose mobile with an M3 engine put in for extra posiness. I suppose it's a bit of both.

endeavour_uk

15 posts

248 months

Friday 10th September 2004
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I have been having similar deliberations to your mate. I have a wish to own a convertible (midlife crisis symptom!) Up till recently this had been a 2 car strategy with my Mini staying as a daily driver and a sports car replacing my e28 M5 and e36 trackday car. I wanted something that would be fun without needing huge speed and yet still viable on the track.

What the M3 Convertible seems to offer is everything in a single car. It should be capable of being a comfortable, luxurious environment for the commute (I like to have a few toys)... a wind in the hair topdown cruise with musical engine...and a capable track weapon. Not really interested in the bling factor.

I have trawled the internet, scoured my old mags etc and I can found no-one who accuses the convertible of being floppy or shaky. Steve Soper thought it gave little away to the coupe. Car tested it head to head with a 911 Cab and the M3 came out ahead. A friend of mine (and BMW racer) who has a senior position at a dealership has his pick of the range and almost always has an M3 convertible.

I am a big fan of the CSL. I have the models, the brochure, the keyring etc. I have another mate who owns one and I have witnessed it in action at the track where it was awesome. However, I can't imagine it playing the single car role I need with the same degree of success.

Still, final judgement will come this weekend when I get to drive one. Test driving a convertible, that'll be why it's started raining again then :-(

Zod

35,295 posts

264 months

Friday 10th September 2004
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JumJum used to track his M3 cab at amusing speeds, but the true M3 is the coupe or CSL.