Audi BMW

A $5,000 BMW Individual paint has just popped up at a SoCal dealership. Autospies spotted a BMW M3 in Dakar Yellow at South Bay BMW in Torrance.

Along with the unique paint job, the car features an extensive carbon treatment, including a CF rear spoiler, CF mirror caps and CF front splitters. To add more uniquness to this M3, the dealership also ordered Black Kidney Grills and Black Powder Coated Rim Set.

The total price for these upgrades comes down to around $5,400. MSRP of the vehicle, including the previously mentioned upgrades, is $83,980, quite steep for an M3, despite its exclusivity.

More photos at AutoSpies

Following the same comparison path as MotorTrend, Car and Driver publishes a teaser video of their upcoming review of the 2011 Audi RS5, 2010 BMW M3 and 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe.

The full test drive review is available in the September printed issue of Car and Driver, and it will most likely be online shortly, but for now, they released a teaser video, including some track drifting. C&D rates their cars on four categories: Vehicle, Powertrain, Chassis and Experience.

The M3 came second only in the Powertrain category, but comfortably won the others. With 220 points, the M3 surpasses the CTS-V Coupe (205 points) and the Audi RS5 (199 points).

Great endorsement from two major car magazines.

MotorTrend takes on the challenging, intriguing and at the same time exciting task of comparing some of the best luxury performance coupes out there: BMW M3 Coupe vs. Audi’s latest RS5 and the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe.

Three fine vehicles with their own fan base and admirers, and the showdown’s winner is usually settled by the fine details.

And the winner this time is the….BMW M3 Coupe, as Motor Trend describes it: “…oldest car here, but like a good red wine, it’s getting better with age”.

Let’s take a look at an excerpt of their review, but we encourage you to head over to MotorTrend for a full, entertaining and informative article, and you can also watch the video comparison below.

BMW’s M3 is the oldest car of this trio, but like a good red wine, it seems to be getting better with age. Under the hood is the now-familiar 4.0-liter V-8 that develops 414 horsepower at a screaming 8300 rpm, and our Melbourne Red coupe is equipped with the lightning-fast seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission. It’s also fitted with BMW’s new Competition Package, a $2500 bundle of goodies that includes wider offset 19-inch alloy wheels, the ride height lowered by 0.4 inch, and reprogrammed Electronic Damper Control and Dynamic Stability Control settings designed to sharpen the car’s dynamic responses beyond the already scalpel-like ability of the regular M3.

Conclusion:

BMW’s M3 has long been the segment’s benchmark, but it’s not perfect. Left to shift itself, the seven-speed transmission is clunkier than the Audi’s. The steering-wheel rim feels fat and clumsy, and these days Hyundais have better-looking interiors (our car’s all-black interior looked particularly cheap and nasty). But the M3 is still the most sharply focused driver’s car of this bunch, a scalpel among sledgehammers.

Each of these cars is seriously fast and highly desirable. That we could even contemplate putting a Cadillac up against the best from BMW and Audi and not have the thing left gasping and wheezing, brakes on fire and suspension turned to mush after three days of hammering around Bavaria shows how far Caddy has come from the days when most of its customers left their teeth in a glass by the bed at night. The RS 5 is a marvelous Grand Tourer, an elegant, classy two-door that will feel just as comfortable antiquing in the Hamptons as hustling over the Grossglockner Pass in an early autumn snowstorm. But when it comes to performance, passion, and pure driver appeal, the BMW M3 is still the benchmark.

1ST PLACE: BMW M3
The oldest car here, but like a good red wine, it’s getting better with age. Driver-focused powertrain and chassis make it a scalpel among sledgehammers.

IND Distribution returns once again with a new project. Dubbed “Moonstone”, the latest IND work focused on the BMW M3 Sedan. Just as with previous projects, IND gives us the back story.

IND’s client Jamie is a real example of hard work paying off. As a technician for Suncor Energy in Ft McMurray Canada, Jamie is no stranger to putting in extreme hours in extreme conditions, and works on some of the most amazing earth moving equipment in the world.

Jamie’s efforts maintaining the single largest fleet of the single largest trucks in the world have granted him the privilege of creating his perfect E90 M3, but just as in his work life, Jamie had to work very hard to get his beloved M3 to where it is today- his first Individual Moonstone M3 was taken from him in a car accident just last year! After losing his first Moonstone car, Jamie knew he had to get the second try just right.

Jamie approached IND looking for an Akrapovic exhaust system, but as we began to discuss his project, Jamie began to share his ideas with me. Jamie has a passion for detail and perfection, and knew that he wanted his modifications to be very subtle. His goal was to create a car that looked factory original to a layperson, but also sported modifications that could be appreciated by a true enthusiast.

To that goal, we selected Akrapovic’s prototype polished tips, a Brembo 380mm GT kit finished in the same beautiful Moonstone paint color, and BBS LM wheels as the major modifications on the car. IND painted all of the grille inserts on the car in a gloss black finish to accent the gloss black accents installed on the car from the factory, and added a European spec bumper to delete the reflectors in the cleanest way possible.

The centerpiece of the car, in my eyes, is the incredible engine bay. IND powdercoated the valve covers a high temp textured black, and painted the ignition coil covers moonstone for accent. Our best painter finished the plenum in it’s incredible Moonstone and gloss black paint scheme, and finished a Dinan carbon intake elbow in gloss black to match.

Unlike most of IND’s Portfolio Projects, this car was not assembled in house, but instead all of the components were installed by the owner himself! Jamie installed all of the modifications with ease, given his experience as a skilled technician.

To finish the car and take it on it’s maiden voyage, Jamie planned a road trip of international scale! Jamie drove the car from Ft McMurray in far northern Canada directly to IND, where we completed the car by installing the engine bay components. As a true enthusiast, Jamie has every intention of enjoying the car to it’s fullest, and is now on his way to Newfoundland before returning to Ft McMurray- a nearly 10,000 mile trip in total! Jamie will enjoy the car he has created for years to come.

Chris Harris of EVO Magazine, one of the true enthusiast automotive journalists, had the opportunity to test drive the latest and greatest BMW M3 GTS. To make the review even more interesting, EVO added a twist by comparing the M3 GTS directly to Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS.

What’s it like?
Around the Ascari track in Spain, fast, very fast. There were standard E92 M3 Competitions to drive for comparison purposes and the GT3, predictably, monsters them. It doesn’t feel its 1530kg in direction changes, which is testament to the chassis changes which include a solid mounted rear subframe and adjustable dampers. Straight-line speed is impressive, BMW claims 0-62mph in 4.4sec and 190mph flat out. The noise is naughty.

But the big question surely is the price versus the performance. Is it really worth £100k plus? Well, it’s exclusive, beautifully engineered and very approachable. The combination of DCT transmission, front-engine/rear-drive and excellent stability systems make it easier to drive than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. The brakes are the first on an M Car to match the straight line performance, a good thing.

But it struggles for traction next to the Porsche, doesn’t steer as sweetly and isn’t as fast – in a straight line or in terms of lap time. I found myself enjoying it immensely because it takes that age-old M3 trick – being able to carve a neat line one lap and then providing hilarious, smokey slides the next – and moves it a stage further. The nagging doubt remains though, that a BMW M3 Competition with a half cage, some sticky rubber, new suspension, bigger brakes, some noisy pipes and a re-map mightn’t be all that different. And the work wouldn’t cost £50k to complete.”

Full review

There is no secret anymore that here at BMWBLOG we love the Laguna Seca Blue color. We have said it several times before here, here or here, but every time we get to see new photos of this color, the excitement grows right back.

Pairing the Laguna Seca paint with the equally stunning BMW M3 Coupe, is certainly the winning combination. Our friends and long-time sponsors, European Auto Source, give us the opportunity to enjoy, one more time, the blue shade we came to love.

Along with the exclusive paint, the E92 M3 also went through some modifications, the most important one being a new Tubi performance exhaust system that can be seen and heard in all its glory in the video below.

Other mods added to the car include Electronic Performance Steering Wheel, ZCP CF Spoiler, ZCP CF Spliters, ZCP CF Mirrors, Edition Front Grilles, Edition Side Grilles and BMW Performance Brake Handle.

Turn up the volume!

Test drives and reviews of the BMW M3 GTS are just in and one of the first to report their findings is the UK magazine Car Enthusiast.

Here is an excerpt from their review:

Driving it

Appropriately, our test time in the GTS was restricted to laps of the Ascari circuit. Before the first corner is reached it’s obvious that there’s something special under the bonnet. The stroke has been extended, increasing capacity from 3,999- to 4,361cc, resulting in an increase in peak power from 414- to 444bhp (at a screaming 8,300rpm). Torque increases too, from 295- to 325lb.ft, available at 3,750rpm. The 0-62mph time drops to 4.4 seconds, but it’s the endless sweep of the rev counter needle and the beefier mid-range that stand out.

The chassis has received just as much attention. The rear suspension sub-frame is rigidly bolted to the body and the ride height can be adjusted, as can the damping and camber on both axles.

Reading the specification you’d be forgiven for thinking that the GTS is a clinical lapper of race tracks, clinging to the tarmac while the driver just steers. In fact it’s more engaging than any M3 gone before and it is incredibly playful at and beyond the limits of adhesion – limits that are all too easy to breach. There’s a delicious sense of throttle adjustability that, while present in the regular car, is even more accessible in the GTS thanks to the extra immediacy in the chassis. The new engine has the power to bite if you get cocky, but even high-speed slides feel safe, gradual and intuitive to work with. In short, it’s a fabulous track toy.

We were categorically told that BMW will make a profit out of this project. Although demand will significantly outstrip supply the company could not extend the production run due to capacity and the hand built nature of many of the components. To put this car into series production would cost the company a lot more money.

Full article at Car Enthusiast

Buried deep into the extensive bulletin sent to dealerships, BMW introduced an important change to the 2011 BMW M3 models: automatic/Start Stop.

Seen in other BMW vehicles, the Start-Stop technology now comes standard in the M3. Start-Stop is a feature developed from BMW’s EfficientDynamics strategy that will shut down the engine under certain conditions when the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

The benefit of this technology is reduced fuel consumption and the function can be switched on/off via a button located next to the Start/Stop button.

The way it works is that the system automatically switches off the engine when the car comes to a standstill. As soon as the driver puts in the clutch or depresses the gas pedal, the engine fires up automatically.

A new video of the BMW M3 GTS has just been published to Youtube by Skiddmark. Invited at the Ascari track event, the UK fellows managed to scored some time with the European-street legal m3 GTS.

With a price tag of 115,000 euros, the BMW M3 GTS is far from being the most affordable sporty car out there, but despite the premium markup, the first units of the M3 GTS are already sold out.

BMW M engineers have developed exclusively for the M3 GTS a power unit based on the M high-performance engine of the current BMW M3 with a capacity of 4.4 liters and an output near 450 horsepower. The car is fitted with a 7-speed M dual clutch transmission with adapted shift characteristics.

Consistent lightweight construction, adjustable aerodynamic units, an increase in engine size and output on the V8 high-speed power unit and suspension technology meeting all the requirements of motorsport – all this gives the BMW M3 GTS a top position among high-performance cars built for Clubsport racing.

M3 GTS weighs 1490 kg (3285 lbs), 419 lbs less than the stock M3 coupe’s 3704-lb curb weight.

To optimize the flow of air and adjust the car’s downforce as required, the BMW M3 GTS comes with a race-oriented front air dam and rear wing.

BMW M3 GTS passed all the European street-legal requirements, in contrast with the North American market where regulations around EPA or federal safety standards are higher. Modifying the GTS to make it US-compliant would be a very costly affair because the car lacks airbags, proper DOT seatbelts, proper bumper height and many other things.

Along with a preview of the new BMW 1 Series M Coupe, European automotive journalists also had a chance to spend some time with another exciting M vehicle: the European street-legal M3 GTS.

Although the BMW M3 GTS is already sold out, there interest around the vehicle remains at high levels. M3 GTS embeds the core values of the M Division and takes the already sporty M3 to a new level.

Thanks to an increase in engine displacement and some fine-tuning to the engine, the BMW M3 GTS produces 450 horsepower and ensures superior performance.

The core of the development was the landing gear, based on the BMW M3 GT4 and transposed into a street-legal vehicle. The rear wing was first seen in World Touring Car Championship WTCC cars and now makes its way into GTS as well.

Last week, in advance of the 25th birthday of the M3, BMW allow selected automotive journalists to attend a test driving session aboard the M3 GTS at the Ascari racetrack in Spain.

The video below will attest to the qualities of this exciting M3.