Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: £50,725 to £50,725
Performance, handling, quality, styling, practicality, value retention
Pricey, not quite as much fun as the original 1986 M3, slightly too vulgar for some. CSL very expensive; SMG transmission flawed; Convertible has less rear room and smaller boot
One of the great performance cars, and so easy to live with
The M3 is not as light and easy to drive as your average supermini. The weighty clutch, the solid movement of the gearlever and the strength of the clutch's bite - a corollary of the engine's considerable output - make this a car that you must drive with precise deliberation at urban speeds. In other respects it is much like any other 3-Series, which means you enjoy an excellent driving position, easily swivelled steering, fair visibility - less so to the rear in the convertible - and an easily mastered control layout, satellite navigation excepted. That's the whole point of this car, and it doesn't disappoint. From a cold start, using less than 3000 of the available 8000rpm, it plays a mellow bass tune, with no fuss, and no hiccups - it's a lot easier to drive in traffic than its surly predecessors. Halfway up the scale, however, the orchestra begins to warm up. By 5000rpm, when almost 80 percent of peak power is present, you are hastily introduced to the next horizon. After that, it is M for Madness as you whip from 6000 to 8000 rpm in a blaze of energy that leaves you breathless. That's all terrific fun on a race track, but what about on public roads? Well, pleasing clutch and throttle actions, and outstanding cockpit comforts, make urban progress a perfectly amiable pursuit. And at the slightest suggestion of open road, the M3 can safely overtake a line of cars or lorries in a burst of acceleration more akin to a powerful motorcycle than a 1.5-tonne saloon. Happily, when it comes to corners the M3 has the grip to cope with such fearsome punch, it's fat tyres difficult to dislodge in the dry unless you use low gears and are overly fierce with the accelerator. Precise steering, all that grip and little body-roll make the M3 an easy car to drive very fast, and if the steering doesn't have as much feel as the original M3's, the whole experience is exhilarating nonetheless.
The M3 has the power to deliver fearsome acceleration, but curiously, you have to work at it. The gearlever moves stolidly, the clutch is slightly heavy and the accelerator moves with such slow, measured precision that you must get quite brutal with it to extract maximum effort. And you'll need to rev the engine too, which zings to a 7900rpm limit with an inspiring crescendo of noise. Which is when you'll discover that the M3 does live up to the claims. Despite its high state of tune the engine is a very civil thing, its innate six-cylinder smoothness overlaid with an animal bellow when it's worked hard. The six-speed gearbox must be used if you want instant access to electrifying performance, but the engine has the pulling power to accelerate firmly in sixth even from quite low speeds. The optional SMG sequential transmission is easy to use, but it's harder to drive smoothly with it - unless you do a lot of city driving, it's best avoided.
