BMW M Models News

The new car market is facing the doldrums, but BMW will inject some red-hot summer sizzle to the family sports saloon mix next weekend (SUBS Nov 22) with the launch of its first - for Australia - M3 with four doors. The sports saloon market has been dominated by the potent 6.2-litre Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG saloon, leaving rival BMW out in the cold with nothing in its weaponry to counter. But that's all about to change. BMW's 4.0-litre V8-packing M3 sedan will join the M3 coupe and cabriolet to give its German rival a serious run for its money. The M3 saloon will hit the streets running with, according to BMW, a price advantage over C63 AMG - but that depends on how you look at it. The Benz sells for $144,365 and comes with a seven-speed auto G-tronic transmission. The base M3 with a six-speed manual box has been priced at $145,000 which is $17,901 under the M3 coupe and $31,142 cheaper than the M3 cabriolet. But the M3 saloon fitted with BMW's new Getrag seven-speed dual clutch robotised sequential manual/auto is priced at $152,309. BMW charges a hefty $7309 just for the sequential box. BMW spokesman Toni Andreevski says the M3 manual still holds a price advantage over the C63 AMG: "The M3 saloon comes standard with a rear locking axle which Benz sells as a $5826 option and our saloon has keyless entry; Benz charges $1800 for that as an option and there's no 19-inch alloy wheel availability on the Mercedes." BMW sells the optional larger wheels for an extra $4000. The five-seater M3 offers serious performance from its 309kW V8 with 400Nm on tap which redlines at 8400rpm. Andreevski expects most buyers will opt for the dearer version of the M3 because it packs more performance for less fuel usage over the manual. The dual clutch model is marginally quicker, if set in launch mode, taking a claimed 4.7 seconds to hit 100km/h; the conventional manual takes 4.9 seconds. BMW says the semi-auto is rated at 11.9l/100km, while the best the manual can do is 12.4l/100km. Standard gear includes a brake regeneration system which recharges the battery on overrun or braking, and 18-inch alloys shod with 245/40 ZR-rated rubber up front and 265/40s in the rear. The optional 19-inch alloys have an even lower profile, with 345/35 up front and 265/35 in the rear. The saloon also boasts a full satellite navigation system with 8.8-inch colour monitor, TV, LOGIC7 hi-fi, bi-Xenon headlamps, Novillo leather upholstery, and M-seats which are power adjustable and heated.    

The arrival of BMW's 7-speed “DSG” style double clutch transmission is likely to spell the end of the auto as we know it for the company. The M version of the transmission with drive logic is set to make its debut in the new four-door M3 sedan with deliveries due to start in December. It's faster than the previous SMG robotised manual and faster again than the current six-speed manual - fast enough in fact to propel the sedan from rest to 100km/h in a mouth watering 4.7 seconds. That's just a tenth of a second slower than the iconic coupe. A watered down version of the transmission will soon also find its way into the 335i 3 Series Coupe and Convertible, but under a different name and without drive logic control. The latter dictates how quickly gear changes occur, smoothing them out or speeding them up at the touch of a button. The sedan joins the M3 coupe and soon to be released cabriolet, and is expected to account for about 25 per cent of sales. It's not the first time BMW has produced an M3 sedan. The second generation E36 model launched in 1993 holds that distinction but it was never sold here. It is however BMW's first V8 powered M3 with a 4.0-litre V8 that delivers 309kW of power at 8300rpm and 400Nm of torque from 3900rpm. With four doors and a proper back seat that can accommodate three people instead of the coupe's two, it adds a practical dimension to a car that ordinarily has very little to do with the practicality. As well as putting it back on the shopping lists of those that would have normally scrubbed a coupe, it could also lure buyers from Benz's attractive C63 AMG sedan. The only other major difference between the coupe and sedan is that the sedan is 25kg heavier and misses out on a carbon fibre roof. Given the additional weight of two extra doors BMW's engineers probably felt there was nothing to be gained (the roof shave 5kg or 20kg compared to a roof with sunroof fitted). We were able to go for an all too brief blast in the M3 sedan down the autobahns of Germany this week. Here it is legal to go as fast you like in certain areas, but you need to keep a watchful eye out for traffic entering from other lanes. The M3 sounds fantastic under full throttle and at speeds exceeding 200km/h it makes for rapid transport. The new seven-speed transmission is as good as they say, moving rapidly through the gears under hard acceleration, with an uncanny sense of timing, anticipating changes before the driver. You can leave it in D or change gears manually using the wheel mounted change paddles. The new transmission is quicker and uses less fuel than the auto or manual at 11.9 litres/100km. As good as it is, after driving this car, it won't be long before the manual is discarded altogether. The good news is that price of the sedan is expected to be between $12,000 and $15,000 cheaper than the $162,000 coupe. The bad news is that the double clutch auto will set you back $6700 more no matter which model you buy. At this price we can't see it reaching the incredible 70 per cent take up rate of the SMG transmission.  

The first words you hear when you tell someone you’ve just been rocketing around a race track are always the same: “Wow. How fast did you go?”Sadly, my answer to this is always a disappointment: “I have no idea; I was too scared to look.”So, last week, when I was invited to tackle BMW’s mumbo-tastic M3 for the first time in the challenging environs of Eastern Creek, I decided to fix this.As hard as it was to keep the speedo needle in focus, because it moves clockwise at such a fierce pace, I did my best. And the numbers I saw do tell at least part of the story about what a beast this car is.Coming out of the hairpin Turn 9 and pelting towards the kinky Turn 10, the M3 rocketed to 180km/h… in third gear. Yes, “wow” is the appropriate response to that, although I think it sounded like “ow”, or “ow my God” from the driver’s seat.The way the bravura Beemer went from a lazy 120km/h coming out of the final Turn 13 to 220km/h down the straight (I think it was in fifth by then, sixth gear being, obviously, for cruising at its limited top speed of 250km/h) can only be described as effortless.A proper driver would have been going a lot faster before dropping back to fourth – a down-change I struggled with several times, which probably has more to do with my shaking hands than any gearbox foibles – and hurling into the Creek’s testicular Turn One. Glancing away from the blurring horizon for a split second, I noted that we were doing a ballistic 170km/h at the midpoint of the corner. Again, wow, but nowhere near as wow as the pro steerers, who would easily carry 200km/h plus through there.And there’s so much torque, everywhere that you have to reassess your gear choices. You really don’t need second at all around the Creek, unless you just want to make a lot of noise.The new, V8-throated M3 is quick, then. Quick like Adam Spencer, or Robin Williams. Quick like Ben Johnson. Quick like a Porsche, but much cheaper.I’d known this would be the case, of course, because I’d salivated over the specs like the rest of you – 0 to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds, a full 0.4 seconds faster than the already awesome old car.You know that’s fast, but you have to feel it to believe it, just like the fact that it can go from 100km/h back to zero in 2.4 seconds. What makes the car such a terrific track weapon is that braking ability. You can go harder, deeper and later than ever before, and that makes for one adrenaline-surge of a lap.I’d also seen the pictures before we met, but they don’t do justice to just how hulking the presence of this new super coupe is. The bonnet bulge, the flared nostrils, the quad pipes and rear spoiler. This car has all the visual aggression that early Q car versions of the M3 eschewed, and then some.It’s also got the sexiest roof in the business – not a phrase I’ve written very often – because it’s made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic, to reduce weight and lower the centre of gravity. And to look very cool.Beneath that bulky, hulky bonnet sits the raging heart of the new machine – four litres of pure goodness, producing 309kW and 400Nm, and revving to a stop-it-my-ears-hurt 8400rpm.Only your ears don’t really hurt, in practice, they just sing. Particularly from 5000rpm upwards, the point at which all eight throttle bodies open and the beast is let fully off the leash.It’s a deep, sonorous scream but, as lustrous as it is, I still prefer the unique note of the old, comparatively weedy six-cylinder M3, which sounded heavy metallic.Of course, now that this version exists, you’d never really want to go back.The best news of all, though, is that what really made the old car, and the M3s before it, so good is still what’s best about the new one – the way it steers and handles.The new uber 3 feels heavier in the hands, but not in an unpleasant way – it just seems beefier than before, like you’ve gone from wrestling a steer to throttling a wildebeest.This car is beautifully balanced and wonderfully chuckable, and the sport settings for the traction control allow you to let it slide out the tail just enough to be exciting.Heart in your cheeks, sweat on your backside exciting.In fact, the new M3 is so track-tastic that, I must admit, it intimidated me for, ohh, about 10 laps. Then I had about five laps where I was really, really enjoying myself – hooting and hollering with joy at how good it felt to corner, how hard it kicked my spine under full throttle – and then a final three laps where I thought “Hey, you should really go back into the pits before you get hurt, Mr Thinks He’s a Boy Racer.”Of course, all these speeds and thrills are a million miles away from the real world, and I’m yet to drive BMW’s new hero on an actual real-world street, but first impressions are very important.And my first impression is that, for $157,000, BMW is offering you a superlative, semi-supercar for what is, relatively speaking, a bargain price.And it’s not often you see the words “bargain” and “BMW” in the same sentence.

The explosive growth of the BMW model range is about to be defused in Australia, with the line-up being trimmed to cut competition and duplication, making it easier for customers in showrooms.The plan is to have only three choices of any individual model, with two petrol engines and one diesel.The current list includes 36 individual models in the 3 Series sedan line-up ... without counting the coupe, convertible or station wagon.“We get a lot of questions about whetherwe have too many models,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says.“I think we do have too many.”He believes BMW must cut the choices to streamline business, though he says there will still be all-new models in future — with the X6 four-wheel-drive and M3 sedan up next — asthe German company looks for customers.The work has begun, though there are a dozen individual BMW lines, from the baby 1 Series to the four-wheel-drive X5 and flagship 7 Series, with 50 official engine choices. BMW has 189 individual models on the list.“We've already begun tidying up. The 116i hatch has been removed from the range, there are the manuals in the 3 Series and one of the X3 manuals,” Seemann says.“In the 5 Series range, one of the V8s will go.I believe for each and every model line-up in the future, as we add models, we need two petrol and one diesel variant in each case. No more. We have so many different model lines, it is not practical or possible to display them all in a showroom.”He says it will take time to get things sorted, partly because there are so many models.“It will happen in the next two years. Globally, there are five petrol and five diesel engine choices. And that is just in the 3 Series range,” Seemann says. But there is definitely space for some additions, like the four-door M3 sedan.“We will bring the four-door version, but I do not know at what price. We have to price it lower than the M3 two-door.” 

The explosive growth of the BMW model range is about to be defused in Australia. The line-up is being trimmed to cut competition and duplication, making it easier for customers in showrooms.The plan is to have only three choices of any individual model, with two petrol engines and one diesel. The current list includes 36 individual models in the 3 Series sedan line-up . . . without counting the coupe, convertible or station wagon.“We get a lot of questions about whether we have too many models. I think we do have too many,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says.He believes BMW must cut the choices to streamline business, though he says there will still be all-new models in future — with the X6 four-wheel drive and M3 sedan up next — as the German company looks for customers.The work has begun, though there are a dozen individual BMW lines, from the baby 1 Series to the four-wheel-drive X5 and flagship 7-Series, with 50 official engine choices. BMW has 189 individual models on the list.“We've already begun tidying up. The 116i hatch has been removed from the range, there are the manuals in the 3 Series and one of the X3 manuals,” Seeman says.“In the 5 Series range, one of the V8s will go. I believe for each and every model line-up in the future, as we add models, we need two petrol and one diesel variant in each case. No more. We have so many different model lines, it is not practical or possible to display them all in a showroom.He says it will take time to get things sorted, partly because there are so many models.“It will happen in the next two years. Globally, there are five petrol and five diesel engine choices. And that is just in the 3 Series range,” he says.But there is definitely space for some additions, like the four-door M3 sedan.“We are starting the business case. It looks good, I must say,” he says.“We will bring the four-door version, but I do not know at what price. We always follow the normal BMW pattern, where a two-door is more expensive than a four-door. We have to price it lower than the M3 two-door.” 

With a zero to 100km/h time of 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 250km/h, this four-seater is not for the faint-hearted, or follicularly challenged toupee wearer.The six-speed manual convertible is expected to cost about $167,000 when it arrives in Australian showrooms in July.Apart from a six-speed manual, the convertible will be available with a seven-speed double-clutch transmission, which replaces the SMG unit and will be an $8000 option on the convertible and the coupe.BMW Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski says that, as with the M3 coupe, supply will be limited.The hi-tech double clutch gearbox will be exclusive to the M3, he says. There are no plans to make it available on the M5 or M6.“It's unlikely until the next-generation M5 and M6 cars arrive,” Andreevski says.BMW Australia is also looking at the four-door M3 sedan.But Andreevski says the company will monitor demand for the coupe and convertible before it commits to an M3 sedan.“We've never sold an M3 sedan before,” he says. “But if we were to introduce it I'd say it would arrive early next year.”Only the M3 convertible's doors, three-piece steel roof, boot lid, windows and rear lights are interchangeable with the 325i and 335i convertibles. Like the coupe, the convertible has a 4.0-litre V8 that develops 309kW at 8300 revs and 400Nm at 3900 revs.Despite the extra weight of the stiff convertible, it is only 0.3 seconds slower to 100km/h.The convertible returns a combined fuel-economy figure of 12.3 litres for 100km.Visually, it shares the M3 coupe's striking grille, flared wheel arches, power dome bonnet, air-intake gills in the front side panels and 18-inch wheels.At the back there is a rear air dam diffuser and dual M exhausts.The 360mm front and 350mm rear brakes are lightweight vented, cross-drilled units designed to dissipate heat under heavy use.The convertible's three-piece lightweight steel roof opens or retracts in 22 seconds and has extremely high standards of torsional stiffness and passenger safety. In the event of a rollover, two automatically activated rollbars pop up behind the rear seats.The boot holds 350 litres of luggage with the roof up and 210 litres with the roof down.As with the coupe, the convertible does not lack for equipment, which includes sun-reflective leather sports seats and aluminium highlights. Double dealingThoroughness is a BMW engineering mantra. Not content to saddle its cars with a below-par, double-clutch gearbox, it set out to develop its own . . . specifically for a high-performance engine.And that engine is the 309kW/400Nm 4.0-litre V8 in the M3.Until now, double-clutch-style gearboxes have been restricted to small-capacity engines with moderate torque loads. BMW has designed its gearbox to deal with 9000 revs without complaint, yet maintain a consistent operating temperature.Called the M double-clutch transmission with Drivelogic, it will arrive with the M3 convertible in July and subsequently be available on the M3 coupe. It will eventually replace the SMG sequential gearbox.The gearbox uses two oil-cooled wet clutches that are individually responsible for different sets of gears. One clutch handles reverse, first, third, fifth and seventh gears, and the other the even ratios: second, fourth and sixth.While driving, the transmission preselects the next gear, ensuring fast and smooth changes. The gearbox has 11 driver-selectable electronically controlled programs. These include five shift programs in the fully automatic mode and six in manual mode.These are supplemented by a selectable “launch control” program that provides blistering acceleration from the 309kW V8.An M3 coupe can now accelerate from zero to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds, 0.2 seconds faster than the manual six-speed. It returns an average fuel consumption of 11.9 litres for 100km.Would you like to see the M3 sedan version in Australia? 

   

A four-door M3 has already been revealed but the German company has much bigger plans, with a convertible and a six-speed manu-matic gearbox both in the works for 2008.The droptop M3 should be previewed in Europe before the first local deliveries of the M3 sedan, in the second half of the year, but there is no confirmation yet of the M DCT gearbox.It is part of a plan to expand the reach and appeal of the M3 as it faces up to the considerable challenge of the new Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, which will come to Australia with more power and at a lower price than its BMW rival.BMW is strongly focused on the dual-clutch transmission, which, like a similar system in the Volkswagen Golf GTi, promises near-constant power delivery with a seamless shift system that has gears constantly in mesh for instant up-changes and down-changes.The DCT gearbox promises to make the M3 faster and easier to drive, but it will come with a price penalty. And no one from the company is talking about its timing or any other details.But BMW Australia says, indirectly, the M3 convertible is coming and should be ready for the road within six months.“From an Australian perspective, the convertible has been part of the M3 line-up in the past,” BMW Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski says.“We would be very confident about introducing a convertible again. An M3 convertible would slot nicely into the line-up. It was a successful seller for us, in Australia and worldwide, in the previous generation.”In the previous generation, convertible sales outstripped the four-door sedan.The M3 coupe is already a sell-out in Australia with a three-month waiting list, but BMW is pushing hard to get existing M3 owners into new cars and also to win converts to the V8-powered pocket rocket.“We have quite a large customer base for the M3 in Australia. It's more than 2000 people. If you add up all the rivals, they only come to about 600,” Andreevski says.“The M3 coupe is sold out until about April or May. So that is another three or four months' wait for deliveries.”And it will be supply, not demand, that will set the final sales figure for 2008. “We will probably do somewhere between 300 and 400. That's what we'll get,” Andreevski says.That number will rise to more than 500 cars in 2009 with the arrival of the sedan, convertible and M DCT gearbox, even if Andreevski will not reveal any firm details.“They would be add-ons. That would be extra volume,” he says. “We think there will be healthy demand for a four-door M3. But we are still going through the business case at the moment. If we go ahead, the first cars could arrive by the end of this year.” 

BMW's baby could be going racing. As the powerful new 135i with a 225kW/400Nm 3-litre, bi-turbo inline six is due to reach Australia next year.

Well, just as you began scraping a deposit for the 135i, here’s another bit of history; a four door M3.Now take a look at these first pics of the sedan sibling of the coupe that was launched locally only last week.You only need to go back a few generations to find the last M3 sedan (or saloon as the Germans will call it) and even then the E36 never made it to these shores. Which makes the fact that BMW Australia are looking at the business case for this one so intriguing.Naturally, like the coupe, it packs BMW’s all-new 4.0-litre V8 developing maximum output of 309 kW and 400 Nm at 3,900 rpm. It is 15 kg lighter than the last of its inline six-cylinder forebears.The saloon gets to 100 km/h from standing in a claimed 4.9 seconds with an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h. In the EU test cycle, it returned 12.4 litres of premium unleaded per 100 kilometres.“Essentially the M3 sedan has all the awesome parts of the M3 coupe but with two more doors and so more practicality,” BMW Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski says.“We’ve never had an M3 sedan before so that’s why we’re taking our time to consider it. It would be some 12 months before it arrived.”By that time, the new sports coupe and sedan might have acquired the latest generation sequential manual gearbox. While SMG-equipped M3s comprised the great majority of E46 series sales, the new car currently has the non-option of (a rather good, actually) six-speed manual.But a conventional clutch pedal is something of turn off in these lazy and shiftless times.“The M3 won’t get a traditional auto,” Andreevski says.“BMW pioneered the sequential manual and so our engineers are working on some kind of automated gearbox.”If the four door model does make it this way, it would likely be a niche model, if BMW’s experience with the acclaimed 335i series is any guide. So far in 2007, they’ve shifted 652 of the shapely 335i coupe, making it the best selling 3 Series coupe, as opposed to 255 of the equivalent sedan.The likely arrival late next year of Lexus's first compact sports saloon, the 5.0 litre V8 IS-F, might tip BMW's hand.