Back in the days, when me and my friends started to work while living at our parents’ houses, we drove nice cars. One of them was a E46 M3. Here is the quick review I wrote in 2009:
The M3. Is there a car more iconic for a gearhead? Reading this statement everywhere leads to a kind of banality. However, the moment you turn on the ignition immediately lights the passion. I had the chance to test drive a 2004 M3.
Pictures (except the one on the bottom) are not the actual car, but close to.
First look. This car is so eye-catching. Low, wide, aggressive bodylines. There is a huge difference between the metal of a regular 3 Series Coupe and the M3. The widened fenders, drilled with air intakes, the specific bumpers, the bulge on the hood. All those gimmicks create a highly bulky and hot look (even today in 2020).
The power is also underlined by the quad exhaust pipes, the lowered suspension and the huge-for-the-time 19 inches alloy wheels. Speaking of the wheels, I never was a fan of their polished look. The CSL M3 wheel design always had my preference.
On this 2004 model, the LED rear lights are a welcome high-tech refresh of an already 10-year-old design (the Coupe was released in 1999, I wrote the review in 2009).
Th@t a$$…Note the LED taillight.
Inside, this car is very much loaded : power sunroof, DVD satellite navigation with 16/9 screen, car telephone, Harman/Kardon hifi system, power folding mirrors, xenon headlights, power rear sunshade, integrated garage door opener… Speaking of this last feature, one will notice that it deleted the M3-specific rounded rear-view mirror for the standard, squared one found on the regular 3 Series.
M3 mirror
Standard with garage door opener
Everything is black inside, from the carpeting to the headliner, and of course the Nappa leather on the seats. Carbon inserts are a sporty and classy finish.
The Nappa leather is smooth and soft and way better than the grainy Montana leather you can find of other BMWs. I feel good on this cabin, ready to enjoy all the features. You might ask: what about the engine?
Let me have a word on the gearbox. The car is equipped with the 6-speed SMG-II gearbox. SMG: Sequential Manual Gearbox, or an electrohydraulic manual transmission, or again a manual transmission with an automated clutch. You can shift gears with the lever or with paddle shifters mounted on the wheel. Fun fact: the brake pedal is not widened like you would expect from a 2-pedal car. You can choose between 6 modes for the gear shifting, from the softer P1 to the manly P6 mode.
SMG lever with gear shifting mode button
I took the wheel with the engine still running after our ride. The exhaust note was wild. Seat adjustment. SMG gearbox on Drive. I release the brake pedal and… nothing. Because there is no torque converter, you have to press the throttle pedal to make the car move. I stay in automatic mode for the beginning of the test drive. The shifting is rather slow, but with no hiccups. The steering feels heavy: blame the wide 19-inches tires. I quickly feel comfortable and drive in the city smoothly, using the huge torque of the S54 3.2 inline-6. The SMG also avoids any risk of stalling. Engine and exhaust notes are way louder than the ones from a 330Ci, for example. Overall comfort is good anyway.
Road is clearing. Downshift to 3rd gear. The gearbox shifts to manual mode. The metallic note of the engine fills the cabin. Press the pedal. The thrust is huge…Holy Jesus. The 8000 rpm redline is close. 4th gear without releasing the throttle pedal. I am already way off the speed limits. And there are 2 remaining gears… The power feeling is incredible: screaming exhaust and engine, violent gear shifting (I was in P5 mode), automatic downshift revving. My heart is beating and a grin appears on my face.
When it comes to brake, the power is strong but the brakes are very noisy. During this quick drive, I have not had the possibility to test their endurance, often an issue according to the owners.
Everyday usability and comfort of a luxury sedan, power of a race car, fun of the SMG gearbox: the E46 M3 makes the perfect blend.
I now also think it is iconic.
The actual car I drove. Sorry for the bad picture: 2009 cellphone quality…
2020 update:
Everything I wrote still reflects my opinion and I always have a thrill when I see one on the street. People seems to follow my feeling. My friend bought the car in 2009: 5-year old, pristine look, fully loaded, 40000 miles, for 29000 USD. Here in Europe, you have to spend pretty much the same amount of money if not more for a similar car, 10 years later. Iconic, you said?
I guess it depends on one’s age. To me, the E30 M3 is iconic and the E36 version is memorable; subsequent versions are just iterations of the E36 theme. Though I certainly like the E46 styling details. By the way, my perspective may also be biased by the fact that I’ve had the good fortune to have driven friends’ first and second gen M3’s, but nothing newer.
As the model runs of the E46 and E90 M3 largely overlapped with my teenage years, they are definitely iconic to me.
I’ve never had the chance to drive them, unfortunately.
Granted, I’m a dinosaur, and I don’t keep up with the higher end of the market, but I was completely oblivious to the SMG concept. I suppose it’s somewhat comparable to an automatic with manual mode, but I think it would take me forever to acclimate to that technology in this format. A stick shift without a clutch? My mind would be confounded. I’m guessing it’s for this reason that the brake pedal is the standard 3 pedal size. This shifting apparatus coupled with a wide brake pedal would be certain to send contents through the windshield multiple times if my manual-shifting mind and muscle memory were involved.
Great car with an annoying gearbox. A friend across the street had one, and he shared that opinion on the transmission. Oh, for a proper gearbox in such an otherwise sweet car!
Is that guy in the last pic taking a whizz on the rock?
^^ I wondered when somebody would ask about that. LOL
I had a 1995 E36 M3 coupe for 8 years as my daily driver and loved it. I checked out the E46 M3 and found it to be a very good car, but too grown-up. I went in a different direction and got a Mini Cooper S instead. A few years after that I got into autocross and got to co-drive quite a few interesting cars. I liked the M-Coupe but I didn’t fit in it, and the M-Coupe had far less utility than the Mini. I liked the E46 M3, but it also not practical enough. What I really wanted was an 3-series M wagon.
What I got was an E46 M3… in wagon form. It drives identically to (some say better than) the donor M3 but it’s a fully functional wagon that looks like the donor 325i Touring. All the M3 oily bits are there: engine, 6-speed (no SMG here!), suspension, steering, etc. Up top, it has space for tents, cones and other event paraphernalia. Or a mower, or a dig crate, or a futon,… It handles well enough that ham-fisted me managed to win my SCCA regional class last year and place second in the local BMW club.
The M3 is not really a great base for an autocross car. It’s on the heavy side, it’s actually kind of tall and narrow, and the steering is a bit slow. I think BMW deliberately targeted track performance over agility (they have MINI for that). However, out of the box it is a terrific all-rounder. A car you can have fun in every day, conditions permitting. The S54 is one of the best non-aspirated engines ever made. It says “drive me” like nothing else. There is excellent aftermarket support, so you can tune it along a number of dimensions. A few people do what I did and carefully run it through a blender. But for many, the stock car is quite satisfying.
Woof! That’s sweet friend!😎😎✌✌
The E46 M3 is definitely iconic….Wonderful clean styling, taking the ground breaking…for BME E36 styling and improving it and certainly addressing quality issue in both materials and design…But its the engine that really makes it iconic. The culmination of the naturally aspirated BMW in line 6….The engine screams red lining at 8000rpm…unheard of in 2001 The engine alone is a legend
The Honda S2000 from 1999 had a redline of 9000 RPM.
the S2000 engine is one of the worlds jewels of an internal combustion engine. non compressed high revving awesomeness of power.
I’ve only driven this car in Forza and Gran Turismo video games, but at least as far as that simulates it it’s one of my favorites. May be as close as I will get.
Now for some hyperbole…
Damn, what a good looking car!
It’s not just one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen, it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
It is its own entity. A cosmic phenomenon. Love and rockets.
Before it, there was nothing really worth mentioning.
It is space and time, sex and BLT, art, science and synchronicity. (The phenomenon AND the album!)
It is light and magic. It is life.
In other words, I kinda dig it.
It’s also car porn. Is it getting hot in here?
I love the looks of all the E46 BMW’s. I owned one – a 2001 325xi wagon in white that I think was the best looking wagon ever made. Loved that car. The E46 M wagon above strikes me as the best of all possible worlds.
Alan, you’re right. I’ve had several E46 myself, sedans and wagons, manual and automatic, diesel and petrol power (not all at once obviously 😄)… just really a damn near perfect design of a car all around, in any permutation. My daily driver right now is a nearly 200k E90 but I’d never kick any E46 out of bed, certainly not an M3 Touring. 😌😎
For the sake of clarity, it’s worth noting that BMW could do no wrong during this period and the designs all tracked to each other. The E38 7er begat the E39 5er begat the E46. Had all of them, all great cars. I think I cried the first time I saw the E65 7er, as did most of the automotive world. Chris Bangle’s “flame surfacing” has looked a bit better with time but will never equal the perfection of E38 / E39 / E46.
I do believe that the E46 in general but the M3 specifically will be considered classics in the future. Having said that I am the owner of an E46 sedan. As seen here with the one owned by my brother.
Count me in as a meh on the E46 M3. I feel they’re too big, too bulky and too common to be anything much. But that’s just my opinion.
Obviously others feel quite strongly about them and this was really shocking:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2004-bmw-m3-36/
I get the allure of the E30 M3 or even the E36, especially the Lightweight variants but the E46 M3 was lost on me.
Very nice car. I owned a blue one for 6 months. First car I owned that had launch control. The only car in fact. It did everything well. It was quick, but i didnt feell it was brutally quick considering it was an M.. I felt the corvette of the time felt faster…but straight acceleration isn’t everything. Everybody says it will be a future ckassic… And when everyone says that…it usually doesn’t. I feel its still too new to be a clqassic right now. I sold mine and made a tidy profit. The E39 M5…now that. Is truly awesome IMO.
Absolutely the E46 M3 is iconic! It’s still revered fifteen years post-production by drivers and automotive journalists. It’s heralded as a real driver’s car (along with the E39 M5 and Z3 M Coupe that were sold alongside of it) and its S54 is the absolute high water mark for the classic BMW naturally aspirated straight six. Indicators are that the six speed manual is the transmission to get due to expensive maintenance and less desirability of the SMG. The advent of its replacement, the S65 V8 powered E9X, helped accelerate the E46 M3 as an icon because of the lost straight six that BMW made its name on. The F30 M3 and emissions regulations cemented the E46 M3 as an icon because an NA straight six will never grace BMW’s performance cars again. Will the E46 M3 ever enjoy the status bestowed upon the E30 M3? I don’t think so, but it will always eclipse the E36 M3 (except Lightweight). The market for these cars is on the rise and I don’t see them reaching a plateau for quite a while.