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      08-08-2005, 01:26 PM   #1
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Some more detailed thoughts on the E92/E90 M3 test mules

Well, I always see people commenting on recent spy photos of the E90 M3 and call it ugly, or too plain, etc etc etc.. and the fact is, that the car put out on the nurburgring or any other track or road are out there to test some technical facet of the car, and not to show off styling. In fact, car makers all make the effort the purposely hide their styling cues as to not tip off their hand to opposing car makers and to keep an element of surprise with us. So in essence, its useless to comment on the styling of a test mule until the very end.

I was thumbing through some of my old photos from 1998 and found a stash of E46m3 spy photos that look eerily similar to the ones we are seeing of the e90m3.

Lets compare:





Now these shots were found after the coupe was released and were of the M3 under testing. Now many of you aren't familiar with the E46 as much, so I will explain what it is about this car. From the looks of it it looks just like a standard E46 coupe except with heavily flared rear arches. But the front arches look identical to stock. The front hood is also identical to stock, the mirrors are identical to stock, and finally the front bumper is actually the bumper from the E46 Sedan (non-m3) sport package kit. The rear bumper is also a standard sedan looking rear bumper with an extra piece of plastic mouled to the bottom (in order to hide quad exhausts). And a fake set of extra door handles on the rear part of the car to make people think its a 4-door car.

So if we were to look at this car without prior knowledge of what the M3 really looked like, here would be the summary:

"Looks like a stock car except with wider rear fenders"
- No change in front fenders
- No change in bumpers (looks the same as sport package body kit)
- No change in hood/mirrors/other accessories
- Only change are wider rear fenders

Now here of course is a picture of the real e46 m3:





The car in reality ends up with:

- Wider front and rear fenders with signature ///M gills
- All new and more deeply flared bumpers on the front, side and rear which completly distinguish the car from the standard e46
- All new hood design including egg crate grill and "power bulge" along with new design in hood lines (more V-shaped similar to an e39)
- All new quad exhaust system
- All new accessories such as signature mirror design and rear lip spoiler

Basicly the car has been transformed.. but from the aspect of the design of a car, these are minor things that can be changed after all the technical parts of the car have been finalized. And so in the end.. now looking at the E90m3 shots what can we really judge about what the M3 will be like from those pics.... ? they look very very similar to the e90 sedan because the car is purposly made to look like the stock sedan... SO lets just wait and see what little tricks BMW has up its sleave for us, and hopefully more of the real car will be revealed to us soon!



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      08-08-2005, 01:42 PM   #2
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I agree with Mark; I think, though the there will be greater distinction between E90 M3 and non M3 cars than there was in E46, that was in turn more different than E36. In addition to BMW trying to give M3 more uniqueness for the marketing reasons, E90 M3 will utilize different components to make it lighter and so forth.
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      08-08-2005, 02:01 PM   #3
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If indeed the new E90 M3 looks like the pic that Mark has above, you can count me in to have my order in as soon as it is released. I mean, the car looks utterly fantastic. Now, my only trouble is the E92...if in fact, it gets a folding hardtop; i am going to have to make a very difficult decision.
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      08-08-2005, 10:16 PM   #4
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I'm guessing the ///M won't have stock e90 mirrors.
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      08-08-2005, 10:44 PM   #5
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OK.


In real life I have seen 3 new E60 M5's so far.

One was heading to me in my hometown and I first thought it was a 530/535d or something with a sportspackage(and I AM A BMW spotter )

The second was to be delivered last week when I was at my dealers, I walked by it and thought again, 530d/535d with sportspackage, it was a new black M5

Yesterday in the showroom a Silverstone M5 was standing there being very agressive. Next to this monster was a 535d saloon in black metallic an sportspackage + 19" alloys.

For about 85% they look equal to me an I AM A BMW spotter

OK, maybe the 5series/M5 difference is not very big but a E90 with M front bumper/package will com rather close to the oncomming E90 M3, I 'm shure. Hence my former E46s(330d/330i with M sportpackagesII and 18") they looked also 85% equal to the E46 M3.
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      08-08-2005, 11:40 PM   #6
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It will definitely have wider tracks. The new M3's rear wheels will not be smaller than 19x9.5. A 330i can accomodate those, but just barely and with very low profile tires. Considering the M car will sit much lower than the non-M models, and OE offset and tire profile are usually much less aggressive, wider fenders are definitely needed. How big the fender flares would be is another question, maybe they will keep it low key
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      08-09-2005, 12:17 AM   #7
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Any info on pricing yet? How much more will the M3 cost than the 330i, based on how pricing was for the E46?
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      08-09-2005, 12:24 AM   #8
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rumor has it that it'll be priced in the $60's to start....
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      08-09-2005, 12:33 AM   #9
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Sorry, but yikes

I thought it would start around maybe $47-57k. Geeeeez. $60 grand. Maybe that won't be my next car in like 5 years after all. I guess I'll be keeping the 325i a little longer than expected. But that's OK!!!

Who knows? I'm going to the casinos in Atlantic City next month!
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      01-10-2006, 10:10 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sharp1183


Sorry, but yikes

I thought it would start around maybe $47-57k. Geeeeez. $60 grand. Maybe that won't be my next car in like 5 years after all. I guess I'll be keeping the 325i a little longer than expected. But that's OK!!!

Who knows? I'm going to the casinos in Atlantic City next month!
The E46 M3 was in that price range so there is no way the E90 M3 would be in the $50s. I can easily see the $60 grand price tag though.
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      01-10-2006, 10:14 PM   #11
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Pricing on the M-roadster was just announced: $52,000. Thats comes out to about 10k more then the old one. If the E90M3 does the same, that leaves us with an E90M3 @ 57-60k. Ouch. Well we'll see tho, cause the E90 didn't go up much from the E46 so the same may happen with the E90M3.
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      01-10-2006, 10:17 PM   #12
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wow, thats a expensive little roadster.

how much will the coupe be?
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      01-10-2006, 10:21 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed_330i
wow, thats a expensive little roadster.

how much will the coupe be?
Noone knows yet, its still not "officially" going to production yet. We will probably find out prices in the next 6 months
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      01-10-2006, 10:59 PM   #14
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My SA mentioned the e90 M3 would likely be priced in the low 60's (USD) as well... it's in line with the past/current pricing structure of 3 series vs. M3 series.

I still want one; just have to figure out how to affford it!
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      01-11-2006, 09:00 AM   #15
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Very true
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      01-11-2006, 09:14 AM   #16
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very nice write-up, mark. i've been always wondering what was it like when E46 M3 was coming out and people were asking the same questions as they do now about E90.
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      01-11-2006, 09:25 AM   #17
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so how much was E36 M3 when it came out? does this mean that every generation of M3 will be $10k more than the previous one? at this paste then, getting an M3 in the year 2020 might cost us $100k. that kind of doesn't make sense. even if the increases start to be less major (like $2k per every face-lift), it will drive the prices up so much that they won't be able to put price tags on their high-end cars anymore because people with money will rather go with ferraris or aston martins. i know inflation is a factor in a price increase as well, but, i still think that $50k today has pretty much the same (a little less) value as $50k in 2000. so $10k increase in price stands in my opinion on an unsupported ground.
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      01-17-2006, 11:11 PM   #18
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honestly, I have yet to see an M3 spy photo other than maybe those m3 testing platforms on E90 sedans and that one off coupe shot with dual pipes thats all covered. Your argument is not really accurate cuz I dont think those are the reason for the recent uproars.... that the shot of the E92 coupe thats barenaked is whats caused all the negative comotion as its the next possible M platform, and let me tell you taht the photoshops we did a while back freaking kill it.... Im preety upset cuz i want to move on to the E9x series eventually, but well see....

I bet money they aint gonna widebody it, but if they do... it might fix it a bit... for the record, im very open to new looks and designs as I love futuristic cars, but its just not sexy.. proportions are so not sexy, and thats an important factor to the exterior of a car that appeals to people with discretion and taste...

I like the E90 better than the coupe so far and the M sedan will probably be beautiful and thats a new one for me, as Im a coupe type...

"crosses fingers that we get a nice replacement on the coupe end"
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      01-18-2006, 09:55 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by otherside
honestly, I have yet to see an M3 spy photo other than maybe those m3 testing platforms on E90 sedans and that one off coupe shot with dual pipes thats all covered. Your argument is not really accurate cuz I dont think those are the reason for the recent uproars.... that the shot of the E92 coupe thats barenaked is whats caused all the negative comotion as its the next possible M platform, and let me tell you taht the photoshops we did a while back freaking kill it.... Im preety upset cuz i want to move on to the E9x series eventually, but well see....

I bet money they aint gonna widebody it, but if they do... it might fix it a bit... for the record, im very open to new looks and designs as I love futuristic cars, but its just not sexy.. proportions are so not sexy, and thats an important factor to the exterior of a car that appeals to people with discretion and taste...

I like the E90 better than the coupe so far and the M sedan will probably be beautiful and thats a new one for me, as Im a coupe type...

"crosses fingers that we get a nice replacement on the coupe end"
Otherside really knows what he is talking about, hey I reconize your name from somewere maby another forum or something?
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      12-15-2006, 10:40 AM   #20
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Some great points!
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      12-15-2006, 01:14 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dxk View Post
I agree with Mark; I think, though the there will be greater distinction between E90 M3 and non M3 cars than there was in E46, that was in turn more different than E36. In addition to BMW trying to give M3 more uniqueness for the marketing reasons, E90 M3 will utilize different components to make it lighter and so forth.
To further distinquish the E90 M3 from the 328/335 sedans, I hope it has the kidney shaped grill of the 3 series coupes. A coupe-like Kidney shaped grill with quad exhausts on the M3 sedan would be PERFECTION!
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      12-15-2006, 01:50 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carnuts3 View Post
To further distinquish the E90 M3 from the 328/335 sedans, I hope it has the kidney shaped grill of the 3 series coupes. A coupe-like Kidney shaped grill with quad exhausts on the M3 sedan would be PERFECTION!
You mean like this?

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12853

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