2009 BMW M3: Cold Blooded -- Like a Muscle Car Should Be?

Of course it's a good thing, bmw seems to be the definition of what a good car is!

Ah, yes, let's never miss an opportunity to get our fanboy jabs in there..

This is common to most tight tolerance, high compression, low displacement high specific output engines. Similar behavior was exhibited with the previous generation M3 as well as the Audi R8- both of which use similar strategies with make large horsepower. Me- I'll take a lighter small block V8 that puts out equal power and loads more torque all while returning equal or better fuel economy- but that's just me. Plus an LS3 just sounds so much better.

I would be fine with it... it's a little rough and tumble for 30 seconds no problem. Nice to see it has a "soul".

On one hand, having the cold start characteristics of a high strung thoroughbred may seem cool, for the first time or two. But I think I'd be more disappointed by the lack of refinement that BMWs usually exhibit, and I'd get tired of having to tell myself that this is called soul on the car I just paid all that money for.

Yes, it's a good thing and it's called "character".

This sounds rather familiar:

http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/12/2008-pontiac-g8-gt-all-the-pretty-horses-mock-me.html

But then, for the L76 in the G8 GT, it is whenever the car is at idle. I don't mind it, in fact I rather like the rumble, but my girlfriend didn't like it when I parked it and ran inside real quick. She thought there was something wrong.

That being said, I don't know how bad the warm-up is for the M3. Any worse than my G8 and I wouldn't be pleased.

The first 30 seconds or so of my G35 with a Borla exhaust brings muscle car thoughts as well. It's obviously not quite the same, being somewhat cylinder challenged, but I just love that deep rumble as it settles into a smooth idle.

oh, I should mention that it's the sedan which has a much lower pitch than the 350z-like coupe.

Is the cutout around the tach for the variable redline? I know the cutout around the speedo is for the cruise control, but the one around the tach has never moved on my 325. I'm assuming it does for the M3 before it's warmed up, or if the engine blows up?

Yes Jii585, the redline increases as the car warms up.

>>But I think I'd be more disappointed by the lack of refinement that BMWs usually exhibit

I always thought about BMW cars as the most raw of the three big luxury German Companies.

Also it's 30 seconds. It's not like you really have to drive the thing cold. If you want more refinement than that don't drive an M3?

I think that would be pretty awesome, actually.

Iam expecting quite a few comments on how someones shitrod big block gay8 is better than the M3s engine simply because it takes a little time to get up to normal in the cold.

Nice instrument cluster.

Building race engines for the street will yield results such as this. There's a reason must cars don't use this formula to create big power. The 6.2L AMG V8 has much more "soul" and idles smoothly. The guy who owns the barber shop I used to go to has a Cl63 AMG and the engine note at start up is intoxicating, in a manly kind of way. Again, I don't really "get" this engine when the 3L turbo is more flexible and useable in the real world. Why on earth do people want big power without big torque?

Wow, that's a tough one. One one hand, after driving a 65 Mustang daily for a decade, I do miss that "mechanical soul". On the other hand, I really appreciate the no-hassle "start up and go" of my more modern vehicle.

I think the perfect answer would be a no-hassle car for daily driving and a weekend "character" car.

This reminds me - one thing I don't like about the Corvette's LS3 is the weird clunk that it makes when you shut it off. I thought something was wrong the first few times i flipped the key.

Hell, maybe something IS wrong...

I love the high revving V8. So much more engaging then a simple big torque motor - how boring!

Big torque is great for commuting cars, high revving is for engaging driving excitement.

I love how dead silent my LS430 is at all time, but I think the cold start rumble and racket is very appropriate and cool for a car like the M3 that I carpool in every other day. It really gives the car character and soul, which no Japanese cars has in my opinion, and I love Japanese cars. The M3 is a fast muscle car, it suppose to be loud and rough, and it is only for 30 seconds in the morning, it might get old if it does that ALL THE TIME, but it doesn't, it becomes smooth and quiet quickly. BMW did a beautiful job. I just love that high pitch mechanical sounds from the stock equal length headers.

And like other people said, if you don't want all that racket, buy a 335i instead.

It wouldn't bother me. But, BMW's ECM programmers could have spent some more time and effort to dial that roughness out.

FWIW, the LS6 in my Z06 doesn't exhibit any roughness on cold starts. An occassional loud POP through the exhaust when some unburned excess fuel lights off in a header tube that scares women and small children, but that doesn't bother me either. I suppose Lexus fan boys would find such behavior barbaric and crude, but then again, these fanboys have never been to a race track either.

Real machines spit fire :)

"Again, I don't really "get" this engine when the 3L turbo is more flexible and useable in the real world. Why on earth do people want big power without big torque?"

The 4L V8 is has 295lb-ft while the 3L twin turbo has 300lb-ft. The M3 also a flat torque curve which is quite a feat for a small displacement motor. If the 3L is more flexible what on earth makes you think the LS3 is better for daily driving because it has "more torque"?

"The 6.2L AMG V8 has much more "soul" and idles smoothly."

If big V8s had more soul, I have no doubt that American cars would be alive. As it stands however, the cars which get the nod for having more soul and driver engagement are the ones from BMW, Ferrari and Honda, all companies which use high revving, F1 derived motors. And no one complains about torque in these cars, not even the "miserable" 430lb-ft from the 6L V12 in the two ton 599 GTB. And get this! The all American supercharged LS9 V8 in the ZR1 can only barely keep ahead of the 599 despite having a tremendous weight advantage not to mention the "TORQUE" advantage.

There is only so much power and torque you can use and the ZR1 is prove of this. All that weight and torque advantage and it is only faster by a couple of tenths against a GT-R. Not impressive.

ace47, engine that have soul and character are high strung, high compression, low displacement high specific output normally aspirated engines with high cylinder count....V8, V10 and V12. As seen in M3s, M5s, all Ferraris, Lambo, Carrera GT. They have soul because they got that high pitch scream like arr.....I don't know if I can say that here......a female screaming in orgasm. Naturally they don't have torque due to the low displacement, but they make high rpm power because they rev high. People don't care they don't have torque because they provide such exciting sensation vocally.

Big displacement low revving V8 is cool in a different way, they rumble and give a big rush from the huge low end torque, but they don't have that exciting scream.

The 599 is so quick in the 1/4 is due to it's very advanced launch control and very fast shifting tranny, which the ZR1 don't have either. The computer makes it quick, not the power to weight ratio.

lazyhater, well-said. I do drive a 335 however, and it is a great daily driver, as there's sooo much torque down low in the rev range.

I'd also like to mention that as long as the engine provides adequate motivation, the car/chassis it's in is far more important in the big picture.

There's a reason US manufacturers are filing for bankruptcy.....

"Why on earth do people want big power without big torque?"

Chavis, you have to ask AGAIN? Haven't we been through this in a different M3 post?

We all have our preferences and some of us do actually prefer the more stimulating HIGH RPM blat of a high specific output/low displacement engine. Its not just the output but the overly playful and energetic characteristics theses engines possess. The fact that they can run to the fuel cut without feeling wheezy or stressed and the fact that they feel like they can keep revving forever is intoxicating. That doesn't make them "better" it just helps amplify an already great driving experience.

By contrast I find high powered large displacement, big torque engines to be quite boring. Sure they sound good but are a bit lazy and lack the urgency of the smaller high revving units.

As the owner of an AP1 S2000 (9k redline) and a Integra GS-R (I shift around 8200) powered 95 Civic sedan I couldn't imagine and wouldn't want to drive them without these types of engines. They would be simply boring with 6500-7000 redlines.

I was reading about the new Ferrari California vs an MB AMG today (I won't say where) and the article wrote about the flat-plane V8 of the California. That intrigued me, so I read up on it. My question is this: Does the M3 have a flat-plane V8?

My brother-in-law has a 2006 Civic Si, and he is now aspiring to a new M3 (or an old one) because he loves the 'urgency'. But he also likes the kick-in-the-pants torque of my G8s 6.0L push-rod. I am the same way, that I like both.

I fail to see the point of arguing this any more. If you're at 415 hp, does it really matter how you get there? It is personal preference just like Scarlett Johansen vs Megan Fox vs Angelina Jolie.

Good lord boys! Move on!