FAO Dan or CSL folk

[Bosch Man]

Tell me the differences between the std M3 and one of these please

Will i be happy with one?

Will i lose money?

Is the smg better in this than the std one or better than the E36 ones?!

[Mike Rainbird]

The SMG II is night and day to the SMG I, not even fair to compare them and the CSL SMG II is reprogrammed for an even more aggressive (fast change) than the standard M3 .

As to you being happy, you're NEVER happy .

The interior is more track car, with alcantara hip hugging "race" seats, with a smattering of carbon fibre, so it feels a very focussed and special place to be, apart from the dash, which is base model 3-series plastic still (and hardly in keeping with the original £60k price tag) . However, you sit in the seats as opposed to on them like the standard M3 ones.

Visually it looks better with the 19" CSL specific BBS wheels, different front bumper and "duck-tail" boot. Obviously you'll know about the carbon roof, which combined with all the other weight saving features gives the CSL a weight of 1385kg compared to the 1550kg of the standard M3.

The brakes on the front are 1" bigger than the standard M3, the steering rack is quicker and the ARBs thicker. It has some minor engine mods (higher comp etc) a free flow carbon intake and produces 360PS (355bhp) compared to the standard M3s 343PS (338bhp).

With the Cup tyres it is amazing on track, but lethal in the hands of incompetant drivers on cold / damp / wet roads - my recomendation would be some normal PS2s .

With only 1400 ever made and only 422 in RHD, you're unlikely to lose money (or very little) if you buy the right car .

[Dan]

What Mike has said is near enough perfect this time Phil

A few little additions, front bumper is carbon fibre as are the splitters not featured on a normal M3, CSL also has lightweight glass all round, it's thinner to save weight, bootlid is a composite material and as Mike says features an integrated 'duck tail' spoiler, rear bumper has a CSL specific Carbon Fibre rear diffuser, exhaust system saves 4kg's over the normal M3 one being made of titanium and has slightly thinner walls, replacing the rear 'box with a lightweight race box can save a further 10 kilo's alone but at the cost of 1k+ for a rear back box!

SMG II is simply fantastic, can be lazy as you like auto mode and perfect around town, however tiptronic and SMG (Paddle Shift) are brutaly effective, take DSC off and put in in sport, toggle the shifter up to 'S6' mode and it'll change gear in 0.08secs!

Only thing I've not experienced are the Cups (two compounds of these aswell to be aware of), I'm on Micheln Pilot Sport 2's and even on these the car is superb and handling pisses all over the normal M3, throughout the whole experience you really can feel the weight loss, it's more nimble and better in every way!

As for you being happy, do you like toys with your cars? Don't expect much from a CSL, mine is FULLY loaded and I mean fully and it's still not got half of what my M3 had, it's got every factory option from new, Air Con, Climate Comfort front screen, Radio , Rear Parking Sensors, Xenon headlights and even mats were an option which it has, mine has also been delimited from new by BMW so no 155mph speed limiter!

[mboon]

i can only imagine it will end up broken for bits or not built correctly

[Bosch Man]

i can only imagine it will end up broken for bits or not built correctly

Jealousy is an evil trait pal

[Dan]

i can only imagine it will end up broken for bits or not built correctly

It's not a Cossie Mark No need to break CSLs, only if you stack them in the first place, if you don't like it Phil move it on and enjoy not losing money on a performance car or a change!

[mboon]

pal.. Ha ha ha

[Bosch Man]

...i used the term pal VERY loosely!!

[Loader]

Mboon ,
this aint PF dude .

[Rolls]

Phil - if you can - go for it! - sounds as if you're not going to lose anything in doing so!!!