9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
The Ultimate Tanning Machine
Date of Review: May 24, 2001
The Bottom Line: This is the best sports car on the road. Excellent performance and superior handling.
The BMW M3 convertible is the best car I've ever driven, hands down. BMW's are called the ultimate driving machine, and it's true. They drive like no other car on the road. The M3 is definitely one of the best. It's nimble, powerful, and sticks to the road like you wouldn't believe.
The only real problem I've found with the car is the lack of power at higher gears. First gear takes you off the mark and plants you to the back of your seat. Shift to second and you're still accelerating, but with complete control. Third gear and you're hitting 50-60 MPH with more to go. Then you shift into fourth and it all goes away. You're still accelerating, but not nearly at the rate as the previous. It was a fun ride, though. Once you get to a cruising speed and are running in fifth gear, the acceleration power is gone, but it's not forgotten. Just tapping the gas, even in fifth, gives you a burst of speed that you wouldn't expect. If only the acceleration rate could keep up with the lower gears.
As to driving ability, the car stick to the road like no other. This could be due in part to the Michelin Pilot Sport tires that come standard. These are the best rated tires, and for a time, the only tires that would fit the M3. You have more choices when changing tires now, but come on, you paid for the M3, keep the tires Z-rated at least, ok? I know you don't need that, but if you didn't want it, you could've bought a 328.
On to the convertible top. Very nice. It's triple insulated, which helps more for road noise than temperature. I had a convertible prior to this car and there really is a difference. The only real drawback is the plastic rear window as opposed to glass. This is difficult to clean and distorts everything, but it's a small price to pay. When up, there are very few squeaks, and I attribute these to my lack of cleaning the seal and making sure it's not sticky. There is some noticeable flex when hitting bumps, but that's to be expected. Still in comparison to other convertibles (and many hard-tops), this car feels solid.
Gas mileage is better than you'd expect. After 35,000 miles, I'm getting 25 MPG, city driving, and I tend to run it hard too.
If you can, get one.
