2021 BMW M3 vs The Cheapest E90 BMW M3 You Can Buy By Throttle House

Well we did it yeah, we did good day yep, it was long yeah, and it was hard. It's funny. That's what uh that your mom said to me last night. I knew it big day. It's going to be good, important cars yeah. I just hope we do.

Everybody proud. You know mum told me last night she's proud of no matter what? Ah, that's life, yeah hey? What do you mean? My mum told you last night: what's that you're watching throttle house, I'm Thomas, and I'm jams, and this is the fastest manual m3 ever made. You can't put a price on that. Actually you can because this 2008 is like four times less than that, oh and by the way, if you love BMW, m cars, as I do, we teamed up with maze to give away a m4 competition and twenty thousand dollars we'll talk about it more at the end. But all you need to know right now is to enter go to omaze.

com throttle house. The best part about it is that your entries go towards helping a great cause: the new m3, a car that bears one of the most important name plates in the car world. It is the four-door brother to the m4 and, as such, it's propelled by the same absolutely vicious s58, twin-turboed six-cylinder, but perhaps more importantly, the fact that you can still get a four-door petrol powered, rear-wheel drive manual transmission, 4.1 seconds to 60. Road rocket should be celebrated and, yes, it will cost you 96 000 to get one like this, but hey that's the right side of 100k yeah. But what about this, which is the right side of 25k, a 2008 e 90 generation m3? This particular example is sitting happily and strong, with nearly a quarter million kilometers on the clock and the owner.

After taking care of all the necessary maintenance items like rod, bearings he's selling it for 23 grand Canadian 23 grand for the price of a base, Honda, civic! You can get a well-maintained whaling v8 monster, which also bears one of the most important name plates in the car world. If you're new, we do car reviews track tests and quite a lot of messing around so subscribe and hit the bell. Okay, I argued to bring out an e46 m3. I actually have one it's a convertible. I don't want to talk about it, but the truth is: is that as much as I love the e46 m3, if you're looking for a competitor for the four-door new m3, this is it on a budget, because this is the way to get into a manual transmission, four-door, high-performance m3, with a modern feeling, interior and some technology somewhat affordably, and I know that the e90 doesn't get the most love of the m car lineup, because it's kind of a bit fat.

But the truth is this thing is a riot and like come on 414 horsepower from a naturally aspirated v8 that revs over 8 000 rpm. This one's got some exhaust mods, but it for me. It's the induction noise that I'm listening to. I love. What's going on in front of me, it's just this! Oh, it's this bell of this whale that changes in character as it runs up the rev range it moves.

It really moves in this particular car is all stock. In fact, the owner was nice enough to very last minute. Take it to our friends at Adrian garage so Alex the guy who fixed my race car could put some stock suspension on it and set it up to exactly factory specs. We can see what the car is like. So thanks to everyone that helped make this happen, the most impressive thing about it to me is that it is feels like a m2.

It just feels a little smaller than the m3 and the m4 now, especially even the f80, even though it's heavier it just kind of feels. I don't know it just feels like this little chunky, little thing of fun and there's something about m cars. The differential locks up and the car just plants into a drift- and this thing does that, like any m car, I've ever driven steering is a little numb until you add some sort of interaction to it, whether it's braking turning or especially when you're in a drift. All of a sudden. The steering here is unbelievably good.

I know exactly where those front wheels are pointing it's just a brilliant car to drive at 13 10. And one of the things that we always try and look at when we do these old versus new episodes is how old does the old car feel. In the case of this, the answer is not very old. This one has done 240, 000, kilometers and honestly. You'd never know, honestly, I've driven one of these before about seven years ago, and this is how I remember it.

I'm really quite impressed. I really like these. Furthermore, I really do okay in the new m3 and yes, I am a little jealous that Thomas has that naturally aspirated high revving engine, but there's something he didn't mention, which is torque, and he doesn't have any of it low down compared to his 295 pound feet of torque. This has over 400, and you can really feel it. But, more importantly, this is not the competition trim, which means a couple of very important things.

First, it's not as powerful as the competition, it's the same engine, but it's just not as boosted. But more importantly, perhaps it has a manual shifter, so I'm connected to the car and yes, the of can probably lay down faster lap times. But this gives you a connection, you know, and is it the manual to end all manuals? Not really it's a bit over assisted it's a bit springy. The clutch itself is also. You can't really feel the biting point, but it still allows you that extra level of connection something to do.

You know I don't know where you've been for the last year, but there's been nothing to do, and you know here's an example happiness when you get that brief moment of happiness, it's very fleeting. Furthermore, you know, you've got to grab it, but it's gone, but the manual just gives you something to hold on to you know forever. So we've driven the new m4 competition around this track, and it proved itself very capable. I said that it floats like a IATA stings like an AMG and that's true for this car as well and yeah. It could have more power, it could have the 503 horsepower that the other one gets except BMW said that they tuned this engine to match the drive train so that it could be as fun as possible.

They're not trying to make a hellcat they're trying to give you the perfect level of traction and sportiness, and for that I thank them because it's really well calibrated and when it comes to that power, there's a lot of it.473 horsepower yeah 473 horsepower my ass, so it excels on the track, and actually I've been living with this, and it's weirdly compliant on the road. It's not punishing at all I'd, say it's as composed on the highway as it is on the track, and that is what's so beautiful about this car and in the end it doesn't really matter which one's quicker across the generations- and I know you guys want to see what happens in a quarter mile. You know the difference between 75, 000 and 10 10 years of engineering, but we need a race starter. We need insurance. We can't always do it.

It's expensive. We need a finish line camera. So we know we cannot always do a drag race, but rest assured, if we could, we definitely would have done okay, while the memory of this is fresh in my brain, I'm going to jump in the old one. Thomas is gonna, come jump in this one. James obviously thought we were racing.

I mean I was just. I just left something down at the back of the drag strip. Furthermore, I was just gonna, go, get it and clearly the old one would be faster than this victory is mine. All right natural aspiration feels good. That feels good.

I have to remind myself this thing's, like 20 grand Canadian. That is not a lot of money for quite a lot of cars. You know what it feels perfect. There's a lot of creaking going on that combination of manual, shifter and natural aspiration. It's just wonderful! You can, I don't think I've been in a car that matches it with turbos, and it's not slow.

You know Thomas might have fallen behind in whatever that was. We just did, but it doesn't feel slow and there's just there's a lot of character to it as well. But more importantly, I'm noticing the steering and the chassis balance feels incredibly familiar. Having just got out of the new one they're two birds of a feather the biggest difference between natural aspiration and turbocharged engines is the throttle. Pedal becomes addictive, that's the biggest thing like yes, the new one pulls there's a dopamine hit.

When you do that, more so than the new one. It's so funny, I saw I've seen these cars in traffic, my whole life, and I always thought they were these boisterous scary things, and they are no they're, not it's just fun to drive it. What a day open racetrack, two m cars. What more can you want you know what's funny is that I could not even tell the difference in power between this and the m4 competition like these things are so potent now like it's just a whiff of throttle on the rear is gone. It's nuts.

The manual is good. I like having a manual but jams, said to me something funny. He said it's the of 8 speed of manual gearboxes, meaning it kind of just, is smooth. Does the job for you and doesn't do anything fantastic or snappy, that's kind of how I would describe it. It's good though, but the most important thing is that it does this there's something about an m car and a slide.

It's just so nice god, it's just so settled yeah. Furthermore, it is without question a BMW, m3, and I'm so happy. I can say that the way it feels the way it drives the way it makes you feel. I think that e90 would be proud that two generations, later in the modern day, with all these EVS and everything, we still got a proper m car, and you know what, since it's the m3, not the m4, it's actually not bad. Looking very interesting yeah, it's amazing how much this is still, obviously the same car as that yeah! That's why they're like a deck it's more than a decade between them.

There is a way that an m car drives, especially a m3, and I think that they honestly did nail it with this yeah, not so much the engine, but like the chassis and the balance. The way the rear end feels the differential, the whole thing. I will say, though, that this to me feels more like the current m2 than it does the m3 really yeah slightly shorter wheelbase a little lighter feeling, even though this is the heaviest thing. I like that about the m3 over the m2 that longer wheel, but it feels more settled in the m3 it does. The m2 is frantic it's nutty.

It feels it's dangerous, it's dangerous! This isn't as dangerous as a m2 which isn't as dangerous as uh. This is easier to drive than this. It goes in that order either way. I think that they've completely captured this being an m car to be fair, though look we don't want to talk about it yeah. This is.

This would be as close to that one, because these are both the heavy guys right yeah. This is a lot heavier than the f-80, the one that came after it exactly, but that in part is because of the v8. Yes, I want to see the engine because all right, you weren't either, excited about how the engine bay looks in this, because it doesn't look like anything. It's just a bunch of plastic. This has mv-8 that is so cool.

Looking. It just looks like bulbous as well. It's not that exciting and there's a hood bulge to actually accommodate it. Furthermore, it's necessary right, but the rs5 is the whole thing. The rs5 has the red.

Okay, the rs5 looks way better. The Amos have the signatures: okay, yes, okay! So of the Germans of the era, it's not nearly as actually. This is now we've done an old versus new episode on all of them, but then this is the m car we've completed these. This is it. This is that we were waiting for everyone who asked for the f-80 versus yes, we're waiting for this car.

I've been waiting for the g80 um either way. I think it's really cool. Now those hood shots went really well. No, they weren't working too well. Okay, there's some fundamental things that this has actually that they both have is yeah, that make it an m car got the wing mirrors right, yeah, that's important.

It's got big dirty fender, flares, yeah they're, not significant in this. No. This is this kind of goes right here, but this just feels strong, and I like the way that the wheel fits in like the huge dish in the rear wheel this generation. Never quite did it for me. Really.

I really like the design of the e46. It's got that classic better yeah. I know we're not friends, anymore, no um, the best driving of them. Obviously right. Thank you.

Um, the f-80 yep is also a generation. I love the look of this. This was always a bit too. You know if you, if you've seen our cayenne review. You'll know that I was.

I was born on the streets, and despite that, this is still a bit too rude boy. We all know the year, that's just the roughest and toughest yeah as they come, but this is just a bit I'm a bit too vanilla for this. This was kind of aggressive looking. I think I think I can pull it off. I think I could own one of these yeah.

Furthermore, I like that. Furthermore, I, like the look of this. Furthermore, I think it's well. This is the last generation before we got the m4, so there was a coupled m3 yeah, which was the e92 92 right. So I actually think seeing this in sedan form, especially in this blue, it looks fantastic.

Everyone gives us a hard time for being too fat, and I don't think it's really that fat, I think it looks cool. I think it drives great. I like this is Interlagos blue, that's a great color and that's a good color. Yes, yeah um. I prefer this in a color as opposed to like a black or a gray.

I think this is. It looks better like this. I don't know it has some really. It has a half moisture kink right. So does this? Okay, that's right, because it's not the m4.

Can we talk about this now because the m4 is from any angle, as I said in the review, an absolute pile of no it's yeah yeah, I don't like it? You know it's not fair. What they've they've done they've done the full series wrong, because it looks good from the side, but, like think about the m340i, that's one of the best, looking BMWs right now, yes for the m440i, I don't know what they did there. It's its like. The m340i took a poo, and then that is the m440i. It's the end of the drunken knight version of a m34 it's the morning, slop of the'm sorry, if you own a full series, we love you, and you're just joking anyway, from the side.

This looks perfect because we have a headmaster king and there's a line right here. Look at this line. It actually runs all the way to the back. It's strong! Furthermore, it's a strong! Furthermore, it's a strong line. Furthermore, it's missing kind of a line.

Furthermore, it's a weird fender flare hump, but I don't know this also gets a fun color. Now it says oxide gray, oh wow, right actually, what's like oxide grade two yeah uh, and I think that two. Why two? I don't know it's a sequel: it's the sequel. The first oxide gray really began the movement of oxide gray. That was what started the following yeah now we're under two is there: is there going to be a franchise trilogy? Maybe yeah? Maybe you know the rock will join there'll, be oxide gray, five or nine or ten yeah exactly it's gonna start becoming ridiculous yeah, oh the rock's, not in it anymore in case you ever noticed he's doing his own thing because him and Vin Diesel it's a whole thing.

I don't even watch the trailers anymore, it's just too well, you can. You won't have to watch the movies watch, the trailer the whole movie's in it um. Should we go look at the inside yeah? Okay, okay, orange? Oh, yes, he is very orange. This is coral army orange. It's Kawasaki, Kyle, yeah, okay, so here's a couple of things that I think are really neat.

First, this doesn't have the crazy carbon fiber seats. No, and for not being the crazy seats, these are great seats, they're, perfect they're, they're comfortable. They look awesome. They perfectly match the personality of the car and there are rear seats. Well, I mean there are rushes in the m4, but these are really usable because in the m4 remember the rear seats weren't as usable as the m2 being a coupe in the order of rear seat space, it goes m3, m2, m4, yeah, exactly which is weird order yeah.

I know these are very useful: lots of headroom lots of legrooms and this one doesn't have a sunroof as it shouldn't. I think, because you've always got carbon fiber. It's a carbon fiber and there's room for a helmet. Okay, that's good. Also hold the orange like when you look back.

It's its really orange. It's a decision. Furthermore, it's a choice. Furthermore, it's a choice! Yeah, that's mine! It's bold um! I kind of like it manual transmission. Look at that people are upset about this.

Okay because it doesn't it doesn't light. It doesn't light up. Historically, the manual transmission in m3s, the shifter lights up yeah. This one doesn't well this time. That's the same shift knob that, like you that they've been using for since forever, basically yeah um, I don't like there's no manual handbrake, no fair enough.

That's not good! No manual handbrake fits a manual shifter because you park, and you go bang. I don't want to like to flip the switch and look for the tightness, it's a m?nage, a trios that everyone loves, which is the pedal, the shifter and the handbrake. Oh, I was worried. Therefore, you do you didn't know what manager trios means I was like. I was pretty sure I don't know how to say it anyway.

Okay, so no more french you've banned um. So I think first I don't want to complain about the Gage question and this again, but because the rest of the interior is perfect. The only thing that I do want to say is we have this issue in the m4 in that there's, no, like it's not super simple, how you change the driving modes? No, you have to click setup. Now, yeah I mean you can once if it's your own car yeah you can. You can set m1 and m2 to absolutely your individual things.

Yes, you and you can but like I just I like to be able to have a button to shift like the exhaust or the well. This has just the exhaust okay there's the house button, but, like I want a damping button, a steering button- and you know what I mean like I want those to be. I know what you mean, but I would have m1 and m2 perfectly customized, yes for comfort and whatever, which means never having the braking on comfort, because it's way too slow, don't you know the braking, it's definitely better on okay, so we've already reviewed this interior. I really do like it. They did a great job other than a few things um.

But do you want to see what the m3 looked like, 10 12 13 years, how many 13 years ago that many years ago, yeah, okay, okay, now before that's, I love this tone. It's a nice, I'm sorry they got rid of that. Okay. Now, usually we get in the old one and jams goes. It looks old in here.

No, you can't, you can't, because this looks brilliant yeah. No, no, no! No! No! No! No! No! No! It's amazing! I love this top bun's been pressed more times. Sorry about that everybody now this is my favorite kind of like dashboard situation. I will say that I prefer the interior of this car without the screen option, because you can get this with just this beautiful line of this hood. Just kind of cuts down here into this line, and it looks way nicer visually.

But this is the original eye drop well, you would have gone for this back in the day for the tech yeah, not the case anymore, not the case anymore. No, you do, I could do without it. This is. This was upgraded later years of the 90. I it's its fine, it's cool! I do.

Furthermore, I do like the interior, then here right these work, it's functional! It's functional! Right, it's solid! Yes, it is very, very beautiful. I kind of like this carbon fiber styled weave leather stitched, yeah. I don't really know what it is. It's cooled up, um! No! I just I like the design of it. I love the gauge cluster to death.

Furthermore, I love this gauge coaster. Furthermore, I love the small dual dials really easy to read. You don't need any more than this BMW the m cars especially have these thick steering always chunky. I don't like that really yeah. I really like the chunk of stuff really yeah yeah.

Let me tell you about the steering wheel. Okay, so if it's a bit worn down I'll say that I mean a lot of people will re-wrap these or whatever right yeah. Well, you did you switched down your e46, yes, because mine was really beautiful. This is perfect. I, like I love that mod yeah yeah.

I won't do an Alc?ntara once I don't drive the car enough to really have to it. Modernizes it really nicely. Oh, I think the seats are comfortable. I mean like here's, the thing BMWs do this. I beg your pardon yeah, listen I'll, give you that they do they've always done that, and I guarantee that as much as that thing feels like it's built.

Well now, in ten years, it's gonna. What's this flying saucer now this is the audio. I brought that up all right. That's the drive yeah yeah! It's its been improved later on, but very simple. Like the climate control, simple everything is simple.

I just like the design I like it's got a manual handbrake for god's sake and a little m button on this thing. Yeah. What do you think of the driving position? I think it's great. I's maybe a touch high. Furthermore, I mean this is why it reminds me of the m2.

It's a very similar driving position to the m2 actually and the m2 has a handbrake. That's right. It does um but yeah. Otherwise, there's not a lot to talk about in here. No, it's its been quite fascinating.

I think, honestly, as far as the old versus new cars go, this I think, and the Porsche Panama the interiors have aged the best, but if almost all of our old versus new yeah, I agree right. I think there's like this really looks timeless to me and I think that it will. It will hold up for a while visually anyway. I don't know anyway, should we do a conclusion: yeah. Okay, our biggest takeaway from the day, then, is that the new m3 is still absolutely positively a true m3.

The e90 reminded us that the m3 should master, that dual purpose: nature: a highway, crusher and a tire destroyer. Nothing quite beats high, revving, naturally aspirated engines and, if you're game, to invest the care necessary to stable an old m car. A m3 of this vintage supplies just enough modern tech and all the performance you'd ever need, and personally I'd happily own one. But even though we get fussy about gauge clusters and front grilles, it's undeniable that the whole experience of the new m3 not only remains true to its e-90 grandfather, but also to its badge and its price. And if you fancy the prospect of becoming a new m car owner yourself, go to omaze.

com, throttle house and enter for a chance to win a brand new m4 competition and twenty thousand dollars u. s. Not only do your entries give you a chance to win, but they also go toward helping the make a wish foundation. Who, for 40 years now have made the wishes of over 330 000 children and families come true, so go there donate and good luck thanks for watching. I knew it.

You, okay, you.

Source : Throttle House