News From Barcelona Pitlane!!!

[M3_biggest_fan]

Hi Guys!!

This Weekend I've Been In Barcelona For The F1 Grand Prix And A Friend Of Mine Had An Exclusive Tickets To See The New M3!! It's Great I Have No Words To Descrive It, But Just Say Look Great. It Was In Color White And The 18" Rims, The Mirrors Are Much Much Better In Real!!!

There Was A Lot Of Guardians To Protect From Cameras And People To Take Pictures So I Couldn't Take Pictures But I Can Tell You That The Budge, It's Smaller And Has A Bit Of A Different Shape From The Actual M3 E46. And The Engine Looks Like It Will Kill Any Car With Similar Power!!!

We Had The Opportunity As Well To Talk With An M Engineer From Munich That Give Us A Lot Of Information, Some Of It:

1.the New Sequential Gearbox Available From May, 7 Speed, Double Clutch And Way Way Better Than The Audis... Despite I Could Change Gears With The Manual That Was There And The Changes Were Short And The Feeling Was Soo Good!!!

2.the Carbon Fiber Roof Save """80"""" Kilos Of Weight From The Normal With Sunroof, So People Forget About The Sun!!

It Was Great And We Talke About An Hour Of M Cars With The Engineer, A Great Experience!!!

I Hope This Information To Be Usefull, If You Have Questions, I'll Try To Answer If I Know It From The Conversation We Had With People Of There!!!

Just One More Think, If Any Of You Have Looked Any Of The Cars Of The Competition, Forget This Is The Car To Own And To Wait For!!!

[ILC32]

Originally Posted by M3_biggest_fan

1.the New Sequential Gearbox Available From May, 7 Speed, Double Clutch And Way Way Better Than The Audis... Despite I Could Change Gears With The Manual That Was There And The Changes Were Short And The Feeling Was Soo Good!!!

That is very interesting info indeed. I wonder why no pictures were allowed?

As to the gearbox, the news if true does not sound good. Being available "from May" if true suggests May 2008, not 2007. Nothing is "available" in May 2007, although I understand in some parts of the world orders are being taken now. No one who has ordered has reported being able to spec the ZSG gearbox as on option.

[M3_biggest_fan]

The pictures were not allowed because the oficial presentation is in september in Frankfurt motor show, and as well oficialy on sale that same month.

The gearbox is available in May 2008, is still in its development proces and despite it's in it's final stage of development, the production of zsg 7 speed gearbox starts in may 2008!!! Bad news I know but it's what this M engineer told us, I doubt he lied.

[E36325is]

How abt details like who makes the gearbox? Suspension bits and pieces, comments about the overall weight of the car still a bit heavier than the E46 depsite the fact that the engine is lighter? Single piston front calipers?

[E90330iS]

Cool!

[00o00]

oh man this wait is killing me!! little bits of info like this are keeping me alive

[ajj]

crap..6 speed it is then. may is too long. maybe someone will trade me when the dsg comes out..wishful thinking..arghh.

[JEllis]

Great info here. You are the second guy to report back after seeing the M3 at a racing event.

Jason

[Markus03]

well done and thanks for the indo dude!

[swamp2]

I'm sure you saw the car and that's great. However either the engineer you chatted with or you have a credibility, units or memory problem. There is no way a CF roof compared to steel roof plus sunroof saves 80 kg. That is about 175 lb. Not possible. I would not beleive 80 lb neither.

[JEllis]

I'm sure you saw the car and that's great. However either the engineer you chatted with or you have a credibility, units or memory problem. There is no way a CF roof compared to steel roof plus sunroof saves 80 kg. That is about 175 lb. Not possible. I would not beleive 80 lb neither.

Why not? I am just curious. I am not an engineer and dont know much about roof design in cars so I was just wondering what you are basing your opinion on.

Jason

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by JEllis

Why not? I am just curious. I am not an engineer and dont know much about roof design in cars so I was just wondering what you are basing your opinion on.

Jason

BMW claims in their press info. that the CF roof save 11 lbs. over the steel one in the M3. Evosport weighed the entire sunroof assembly from an E46 at about 35 lbs. So that's 46 lbs., give or take a few. A long way from 176 lbs. or 80 kilos (exactly 1/4).

[M3_biggest_fan]

We also talked about the brakes and the long critics of it because they get hot very soon in track or in agrsive/sport driving, so the brakes are now in a new material, special compound, not still ceramic and he told us they were not going to give ones as option neither, but the calipers where in aluminium, so the sustention mass is lower as well. We didn't talked much about the averall weigth of the car but I imagine, that more airbags, more electronics, the new regeneration electrics and more new stuff makes it heavier!!!

The new gearbox is beeing made with ZS, will be available in may 2008, well at least the production starts there because is still in it's development proces.

About the reduction wieght of the roof I was the same way, 80 kg are too much but he explained quite better than I do, and finaly he convinced me, 15kg is the difference betwen the steel roof and the carbon fiber, then you have tu add the sunrrof, small engines, electronics, the glass, so from -15 to +65 are these 80 kg he told us!!!

[MisterBMW]

saves 80 kilos

Thanks M3 biggest fan. I am now the biggest fan of your posts. Oh you should have hidden a camera with you

[M3_biggest_fan]

I actually manage to take 2 pictures, one of the engine and one of the logo on the boot, but as everybody has seen the engine in all angles, and the boot as well it's a waste of time to post them.

And there's another point, all the stuff there treat as great and showed us the car when they were closing everything, so I don't want to cause any problems to them cause I'd like to keep in touch with them and get more info to share with all M3 fans!!!

Another interesting thing thow, is that the hood is made of aluminium as you know, but we find it a bit fragile, and the letters M3 were printed in big in each side of it, little details that make the difference!!!

[M2002]

Finally some new info!!:rocks: :rocks: :rocks: :rocks: :rocks: :rocks: :rocks:

[rpa]

Originally Posted by M3_biggest_fan

The new gearbox is beeing made with ZS, will be available in may 2008, well at least the production starts there because is still in it's development proces.

if the cars with the DC tranny don't start production until may of 2008 that puts their US arrival at, what, august 2008?


whatever happened to the whole "DC tranny available at launch in the US in march" ?

[epiphone3]

Originally Posted by rpa

if the cars with the DC tranny don't start production until may of 2008 that puts their US arrival at, what, august 2008?


whatever happened to the whole "DC tranny available at launch in the US in march" ?

From what I understood, the DCT will be available in May... that would make it March 2008 production.

[1198r]

Thanks for the info M3biggestfan

What I would be interested to know is how the car looks in terms of it's front and rear wheel arches. In the pictures I have seen to date, the arches don't seem to look to pronounced and the car looks like the 335i coupe. I have heard the car looks far more aggressive in the flesh from my BMW dealer - is this true? What colour was the car? Do you think some colours of the car hide the aggression of the wheel arches?

Cheers

[Micks-e92]

Some people from a spanish forum (bmwfaq.com) did manage to take some pictures.
Enjoy them




























video




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[aerisolphaln]

Ugh, I'm so excited about this being my first M, but I am somehow let down each time I see pictures for the first time and think that BMW is going to charge 65K USD at least for this thing.

[MisterBMW]

Man ...Alpine white is hot

The interior however looks kinda boring