[hugogu]

Hi, guys. This is my first post here, so I might be out of line creating a new thread for this, but I realized there is a lot of new buyers that really want to get some answers on how the E92 stack up against E46 (and being an M-driver since E30, I feel I have at least some information to share).

Topic : First Impressions, DCT, Issues, Looks & Feel

First Impressions

As I stepped into the E92 from the E46, I did feel like I was moving from a '*****' to a 'limousine'. Given that I'm breaking in the car atm, I cannot comment about launch control, acceleration, but I did take a 300 mile round trip on windy roads to get a feel of the drive.

First of all, comfort, sound level and feel was a total different class than the E46. This car feel so in contact with the road it brings tears to my eyes. I felt that even at 5.5k max rev, this car outshone my E46 on this road (for local people, I'm talking about San Jose -> Patterson over Mt. Hamilton). In (M) mode all is super sharp, and I honestly do not understand why people say the steering is vague. It might be that people forget to put it in 'Sport' mode, but I had no issues with this at all. Every corner was a blast, and I never felt the car was 'unstable' and tossing it around up the mountain in 3'rd feelt like my old one in 2'nd (E46 SMG-II).


Issues

I did end up having a minor issue with the Oil Level indicator, and it was sitting calculating the level for 1 hour while crossing over. As soon as I hit I-5 it finally got it figured out, and showed a normal Oil level. I assume this is just something I have to live with during very twisty / active driving.

On my E46 I tend to wear down the edge of the tires way before the thread is gone (275/255), after this trip I did not see any indication of this, and assume this is due to better suspension and/or narrower tires (do plan to go to 265/285 on the 19" when it's time).

I did also notice a ticking/cricket kind of noise from my front left wheel (when windows were open) at sharp turns (on the limit of tire slip). I'm a bit concerned about this, as it might be the ball bearings, but I assume the dealer ship will figure this out and correct it.


DCT

Second issue I was curious about was the 'slow' gear change using the DCT. I can validate it's true, but I also think I understand the issue. The gear box tries to figure out what is the next gear you want to be in, and at below say 7k RPM, you are more likely to change down a gear than up (when wanting active driving), and hence the next gear selected will for the most time be the one you changed from (i.e. drive in 3'rd and change to 4'th, but the car still keep 3'rd active, as if you want to go to 5'th, it assume you are not looking for active driving, and hence the 0.5s delay before it can change that gear box into 5 vs 3). You can test this by going around 40mph in 2'nd, at which stage you cannot go down to 1'st (or unlikely), and you will notice a very swift change to 3'rd. Same goes for 1'st (only logical next gear will be 2'nd), and for 7'th (next would be 6'th). So when you are cruising around doing 40-70mph, and in 3-6'th, a change up to a higher gear will always cause this 0.5s delay (as the gear box is ready with one gear lower for maximum acceleration). I'm guessing (not tested yet do to break in), if you change at 7k+ it will be the 0.05s gear change with no lag, but at below 5k you will always feel that lag.

I did read about the Launch Control on the DCT, but it do seem like it's not possible to activate it before the first service. According to the manual you will have to drive some distance in between each LC, as it's straining on the DCT (I guess it's picking up much more heat), as well as preventing early wear and tear. My current SMG (not modified) launches at 1.7k (I guess perfect would be at 4.9k, or at least around 2.8k), but even at this level I can get good launches. With the E92 I think 2.0-2.5k is all you need to get a kick ass launch given the torque curve.

Fuel mileage was not what I was hoping for. Not sure what BMW's claim of the new engine being 8% more fuel efficient is, but I ended up with around 20-22mpg where my E46 would do 25mpg, and E36 did 29mpg. I was expecting somewhat lower mpg, but this was less than I was expecting (note, BMW do say 20/14, so I think that's pretty correct).

The gearing on 7'th was a bit lower than the E46 6'th, so that might be part of the issue, would like to see before 2012 if they add a 8'th gear which is tuned for mpg at 55-80mpg, as the car accelerate without any issue in 7'th, so there is more than enough power for another gear say 15% higher than 7'th.

I did play around with the EDC a bit, but I did not feel any significant difference with the various settings on bumpy road. It do feel like the car was as stiff or stiffer than the E46 in comfort setting, but cornering was light year ahead (to me it felt like the E92 did not have any body roll whatsoever). I do have to keep in mind this is an M, but I did wish the comfort was more 'American Suspension', Normal (like Comfort), and Sport a tad sharper. I can't say if this option is worth it at all, at least if Comfort is the same as non-EDC. The car just handled very well in all 3 settings, and even if the ride was a bit more harsh in Sport vs Comfort, it felt very close in corner handling.

The power button seems to do more than the E46. In the E46 it feels like it reduces the pressure needed on the throttle, and that was pretty much it. In the E92 it seems like it also disables the low speed control, as well as changes the sound of the engine, resulting in very fast take offs, and wheel spin going 1-2 at 5k rpm.

Look & Feel

The A/Ced cupholder was a gem. Cannot take a 'tall boy', but a regular 12oz can keep nice and cool for the 2 hour trip.

Premium Stereo >>> Harmon Kardon (M46). I never heard any distortion, and there is enough juice in it to make my head hurt. It was expensive, but I do not think I ever would need a better stereo than this.

iDrive. I do understand a lot of people frustration with this interface, but after a few hours playing with it, it ended up becoming very simple to operate. It do have some 'lag/hanging' issues now and then, but this was not annoying enough for me to hate it. Also based on the M-button setting need the iDrive (and setting active steering was a must-have).

The engine sound is glorious. With (M) pressed it even sounds a bit different to me. It's nice and quiet at 3k / high way driving, but can also snare at you when you go heavy on the throttle. I def. like the sound of this new engine vs the old one. I would agree that the V8 feels a bit 'flat' as that's exactly what the torque curve is ... FLAT. This mean you no longer feel the surge the E46 have from 1.5k-5.0k, instead you have this insane power all the time, all revs. This basically made me happy keeping it in 3'rd all the time, as it picked up nicely from 2k-5k, and due to the smoothness powering out of turns was way simpler than the E46 (with low traction (sand)).

The A/C could still get a few more BTU, but it did keep up with the heat, but I felt that I had to hit the MAX AC button to feel fresh. Combination of 100F and active driving made me sweat, and I do wish BWM would offer the vented / fan seat they have in the M5/M6/7's (I do know it add lb, but in this day I would still set comfort over lb).

I did go with the CF roof, and even if it do look very nice (you do see the deformation of the weave due to the double curved surface, but it still looked nice). In retrospective I might have wished I went for the Moon Roof instead, as with the heat and extra light that do make it more enjoyable during long rides.

The back seats are very good for active driving, as the passengers do sit very well, however on long trips this is also causing some discomfort as the 'forced' sitting position (deep seat pan), prevent much movement and hence you end up very static / tire fast in the rear. The leg room is way better than the E46, and now even two 6' people can sit behind (think mainly due to the lowered seat position + extra leg room + leg-profile in the back of the front seat). Also the addition of A/C in the back makes it nice.

I do miss the opening of the rear windows, as without the moon roof you have very few options if you want to air out the car. You basically have to use the front windows for this, but on the plus side the total wind noise on the E92 is so low that this was not a big deal for me.

When driving the car in the default mode (non-M), it feel much more like a 5/7 series, and the slow speed assist do make smooth take offs. Before I played with the (M) button, I was concerned if they 'nerfed' the car off the line vs the E46-SMG, but when the (M) was pushed the car totally transformed. All get very sharp and responsive, and you are ready for the roller coaster ride.

After looking at the white and black (my other 2 color selections), I ruled out black (my E30 was black, and while it was super cool/nice looking when new, it soon got nicks in the paint, and it looked like a dump . I never had a white car before, but the combination with the CF do make the most sense, but I was very hesitant due to dirt (both for black and white), so I ended up with the Gray Silver (bit darker then the old one). Main reason for this was due to hiding dirt, but I forgot about the CF roof, which is basically black. So if you go with CF, do not worry about dirt showing, due to the CF is always dirty. I still liked the look on this car, but as I said before I now wish I went with the Moon Roof instead (and take that 44lb weight penalty).

This is my first review, so sorry for the lack of colorful language, but I do think this is a very objective view of this car, and after this drive I will now sell my E46 (even if the car did never rev over 5.5k I would still pick this over the E46 power vise).

I do know that a lot of people do complain about the 'low' torque of the V8, but what people tend to forget is that you have to look at the tq on the rear to tell if it's low or not. Keep in mind a 295ft/lb 8.4k engine generate as much torque to the rear as a 590ft/lb 4.2k engine. And if you look at turbo engines (i.e. 335), you will find that even if they rev to 7k their torque is down at this level, and comes way before rev limiter. So even if the 3.0 TT have close to the same torque, it have it way lower down, and it falls off very fast (after 5.5k or so I think), so i effect you still end up with much more rear torque on the M3. This is why HP was introduces ... HP at the end is the energy the engine deliver (at rpm), and higher is better ... torque (which is what HP is derived from) is just another way to look at it, but you always need to keep in mine gear ratio, rpm etc., while HP you can compare with 1:1. Even more important is the integral of the torque over the rpm range you want to use it at. And doing that would give you the best feel of relative performance between two cars (taking into consideration gearing, weight).

Hope this is useful for people sitting on the fence

[ayman_36]

Hey bro thanx for this nice review, its nice to have people who would actually give up some of their time to write such detailed reviews because they really turn out helpful. I'm getting mine in a couple of weeks, SSII though and a CF roof can't wait till i get a feel of it, and how it drives.
I test drove the 6MT but opt'd for the M-DKG. The car I drove really felt stable but i really couldn't abuse it, I'd rather have fun with mine.

Thanx again though

[///M3 Craig4]

[Ersin]

Nice review with lots of info. I like your theory on the DCT lag -- sounds plausible. Thanks and congratulations.

[matyoka]

Very informative !!!!!

[M3 Sedan JPS]

Originally Posted by ///M3 Craig4

sorry, we're picture whores around here... well at least i am!

[hdpt00]

0.5s delay when shifting with the paddles... that would get VERY annoying and defeats the purpose of a dual clutch... audi tiptronic is probably faster...

[patty]

Originally Posted by hdpt00

0.5s delay when shifting with the paddles... that would get VERY annoying and defeats the purpose of a dual clutch... audi tiptronic is probably faster...

I notice you can time it against the shift lights, as they seem to operate independently from the placement of the tachometer. The variables seem to be throttle and how quickly you are approaching toward redline vs. the actual needle position.

[M3-Mike]

Yeah I have experienced the DCT lag issue myself and can reproduce it fairly easily now. My M3 is a March 08 production, and I had the most recent software update done in December 08.

Before the update, I noticed a lot of lag between flicking a paddle and the DCT actually shifting.. I was also able to stall the engine while spinning the car out in wet parking lots.

After the update, the DCT shift lightning fast.. meaning a flick of the paddle immediately executes a shift. Also, no more stalling. BUT, I now have this 2nd gear lag thing...

My observations and theory.. when slowing down for a turn, or doing a rolling stop sign, the DCT will shift down to 2nd but the clutch stays disengaged as the car thinks you might be slowing to a stop.. so essentially you are rolling with your foot on the brake at this point.. then you press the gas to go, but the clutch is not engaged so the engine management and DCT take a good 1-2 seconds to decide what to do next... if you pay close attention you will notice that the engine does not even rev up when you press the gas pedal.. the go pedal is basically doing nothing for a good 1-2 seconds which attributes to the panic feeling, especially if traffic is bearing down on you at the moment. Eventually the car realizes you want to GO, and now depending on how far you have pressed the gas pedal down while waiting, the engine will rev up and the car will either move ahead nicely or very fiercely.

Apparently BMW is aware of the problem and working on new software to be released soon (March 2009) that will fix this "lag" issue. Other than this, the car is damn near perfect!

[///M Kevin]

OP, this is a great writeup even though I'm not on the fence for one. You should finish it up with a few pictures of the car. Good luck selling your other car.