We took turns driving each others cars.

First I took him for a quick run in my car. The same place that I gave Noopy a ride in my car.

He was impressed with the agility of the modified suspension, but mainly that the only thing I changed was the shocks. Kind of tells you how bad the stock shocks were.

He also loved the seats and the harness. He commented on how secure he felt and how much more connected you are to the car.

Next I drove his car, which is now fully broken in with the 14K miles. He had the rod bearings replaced per the recall so he had to break in the engine again.

As we drove out he told me it's fully broken in now and there is no reason why I can't take it all the way up to redline (8200rpm).

The clutch is super heavy (compared to my car) and the shift throws are longer (even with my stock shifter, the M3 has longer throws).

Even without Sports mode activated the throttle is wonderfully quick and the engine revs like it's a F1 engine :chuckles: The exhaust rasp only adds to the aural sensation of speed and the speed... It builds very quickly.

The first few times I only took 1st and 2nd gear to 6500rpm (which is what I'm used to shifting in my car). After I got used to the car a little more, I took it to 7500rpm and that felt weird... but in a good way

I didn't take the engine to 8200rpm since that would mean in 2nd gear we'd be doing about 65mph or so... The speed limit is 50 and umm yeah I obeyed the limit :rick:

The turn in of the car is as good as my car with the lighter/grippier tires but the real treat is in turn itself. The rear end just plants itself. I didn't push the car hard enough to induce understeer. However, the limits of this car is so much higher than my car and since it wasn't my car I didn't want to find out.


Next my friend drove my car and he commented on how much more commucative my throttle was compared to his. I told him it's not that my throttle is better, it's just that my torque curve is peakier than his.

I showed him this dyno chart comparing the two engines later on.


He also liked the shortened shifts of my car with the after market shift knob.



Cliff notes: Drove friends E46 M3 and it's still a damn fast car with a wonderful chassis. I want one h: