Just Another Car? - The BMW M3 Coupe

Something that really annoys me on the open road, more than traffic wombles of course, is people who seem to have got it into their minds that overtaking me at 90miles per hour and then slowing down to 40 is a good idea. I would like to stress, here and now, that this is neither big nor clever and that people who condone such activities are either bad, mad, or American. One of the biggest culprits in this never-gets-old endeavour is the BMW, more specifically, the elite cars of the BMW M division.

It has long since been established by Top Gear that people who drive such cars only have a passion for one thing in life, and that thing is speed. They crave it like Pete Doherty craves cocaine, they need it, they adore it. And it seems that now there is a speed camera every 12 inches on the motorway, the only way they can get their fix is to viciously overtake me. But despite how much I hate the person driving, how very much I want them to spontaneously combust on the hard shoulder, I can’t help but admire their cars. The boys down at the M division of BMW really know how to tinker with a car. And the tinkering doesn’t get any better than in the BMW M3, a car that I am quite sure, is the scariest thing, in the entire world.
Whilst the M3, and BMW’s in general have been branded by some as “wa**ers” cars, I cannot help but have respect for such an awesome machine. The 5 litre engine that rests in the belly of this awesome beast is enough to give it 420hp, and is ferocious –and thirsty- enough to propel it to 60 in a back-breaking 4.6 seconds. However, all technicalities aside, there is one thing I really don’t like about the M3, and I’m sorry, but it’s the styling. My point is that unless you know your cars well, unless you are well up to date with the technical specs, the M3 is just going to look like another car, just another grey saloon on just another road, with just another person sitting behind the wheel. The problem is that the M3 is so much more than that, it has the potential to be a great car, and it is a great car under the hood, I just feel that the styling lets the whole performance down. A car must work flawlessly, with each component doing its job in unison with every other part. But because the styling on the M3 is, I feel, a bit rushed, the whole car experience is put in jeopardy.

Now don’t get me wrong, BMW haven’t dropped the ball completely, they’ve still left subtle hints that the M3 has all the power in the world locked away inside, those headlights for instance, give the car a sinister, maniacal feel. It stares at you like a psychopath, willing you, daring you, to get inside and take it for a spin.

So I’ve found it hard to come to a conclusion on the M3. On the one hand, I still feel the styling lets the whole car down, but I can see why BMW designed it the way they did, leaving those sleek, subtle reminders of the awesome potential of this car. In future then I won’t mind when you come along, and you will, and overtake me doing 120 on the motorway. I won’t mind, I will in fact smile and wave. Because you are driving a truly awesome car, a fantastic sounding symphony of perfection. As you cruise past I will feel gladdened that you have sailed ahead along the open road. And deep down, deep inside, I’ll be hoping that the next thing you pass by at 120, is a speed camera.