Lurking Lawyer

100bhp difference, comparing stock with stock.

Enough to make a measurable difference but I doubt very much that the M3 would leave the S2000 for dead.

Amuse Boy

With a few mods - the S can comfortably hang with a stock e46 M3.

Crispy Rice

ok i'm interested the mods admanirv123 suggested? or would you have another take on it ?

trinis2001

The thing is, car for car, the M is faster. Once you have to start f**king up your S to keep up with another car, the race is already lost as far as I am concerned. It's like when u guys complain about hot hatches with some mods/turbos nipping at the heels of an S, the M guys must be saying the same for us S guys trying to keep up. Corners we could hang I am sure, but hell no, not in a straight line. I have never felt a surge of power as I felt when I drove my Buddy's M3 in Miami, not even from my other buddy's Evo 6.

billy_i_vtec

comparing a car with mods to a stock car is just plain cheatin

Ryn

I remember getting destroyed by an EVO VII when I first got the S

There is fast and FAST and the M3 is FAST

Still a BMW though

moff

I have followed an M3 being driven very quickly for about 15-20 miles, on the straights it always pulled about 80-90 mph, but from 20-80 it was very close.

From a standing start the S is probably the worst car I have driven, especially my 06 which bogs down regardless to what I do. My 03 was much quicker off the line... I blame that clutch valve thingy.

I would love an M3, but I don't like the convertible, it's an over weight barge IMO and suffers from the loss of roof. Recently driving an RS4 convertible with 414bhp has shown me that you should never cut the roof off a great saloon / coupe.

gaddafi

there are some deluded souls out there

driving back to back standard M5 and S2000 I can tell you that the S is considerably slower

the E46 M3 is not as quick as my E39 M5 but it's not far off, so my 5 will do for comparison

maybe some people have run into non-triers, maybe some people have got special S2000s

but if anyone really doubts the performance margin, I'd be happy to set up any speed increment test you like

obsession with superiority 'through the twisties' is also wildly optimistic, and possibly reflects a degree of wishful thinking

having said that, it's fair to say that such roads do even things out - but then they will in most performance car comparisons

why not just accept that a standard S2000 belongs in a different performance division to the M cars (it has other qualities to differentiate it)?

in the same way as I can accept that my M5 is in a lower performance division than cars like the Sagaris

claims that the S is as quick as cars like the M3 just bring S drivers into disrepute

(I have no experience of, or interest in, track performance, and as others have said, find modded vs std car comparisons utterly pointless and irrelevant)

Busamav

I went for a drive in my sons BMW Z3 M coupe Roadster ( the bread van )

The S will be slaughtered by one of these , it isnt even close .

I was truly impressed by the pulling power of this car , and its totally stock , plus it makes a nice noise without having to resort to max power addons

Si2k

Agreed, the M3 would kill a stock S2000.

M3 CSL is an awesome car, sounds great too.