[fsumach]

This week, I owned an 2016 F80 M3 competition for 3 days. The car drove very well, but I returned it to the dealer after discovering it had been in a previous unreported accident. I may still look for an F80, but the direct compare contrast from my 2017 M240i was interesting and I thought may provide some insight to those who have not spent time in both cars but are curious. Both the F80 and my M240i are 6MT. Both cars are completely stock.

Engine: The stock S55, unsurprisingly, feels much more powerful than the stock B58. It’s not even close. The M240i feels like a quick car that is never lacking for power. The M3 feels like it has muscle car power. Next level. The fastest car I have ever owned was a C5 Z06. The M3 felt that level of fast. I find the B58 runs out of steam on the top end a bit. The M3 didn’t feel like that to me.

Transmission: The clutch in the F80 was significantly stiffer, and the shifter felt tighter and beefier. I’m sure I would have gotten used to it, but the F80 was tiring to drive in stop and go traffic on my commute.

Sound: To my ears, the F80, from outside the car, sounds awful. Inside the car when on the move it sounds good. Not sure if this is real or piped in noise, but the growl is much better inside the car. My M240i has the MPE and with it at least the B58 sounds significantly better—from awful to outstanding. Not sure exactly why but it’s a big difference.

Handling: The M3, on the softest comfort setting, was significantly stiffer with much less body roll than the M240i. It wasn’t uncomfortably stiff, but it was much stiffer than even Sport+ on the M240i. The M3 felt very serious and planted, whereas the M240i feels more loose and playful, at least on public roads. There is no question the M3 is much more focused and capable, but with a trade off in comfort. This may be because I was not used to the M3, but it felt very big, especially on B roads. My last 3 series was an e90 330i, and the F80 feels significantly larger than that car did. Although big, the F80 did not feel heavy.

Interior: the M3 had an upgraded full leather interior, and it is gorgeous. The leather is also nicer than the Dakota leather in my M240i. All the switchgear felt a bit more premium. The HK stereo in the M3 is significantly better than the HK stereo in my M240i, though neither blow me away. The HUD was a neat feature on the M3, but I found it a bit distracting. Maybe just would need to get used to it. The top view and front cameras are amazing, and made parking in tight spots video game easy… but then it’s a much bigger car so those features are more necessary than on the 2. Both cars have some annoying rattles. In my M240i it’s the passenger window mounted HK speaker, and in the M3 the drivers side window glass.

Overall the M3 is a more premium car with much more power, luxury, prestige, and focused handling. There are some things I really love about the M240i though, and while I was disappointed in giving the M3 back, getting back in my 2 did make me realize why I loved it so much in the first place.

If anyone had a fix for the speaker rattle and let me know, it drives me nuts!

Mike

[freakystyly]

Its a no brainer that the M is a better performing car. But which is more usable for daily driving? Is the M worth 2x the cost of the 240 in your eyes?

The door sail speaker on the 2 series (I assume it's similar to the 3) is just styrofoam held in by rubber seals, there isn't much to rattle around in there. But would require removal of the door card to re-mount.

[Ron Jeffries]

I have test-driven M cars fairly often, and concluded that they are awesome, but they are only happy going faster than one should. Or at least faster than my skill, and the law, allow.

[fsumach]

The M240i is happier for daily driving, though the rear doors make the M3 a bit more practical to put the kids in (they’ve never complained about the 240 though). Whether it’s worth the extra cost is debatable. It’s a lot more car, but is it double? No. But then diminishing return in cars is the rule. Is the M240i worth a huge premium over a 230i? It depends what you’re looking for I guess. The M3 is definitely a big step up in every category, but the playfulness of the M240i was missed. I have driven a manual 340i xDrive with all the sport goodies. The M3 was much, much better at being sporty than that car was, but so is the M240i (in driving feel anyway).