I thought this might be interesting to some of you. This comparison is for daily drivers. As a track car the M3 wins, period.

I finally had a chance to drive my friend's '06 E46 M3 ST. I was very charged about it as he has no issues with driving his car hard.

I did a few freeway runs and some excellent twisty sections in it so I could get a good feel for what it's all about.

Handling
Its handling is sharper and more balanced than the 335. It might be perfectly balanced. I don't have enough experience to say. I didn't get that slight understeer my 335 has and there was much less body roll. I also drifted a bit in the turns (turned off the DSC) and it was very easy to control. It's a very fun car in the twisties.

I was also surprised with the ride quality. It wasn't nearly as harsh as I expected it to be.

Handling trophy goes to the M3.

Power
I was expecting big power when I stepped on it in 2nd rolling at about 4000 RPM. I was a little disappointed with the acceleration. It was there but it didn't have that torquey punch the 335 gives you. I couldn't get it over 90 due to traffic but I could tell the M3 was really coming into its sweet spot in the higher speeds and whenever I was between 4500 and 6500. I may be wrong about that but that's how it felt.

I give the Power Trophy to the 335. For everyday driving and occasional track days the 335 has such great low end torque and so much of it while not sacrificing the top end.

It gives you that thrill of speed every time you hit the gas hard and it's really easy to stay in it's sweet spot since it's almost everywhere in the rev range.

I almost forgot. The brakes on the M3 are wonderful. It gets the Braking Trophy, but not by much.

Thanks for the comparison. I have often wondered how the 335i would fare versus an E46 M3 in real-life driving.

Just my non-technical impressions

You may think brakes are better but the 335 actually stop shorter than the M3 just my .02

Stopping shorter isn't the point for spirited driving which is what I think he was implying.

KK well it does though :)

I'm not very technical so all I could tell is they felt a more connected to my foot. It was just a better feel, but not by a lot. I wouldn't choose the M3 over my 335 because of the brakes though.


typeS4, I wish I was experienced enough to know what I meant. Does the above makes sense? It was just a better pedal feel when hard braking.

I might have missed something or read something wrong, but why didn't the supercharged M3 rip the 335 apart? I understand the wheelspin issue but they went to 155 on the last race. Can someone help me out?

There is a reason an M3 costs more even if it may be slower in a straight line than a tuned 335. It has more racing genes built in and that is intentional. It is a heritage being carried over from the tti racing days in the 70s through to the 1st e30 M3 in the 80s and all the way to the current generation. No way any stock 3 series will compare to an M3 on the track IMO.

nice comparison. thanks.

e39 M3

e30
e36
e46
e92

are m3s. e39 is last generation 5-series.

e30
e36
e46
e92

are m3s. e39 is last generation 5-series.
Thanks for the correction, that was a typo, meant to be e30, 1st ever M3.

Every year people complain about the M3 getting softer and heavier. I've read the previous M3 was a better handling car than the last one.

Every year people complain about the M3 getting softer and heavier. I've read the previous M3 was a better handling car than the last one.
The e36 M3 is considered by far to be the most communicative BMW ever handling wise. But then you can't stop technology, and with more technology comes more weight, some handling compromises and inevitably more layers of isolation between the driver and the road.