Weight is always a good thing to have less of in a fast car, right? The M3 has, of course, a carbon fibre-reinforced plastic roof (22 kg lighter than steel) and a lightweight engine (15 kg lighter than the old six-pot in the last M3!).
The entire crankshaft only weighs 20 kg, and there's lots of aluminium in places where you don't expect it -- like the suspension, which is why it saves around 10 kg over the stock units.
The M3 Coupe also has the M Driver Manager, which allows you to set up the dampers (normal, extra-cushy and sporty-sporty), three levels of traction control and three engine control maps.
If you're really a nerd (and a whiz behind the wheel) you could also fiddle with the power steering response rates. All of this can be memorised, of course, so you can revert to any of the settings you need. Yes, sort of like the Need For Speed games. Then there is MDynamic, which essentially sedates the electro-nannies a bit.
Thus the car suddenly allows greater slide angles, before the traction control and stability control wake up and smell the burning rubber.
Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Also read: Caparo T1: The world's safest supercar
Advertisement
