Quote:
Originally Posted by Sy1616
I wasn’t comparing the two,I simply said it should have had the E39s V8 with 400hp.
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I think the e46 M3 would be worse with an s62, at least in the form that it came in the M5/Z8.
Part of what makes for a good drivers car is high redline, peak hp near redline, and not a ton of power down low. That forces you to work for your speed, and working for speed is what makes a good driver's car. The s62 is the opposite experience of that.
You can call that my opinion, but if you think about all of the great drivers cars through history, they all have that in common-- Porsche GT cars, Ferraris that people care about, integras, S2000s, NSX.
Torque is boring.
Plus, the s62 doesn't allow space for R&P steering.... so e39 M5's got steering boxes. They still feel light years better than anything BMW sells today, but they're not nearly as good as the e46 (or 6 cylinder e39s).
... as a result, I found my e39 530i more rewarding to drive than my e39 M5. Less weight, more effort for speed, better steering, = more fun. Power isn't that important to how fun a car is to drive, and 0-60 in 4.5-4.8 (depending on the publication you read) is plenty enough to keep up with traffic, on street or track.
Which, is why the CSL is so coveted today. It focused on exactly what actually could make the e46 M3 better-- less weight. Getting it down to 3080-3150 lbs (depending on how you specced it) is freaking amazing. I've been working on getting weight out of my e46 M3 coupe for 16 years, and I've only just recently gotten it under 3100 lbs with full interior and a quiet muffler.
... if you built a more race spec S62 (solid lifters for higher redline, cams to shift the powerband towards to the right, long tube headers to support the high RPMs, dry sump to allow R&P)... that I could see being a good time in an e46. That said, it would also add weight on the nose, which is sub optimal. The S62 also seems to pump out a ton more heat, which means it would need a lot more cooling system for the type of track use M3s see, which would add even more weight.
At the end of the day, the S54 is one of the greatest engines ever made and the S62 is... good.