Last night i was in my 2003 NBP TL-S riding down Stirling Road in Hollywood Fl and my friend was driving a 2003 Laguna Seca convertable M3 With F1 transmission. We were screwing around a little and i was ahead of him about 2 car lengths and we both hit the gas, the M3 was inching slowly up to me then eventually passing me at about 95. I thought they were alot faster than that. He is a good driver and he used the paddles to shift, i was very impressed with the fight my car gave on that beemer.

 

hey, our cars get the best bang for the buck......m3's are gorgeous - worth 15-20 grand more than the TL? everythings relative.....good run btw

 

I'm kinda surprised, my neighbors M3 spanx my ass anyday. There is sooo much power in that car it isn't even funny.

 

Oh dont get me wrong, that car will beat ours any day of the week but my car wasnt embarassed by it.

 

Nice, honest story...nmbcatch21 is right that they can take the poor TL-S any day...It's a lot worse from a stop than at speed, though and that is where this recitation originates...

I hope the weather down there is nice. I'll be in Delray for the long holiday weekend!!!

 

I don't know where all this about our cars this and that comes from, come on, the M3 is a very good car and a fast one at that and will win any day over our cars but why is it that everybody always think that is going to be a problem with us beating other cars. I know our cars have a weight problem but is not slow by all means and if you are smart about mods and keep the weight down it will beat a lot of cars out there.
And lets not forget about a good driver against a bad one, weather, auto vs stick, timing, I can go on and on about posibilities.

 

You dont even want to come down here in Summer, right now its about 93 degrees with 98% humidity, that means you stand outside for 15 seconds and you are drenched in sweat, god I love Miami lol.

 

The convertible M3s are heavier than the coupes and I think lose almost a second in the 0 to 60 test. But M3's are also ridiculously expensive while the TL's are the best bang for the buck, as well as infinitely more practical, so not really a fair comparison. My wife talked me into getting the M3 b/c I've wanted one for a long time, but I'm getting her a TL-S w/Nav for our anniversary. She loves my M3, but they suck for transporting the family. Wife won't drive a minivan or station wagon, and she needs something with power to keep her satisified. She doesn't like the 04's a bit, so the 2003 TL-S it is.

 

The navi system in the M3 is terrible, although the Euro spec navi comes with a TV tuner.

 

I didn't get nav w/mine. Got to keep my eyes on the road.

 

I think the M3 wasn't going full throttle. I've been a passenger in an M3 and all I gotta say is....good lawd that's a fast car. But hey, I may try gettin one on the highway now..yeah right

 

BMW 3-Series Convertibles (325/330Cic & M3) are 500lbs heavier than their counterpart which makes them .5 sec slower.

 

yeah... i'd get spanked by an M3 even w/ my headers/intake...

 

Your friend does deserve that M3 b/c he should have spanked your ass when he first put his foot on the gas.

 

 

some people can't read here:

"the M3 was inching slowly up to me then eventually passing me at about 95" - means he lost by 95mph. he also had a 2 carlength head start. No one said the TLS won here! He just didn't feel the beating was as bad as he expected.

"2003 Laguna Seca convertable M3" - meaning the car is heavier than the coupe. 3781lbs for the vert vs 3415 for the coupe...almost 400lb difference!

Difference in 0-60 between the coupe and vert is .6 seconds per BMW. (5.4 seconds for the vert). all in all the M3 vert is still faster than the TLS but not as fast as the coupe M3. What part of the story was so unbelieveable? btw nmbcatch21, are you modded or stock?

 

Ooo, oo--I can read!

 

CONGRATS r10! one of a few!

 

I am completely stock except for AEM intake. I didnt know that the convertable m3 was that much slower than the coupe. That could also be a reason why i wasnt raped.

 

I was amazed because I am around the M3 daily, my neighbor is a professional racer, and I could never shine a light to his M3 from a roll, start, etc, in my TLs. Maybe in his brothers M5, but never in my TLs. His M3 is totally stock, dyno'd at 315 HP at the rear wheels. Only engine mod I have is IceBox, I don't have headers/exhaust, but I don't imagine they would help that much agaist the sheer raw power that his M3 has.

 

I just don't buy it that it was a legit race (not that you barely lost). I get DESTROYED by my friend who has the same car I do (00 A4 stage 3, exact same mods) when I mess around with him in the TLS. I've raced a new M3 in my A4 and got walked pretty good (on pump gas).....even if its the convert, it should still leave a 93 mph trapping car in the dust.

BTW, Ferrizo.....I hear you were around when Ray went pop. It's a shame At least the good that will come out of this will be that his car will FINALLY run like its supposed to

 

What happened to Ray?

 

Detonation???

 

M3s and SVTs!!!

 

A4, I'm not arguing that an M3 (vert or coupe) would not beat/spank a TLS, even with headers but my point is that a vert wouldn't beat a TLS as badly as the coupe. Not to mention that nmbcatch22 did say he had a 2 car lead when the race started and still got walked. the race was only to 95 so it's not like the race was very long. I just think people jump to conclusions when some (not you) either don't read the whole post or don't know the difference between the vert and coupe. 350-400lbs difference is significant.

Yeah I was with Ray (in my car though). Sucks but at least nothing happened to him. He is getting closer and closer to getting the car running right and this is just a setback. It was a sad sight to see her bleeding like that! Not sure if I can go into detail but for those that asked, my buddy blew his engine.

 

Even I gotta laugh at those!

 

Kinked waste-gate vac hose and 25+ psi at over 100 mph on pump gas. There are some other variables that are a bit technical that I don't feel like typing out here, but suffice it to say, alot of crap just happened to line up in such a way that the block decided it needed some fresh air. Thumbs up to Ray for keeping a great attitude though. When this is finished, his car should be pretty strong.

 

Thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to senor Khan...

 

He's been a good sport about it! So much for not going into detail huh A4? His car will be a beast when finished, already was pretty fast.

 

he was doing something stupid when he shouldn't have.

Thanks for the condolences guys. It sucks, but it's just a car. I wasn't hurt or anyone else for that matter. I luckily found a replacement engine, and a good shop I trust that can do the swap this week. I got a good deal on the engine and can sell off a bunch of parts I don't need. I thought about building a 2.0 liter with lower compression, but I am starting my house soon and I just want to get my car back to how it was. I was one new sensor away from 100%. Oh well..I will get there soon. The replacement engine will get some goodies tho.....

the new 450 ft holding clutch I just had installed
12 lb flywheel
new timing belt and water pump that went on the day before the incident
my beautiful ball bearing turbo kit that I love even when not at 100%
new Mass Air flow meter...part of my misery form before

Once my car is running right, I'm sure Ferrizo and I will do some fun runs for comparison...we'll even go looking for some M3's

A side note, the way this little vac line got kinked and eventually caused my troubles (although my pushing an overboosting car was the real reason) was that after an exhuasting timing belt and water pump install, I wasn't careful about how I set my boost control solenoid which ends up right behind and under the headlight on teh passenger side. Well, I saw after it was too late that I pinched this hose when I refit my bumper. It was late, it was dark and I was tired. Just have to be careful when working on your car. I was so worried about if the timing belt was lined up right that I didn't pay much attention to the other things I was doing. I have learned to be more careful. And don't work at night outside....even with some spot lights.

 

Long live the ATW...








...even if it is from a Passat

 

That totally sux Ray, good luck getting back up and running soon