My E46 was a gnat's **** quicker than an RB320 I had a dabble with a couple of years ago , so don't believe an ecotech scooby would 'annihilate ' a CSL ! unless he wasn't driving it 10/10th's.

They are also surprisingly good off the mark with the huge fat tyres (£250 each for rears !!) , they just grip and go , in fact they hold onto the road very good considering they are RWD , you just need your wits about you in the wet .

You do need to rev them to get them to go though , they need to be between 6 - 8.5k revs to get the best out of them , which is also where they sound the best , not as good as my new V8 one at 8.5k revs though.

I do all my own servicing on my cars , and parts are not really anymore expensive than other cars , discs are as they have alloy bells which are held to the discs with pins so cannot be removed from each other so you need to buy the discs and bells everytime , about £350 a pair , but no more than if you had a big brake kit on a scoob.

The alternators can go on the E46 , mine went and cost about £150 for a new one , the rear trailing arm bushes go soft over time and make the rear end floaty , and check for cracked rear springs , I fitted Eibach springs on mine that also lowered it slightly, and you hear horror stories about the SMG pumps , never had any problems with mine and I sold it at 80k miles , even if you do , there are companies that can fix the pumps now so its not expensive to fix if you do have a problem with it , and SMG would be the way to go as they are great, my new one has the 7 speed paddle change and is an instant gearchange on it , it absolutely fantastic , it has a double clutch so picks the next gear ready and just swaps clutches , the gearchange is lightening fast

One thing you will notice is the build quality , the M3 is a great car.

went from this



to this recently



I like Estoril

Cheers Ian

 

I havent got a scoob plonk I HAD a scoob until recently and have owned a number of them for the past 12 years.I changed to a BMW 5 months ago and changed to a proper car 3 weeks ago.I certainly won't have another Impreza for a very long time

 

I need to get into the Brake parts business!! lovely looking car Ian...

 

my 2005 370 bhp Jdm STi is up for sale - i'm probably gonna replace it with an M3

I just fancy a change and a bit of luxury

If i don't like - i'll sell it

 

I just came from an e36 me evo, and the STI is way better car all around. Seating position, gear box, power delivery, and fun. The M3 was good but had no soul, and I never felt like just going for a drive in it.

 

It really does depend what your looking for in a drive.

 

Classic Impreza with around 330bhp wont have any problems beating an E46 M3 up to triple figures quite easily due to weight difference.

 

after which time the classic engine will **** itself like they all do when doing 3 figures while the M3 disappears into the distance

 

My standard newage sti engine did not do that when showing a clean pair of heels to an E60 M5 The look on his face when I pulled in and waved at him was priceless

 

I know what id rather be seen in

 

Dont give up your day job mr comedian, you need a thick skin to drive a classic in this day and age so keep it coming

So you have a proper car but still post on a subaru forum result

 

E46 M3 is a great looking car (esp in dark grey) & I'd like to own one eventually although the CSL would be my preference M3 is probably a bit slow for me these days though

I can't believe that the M3 is any quicker than a STi (both being standard) although the M3 will be much better quality of course ... if quality is your preference then you'd best "upgrade"

TX.

 

I just love to keep an eye on what the resident chavs are up to/racing and this place have more than the other forums i frequent

 

Now judging by the smiley’s, I take it you are just trying to get a rise out of people, so I shall digress and let you continue. Enjoy fella

 

FPMSL there is NO WAY a 343hp E46 M3 is faster than a 345hp classic, which only weighs 1200kg BTW unless your sister drives like a girl of course

TX.

 

I'm not trying to get a rise out of anyone,i am just amused by the 'my car is fast therefore it is the best' mentality of some people on here.It would appear that the vast majority of people posting on this thread are asuming because their impreza is faster it has to be a better choice than the beemer so its not a personal dig at you

and for the record i am a big impreza fan

 

Ooooh, you're starting to sound like an ex-smoker who disses smokers! As your Scoob remains in your profile peeps will of course assume you have one ... might be time to alter it

TX.

 

At this stage in my life and Impreza ticks the boxes I want, however after having a B7 RS4 for the weekend I realised that at some point I will want that sort of car. Understated, decent performance with no rattles

So have my heart set on a E46 CSL of all cars lol, I found the gearbox on the E60 M5 too jerky at low speeds and and the car a little under whelming.

Banny

 

Is there a new M3 due out thats a V10 and 500 bhp??

 

cant remember how its been ages since i posted pics in there and to be honest i had completely forgot about it.I will have a look might even put some of my current car in there just to confuse people

@TX (people posted while i was typing)

 

M3 is a lovely car IMO. As others have said, mega expensive in terms of running costs.

For me though, I'd be looking at an RS4 - prefer the styling and hear the newer cars have astonishing handling.

 

Isn't it amusing though that the CSL got panned when it came out as being hardly better than the standard car & certainly not worth £20k more (or whatever extra it was) yet now it's "amazing" & commands serious wedge to buy ... still +£30k aren't they?

TX.

 

SMG gearboxes on M3,M5 are notoriously bad for low speed driving round town etc.Not sure i could live with that

 

It does have an sti3 gearbox so you're having to change gear a lot more lol. It would be interesting to put them side by side up a 1/4 mile but in the real world once rolling the M3 is quicker.

The classic does feel a hell of a lot faster and it's more frantic but sod driving that day in day out lol For fun classic, for day to day the E46

 

Paul on a roll from 60mph - *** my sti 3 with about 320-330bhp pulled a couple of car lengths from an M3 and John banks found something similar when he had his.

Tx they go for anywhere between 20-30k on pissheads

 

no more n/a engines for the m cars switching to v8 turbos with the next model

 

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/carg...ti_spec_c.html

Remember this from Evo Mag? It's the article that prompted me to get a Spec C a few years back.

"Later, at the test track, we fail to match BMW's claim of 0-62 in 4.9. The best we can manage is 0-60 in 5.3, compared with a stunning 4.3 for both the GT3 and the Impreza. The 911 gets to 100 in 9.2 (11.1 for the STi, 12 dead for the Bee-Em)".

"Your first drive in the CSL will blow you away".

TX.

 

Some great opinions guys. Thanks

It looks like I may be switching to an M3 for now.

What has also helped is that I've managed to get insurance on it for £800. 25 years old - 4 year NCB.

And that's £200 less that the STI.

 

My current STi PPP without it's remap to 330 bhp is quicker than a M3,my brother's classic with just 240 bhp would give a M3 a run for it money.MPG wise there no different in it,Built quality the M3 wins hands down.The brakes on a M3 IMO are crap at best compared to my STi,The M3 headunit is rubbish cannot be replaced with a after market one and the Harman Kardon speakers are also rubbish but then so are the ones fitted to a Subaru.

They are 2 completely different cars aim at different market's.If i were to replace my STi now it would be for a RS4.

Just my opinion

 

I went from a 96 wrx to a e36 evo then back to a classic sti again, I just missed the grip from the 4x4 and the kick from the turbo. I had the m3 for about 2 years, i dont think it was going to be long before i stuck it in a ditch tho, it was very tail happy and i had some real moments (fun tho), Top end in the bm was crazzy, it used to do 155 in 5th gear with another gear to go.