# M3 Csl On The Limit!!!



## Fifty_Cent (Sep 17, 2003)

AT BMWCAR magazine, October 2003. dont know if you guys get it in the US, but its a really nice one. Great test drive of the M3 CSL this month. 

Pure, M3 360bhp horse power, at an unladen weight of just 1365 kgs. No aircon, no laether, just bucket seats, lightweight body, SMG and...the open road.

Enjoy it!


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## nate (Dec 24, 2001)

It is nice to see that the final weight is 1365kg...

That's 3,009lbs. Very good. Shame it isn't stateside...a 360hp E46 at that weight is insane fast...


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## Mr. The Edge (Dec 19, 2001)

nate328Ci said:


> It is nice to see that the final weight is 1365kg...
> 
> That's 3,009lbs. Very good. Shame it isn't stateside...a 360hp E46 at that weight is insane fast...


that weight number is not accurate though

(or, it might be accurate, but it is not apples-apples with the published weight of the M3)


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## Mr. The Edge (Dec 19, 2001)

nate328Ci said:


> It is nice to see that the final weight is 1365kg...
> 
> That's 3,009lbs. Very good. Shame it isn't stateside...a 360hp E46 at that weight is insane fast...


it's way overpriced.

The performance numbers published just don't show that much of an improvement over the M3.


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## mike_m3 (Apr 6, 2003)

atyclb said:


> it's way overpriced.
> 
> The performance numbers published just don't show that much of an improvement over the M3.


agree, at what it would it translates to in $ it would be VERY hard to choose the CSL over the GT3


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## Fifty_Cent (Sep 17, 2003)

mike_m3 said:


> agree, at what it would it translates to in $ it would be VERY hard to choose the CSL over the GT3


Come on guys, here we're talking about the latest road racer, ever since the E30 evo sport.

Yes, with that price you can buy a "normal" m3 and a lotus elise S2 or a caterham 7 just for the pure driving hit. That's an expensive car...BUT:

the on paper specs dont quite explain the overall power of the car.

Unladen weight i s 1385 kgs, 
Power is [email protected], (not a signifigant increas over the standard engine)

0-62 = 4.9sec

This car has the racing car DNA, gone from production cars lately.
Race car, you name it.


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## mkh (Mar 24, 2003)

atyclb said:


> it's way overpriced.
> 
> The performance numbers published just don't show that much of an improvement over the M3.


I think the CSL is really in trouble now. I picked up an EVO magazine today and read a review of the CSL pitted against the GT3 and an Impreza STi. The CSL was embarrased by both cars to the point that I would not have believed. 0-100, the CSL (12 sec) was 3 sec behind the GT3 and about 1 sec slower than the STi. 0-140, it was 8 sec behind the GT3. A few pages later, they drove the CSL back-to-back with a standard manual M3, and it lost to the M3 on 0-60 and 1/4 mile (I don't recall clearly on this, so I may be wrong). The bottom line is that the CSL has negligible performance gain over the M3 despite all the weight savings and extra horsepower. Could this be the difference between the SMG and 6sp manual? It seems like the SMG is way slower than the 6sp on the same car.

I don't know how BMW market this car. With its price tag and performance numbers, I think they are smart to keep its production number small and consider it a collectable rather than a sport car.


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