This time Autocar (oldest auto magazine on the planet BTW) has its say.



Quotes from the article taken from [url=http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72922]http://www.m3post.com/forums/s...72922
Move away and the M3 flows smoothly across the ground, its tyres and suspension providing the sort of ride comfort you'd not normally associate with a BMW M car. This car, you think after a few hundred yards, is more refined in its suspension composure than some luxury cars. The RS4, by contrast, rides much more firmly to begin with and its suspension simply feels harder, less well resolved than the BMWs.
But the Audi's steering also feels sharper and more precise than the M3's and better weighted as well. The first time you attack a corner properly in the M3 you wonder for a second whether the front end is going to hang on or not, and whether the nose is going to get anywhere near the apex. There's a vagueness to both the response during turn-in and to the feel through the rim mid-corner that makes it hard to trust the M3's front end.
Quite unlike the RS4. In the Audi you know exactly where you are on the road. You brake for a corner, you turn in, you feel the increase in load through the outside front tyre via the steering wheel rim, you place the car with millimetre precision, then you drive through the corner towards the exit knowing exactly how much grip there is left to lean on. The fact the Audi will go into understeer and run wide sooner and at a lower speed than the M3 is almost irrelevant in the event. What's more important on the road is the clearer, more intelligible way in which the RS4 telegraphs its intentions. It simply means you can get more out of it without having to try as hard, even though ultimately the M3 will go around corners that tiny bit quicker.

 

wow, would be big if the all new m3 till can't beat the rs4!

 

Slammed...AGAIN.

I only saw one positive review of the M3, and I can't recall the publication.

Pretty disappointing...

 

or we can say audi has really stepped up big time. the s4 doesn't really get close at all, it wasn't getting much attention from me. but after i saw and sat in the rs4, i have to say, that's one hell of a machine

 

Exactly. To me the M3 is still enticing, being a RWD V-8 car. However, I have to say, the RS4 really really has earned my respect seeing it outdoes BMW at being BMW.

The RS4 also IMO, is the better looking car.

Kudos to both, to BMW for setting the bar so high and for Audi for stepping up to the challenge.

I hope the IS-F does as well!!!

 

I wonder if this is another M3 equipped with active steering. Thanks for posting.

 

The RS4 afterall has won the "World Performance Car 2007".

 

as you can see from my sig, i'd take an rs4 anyday. especially the convertible. what a hot looking car. i think that Audi has really beat BMW in style and performance of their factory upgraded cars. (RS vs. M) and even the S8 looks perfect, and performs just as well.

 

All these reviews make my 335 choice look better every day. What the hell is BMW thinking?

 

IMHO, the most important factor of a high performance vehicle is its ability to go fast around the track. Lap times is the ultimate factor determining which high performance car is 'better'. Do we have any real numbers comparing the two? This is not the first time Audi has beaten BMW.... Can't wait to the CLK63 AMG included in the comparos.

 

It's certainly dissapointing that the M3 just barely outperforms a 335i. There should most definitely be a bigger performance gap between the 335i and M3.

 

Incidentally, the 335i posted better time around VIR (in C&D's "lightning lap") than the RS4. I think RS4's forte are tight country roads, preferably, with some rain or light snow going on (STI's and Evo's territory, basically).

 

Only in case of everything else being equal...
If the car is "nervous" or unstable around the track, I doubt the new owner will enjoy it as much as a better sorted out car (even if there is a minor difference in lap times between them). One example that comes to mind is the Z06, pre-rear shock change. It was very quick on the track, but everyone that drove it at C&D reported white knuckles and gastro-intestinal spasms while flogging it on the track.

 

care to back that up?

 

and even a bigger problem is it's very easy to mod the 335 by putting in a chip and get a lot more power