New issue of Road & Track- gotta love the cover!!

[ScottDetroit]

Haven't read the article yet, but the cover is impressive!

[mrclam]

anyone want to post a pic? =)

[jww///95]

What month? My march '01 issue has a mazda rx-8.....

Not that great imho

[M3 Pete]

February cover

[jww///95]

DOH!

Yeah, i got that one, last month, lol. Anyways, i was very dissapointed with the article. They were trying to compare the m3 with the carrera and the c5 by limited seat time in the RAIN. Talk about poor journalism. I am still waiting for a test of a US version on a US course with complete data (the R&T article was lacking skidpad and slalom #'s if i recall correctly)

[umnitza]

Whenever a new product comes out...it always wins.
That's BS. It's rare - as in the case of the E36 M-series - that any car has the staying power to win everytime.

If you wait until about 6 months later, when all the models have aged, you get a more accurate "review" from those rags.

[Jeff P]

I agree with umnitza, the newest cars always seem to win at these tests. I love how the mags now make mention to the E36 as a slight disappointment, when just a year ago they were hailing it as a 4-wheel god! Wait just 6 months after the cars arrive and we should be seeing some realistic tests/reviews.

[C.Yang]

I dont know about the articles in those magazines. Though its interesting getting info on heads up comparisons on the cars, its all subjective. Unless you know what each tester likes and disslikes, then its tough figuring out exactly how the car feels. I like that one reporter in the Top Gear articles who drives everything, because I know what he likes in a car. Oversteer Oversteer Oversteer. When magazines test 0-60 times and such, it is very interesting, because people don't realize that they aren't doin it too scientifically. They just attach an accelerometer to the car, and see how fast it reaches a certain speed. There aren't really any standards as to altitude, humidity, temperature, driver, etc, so times can be way off. I love it when people say, well my car's 0-60 is 5.3 and yours is 5.4 so mine is faster. The one thing i like about R&T and such is the cool pics. European car has some of my favorite articles in it. Just blabbin my head off. dont know if it made sense.

[tampaturbom3]

yep,, you are right on target.. the articles are very subjective but everyone takes the info as the gospel...
people will be quoting 0-60's from their article for years to come even if they are wrong or poorly done...
just post a subject "0-60 times for M3" and see how many time quotes are from R&T....lol it should probably be done with about 4 different cars and 4 different drivers and averaged... that would give a more realistic quote.

[FLDavid]

You're right regarding the subjectivity of the reviews. A few months ago in AutoWeek, there was an article comparing the S4 vs M3, and they wrote something to the effect of ". . . but the numbers don't lie. The 0-60 time for the S4 is 5.7 compared to the M3's 6.4."
**6.4**????? They must have been testing an automatic M3 carrying three passengers and pulling a U-Haul!

"Numbers don't lie" Rrrrright. . .

[C.Yang]

I remember reading in R&T I believe on how they determine 0-60 times. I believe they would average the best two runs out of a bunch. Now I don't know about those R&T guys, but I know everyone's abilities in certain cars are significantly different. I've been driving my M for about a year, and Im sure there are people who can drive it faster straight line than me, and I'm also certain there are people who drive it significantly slower than me. If the tester's style does not match that of the cars, you get extremely high times of say 6.5. All cars drive different, so it is tough to make a comparison. Good idea with the 4 drivers, 4 different cars, but don't think that is possible with the 4 different cars, because these magazines usually get a loaner from the manufacturer, and BMW would be hard pressed to let a magazine push 1 let alone 4 of their new M5's to the limit.

[tampaturbom3]

they should just let me test them for the magazines!!!
LOL,,, yippeee