tran

you got to be joking right, your stock FD should beat an M3 with all the bolt on in the world, other than a supercharged one.

Mr. Belvi

No, if it were in the Kills Section, it would have been deleted.

The newer M coupes are even faster than the new M3 and M5. A stock FD vs. any of them would get beat pretty bad, a modded one would be a different story though.

The older M3's (E36's) are speed limited to 128mph and the US versions are detuned compared to their european counterparts. An E36 with a chip, intake and an exhaust would easily be in the mid to high 13's, provided it isn't an automatic.

Hopefully you won't run into a supercharged or turboed ones, the turboed ones are notorious.

Anyway, back to the original question, with your mods compared to those mods on an E36, you'll win easily.

daze

iTrader: (8)

I've sat in my friends 98 m3 before and it feels much faster then my FD but maybe its just the torque on his m3.

waltk88

You must have a pretty scary Protege. Even US spec E36 M3s could hit 60 in under 6s and 1/4 in mid- to low-14s. They were electronically limited to 138mph. Without limiter top speed would be pretty close to 150mph.

waltk88

The M3 is not slow. Stock vs stock, the FD outaccelerates it but not by much. You can pick up good 95 M3s for $20-25k now. If you need 4 adult-sized seats, the M3 is hard to beat at that price. The motor is torquey and sounds superb. Handling is excellent. The interior is well laid for serious driving, but does not compromise on long-distance comfort or quality of materials. However, it's not as tightly focused as the FD. I think of my FD as the sports car and my M3 as sports sedan/GT car.

H2o

You guys don't even know what you're talking about! The E36 M3 runs 14 flats in quarter mile, and 0-60 IS 5.3 NOT 5.9!!! The RX7's are fast i admit, but stock vs stock you will have a hard time beating the M3 (Daze), unlike some of you said that M3 is an easy pray (that's a very foolish statement). I own both RX-7 and a 99 M3, I believe the 96-99 M3's are the same in performance and handling. Few of my friends own RX7 too and I have raced him with my M3 and my 7 and found that the M3 isnt any weaker than the 7, especially during corner and high speeding racing (not drag), the M3 is better in handling for sure, and the M3 is faster in lower end, the only time you can actually pass the M3 is when the turbo kicks in, but the constant torque supply of the M3 is also impressive that really give a hard time to the RX7. In fact, it's not fair to race an M3 if you're car is HIGHLY MOD... (Plus the M3 is a sport coupe, 7 falls into another catagory). Don't forget, M3's are GT champions in race like Le Men's

93TTRX7

goes more than 160 mph, more like 165 i'd say...my buddy has a '95 m3 with intake, exhaust, and a chip. Oh and there is no way it's a mid 13 second car...low 14's more like it.

93TTRX7

my friend owns a '95 m3...he has exhaust and intake, smoked his *** pretty nicely. He now has a chip as well...i have downpipe and exhaust, smoked his *** even worse. Ain't no way in hell it handles better than a 7, and ain't no way in hell it touches the 7. What it does provide a smooth quick ride with high reliability (not as high as one might expect out of BMW tho!). True, has a sweet exhaust tune.

amp

iTrader: (50)

Too vague. I concur low end but not "pretty bad".
Real world experience --> Stock CYM vs E46 3rd gear roll. There was no pulling in either party till shutdown. Even throughout.

amp

iTrader: (50)

skidpad and weight distibution as far as published numbers on the FD and E36 does not support this.

youll find that if you checked the numbers on the FD that your statement about low end also does not support your claim of "faster".

IMHO
in the real world....
with cars generating close specs...it s determined by driver.

H2o

you guys need to drive it before you say nething, so foolish, I'm not trashing RX7's because I OWN ONE TOO, but hey all you guys talked about is the 95 M3's, what da heck, it's the early model OBDI 3.0, I'm TALKING ABOUT OBDII 3.2 Model! (wake up) RX7 are faster but you guys underestimate the M3 too much. I own both and I know what the comparison goes, even if you drove an M3 before but for how long did you take the car for a ride?? (1 minute?) OBD II M3's do high 13/14flat, if you get higher than this it's obviously ur fault not the car's fault. Okay let me get this straight, I'm not bias over either one, but here is what I mean, RX7 is a super sport car and M3 is a Luxury sport coupe/seden, first of all, they fall into different catagory... (and that's why I would have both car myself, for different occasions) RX7's mod is cheaper than the M's, but you will have to admit the RX7 isnt as good as the M3's on handling. (stock vs stock), i mean if you compare a highly mod RX7 to a stock M3, why dont you go race a civic? Come on people.

amp

iTrader: (50)

reference i made is .. stock versus stock
again..your going to need to substantiate your claims

nothing against m3s btw
yes .. i agree .. different classes but nonetheless the comaprison was made

Focal M3

or A&A tubo'd

r_ed_line53

The BMW M COUPE is definitely the more quicker, more faster, more agile car of all three M's. M coupe vs the Rx-7, stock for stock. The M coupe definitely beats out the 7 by almost a full second in a quarter mile. I bouht my wife a 2002 M coupe and took it down the track with a split time of 13.01 @ 108 mph. My 93' 7 is a consistent 13.7 stock, but with the new mods it's between 11.5 - 12.2.

As far as the car people thinking it's *** ugly, I think that you have to drive one to appreciate it, at least that's what I did with the show room version and drove it off the lot completely. I guess that goes with any cars. 2002 is the last year that they will be making this body style. It's definitely going to be a collector's item along with the Z8 (now there's a ride you all need to experience full throttle).

Last but not least I don't think that it's so much car vs car but WHO'S BEHIND THE WHEEL. Unless you know what the car is capable of doing, moded or not, then there's no use in arguing which is better. Both car's are beautiful and powerful in their own ways. Get a chance to drive both if you can, but yes the RX7 is still my heart and soul when it comes to styling, agility, and of course power.


see ya,

car 53

enuttage

Four things -

1. I drove a '98 M3 for about two weeks as a loaner car. It absolutely without a doubt and IME does NOT outhandle the 3rd gen. RX-7. A great, fun, very quick, comfortable car.

2. I have never driven the new M3, but everything about it is supposed to be better, even the handling. I have family members that have driven it and rave about it (these are folks that have regularly driven the nicest of the nice - Ferrari's, 911 TT's, etc.)

3. IMO, the M Coupe's are pretty damn ugly, but there's one in our local autoX group that kills everyone in tire class at just about every event. Yes, the guy can drive, but the car is an incredible handler as well.

4. Earlier M3's may be easy "pray", but if they are, you don't have enough confidence. Easy "prey" maybe, but I suppose a short prayer before a drag never hurt either. Sorry to be snotty, but the two words mean entirely different things.

-E

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

in my 93 fd with a downpipe and catback, i had no problems pulling on a new (e46 2001) m3, from about a 30mph roll.
i also raced an m roadster from about 60-110, and put about 5-6 car lenghts on it.
i have raced a 95 540is with the dinan supercharger and i was able to pull on it too, 40-90
i havent been albe to get one of the new m5 snobs to race yet, but so far there is nothing that bmw has you should worry about.

mike
running 20b fc 2+2

r_ed_line53

There's a difference between stock for stock and running your fd/fc/fb over 12lbs of boost. If you're running your 7 around 13 to 14 lbs of boost, you will most definitely out do almost any car out there. RAW POWER and FORCED INDUCTION are two totally different worlds. Forced induction is unlimited power at the tip of your tippy toes.


see ya,

car 53

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

E36 M3s have 240 hp, and weigh more than the 255 hp stock FD. Handling isn't close?ask around. A good friend of mine who works for BMW North America has an M3 that is fully modded with euro evolution 3 (not available to regular folks) parts from the racing shop. won't touch an even lightly modded FD

Furthermore Mazda has won at Lemans (albiet in a prototype). The good reason that BMW wins alot w/ production cars, is that they have the BUDGET to to so with V8 cheater E46s