BMW E46 M3 vs Chevrolet Corvette C6 Coupe

Well the way I see it when comparing the two is this.... The Vette is faster in every way and handles a whole lot better than the M3. However the Vettes handling has been described is a little numb, that was for the 2005-2007 C6's. Now the O8 vettes have improved road feel, steering input, 6speed, and produce about 30 more horsepower. Also the interior is going to be a step down, but Chevy has tried to close the gap by offering a leather package that wraps everything in the Cabin.

 

What?!

 

I agree with this due to the M3 being so damn fat, but if you offered me an afternoon driving either I'd pick the M3 every time. Its just a better car.

 

The M3 is a nice car, it always has been. The Corvette is a serious sports car (amazing lap times) that just happens to be exceedingly comfortable on a daily basis.

If I had to have back seats I would take the M3, otherwise the Corvette wins every time.

 

The Corvette will put up better numbers on a track or on a drag strip. But the M3 is the much MUCH better feeling car. The Corvette has nowhere near the road feel of the M3. The M3 makes you feel like you're Michael Schumacher. The Corvette makes you feel like you're Alex Yoong. In terms of interior quality and overall build quality, the Corvette is far behind the M3. With 50k miles the M3 will feel like new if you maintain it. With 50k miles the Corvette will be rattling, squeaking and will look beat.

It really depends on what you want. The BMW is an overall more comfortable car by far. The Corvette is an overall much better performer by far. Before you get an M3 though, you should definitely drive a 335Ci. You may be very impressed.

 

You should drive both to be sure.

The Corvette will handle "better" in that it will give higher numbers on a skidpad, slalom and a racetrack. But they dont "feel" good. On the highway, they grab ruts in the road and jump around. When you take an offramp, you do it white-knuckled feeling the car will lose it at any moment. It rides rough, you wont enjoy driving it on anything less than smooth roads. Sometimes when you hit expansion joints in the highway, the steering wheel jerks in your hand. There is no body roll so when cornering it doesn't lean onto the stressed tires as much, and doesn't provide a progressive driving feel where it smoothly handles, then squeals, then starts to slide. The Corvette tends to just snap free.

Contrary to that, the BMW will put up lower numbers on the measured handling tests, but it feels much better. You feel like you can do anything in the car. You can push it right to 99% of it's limit and feel totally confident in it's abilities. It will ride smooth as silk down the highway, not blinking an eye at expansion joints nor wavering when it hits pot holes in mid-turn or cracks in the road surface. It wont snap out on you either - it will roll, then roll more, then almost fully compress the suspension, then it will start to squeal the tires and you'll feel the tires scratching for grip in the wheel, then it will start to understeer slightly long before it snaps away.

Like I said, the m3 will make you feel like Schumacher, the Corvette will not. On a race track with equal drivers, the M3 is going to get walked hard by the C6. But on the street, I bet the M3 can be driven harder and faster by almost all drivers than the Corvette can. M3 also has a beautiful interior and will hold it's value well, and will still feel tight and solid after 5 years. The Corvette will be falling apart and will be worth 25% of what you paid for it.

My .02 as always! And I say that after having owned three Corvettes and two new BMW's. The Vette is a great car, but it is what it is - and what it is ain't no luxury car, nor even a quasi-luxury car!

 

A bit of an exaggeration, for sure. The general theme is correct though.

Also, this statement is quite pointless. A contradictory statement can be made just as easily.

 

A M3 vs. a Corvette? Talk about apples and oranges... both great cars though.

 

There are numerous threads on this choice here and on other forums. A search would probably turn up a lot of answers.

I would suggest you go out and test drive a 2008 Corvette with the 'handling package' / Z51 option. The 2008s have a new 6.2L with up to 436 hp, but more importantly for you, an improved steering rack for better feel, a transmission with easier operation, and a revised/improved interior. There are also a lot of other nice features that you get with the C6, like keyless go, and optionally a HUD. You should test drive one or borrow one. The performance is expected, but in my experience the general refinement and other nice features were not.

As for SRT Mike, I'm curious which Corvettes you've owned. I certainly had no intention of buying a C5 or anything earlier, but a C6 worked for me. It is not a Lexus (thankfully), but I was surprised at how comfortable and quiet the car is to drive.

 

Not an exaggeration at all. The Corvette has higher limits, but is not an easy car to drive. The last statement is absolutely true. The Corvette has nowhere NEAR the road feel and composure of the BMW. Everyone loves to quote mag times - they will tout their car if it performs better but will go ballistic if the magazine doesn't pick the car that wins the empirical testing. Fact is, the feel has a LOT to do with it. I've driven race cars, road cars, sports cars, luxury cars. If you want to combine great performance with great feel, you need to step up to something like a 911 Turbo, GT2, Ferrari 599, etc. You won't get it in a Corvette.

 

I had an 88, 89 twin turbo, 95, 96, 02, 05, and I spent a lot of seat time in an 06 (not a Z06). BMW's I've had a few and spent a lot of seat time in a bunch, especially an E46M3.

Have you tried an E46 M3? Or an E92 335i?

The C6 is better than the C5, which was light years above the C4, but in terms of road feel it just doesnt have what the M3 has. Its not tires or weight or anything like that - I think the BMW has refined the road feel 'thing' for so many years that very few cars can even come close. The only other cars I drove that had anything close were Porsches.

 

Simply put, I doubt a driver in a C6 Vette would be slower over a backroad than an M3. The performance delta is just very very large. If one makes the argument the same driver will be faster on the track in a C6 it's a virtual corollary that it will be faster in virtually all conditions (hill climb, etc).

 

NO offense intended but your statement is bullsh!t.

At 50 thousand miles...no make that 60K miles my corvette Z06 is just as tight as the day it was when it rolled off the assembly line. Repair costs are minimal too. I seriously doubt you could say the same of the nice BMW M3 sports coupe.

Most people with an M3 are afraid to own it after its warranty runs out for a very good reason. The repair costs can make grown men cry.

You want a race car for the street with a 5year /100K mile warranty? Get the vette. You want a nice looking interior step up and order the 8 grand 4lt! option and the interior will boggle your mind.

If you don't care to caress the interior dash and rather just drive a car that goes from zero to 60 mph in 4 seconds flat, pulls .95 lateral g's and tops out at 190 mph. All with the finese (sp) to rival the best porsche offers..

Take a look at track times of the 400hp ls2 C6 Z51 in the recent car and driver. The car is faster than a porsche 911 twin turbo's track time. The new 2008 ls3 436hp Z51 is even better. The steering rack has evolved even further.

The bottom line is if you want 4 seats? buy the M3 and enjoy it. Its a great vehicle. Want the fastest 40 odd thousand race car for the street and don't mind 2 seats? Get the 2008 C6 Z51. I can get one with the Z51 and NPP exhaust for 43 grand from Rick Conti over at www.digitalcorvette.com

Check him out as he's delivering across the country (courtesy delivery at your local dealer.

Good luck deciding but know from an owner of a 60K mile C5 Z06 this car is not a rattle trap or any other nonsense. Its just a very inexpensive very fast, very good handlng 2 seat sports car.

A couple of simple mods and my cars throwing down 485hp 440 lb/ft of torque, handles like its on rails and even after 60K miles makes me laugh my @ss off every time I jump in the cockpit.

the cars amazing.

 

Owned both, Corvette is faster but the M3 is a better car in every other respect.

 

And the new Z06 is eve3n better and will be cheaper than the new V8 M3.

 

As for M3's having problems - what about roofs flying off, engins burning oil (or blowing their guts out), etc. All cars have problems and Corvettes are NO exception. I don't think anyone would deny that service at BMW dealers is light years ahead of service at Chevy dealers. The dealers are the worst part of Corvette ownership.

As for how tight the cars are - maybe you have a super Vette or something, but all the Corvettes (C4's and C5's) I have had just do not hold up well. At 50k miles they start to feel worn out. The steering just doesn't seem as sharp, you dont get the same click when you shut the door, and the rattles and squeaks start. If you have a C5 Z06, you know what I am talking about - I hang with a few guys that have 'em too and everyone has the same issues. But its expected - it's a Chevy.

As for the performance times you mentioned - i already gave the credit where it was due. You did the standard Corvette thing which is to use the numbers to justify the car. I'll turn it around on you and say - if the manufacturer has $X to spend on producing a car, they can either put a lot of it into the driveline and performance and leave the interior on the same level as an Monte Carlo, or they can spend less on the total performance and make it a great all-around package. BMW does the latter, Chevy does the former.

And as for the interior quality, you may say "what do you care if the interior sucks, you wanna run your hand over the dash buy a BMW". Well, you spend 100% of your time in the interior of the car. You maybe spend 5% of your time (if that) using the performance. Some folks like both - and in that regard the BMW can't be beat.

 

Well, the car magazines consistently rate the BMW 3 as one of the best and they gush over the M3. You can believe it's all a big conspiracy to keep other cars down or that BMW secretly pays off the editors, or you can own one and you'll see what the hype is about. The car has just fantasic road feel unparalleled by virtually everything else. The only other car I spent a lot of time in that had a similar feel was a Boxster S and a 911. They have fantastic feel too, but IMO not as good as the BMW M3.

As for the driver comparison, I don't think the average Corvette owner would be faster in his car than the average M3 owner. I bet I can take an exit offramp in my car faster than most Corvette owners. Their car can do it faster than mine, but I bet most that dont have track experience will have the nuts to hold on and push to that level. I used to race Corvettes at NHIS with a guy - he was real fast. He sold the Vette and bought an M3. He was slower with it on track and we all wondered why he bought a slower car? He would just either take folks for a ride or let them drive it and people usually "got it". The car just feels phenomenal. Yeah, on the smooth racetrack I was faster in the Corvette, but off the track on the street, the car is so confidence inspiring that you can just push it and push it and even average drivers can get to 9/10ths quickly. In a Corvette you simply can't do that because it doesn't give the same feeling of confidence and predictability.

You can disagree with me until you are blue in the face, but there is a reason the Corvette ain't winning all those shootouts with 911 Turbos, Ferraris, M3's and such. They always praise the stats of the car but when the other stuff is added in, the other cars leap ahead. The only explanation is what the Corvette has over the others in numbers, it lacks in feel and driving experience. Or you can go to Corvetteforum and whine on the forums that the test was rigged, that the magazine sucks, that the drivers suck, and that the manufacturer (whether its Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, or whoever beat it) obviously paid off the writers to make the Vette lose. Right

As I said, the Corvette is a great car and will definitely outperform an M3 - just doesn't have the same comfort, luxury or road feel/feedback of an M3 and never will. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Whatever, I don't really care about this point. I'd make the case for an S2000 or 3rd gen RX-7 for being comparable though.

False comparison. One needs to compare the same driver in both a C6 & M3. A comparison between the 50th percentile M3 driver and the 50th percentile C6 driver is much different (and one would have to start looking into demographics and the like).

Zero logic found. The comparison is between you in an M3 and you in a Vette. Not you in whatever car you drive versus the average Vette driver.

So it's an entirely irrelevant example. Glad we can agree.

Haven't denied that.

Things like this can be timed. In fact, they have been timed, and the Vette looks very good in hill climb situations. Sure, the M3 might allow the average driver to reach 9/10th very quickly - I don't deny that. The question is can that same driver reach that same speed in a Corvette (which is what you said earlier).

Well, the C5 is a much different animal than the C6, as you are well aware. The C6 Coupe & C6 Z06 do very well in virtually every comparison test they've been put in.

Like this one:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/11755/the-lightning-lap-2006.html

Or this one:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=31&article_id=1949&page_number=14

The C5, sure. The C6 makes a much more difficult case. It's simply a much better, all around, car than the C5.

Have I denied this? But then again, it should lack in those, because of the price. Hell, if any car suddenly had Vette speed (and price) and M3 driveability it'd be a revelation. It'd also put Porsche out of business.

I've never said the test was rigged. Or anything like that. In fact, all I've said is that an equal driver will likely drive the Corvette faster in virtually all conditions because it's a faster car.

Haven't denied that.

Never say never, ever.

 

No, it's not a false comparison. The guy asking the question was asking what was the better handling car. My point is that the guy in an M3 is going to be able to take down just about any other car, on the street, in terms of handling. I'll put it another way - most drivers will be faster and more confident in street situations in an M3 than a Corvette. If he wants to go take training classes and get good with the car, then obviously the limits of the Corvette are higher - but it will never have the road feel and confidence inspiring nature of an M3.

Nope, you are wrong. My point is not which car has higher limits - which is the point you keep trying to bring us back to. I have already stated that the M3 will not compare to the Corvette in terms of the limits the car has, so why do you keep arguing the point? The point is that most drivers (a vast majority) are going to be able to perform better in the M3. It is completely irrelevant if that same driver could do better in the Corvette with some practice/training, the point is that in most situations the M3 is going to give the driver the confidence to perform better.

Precisely my point. If you want M3-like poise and performance, but Corvette raw speed, you should buy a Porsche. Finally you acknowledge that if you want the speed AND composure, you will not find it with the M3 or the Corvette - but with a higher priced car. If you want the numbers, the Corvette is where its at. If you want the road feel, the Corvette will never match the M3. If you want both, get a Porsche, Ferrari, whatever.

And I am saying you are wrong. I know you think that it's the case, but in my experience it is not. The Corvette isn't massively faster than the M3 to start with - a lot faster sure, but the M3 is not an SUV on a track. I bet on a track most drivers would have the Vette beating the M3 easily. On the street, I dont think so. Because while the C6 has plenty of goodness, it's no M3 in the poise/feel department. And I have no particular attachment to either car. Actually I have one of each sitting 20 feet away in my garage as I type (the Vette is not a C6, although as I said I've spent a lot of time driving C6's). I've AutoX'ed them, drag raced them, been on the road course with both cars, etc, etc. Its not based on magazine tests, being a fanboy or being hung up because I own one or the other, it's just my experience from racing. You disagree - that's fine. I presume you have also owned both, had both on the track, and have a lot of experience autocrossing, road course racing and you have you SCCA license too, right? Because amongst me and the guys I race with, I don't think any of them would disagree with my assesment. If you are more experienced than I am on the subject, fine - we'll just disagree. If you are not, then I respectfully suggest you wait until you have a lot of seat time in BOTH cars in the situations mentioned before you talk about what will happen with a given driver. This thread is getting very close to magazine racing terroritory and I gave that up after I started actually buying cars instead of just reading about them during class

 

Sorry if the evolution of the corvette C5 overcame the "rattles" of previous corvettes and you aren't keeping up with the change. I don't have a roof falling off either.

At 60 thousand miles I don't have rattles. The steering is sharp. The handling is awesome and the power is thrilling. If you want me to lie and say the car rattles I can but the car just doesn't have any.

Does the car have the soft leather dash of the 2008 4lt C6 ? No...and to be honest I wouldn't care. I just dont ever find my self caressing the dash board. Am I alone in that I don't caress the dashboard? Maybe not? And for those that do the new 2008 C6 offers that option ...so maybe your right..? some people do care. I'm just not one of them...but if I were I could still order that 4lt option in the C6.

. As far as service at my chevy dealership I get superior service compared the "fuc ing" most BMW owners get once they are out of warranty! LOL I'm sorry to say but owning a BMW out of warranty has owners shivering....and when the repair bills come out of warranty WATCH OUT!

I'd imagine the door of the M3 does shut with a different sound than the composite bodied corvette but again I say who cares...? Once I turn the key, and the motor starts growling....and I accelerate ...the car just flat out flys! Turn a corner in this race car like sports car...I can say its exactly what I wanted when I spent my money.

My point is to decide what you want before you buy..If you want one of the worlds best sports coupes then order up an M3...

If you want one of the worlds fastest 2 seat sports cars then buy a 2008 Corvette C6 Z51 w/ NPP for 43 grand.

Again my statements are not to flame you but rather give you an insight from an owner of a c5 Z06 whose owned the car for 60K miles..

the cars not a soft leather lined product but rather a sports car that does what I want when I want it to.

the 2008 Z51 C6 coupe offers the option of leather dash board etc...so a few dollars corvette buyers who might be converting from a foreign car have a choice if stroking the dashboard is a big deal...I totally respect that...

For me I wouldn't be wasting my time or money. I just don't need a soft leather covered dashboard in a car but thats just me..

I think my wife would like that leather covered dashboard though...so I'm ordering up a 2008 CTS for her this week as I hear its pretty. Just want to see it in person before I place the order..

Peace out and good luck deciding M3 at 60 grand or a C6 coupe at 43 with the important stuff. Z51 and NPP exhaust!

JMO

 

This is the most accurate statement in the thread, and is why I migrated from Corvettes (4 total) AND BMWs (2 total) to a Porsche Turbo. In my opinion, its the best overall sportscar in the world (performance, road feel, suspension, price, luxury, status, build quality, etc.).