[funtime]

Originally Posted by toofastforyou

i remember when the csl was released and so many people sold them back to the dealer cos they couldnt see what all the fuss was about. until of course people realised that comparing the two is like comparing chalk and cheese.

i have been driving the e46 chassis for 10 years. i have owned 5 e46 m3s, 2 at the same time! i had the coupe first, then the vert, and then a csl with the vert.

i tuned both the coupe and the vert with: tein edfc suspension (i know but it was back in the day!), gruppe m ram air and ti exhaust, supersprint x pipe, dms remap, rear differential 3.9:1, rogue pulleys, front and rear ac shnitzer strut braces (vert doesnt fit rear strut brace) and both with 100 shot of nos. the coupe i sold to my cousin so it was always close by. the first csl i got i put tein edfc suspension, gruppe m ti exhaust, supersprint x pipe, front and rear strut brace, rear differential 3.9:1 and dms remap. no nos.

the vert could keep up with the coupe no problem except when taking bends at 120mph+. in fact 0-40mph the vert was the fastest out of all of them as it is heavier and could get the power down better.

the coupe kept up with the csl but not easily, and eventually the csl would lose the coupe. there is a reason why a stock csl is 32secs quicker round the ring than a stock e46 m3 coupe, and only 2 secs slower than the e92 m3 gts (all 3 cars driven by the same driver horst von saurma before any of you start going on about them not being driven by drivers of equal talent).
its not just the steering rack or the extra power or the suspension or the weight loss- its the whole package. all the mods work in perfect harmony to provide the driver with one of the most enthralling, connected driving experiences around.

yes you can tune a coupe to be as fast or even faster than a csl, but do the same to a csl and the tuned coupe wont see which way you went in the csl. the money you will spend to make the coupe equal to a stock csl, you might as well buy a csl. even then it still wont be as good as the csl has been modified by bmw to be very special, if you think you can do a better job with the coupe, by all means try. the saying so close yet so far springs to mind.

Thanks for that, sounds like you've had some pretty serious M3's - more tuned than I'd ever go... and the end result is the CSL still comes out on top!