BMW F80 and E90 - M3 Generations Compared! Part 2/3 

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed driving my e90. I think those Hotkis big sway bars is one of the best mods you can do to help manage her weight over the e46. I sold my e46 for the e90 and while I love both I agree the e46 is the better drivers car but the e90 is the better overall car. Thank you for all the love on the old girl. Also forgot to mention the redline on mine was about 8800.

I love your comparison vids! E90 will always be my favorite M5 😉

I’m so fortunate to have both an e92 m3 comp and an e46 m3 (modded with ohlins R&T, rogue SSK, Alcon 6pot BBK and eventuri Intake). Whenever I start getting hairbrained ideas to sell my e92, I take that for a drive and am immediately reminded that the s65 is not only the best engine to be in an m car, it’s a special engine over many cars.

I had both e46 and e90 m3s bought new at the time. Also drove my cousin’s f80 m3 when it first came our. The E90’s steering is by far the best feedback, a true OG BMW steering feel. E46 steering was plagued by the light steering feel due to e36 women drivers complaining the hell out of it to bmw how heavy the steering was in their cars. Thus BMW changed the system in the e46. But my E46 felt special to me more than the e90 since it was my first car bought new and it was so so good to own and look at. I always looked back and parked miles away to avoid any dings. But if I have to do it all over again e90/e92 would be my choice. It was just a bit better ultimate driving machine. I don’t even consider F80s as a BMW M cars after I drove it. It was synthetic, disconnected, and numb were my experience. Good comparison videos

Great comparison. I am a bit biased as I own a E92 M3 uncorked. You buy it for the S65 and then you take the GT car out of it. It's hard to beat the S65 throttle response when you pair it with a light flywheel along with a carbon driveshaft then on top you throw a 4.44 BMW GT4 final drive into the diff. Also it's most likely close to 400lbs lighter than the E90 you drove. The stock car besides the engine is a bit underwhelming and needs some work to make it feel more special. I agree the DCT is much more suited to the S65, and the stock shifter plus the clutch aren't the best either. All of the shortcomings of the E9X M3 platform can be solved for the most part, but it won't match the F8X or the G8X for straight line speed. I do agree with the build quality having owned F87 and a E92. The E92 feels better build and the materials seem higher quality. If you want to go fast then F8X is no brainer. The S55 makes so much more torque which combined with the longer wheelbase of the F80 or F82 makes it less peaky compared to the F87 M2. I also owned a N55 M2 which sounded okay, but like you said the steering is non existent, and throttle response is dull not even close to the V8. It always felt like the F87 chassis just cannot contain the torque which makes it fun on the road, but extremely frustrating to drive on the track along with the diff. I then drove my friends F82 M4 which was tuned and it was a blast. Yeah, it doesn't sound great, and steering is terrible, but you could control the car at the limit much better than the F87 chassis.

I wish I never went back and drove hydraulic steering, for some of us, you cannot get past how great hydraulic steering is….not just BMW, all cars, new cars just do not have good steering feel.

All M3s should come in yas marina blue

Watching all three parts of the comparison feels like the overarching theme was hyper focused on driver feel , engine sound , and overall engagement driving the car . If that was the premise of the comparison I suppose it’s spot on . However , items the F80 and G80 provide such as practically , comfortability, and daily drivability were somewhat discounted which is surprising given Zygrene’s choice to purchase a new Integra Type S to daily drive and track versus getting another S2000 or sticking with the BRZ as a daily drivable track car. Just funny how he seems to be very critical on driving dynamics and practicality (both spirited driving/ daily driving) when he’s actually having to buy a car which is clear in what he chooses to highlight in his Type S vids .

It is such a tragedy that the F8x M cars steering missed the mark so bad. There isn't a better looking sedan in existence, and the coupe is sexy af too...

Love my F80 and E46 but I think peak M car is probably a E36 with a S54 swap. Kinda breaking the rules tho :)

Nice to see that E90 with Curtis's WTF Motorsports frame.

The aftermarket PS4S tires cause the F80 to have poor feel and uncertain handling in my experience. Original, star-marked tires don’t exhibit this and feel much better, especially the star-marked Cup 2’s. Coilovers (in my case Bilstein PSS10) also dramatically improve steering feel on the F80. These two changes would go a long way to improving both the steering feel as well as the predictability of the handling on the F80.

Zygrene type s spotted in Livermore!

E46 and E90/92 both win!

You will have 100k subs by the end of the year Thank you for not saying the obvious

i dont love the e9x chassis but i agree s65 is one of bmws greatest motors. always thought it would be cool to build a hommage to the e46 m3GTR using the s65 as the powerplant.

With the F80 and E9X, DCT is the correct choice for gearbox. I’ve owned a manual F87 M2C and did not like it; my DCT F80 is much more enjoyable. Also, adding monoball lower control bushings helped with steering feel; GTS steering flash also does but haven’t done that yet. I’ve owned multiple E9X, one E46, F87, and now F80. The F80 is the best all-around car, but E9X is heavenly when you get past the ridiculous maintenance requirements. It’s so easy to drive fast, and the S65 sounds so good.

F80 is equivalent to the 996 porche generation and the E90 is like the 993 GT.. quality and feel.. the sound from air cooled to water and V8 to Turbo powered 6 is similar in the let down as well.. not always do the generations get it right.. the new G80 has many good things except steering feel and weight..but amazing engine eve in the B58 M340. The V8 S65 sounds better mated with a 6 speed manual.

F80 or E90 as a manual transmission daily driver performance sedan?

Hey bro. Great video like always. Can you do a video in c6z06? See how you liked it

Funny because your description of the f80 is how i feel the s2k ap1 is like. The EPS just kills the drivability of it. Very difficult to drive near the limit.

Excellent video, covered every detail. Btw would you think e92 dct or manual is best, i hear the dct was designed alongside the engine and suits the ratios best but i love manual

I'm curious, what made you choose to drive all of the generations in a non linear way?

It's interesting how nobody really acknowledges the E93 M3 and it shows in their listings. Also the E9X M3 and E60 M5 are literally siblings.

God I hope he doesn't decimate the e36 review, I love mine, hate when it gets pooped on by others

3500 lbs just weighed mine

My only hesitation about the comparison with the E90 is that it is fairly modified, so not an exact apples to apples.

So stock E46 is a better driver's car than modified E9x

Would you say an M2 competition is better than all of the 3s?

Echi echi echi 😂

Agreed. E90 interior > F80 interior all day!

Granted, I've never driven an automatic in manual mode, but to me, that "super agressive" shift in the E90 sounds like there's 1+ second delay between a paddle pull and a shift - so to me, it sounds super slow and unacceptable. I know a manual shift is slower than that, but as a user, I expect the shift to happen the very instance I send a command, not 1 second after. Imagine moving the stick, releasing the clutch, and then 1 second later getting the actual shift. This is what this feels like, at least watching it. Granted, it's faster than the manual, but looks like a more frustrating endeavour.

E90 is proper.

Absolutely agree that the F80 interior feels much cheaper. I have an E90 m3 and I sat in a F80 and was really shocked at the difference. Everything you look at and touch feels inferior to the E90. One example is the center console armrest that is spring loaded in the E90 (I have the single piece armrest) and comes up on its own when you open it whereas the one in the F80 needs to be pulled up with your hand and does not have a button to open it because there's only a cheap plastic tab to keep it closed. Door panels also look cheap in the F80 as there is much less leather on the door and more plastic. The dashboard also looks like a mess, with a ton of cut lines and angles that give an economy car vibe. Even though the E90 is slower than the F80, the whole driving experience is just superior. Steering feel, engine sound and the way the car engages with you and makes you part of the experience is unmatched for the price and better than many much pricier cars. I love my e90 and will keep it forever, that S65 is a masterpiece.

Too much camber from the factory

The F80 engine is not underrated and you should know better than to make such claims. Dyno it first. And then think about what Peak horsepower means, and then think about what turbos do in relation to Peak horsepower. Hint: they move it down the rev range, making it more accessible... which makes it feel more powerful when you're at 3000 RPM because the turbo one is at its peak power power, while the NA engine needs to get to 6k to be there. Geez, why do I have to educate people who MAKE A LIVING reviewing cars?

From the perspective of a luxury V8 GT car, im curious what your thoughts and comparisons are of the E92 DCT to the LC500. While the E92 may have a more "special" engine, the chassis fails to be a pure GT car nor a pure drivers/sports car, rather a 3 series first. Somewhat in between the LC500 and an SS 1LE per se, unmodded. However as a V8 GT car, curious how it compares to the LC500, unable to find any answers online, and unsure if i'm the only one crossshopping. They're at least one generation apart and priced differently (not accounting for work needed on an E92 to get it well sorted). In the market for this, and the reliability* and still stellar chassis, engine and interior of the LC i think take the cake. Already have a put together FRS that may set the E92 as redundant. Getting older, have other issues and I don't want to get into modifying and fixing cars like before which the E92 would demand over the LC. Great work as always. Much love from Canada.