I’m currently in a 2021 M340i Sedan and I love it. I was thinking that the 2024 Manual M3 was potentially the last opportunity to get a new gas-powered manual M car. Maybe it will be my last gas car. Anyway, I have never driven a manual M3 and was told there is no way to test drive one. I’ve enjoyed owning manual cars in the past, however only up to perhaps 180 HP. Is this a crazy idea? Are there any M specific things (manual or otherwise) I should consider?
I’ve worked as an SA at a BMW dealership. The only thing I can say is if you get the manual please respect the hell out of that clutch. The amount of people I’ve seen come in with 5-10k miles with clutches in tatters is astounding.
My M3 is older (E46, 2003) but once I tweaked the SMG by coding in the CSL blip and shift speed I absolutely love it and would never go back to manual. It’s faster, I can still easily drop a couple gears in one go for a quick highway overtake, and my left leg doesn’t get tired out in traffic. Lots or people slam the sequential gearbox without actually trying it. If they’ve improved the feel on recent ones to be as good as my 20-year old coded example, I’d say manual is not optimal.
Very happy with my 2023 G80 M3 MT and wouldn’t even consider an automatic.