BMW M3 CS (E46)

Sep 24, 2023

While BMW did itself no favours with the spec of the launch car, and though it costs an enormous amount of money, the new M3 CS ought to be a spectacular sports saloon. With more power and a sharper chassis than the already mighty xDrive, the CS promises an awful lot. This is to say nothing of the last CS saloon that was launched in green (albeit a far nicer one) - the M5. It's hard to imagine another M car that improves on the Competition model like that CS did, but let's see - the M3 could be another icon. Just an odd looking one.

When a storied badge returns to a bootlid, it's inevitable to browse the back catalogue to recall the greatest hits. The last M3 and M4 CS were the best models of that generation - if very expensive - with just enough extra edge to feel a proper step up from the Comp. And they looked brilliant. The M3 before that didn't get a CS, but its Competition Pack (back when non-Comp M3s were still offered) definitely brought out the best in the package. Confusingly, that was the name also given to the first M3 CS back in the mid 2000s; some markets had been offered a Competition Pack before we got a CS in the UK, but they’re the same thing.

The same brilliant thing, it should be said, and still part of the reason why the ‘CS’ badge generates such excitement. The E46 M3 was already the small sports coupe par excellence, but the CS really unlocked the magic, sprinkled with some CSL fairy dust for a modest premium to create - you’ve guessed it - the best M3 of its generation. Launched in 2005 (a good while after the CSL, so owners didn't get cross at a cut-price alternative), the CS got that car's faster steering rack, bigger brakes, new springs and the half-way-house M mode for the stability control. To be expected nowadays - we’re onto drift analysers and 10-stage TC now - but a pretty big deal 18 years ago. All for a measly £2,400 over a standard E46, including the wonderful CSL-style wheels. Or about £15k less than the real deal had cost a couple of years before.

The five-star reviews came flooding in, the manual cars getting lots of predictable love as that transmission was denied to the CSL. The E46 M3 was already great; the CS was even better, and not much more money. Win-win. It's thought around 241 were sold in the UK, presumably as coming towards the end of production run meant not that many could be made. No doubt original owners loved them, and all those after as well; having eventually dropped to only a little more than £10k about a decade ago, the CS has been on the way up ever since - the CSL having soared to unimaginably high levels.

This looks like a great one, an SMG in Interlagos Blue (an exclusive colour, and unarguably the best one), with fewer than 100,000 miles and a full BMW history up to 90k. It's been with the current owner for six years, having replaced a Z4M in 2017. There's plenty to be encouraged by in the advert, too, with a very recent service, four Michelin PS4S tyres, rust tended to, a rear subframe check and refurbished alloys. Certainly, time has done nothing to make a properly sorted E46 M3 look any less brilliant.

The asking price is £27,000; bear in mind that standard, lower mileage M3s are on offer at even more and a CSL could be in excess of £100k, and it looks like decent value. There's no way you’re going to drive a £100k CSL how it's meant to be, similarly a 20,000-mile standard car. No such worries in this one; 10 minutes behind that recently retrimmed wheel is all you’ll need to understand why the CS earns so much devotion.

Engine: 3246cc, straight sixTransmission: Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drivePower (hp): 343@7,900rpmTorque (lb ft): 269@5,000rpmCO2: 323g/kmMPG: 21.1Recorded mileage: 90,000First registered: 2005Price new: £43,555Yours for: £27,000