sclx

I was in the San Jose airport a week ago, in terminal A, on the way to gate 10, and there is a big M3 poster on the wall. I didn't think anything of it other than it stated:

414 horsepower V-8
0-60 in 5.2 seconds

I'm trying to remember, but it actually could have been 5.4 seconds - I really didn't think to take a picture, but it was there.

Now, an ad in April's Road & Track (page 8):

414 horsepower V-8
0-60 in 4.8 seconds

And I also have the April issue of Car & Driver (page 10):

414 horsepower V-8
0-60 in 4.7 seconds

Is there a problem with what the car can really do? All of these numbers are slower than the advertised 0-60 for the IS-F, so that's good, but geez at least get your story straight BMW.

Desi

Falucka

Are these all BMW advertisements?

STIG

I think the official number is somewhere around 4.8s to 60mph.

But I have seen pretty wide range of time in the magazines ranging from 4.1s to astonishing 5.3s.

inxexisten

well some manufacturers like to be conservative with their numbers...

magazines tests will vary upon conditions and how they launch...

but i believe most magazines have found the IS-F faster

kyang91

iTrader: (5)

I agree....I think the ISF might be a little bit faster then the BMW M3

Lextasy89

hmm i have the road and track from march 2008 and it says in feburary they ran a 4.1 0-60 and a 12.5 @ 114.8 1/4 mile

gengar

I'm thinking that they can't figure out how much of a conservative buffer to put on the real 0-60 time

sclx

I'm talking about actual BMW advertisements! These are BMW ads, not the magazine times - I know those are all over the map.

Desi

Falucka

Where have you seen that? I see most testers get 0-60 of 4.8 on the IS, and around 4.5 on the M3. I even saw a drag race between an RS4 and an IS-F and the RS4 won, and the M3 is faster than the RS4.

CrazyMPG

iTrader: (4)

I think the RS4 vs the IS-F was done by Edmunds, which can't seem to drive the IS-F correctly...heh...so I will wait for test done by major magazines between all the performance sedans....(M3, C63, RS4, CTS-V, IS-F)

rominl

iTrader: (4)

0-60 is only a little part of the whole sport car package. overall driving on the car is what counts imho (and that's where m3 shines)

Fa-suto

Regardless of what the numbers are, can you really go wrong with any of the cars in this category.

All comes down to personal preference IMHO. Is it that important to get .2 secs more from the line than the competitor? Remember, most of these numbers are completed on a track by someone who does this for a living. Real world conditions and on the streets will vary a lot more.

I'm just happy to be able to afford a car in this category.

gengar

Tell me about it. And the competitive pricing is allowing a lot more people to afford these awesome cars, too. It's a good time to be a performance luxury entry-level car fan!

sclx

OK, simple answer to my initial question - I just noticed it:

0-60 5.2 (or maybe 5.4) it was a picture of the convertible

0-60 4.8 was a 4 door

0-60 4.7 was a 2 door

Desi

LexFather

I saw the new M3 sedan ad with 4.8 on it. Like Lexus, BMW has always been conservative with figures.