A little comparason i posted on an other Forum M3 Vs GTI

[Oli]

The thread is about the standard GTI not a highly modified ED30. And in my ED30 comment above, I mentioned lightly fettled, not an absolute screamer like yours, which I would agree is no contest

[MAT ED30]

i think u have the weight wrong John as i know its over 1400 with a full tank of fuel and yours is dsg too

thats mine and its not dsg

[Hurdy]

The thread is about the standard GTI not a highly modified ED30. And in my ED30 comment above, I mentioned lightly fettled, not an absolute screamer like yours, which I would agree is no contest

Sorry

Yes, I agree a GTI v's an M3 would be very different

Car                         Power     lbft     wt - kg    bhp/ton

M3 (E46)                 338         269    1570        219

M3 CSL                    355         273    1385        255

M3 (E90)                  414         295    1680        250

St GTI                     197         207    1329        150

Mod GTI                  260         310     1329       196

[Hurdy]

i think u have the weight wrong John as i know its over 1400 with a full tank of fuel and yours is dsg too

thats mine and its not dsg

OMG, you have an obese car 

Mine with a qtr tank is waaaaaaay less than that now

[MAT ED30]

it was a full tank of juice plus some crap in the car but only cds and thats about it and that was before td wheels got put on

[Poppa Dom]

Interesting, when I had mine at VWR and was corner weighted mine came out at 1410Kgs for a DSG car, with me in it at 85Kgs with full tank of fuel.

[Janner_Sy]

Yes, I agree a GTI v's an M3 would be very different

Car                         Power     lbft     wt - kg    bhp/ton

M3 (E46)                 338         269    1570        219

M3 CSL                    355         273    1385        255

M3 (E90)                  414         295    1680        250

St GTI                     197         207    1329        150

stage 2Mod GTI     260         310     1329       196

Stage 2+ GTI         280         320      1329       210


even in stage 2+ guise the k03 doesnt cut the mustardin the comparison. but it would bequick enough to annoy the owner of an M3 when they dont lose them as quickly as they think they might have.

thatswhy i really want this k04 conversion. nothing could offends a BMW driver more than a skoda driving past them

[MAT ED30]

Interesting, when I had mine at VWR and was corner weighted mine came out at 1410Kgs for a DSG car, with me in it at 85Kgs with full tank of fuel.

mines a 5 door too

[Hurdy]

Interesting, when I had mine at VWR and was corner weighted mine came out at 1410Kgs for a DSG car, with me in it at 85Kgs with full tank of fuel.

mines a 5 door too

So is mine!!

[MAT ED30]

look at robins
http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1457.0
its 5 door dsg

[micky 32]

Before i went KO4 in my vRS i had a play with a 2003 M3 with my maxxed out KO3. On the straights there was nothing in it. He did have the edge on big bends because of his wider wheels and stiffer suspension etc... He would pull a slight gap on the bend and on the straight my huge midrange caught up a little.. He must have got upset because he became desperate and started driving like a loon so i let him go.

[gobbleplease]

Either to be fair, E46/92 against a standard GTI, it's no contest. Of course put an ED30 with a bit of fettling in the mix, and it's different all together. But a pro driver in both will still get the M quicker down the same road, but not by much and weather depending. I love, as I'm sure most of us do, surprising a lot of cars in my Ed30.

Totally agree, be under no illusion that a well driven lightly modded GTI will beat a standard M3 IT WONT, i actually found that the E46 was better in the handleing stakes than the E92 M3. A higher stage tuned gti might well cause the m3 some problems, Although if we are talking about tuned cars why shouldnt the M3 be tuned too ? then its back to bye bye GTI.
Where the GTI would gain on the m3 would be On the braking and on some twisties.

but im 100% sure though that somone in an m3 would be like WTF whilest looking in the rear view mirror with a gti following.
 

[Jules86]

Even if the skoda/leon/golf was quicker i would still have an E46 M3. You could buy and supercharge one for much less than ED30 and mods so not a real comparison imo.

They are not hugely fast standard but then 1 sec difference to 60 on the roads is about half a car length! I left one behind with ease in the 32 in the rain about a month ago and kept up with one through the twisties as the haldex made the car drive better than i could get it to as im a poo driver  The 32 simply caught it out the as its very slow compared to the M3, had one obliterate me in the dry once but it was a CSL (well was badged as one)

Love M3's 

[WhiteGTI]

I like this thread - due to be buying an E46 M3 in a couple of months! A lot of interesting information, and has answered some of the questions that I had thought about!

Thank you all 

[Leeds s3]

i fully agree that a modded ed30 is a quick as an e46 in a straight line (my brother had an e46 m3 and i still have an s3 with GIAC)

The s3 was quicker in a straight line and i know an ed30 would be just as quick as my s3.

Now when my borther got his e90 m3 (4 door model) it left my s3 and my friends rs4 for dead and that is no joke.

Forget power to weight people get to hung up on it (gearing,power delivers,torque etc etc all play equally important roles),its how the car performs on the road and time and time again the m3 left my car and the rs4 for dead. They are a different class.

The only downside is that your average driver cant access all the power easily like you can in the s3/ed30