New car news

15 April 2008 - 10:00

Let the M3 tunage begin

It was only a matter of time before the Euro-tuner brigade got their hands on the new BMW M3. The only surprise is that it's taken so long for us to get a look at German firm Hamann's effort.

But here it is, the car with - and we quote - 'everything that makes your heart miss a beat' (some sort of pacemaker arrangement, perhaps). In fairness, we expected worse.

There's the obligatory bodykit - new front and rear spoiler, side skirts and a rear apron - that Hamann says actually improves downforce. Oh, and the obligatory aluminium-festooned interior and black-lacquer 20-inch wheels, which are lighter than the M3's standard rims.

But the really interesting stuff is in the oily-bits department. Hamann has tuned the M3's four-litre V8 from 414bhp to 449bhp, and added an extra 35 lb ft of torque for good measure. That'll help see the M3 on to 192mph - the works car is electronically limited to 155mph - and though there's no word on 0-60mph time, we'd imagine it might crack the 4.5 seconds barrier.

So there it is, the first tuned-up M3. Open the floodgates.