[NewM3driver]

BMW has done a BEAUTIFUL job with this car.

I have had many BMW's. I think over the years they have consistently offered the best quality/performance/comfort and VALUE of all the luxury car manufacturers. Easy to live with, familiar, reliable.

We have had multiple 3 series, 5 series, X5's and three M3's.

Not since the E39 5 series (we had three) has BMW gotten a car this 'right'.

If I had to describe it in just one word, the first word that comes to mind would be SMOOTH. The three series has emerged all grow up this time around. The 2 series has replaced the old three. This M340 has the comfort of 5 series past with perfect driving dynamics.

Honestly, it is as close to perfect as they have come in many years... since that ridiculously good e39 530 sport. That car was perfect harmony.

The new M340 is perfect harmony. The adaptive suspension is perfectly damped, comfortable, unflappable. The non run flat Pilot sports are the perfect tire. Every bit as good as the old M3, no, better than the old M3 for EVERYTHING but the track. This car can dance. If feels light and planted... It steers beautifully and has very good feedback.

The engine is amazing, pulling right off idol all the way to redline. It has zero lag and is perfectly linear. It makes that beautiful straight six sound and is turbine smooth. It is matched perfectly to the 8 speed automatic transmission that rips off shifts that are so smooth and so perfectly executed that you can barely feel them. Far better than the herky jerky dual clutch found in the M cars. Put it in sport plus and it holds gears and downshifts as if it were reading my mind..... choosing gears exactly as I would had I been driving a proper manual. Telepathically good. This could quite possibly be the best drivetrain in any modern BMW.

The fact that it is being asked to haul around a relatively light, wonderfully taunt chassis is a recipe for excellence.

All this goodness is wrapped up in a fresh, contemporary package that boasts handsome good looks with a confident stance and slick lines. The interior is updated and modern, with a beautiful fit and finish and high quality materials throughout. The new design is not as immediately familiar as BMW's of the past had been, but the learning curve should be quick. The M-sport steering wheel is slightly tweaked from past models but as always is spot on perfect.

The thud the doors make when closed is more solid and pleasing than any modern car I can think of. It feel purposeful and well built.

The Tanzanite blue paint is rich and brilliant. The tech is a quantum leap forward... the new screen is crystal clear and the navigation map continues to be the very best in the business.

There is plenty of goodness baked into all BMW's. Sometimes those individual ingredients come together with a finished product that is more than the sum of it's parts.

The M340 is good. Old school BMW good. The best BMW in many, many years.

There are more expensive BMW's, faster BMW's, perhaps more prestigious BMW's..... but right now there is no better BMW than the M340.

This BMW has perfect balance, figuratively and literally.

Perhaps that single word should have been SWEET.

Can you tell I love my new car?