An in-depth historical and technical appraisal of BMW's sport. With 360 hp and an inline 6-cylinder engine, it is the holy grail among M enthusiasts. The BMW M3 CSL of the third M3 generation E46 is without doubt a unique sports car.
Here are all details about it. Growing up, I only ever associated the E46 BMW M3 CSL with its spiky reputation, but the reality is a beautifully raw, tractable performance car. Somebody on my local forums is saying that there isn't much of a difference between a stock m3 and an m3 CSL.
BMW - M3 CSL (E46) GTR - 2006 - Catawiki
I've looked all over the place trying to find a list of differences and upgrades that were done to the m3 CSL. Does anyone have a comprehensive list? Bimmerforums is the preferred online BMW Forum and community for BMW owners. At Bimmerforums, you will find technical how.
2003 BMW M3 CSL specs, 0-60, quarter mile, lap times, price, top speed, engine specifications, pictures, updated August 2025. The legendary light-weight E46 BMW M3 CSL The E46 BMW M3 CSL first appeared in 2003 and was - at the time - the most hardcore BMW ever made! The M3 was already widely recognized for its amazing performance as three generations of the track day weapon already existed: the E30 from 1986-1991, the E36 from 1992. The CSL has BMW's sequential manual gearbox second generation (SMG II) which is found in the normal M3 E46.
Custom Bmw M3 E46 Csl
It has very different software though and the gear changes are faster, downshifts feature rev matching (auto-blip) and it is the first production car with launch control. Before the M4 CSL, BMW only applied the CSL badge to two cars in its history: the 3.0 CSL, a homologation hero nicknamed The Batmobile, and this oh. The E46-generation M3 was already a great car, but with the CSL, the engineers at BMW Motorsport created a modern classic.
It might be one of the greatest M3s there's ever been.
