My M3 wasn't quite as quick as my stage 3 3dr in a straight line,not much in it though, through the lanes the M3 pissed all over my 3dr. Driving an M3 is not quite as much fun as a well sorted cossie but then again you don't have all the hassle of a cossie eg: checking your mirrors everytime you thrash it just to check that something hasn't dropped off the car or the engines smoking or the headgaskets leaking. With a cossie its probably a good idea to have a pit crew following you around in a van with a spare engine
No such worries with an M3 3.0.
Simon.