2003 BMW E46 M3

CSL

VIN#: JB98229

ENGINE 3.2-liter S54B32HP inline six-cylinder

OUTPUT 360 hp @ 7900 rpm, 273 lb-ft @ 4900 rpm

TRANSMISSION 6-speed Getrag/ZF SMG II automated manual

CURB WEIGHT 3053 lbs

TOP SPEED 155 mph

BUILD DATE  July 2003

COLOR  Silver Gray Metallic

OWNER  Maneesh Jain

OWNED SINCE  2011

LOCATION  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“There’s truly nothing like it this side of a McLaren F1… the noise of a hard-worked CSL resonates in your brain for days after.”  — Richard Meaden, Evo magazine

BMW built just 1383 examples of the E46 M3 CSL, all for the 2003 model year, and none were sold in North America. In a nod to BMW tradition, the name held meaning: Coupé Sport Leichtbau. Coupe Sport Lightweight.

The CSL name first appeared on a BMW in 1971, and the E46 range-topper followed in those steps: It was a costly, weight-reduced track special. At launch, the 2003 CSL boasted a 243-pound weight reduction and a 17-horsepower bump over a standard M3. Plus a 7-minute, 50-second Nürburgring lap.

Engine, suspension, and brakes were uprated for the job, but the work didn’t stop there. Standard CSL equipment included a production-grade carbon-fiber roof panel before such things were common, a massive (and gloriously loud) carbon airbox, thinner rear-window glass, and a composite trunk lid with integrated spoiler.

Beyond that roof and intake, carbon also lived in the car’s front bumper, rear valence, and door cards. Base models shipped minus a radio or air-conditioning. Fixed-back, fiberglass-composite “shell” seats were standard, no adjustment for recline or width; if you didn’t fit, you were out of luck. Even the trunk floor was optimized for lower mass, shaped from a lightweight, paper-honeycomb sandwich composite.

Like all E46 CSLs, #JB98229 left the factory with a retuned version of the ordinary M3’s six-speed, automated-manual transmission. Sold new in Germany, the car came to the United States in 2009 and found its current owner, Philadelphia’s Maneesh Jain, two years later.

Jain was drawn to the car, he says, by how the CSL represents the peak of BMW’s naturally aspirated, straight-six era.

“But then,” he says, “I drove it. And you start thinking about what you’re feeling, what the car’s telling you. You get this sewer pipe of an intake, sucking in air as fast as it can. This super raspy exhaust, which I haven’t heard on any BMW before or since. It’s just… at 4000 rpm, it’s alive.”