2004 BMW E46 M3 CSL – Today’s Lightweight Tempter

By: James Robinson, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 15.05.2017

Munich’s best is up for sale

In many people’s eyes the BMW E46 M3 is perhaps the most perfect iteration of the Bavarian barnstormer ever to grace a stretch of derestricted autobahn.

Production of the sports coupe commenced at the beginning of the 21 century at BMWs Regensburg factory and ran through until 2006.

It was a highly successful sales exercise for BMW; with just over 85,500 E46 M3s being sold in total world-wide.

All E46 M3s can still be considered desirable sports cars even today, but undoubtedly first among equals in the M-car world is the limited edition CSL.

The CSL, or Coupe Sport Lightweight, is a limited edition, stripped out, beefed up, track oriented version of the regular M3, and perhaps one of the coolest cars BMW has ever made.

It carried a raft of changes over the standard car, aimed at enhancing the performance of the sports coupe substantially.

For a start, BMW put the CSL on a serious diet that included; removed sound insulation, removed electric seats which were replaced by carbon-backed, lightweight jobbies, no satnav, radio or air-conditioning, carbon fibre body panels, a thinner rear window and even a boot floor made of fibre-board.

All these biggest loser antics equated to a car that was 110 kilograms lighter than the standard M3, and meant the CSL’s kerb weight tipped the scales at a mere 1,385kg.

BMW then turned its attention to the chassis and handling of the CSL. Special track-honed springs and dampers were fitted, as was a tighter steering rack (14.5:1 vs 15.4:1) and bigger, more performance oriented brakes.

 The CSL’s heroic S54 3.2 straight six was also given a power boost over its standard sibling, with peak output now set at 265kW, up from 252kW. This was thanks to sharper profile camshafts, a larger, carbon fibre manifold and a reworked exhaust manifold.

In addition, the CSL is also arguably a fair bit prettier than the regular E46, due to significant styling tweaks such as a redesigned front bumper with carbon fibre accents, duck tail spoiler, BBS 19-inch wheels and the carbon fibre roof which just had clear lacquer over it instead of paint.

All this added up to a remarkably iconic sports coupe which to this day is still revered as one of the best ever to wear a badge from Munich.

This particular CSL is painted factory silver grey metallic and is fitted with factory air-conditioning and single CD player. It has covered a mere 52,313 kilometres and has been kept in excellent condition.

The seller is asking $140,000 for the lightweight leviathan and anyone who fancies it can view the full listing here. 

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