The BMW M3 CSL with a manual gearbox could be the best car in the world

Few models have come as close to perfection as the BMW M3 CSL, a car that has always been dominated by the German brand’s SMG automated manual transmission.

Fortunately, one owner has decided to unleash the full potential of his car, and a few lucky people have not missed the chance to drive it. We are dying to.

The BMW E46 M3 CSL is possibly one of the models with the best performance ever to come out of the German brand’s M division, and it is one of the 22 inline-six engined models with the best sound; in fact, it was so perfect that the Bavarian company decided to tone it down a little by giving it that SMG gearbox, because it simply wasn’t fair to everyone else.

Joking aside, the truth is that the BMW M3 CSL was at times irritatingly frustrating, not because the SMG transmission was so terrible for its time, but because the rest of the car was very good. It is a car that deserved a manual gearbox from day one, but for some reason BMW decided to offer it exclusively with the SMG unit.

BMW M3 CSL, is there a more perfect model?

The limited-production nature of the CSL, and the fact that it is so celebrated among die-hard fans of the BMW M, means that not many owners have the courage to make this conversion to their pride and joy, for fear of altering the originality of what is really quite a collectible car.

And that is a shame, because as a result it is not so complicated to turn a CSL into simply the best BMW M car that has ever existed; the transmission is the same in both manual and SMG cars, so all you have to do is remove the SMG pump, install the gear linkage and a third pedal to enjoy the BMW M3 CSL to its full potential. Would you do it?

Those who know one or two things about the BMW M3 will be very familiar with the E46, as it is widely considered the best generation of M3 ever produced. Sure, later generations of M3 are faster and more powerful, but the E46 was perhaps the perfect balance between power, balance and precision.

The E46 was the fourth generation of the 3 Series built and enjoyed a production run of almost a decade, from December 1997 to August 2006. The BMW M3 was sold between 2000 and 2006 and featured the iconic S54B32 3.2-litre six-cylinder engine that produced 343 CV in European trim. Later, BMW launched the M3 CSL, a numbered and lightweight version. It offers lightweight power, complete with 360 CV and 370 Nm of peak torque.

The BMW M3 CSL was limited to just 1,383 units and was only sold in Silver Grey Metallic and Black Sapphire Metallic. It was stripped of quite a lot of equipment, has a 50:50 weight distribution, and featured improved suspension and braking systems. While the standard E46 M3 was available with a six-speed manual gearbox, the BMW M3 CSL could only be bought with the controversial SMG II transmission, which featured an electro-hydraulically actuated clutch pedal.

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