The standard 330i was already a competent car right off of the showroom floor with a 225 horsepower (in the US) 3.0-liter inline-six engine pulling the famously balanced E46 chassis around the road.

I verified this myself, in fact I removed the bad original rack from my ZHP and got another 712 steering rack from a 2003 330i sport package coupe from a junkyard.

That’s probably why, whenever we see a coupe or convertible E46 our heart skips a beat. The following car is a 330Ci model, not an M3 but its 3-liter engine is the basis for the S54 unit that ...