2009 BMW M3 facelift spy photos

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By Alborz Fallah | June 13th, 2008

The disguising is almost gone, and now it’s clear: the midlife facelift prepared for the BMW 3‑series saloon and estate will be given to the M3 as well – even to the four-door variant snapped here.

The front fascia will be slightly re-designed with a new bumper, modified fog lights and a differently sculpted bonnet. And there will be new tail lamps, too, plus we expect an updated cabin and emission-optimised engines.

The BMW M3 goes head to head with the Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 and will soon have some tough competition from the Lexus IS-F as well as the soon to be announced new Audi RS4.

The car will be officially unveiled at the Paris Show in October and the CarAdvice team will be there to bring you all the news and pictures.

Jez

I bet it can’t grow a spoiler on demand.
rocket_v6

the ugliest part of the car were the tail lights…thank god they r changing it
Fenno

You’d be spewing if you just coughed up the dough for the just released M3 only to find out they have already updated it…
Bavarian Missile

Saw this weeks ago,fog lights make a return and new tail lights………mmmmmm .As I think it will be more like to be 2010 till they really arrive I would wait the extra 3 years and wait for the next model thanks.
Godspeed

At first glance it looks exactly the same. I’m a bit surprised at how soon it’s getting a facelift it was only launched (in Oz) last year.

Don’t think there was anything hugely wrong with the tail lights except the sedan should have clear lenses to clean up the fussy detailing a bit and in keeping with the clear lenses trend for M cars through the years.

Yes and I’m not sure what the “modified” fog lights will be as I thought the current E90 / E92 / E93 M3 does not have them at all.
D 1 0 N

Damn, I feel sorry for those guys who bought new M3s, not even a year down the track and its being updated already
Godspeed

Exactly D10N, a similar timing occurred with the E46, except that BMW was gracious enough to keep the “series 1″ pre update styling for the M3 when the bog standard coupe was touched up in 2003. All they did to the M3 from memory was put a wider bootlid strip on and update the tail lamps to LEDs.

I think they know they can’t change it too much otherwise risk devaluing the current model – HSV needs to be cautious when doing this if they want to preserve the value of their high end cars
http://www.caradvice.com.au Anthony

I know what you mean with the early update, but its still the best all round performance car around at moment.
djr17

The best all round performance car around at the moment….except for the AMG C63!
Godspeed

Nope, its still the best all round performance car around at moment.
Godspeed

…Except maybe the Nissan GT-R
djr17

Each to their own
weirluo

BMW has very good cars, unfortunately, BMW cars are very very extremely overpriced is Australia, just like Benz and Audi. Mercedes cars are .Unfortunately, there are far far too many MORONS in Australia who are willing to pay big bucks for the sake of brand.

I can afford to buy a BMW but I’ll never buy a BMW at this price setup. This is one of the biggest rip off

If only everyone is aware of this and not buying BMW/Benz/Audi anymore, they have no choice but to reduce the price to a sane level.
djr17

Supply & Demand. I purchased a Powerball ticket just this week with the sole proceeds of spending my winnings on an AMG C63. Haven’t checked my ticket yet but by hook or crook I will own one some day.
djr17

I obviously meant ‘sole purpose’ in my previous comment.
http://Antilag.com Joe

Meh, just save your money and buy a 135i
Alan

Just my guess, but this is a minor update to saloon only, seems like they have given a rear design similar to the coupe version. If that is the case, i don’t think M3 coupe will be updated
Duck

Finally a propoer Audi RS4 Competitor here would be great!
mikez

Would rather have C63 anyday. This thing doesnt look any diff than a normal bmw.
Wheelnut

for al the design and engineering work that goes in to making BMWs as good as they are; they are actaully reasonably priced – the thing that makes cars like the M3 so expensive is the extensive list of options..

I mean the BMW ad says there are approx 1,000,000 feature combinations available throughout the BMW range to tailor your car inorder to suit your individuality

The same applies to the other German marques but BMW no one beats BMW it comes to [charging for] optional extras
Godspeed

I’ll agree with Wheelnut on the options factor – it’s easily possible to add another $20-30K in options to, say, a 523i. Some of which you need to select (like a sunroof) if you want a good chance of selling the car later.

Alan – the M3 sedan was just launched no more than 12 months ago??
http://Yahoo CARTORQUE

Interesting…..I sell cars in South Africa, including M3′s and AMG Merc’s…We have one of the biggest markets for both BMW and Mercedes Benz outside of Germany and the States ( we have production facilities in Pretoria and Port Elizabeth). Both cars absolutely amazing feats of engineering, with apposing “strengths and weaknesses”.Overall, dynamically, I think the M3 is better. The Audi RS4 is slightly outdated and battles to keep up..( I know, I’ve tried it!). Watch out for the new RS6 though. How much are these cars in Ausralia?