New Carbon Kit Will Turn Your E46 BMW M3 Into The CSL You Can’t Afford

Among the holy grail of any BMW aficionado lies the E46 M3 CSL. Introduced as a more hardcore version of the sports car, it’s no surprise it’s taken on a cult status - and the prices reflect that.

Buy a tidy CSL today, and you’ll be looking at at least £80k, if not more. That makes the £20-30k asking for a base E46 seem quite the bargain. No shock, then, that here’s a market for turning the regular M3 into a pseudo-CSL, which is where Vorsteiner has stepped in.

Dubbed the V-CSL, this collection of carbon fibre parts will make any E46 M3 almost indistinguishable visually from the lightweight special.

The American tuner sells the parts individually - in case you want to mix and match, for some reason. The front bumper - complete with the hole-punch intake, will set you back $2,695 (approx £2,100). The rear diffuser is another $1,495 (approx. £1,200) and Vorsteiner will even sell you a ducktail boot lid for $2,395 (approx. £1,900.).

However, the one thing it won’t produce is a carbon fibre roof, which will be a dead giveaway to any M3 anorak that this is a replica CSL rather than the real thing. Particularly so if your car has a sunroof - which you’d never find on a CSL.

Just 103 kits will be made, to match the horsepower-per-litre ratio of the CSL’s 3.2-litre naturally-aspirated straight six. How’s that for car meet trivia?

It’ll be rarer than the real thing too - with 1,383 CSLs in existence. Granted, the Vorsteiner kit doesn’t mechanically alter your car, so you’ll need to source any other upgrades elsewhere.