A little odd, but hey, C&D loves bimmers
C&D review

I just shrugged my shoulders and turned the page.   

A well equipped sedan (as I configured it) would come out to around 63k.  The coupe starts about 2k more... so it wouldn't have as much cool stuff, but I perused over and built one real quick on bmwusa.com and it can be done with leather!

Base MSRP   $56,500
Alpine White   $0
Black Novillo Leather   $0 (included in Prem - pkg)
Blue-gray Brushed Aluminium Trim   $0
Premium Package   $2,000
Technology Package   $3,250
19" Forged and polished Double Spoke wheels (Style 220M) with mixed tires   $1,200
Destination & Handling:   $825
Total MSRP as Built   $63,775

Well, M3 sedan starts at 53K and coupe 56K
7K of options will give you something, but no much

My 335i has almost 12K worth of options 
Thank god for euro delivery

Oh it can easily jump into the 75k range  (with tax )

this is fully optioned out:

Melbourne Red Metallic   $550
Black Novillo Extended Leather   $1,100
Carbon Leather interior trim   $0
Cold Weather Package   $750
Premium Package   $2,000
Technology Package   $3,250
19" Forged and polished Double Spoke wheels (Style 220M) with mixed tires   $1,200
M Double-clutch Transmission with Drivelogic   $2,700
Power rear sunshade   $350
Enhanced Premium Sound   $1,900
HD radio   $350
iPod and USB adapter   $400
Satellite radio with 1 year subscription   $595
Park Distance Control (rear only)   $350
Destination & Handling:   $825
Total MSRP as Built   $72,820

What a stupid article.  Honestly, the magazine clearly had nothing else to write about this month so they thought that throwing a bunch of hot cars up would get folks to buy it.  oooh I have an idea, lets do a comapro Chrysler Town & Country vs F1 Racer.
"The Town and Country (TC) clearly wins here due to it being far more civilized on the main roads.  With room for 100 and a stereo it also seemed to bring a much more to the livability standard.  One nice aspect was the TC had air conditioning.  The F1 was fast, no doubt about that, but perhaps too fast and the lack of good traction control means it might actually be dangerous in the snow.  Also, room for only one person dragged down our rating here."
This reminds me of when Road and Track did a comparison of the Lamborghini Countach vs a Bell Hellicopter.  yes a freaking COPTER!  What's next? Comparison of a F150 vs the M3 and then say "the towing capacity of the M3 really dragged this down in the all terrain test".  In the end, the 911 competes with the GT-R.  The M3?  Apples and Oranges.

Not to O.T. this, but I personally think this is the most retarded comparo I've ever seen:

Comparison Test: 2008 Audi R8 vs. 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8