Jacques Odendal is a self-confessed BMW nut, who simply had to have the best M3 on the block. An ordinary M3 just wasn?t enough for our Jacques ? he made double sure that just any old M3 would never hold a candle to his car?

First on the agenda were the wheels ? a superb set of 20-inch 6-Series Alpina Dynamic Rims. It turned out that the Six has the same wheel offset as the M3 and Jacques' investment fitted like a glove.

Wrapped in a layer of Michelin rubber, the Pilot Sport II 255/30ZR20 front and 295/25ZR20 rears certainly add to the look. Next up was a set of H&R coils to lower the front end 25mm and drop the rear by 15mm.

Then it was time to up the ante just a little and Jacques was off to Chiptuning SA, where Gerhard Moosman carried out an H&S elektronik gmbH software upgrade. Chip upgrades may not produce the power gains in an atmospheric machine that they do in a force-fed car, but power delivery is smoother and all aspects of that curve are optimised.

The final step in Jacques' tech quest was to fit a Schnitzer exhaust, while he runs a booster to get to a Euro-like 98 Octane. The finishing touches come in the form of stripes from the BMW Performance Catalogue and the wing mirrors are colour-coded all white.

Jacques estimates power to be in the region of 340kW from the stock 309 and torque to be closer to 440Nm versus the standard 400, but being the sceptics we are, we wanted our test kit to tell the real story ? we've often seen cars like this fail when tested?

Even by the seat of the pants, Jacques' M3 feels more M5-like than an M3 ? it's far more responsive, easier lights up the fatter tyres and pushes through to the limiter much more effectively. That exhaust may sound noisy from the outside, but in the car, it's tuneful and somehow cocooned.

Another surprise was the ride and feel in spite of those rubber band Michelins and a supposedly tauter spring kit ? yes, it is a little more compliant than stock, but it?s not too hard by any stretch.

And what did the test kit say? Better in every respect ? it's 10 percent quicker to 100, better over the quarter and its overtaking acceleration significantly improved over the already most impressive benchmark that is a standard M3.

So yes, for sure ? Jacques' M3 certainly has the go to match the show?