BMW’s molotov cocktail of

SHEER DRIVING PLEASURE: THE COMPETITION PACKAGE ELEVATES THE M3 SEDAN TO ANOTHER LEVEL

Sleeper looks, wild mechanics and acres of weight saving will thrill enthusiasts.

Iam sure it is a sign of modern times, when you have to offer customers a combined multitude of choices and exclusivity in order to get them to look your way when it comes to parting with a big chunk of cash.

Be it that, or clever marketing to drive sales numbers, it makes no real difference to me because it means I get to drive another special BMW M car.

BMW’s M3 Sedan has always been my preferred choice. I like the practicality of the four doors, and the flared rear-wheel arches hint at performance without giving the game away. The hardcore enthusiasts will always opt for the traditional Coupe, but the attraction of the sleeper nature of the Sedan works for me.

So, when an M3 Sedan Competition Package arrived at the office for road testing, I was eager to drive this machine for a week as a family car, thanks to its everyday useability. But I also wanted to get it to the Gerotek Testing facility to see what numbers would come out of my Racelogic VBOX road test equipment.

The family car part has already been discussed. As for the Gerotek part, it’s here because this M3 now offers 331kW, 14kW more than standard. And this gets the car to 100km/h in a claimed 4.0 seconds, 0.1 seconds quicker than standard, via the seven-speed M Double-Clutch transmission.

Try as I did though, the test car did not quite hit the claimed numbers. In fact, it was slightly slower than the standard M3 Sedan I tested a few years ago.

This was also the case with the M4 Competition Pack I tested, it too was not as quick as the standard M4 Coupe I had.

Make no mistake, running a 0-100km/h time of 4.27 seconds, a ¼ mile time of 12.43 seconds, a 1km speed of 244km/h while only electronically stopping at 293km/h is not slow.

But I can only think the slight difference in the times is down to the bigger 20-inch Michelin rubber running on exclusive forged alloys, causing a bit of drag, and maybe even our South African 95 octane pump fuel not liking the extra hike in boost.

Most owners will run some or other octane booster in a car like this when they want to play, and I believe that will bring the numbers more in line with what is expected.

Anyway, being an M car is not just about going fast in a straight line, it is actually more about dynamics. And here, the Competition Package gives you an Adaptive M Suspension, tuned for enhanced performance. It features new springs, dampers and anti-roll bars, along with reconfigured driving modes (Comfort, Sport and Sport+).

The standard Active M Differential on the rear axle and DSC Dynamic Stability Control have been configured to match the upgraded dynamics. This means if you know what you are doing behind the steering wheel, the Competition Pack car will not only put a massive smile on your face every time you drive it, it will also get you around a track or over mountain pass faster than any other equivalent machine.

In the inside, you are well prepared for your track attack moments, thanks to the Competition Package’s special lightweight M sports seats that combine perfect support under extremely hard