All-new BMW M3 – the icon evolved
The new M3 is imminent, featuring a new platform, a new engine and soon a driven front axle too. But rest easy; M3 is as M3 was
Raining? Cats and dogs, mate. Mercury pools of standing water shimmer in the braking zone on the downhill run to the Sachsenkurve, where the pros hit 135mph in fifth. The spray of the lead car plots a diffuse course through a curtain of rain moving across the circuit. Halfway into the third-gear esses, two rivulets as wide as the new M3 rudely interrupt grip on the approach to the track’s trickiest apex.
Needless to say the M3 is all over the place, rotating like a breakdancer and fishtailing wildly under full acceleration. Just in time the marshalls red-flag our three-car convoy, which duly returns to the pits, only to come under instant fire from half a dozen air wrenches. Semi-slicks off… road tyres on… done! But before we go we must wait until Dirk Häcker, M’s engineering director, returns from his sighting laps, whereupon four liveried mechanics jump at the steaming car, check the pressures, exchange nods with the boss and tweak the settings. Forget wear. What counts right here and now is grip, and grip only.
The plan is to kick off the session in the current M4, then step into the new car. A quick reminder: the current M4 weighs 1660kg (with the twin-clutch ’box). It’s powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six good for 444bhp and 405lb ft. Key to its talents are its mixed wheel sizes – 19-inch up front, 20-inch at the back – and the electronically-controlled M diff, for optimum traction and grip. Thus equipped, the M3/M4 is arguably the best-balanced driver’s car in a league it founded back in 1985.
After a brief radio check we’re off, a pair of identical M4s trailing the instructor in a 2021 model. What about stability control? ‘Do what you like. As long as you know what you’re doing…’ I set the wiper speed on three and leave the DSC button untouched. We nevertheless find ourselves fishtailing three times at close to 100mph through the three uphill left-handers.
Five laps later body and brain have finally adjusted to the track, the car and the weather. We pit, and I swap my 2019 M4 for a 2021 M3. The difference? Obviously four doors instead of two, an additional 25kg and a one-tenth disadvantage from zero to 62mph compared to the new M4.
Both pre-production cars are fitted with six-speed manuals, which further reduces the subjective difference in performance between previous and future, even though the latest metamorphosis of the S58 engine delivers 473bhp and 479lb ft. Since that’s all the torque this gearbox can cope with, only the base variant will come with a three-pedal gearbox option. Although M xDrive will next year be available in combination with the more powerful M3/M4 derivatives, the bottom-rung beast remains rear-drive only, just like the car five generations before it.
Dynamically more significant than the beefed-up drivetrain is the more advanced CLAR donor platform, which also underpins the latest 3- and 4-series (we drove the latter in last month’s issue). It is stiffer, approximately 50kg lighter and more competent in terms of handling, roadholding and ride. Can’t wait for the lights to turn green…
So many impressions to register and filter, so little time. So many perspectives to consider, so little variety of weather. This much I do know: buyers can at last escape from the stylish but stupid instrument graphics that infect every current BMW cockpit by selecting the much clearer M view option. Or simply focus on the head-up display: hockeystick revcounter, gear indicator, speed. The pre-configured M1 and M2 settings wisely avoid DSC Off, but the appropriate button is where it’s always been, so slacker traction control is only a fingertip away, should the rain ever stop…
The guy in the pace car talks too much. I let myself fall back a bit to better guesstimate the racing line; wider, softer arcs. After five laps cars number two and three are instructed to swap position, but a glance in the rear-view mirror draws a blank. Let’s use the extra time to zoom in on steering and brakes. Turn-in is as brisk and positive as ever. If anything, the feedback is now meatier, marginally more positive, better grounded. This is the result of changes to more than just the steering ⊲
itself; congenial partners include redesigned suspension, tuned kinematics, recalibrated springs and dampers, thicker anti-roll bars and notably tauter mounting points all round.
Steering effort decreases when you switch from Sport Plus to Sport, and again when you go back to Normal. Although the increased lightness is accentuated by today’s slippery surface, the steering feel is still there in 3D haptic force, with input, weight and selfcentering action delivering a persuasive lesson in homogeneity. The brakes bite promptly but need a heavy hoof. At the end of the day it’s this awesome front-axle grip, rather than the car’s stopping power, which dominates the driving experience. Because the front tyres just hang on and on, the new M3 can carry quantifiably more speed into a corner than before.
Like the M2 CS, the latest M3 is fitted with a forgiving clutch and an undemanding gearbox. Sounds like a compliment; in fact it’s a giftwrapped criticism. Must the clutch and tranny of an M3 really feel as soft and indifferent as their 420i equivalents? Should we not expect a more aggressive and precise shift action? And while we’re at it, what exactly happened to the coveted dual-clutch seven-speeder? Carsten Proll, in charge of the vehicle programme: ‘The M Steptronic with Drivelogic is the more compelling option. It offers one more ratio, better economy, a choice of three shift speeds and a smoother action in trac.’ Although single-gear upshifts take the blink of an eye longer, multi-gear jumps are quicker, and one must not forget that BMW’s accountants simply love the substantially cheaper ZF auto ’box used across the entire CLAR range.
The 473bhp powering our prototype is only an appetiser – there’s a lot more grunt to come. It starts with the M3/M4 Competition versions, which will get 503bhp, followed by the mildly decontented and even sportier CS – rated at 527bhp – and trumped by the no-holds-barred CSL, with its higher-revving 542bhp engine.
But the key go-faster innovation for the new M3/M4 is the M xDrive all-wheel-drive system, which promises to shave two-tenths off the 0-62mph time while offering the dynamic spectrum from safe AWD to lurid RWD. The exact number, relayed off the record, is 3.8sec 0-62mph, which should improve to 3.6sec and even 3.4sec respectively as the more potent engines become available. By specifying the M driver’s package, the top speed of 155mph can be increased to 175mph. The M4 CSL will nuzzle up to the 200mph barrier, sources say.
Contrary to earlier rumours, the drag coecient and the frontal area remain virtually unchanged in the wake of the model change, and there are no significant downforce improvements either. Having said that, front axle lift certainly was not an issue on the track, and any ground effect working to help the rear tyres stay put was easily nixed by some ill-timed lift-off or premature power-on manoeuvres. Let’s face it: losing grip in the rain under power is part of this car’s DNA – if an M4 never steps sideways, you’re not trying hard enough.
It’s a different story in the dry, when on-demand oversteer is there for the taking in the bottom three gears. When it rains, however, involuntary tail-out antics in fourth and fifth are the rule rather than the exception. Heart-stopping at first, these shoulder-shrugging motions soon become second nature because all it takes to rejoin the original flight path is a quick flick at the wheel and, occasionally, the briefest lift-off gesture. To fully relish this innate tail-happiness, the new M3/M4 comes with a new drift control analogous with the AMG’s yellow oversteer thumbwheel. Wind things off progressively and you can learn on the job, in safety.
Our final lap is the fastest, the car really getting into its stride as its brakes start to struggle. First contact with the sixth-generation M3 is like embracing your son after a couple of terms abroad – you proudly register the transformation from insecure adolescent to a brighter, fitter and more mature adult. And just as this person has gained new skills and the experience to deploy them well, so the grown-up new M3 has fewer edges but is a sharper tool nonetheless. It’s a better car now in almost every respect, and that appeal will only grow when it becomes available in AWD guise (due mid-2021, a few months after the rear-drive car goes on sale; the soft-top M4 will arrive late next year). The first M car to go all-wheel drive, the M5, is currently the best car BMW makes. That accolade may last only as long as it takes us to get behind the wheel of the M3 blessed with the same technology.
First verdict
Even in its meekest state of tune, and without the M5-inspired all-wheel drive, this is a still a compelling drive, and a mighty M3 ★★★★★
The front-axle grip is awesome. And because the front tyres just hang on and on and on, the new M3 can carry quantifiably more speed into a corner