BMW M3/M4 CS

A CS is hard to justify now, but watch this space, says Adam Towler

THE E46 M3 CSL. EXPENSIVE WHEN NEW. A CAR with no basis in motorsport, with a gearbox that was far from loved even at the time, let alone now, and brakes that were hopeless for the track work it was presumably aimed at. Oh, and original Michelin Pilot Sport Cups that required a disclaimer before you drove the car in the wet. By just about any measure it gave second best to a 996.2 GT3. But now? Don’t you just really want one, for so many obvious and oft-repeated reasons?

The same might be said of the E92 M3 GTS: a decent car, but a lot of money for a V8 M3 and, well, wouldn’t you have bought a 997 GT3 as a track car? And yet when we drove one in evo 263 it seemed fabulous – bespoke, brimming with feel and character, let alone actual ability. You’ll pay a high price to own one today, but I’d love to all the same.

The question is, what are the chances of the F32 M4 CS, and its four-door M3 CS brother, repeating the same cycle? BMW’S modernera specials, unlike their counterparts from Weissach, have usually taken a long while to be appreciated. The best current-gen M3/M4 is easily the 2018 model year car in Competition Package form. It’s a great all-rounder, and even near the end of its production life still beats or equals the opposition. There is no way the CS is worth nearly £30,000 more, whatever its abilities. Would you really pay ninety grand (basic) for a 4-series? Me neither.

At 454bhp it has just 10bhp more, and while it revs out with a tiny bit more vigour, you have to know both it and the Competition Package intimately to tell the difference. It doesn’t help that many a tuning firm will up the power of a standard car to far in excess of that, and whatever the durability of those engines afterwards, it does rather steal the CS’S thunder.

It may also have lightweight door cards, a carbonfibre bonnet and a pared-back centre console, but the weight saving is only 32kg, and on a machine that weighs nearly 1600kg that’s hardly profound. It’s not as though you can order it with the manual transmission, either, and moreover, a good deal of its additional performance simply comes from the fitment of Michelin Cup 2 tyres, which, I might add, are hopeless on this car when the conditions are cold and wet.

But here’s the thing. On the right road, the CS is fantastic. It does everything the Comp Pack does but steers better, feels more connected. It derives its throaty roar from a proper sports exhaust, and does without the horrible augmented noise in the cabin: now the straightsix really sings, despite being turbocharged. It’s rare, too, and while you might baulk at spending all that money on a new one, the lure of factory carbon panels is undeniable all the same. With the next M3 and M4 being four-wheel drive, and inevitably more refined, I wonder how we’ll view the CS in ten years’ time?

‘THE LURE OF FACTORY CARBONFIBRE PANELS IS UNDENIABLE’