BMW M3 and M4
If you thought BMW had been quiet over the last few weeks, you may have been off ‘The List’, but like Koru Club membership, you can get in with a friend, friend…
“The list” is what you needed to get your invitation (and passport) to M Town; BMW’S venue for an introduction to its range
M-series vehicles and which was open for a week in April.
M Town is a global phenomenon – a destination especially for BMW M cars and enthusiasts – and it has opened its gates once before in New Zealand, near Queenstown.
This year, M Town came north: for the first time on tarmac, for the first time open to the public and for the first time on a race circuit – namely Hampton Downs.
And this year, all participants were welcomed by the ‘mayor’ of M Town – and managing director of BMW New Zealand – Karol Abrasowicz-madej who commented: “Too much is just right at M Town, and this year we took it to new heights. We were delighted to see 260 participants take part in New Zealand’s first-ever tarmac M Town to enjoy a spectacular range of BMW M cars.”
And while almost every vehicle with an M badge was there, including convertibles and the awesomely capable SUVS, M Town hosted a special event.
It was the venue for the introduction of the sixth generation M3 sedan and M4 Coupe Competition (though these had been teased a week earlier at an airfield just north of Auckland, having been delivered by Black Hawk helicopter).
But it was on the Hampton Down circuit where the public got the chance to put these M-ppresive road and track cars to the test.
Both the four-door sedan and two-door coupe are powered by BMW’S M-onster sixcylinder, in-line Twinpower turbo delivering 375kw of power and 650Nm of torque, allowing each car to post a sub-four second 0 to 100km time.
A 3.9 second time is pretty sweet, but its not the be all and end all of an M-car.
For the M3 and the M4, there are some M-utual features which are listed as standard equipment.
These include the active M differential, adaptive M suspension, M Drive Professional and – for demonstration purposes – the optional M Carbon package, incorporating M Carbon bucket seats, rear spoiler, mirror caps side inlets and a rear diffuser.
Of these features, M Drive Professional is likely the one needing the most explanation. In a nutshell it’s a 10-stage modifier for the traction control system, which works in connection with the onboard drift analyser to allow for controlled wheel slip especially on race-tracks, the natural hunting preserve of the rear-wheel-drive Competition cars.
It goes without saying the M3 and M4 are comprehensively equipped with extensive top-of-the-line safety features, driver aids and infotainment systems and in addition, owners have access to the Connected Drive Professional suite of connectivity features with real time traffic and concierge services in addition to Apple Carplay/android Auto and Bluetooth, to name a few.
But you can find all this information in a brochure. What you can’t get from the brochure is to see just how easy it is to make a BMW Competition car make you go Mmm.
STOP PRESS: BMW has just announced a convertible M4 with M xdrive all-wheeldrive is on its way and scheduled to arrive just in time for the summer of 2021 – and it’s 0.2 seconds faster to 100km than the hard tops. Mm – mm!