SO GOOD ‘M DIVISION MIGHT HAVE A DIFFICULT TASK’

MAYBE, BEFORE WE SET OFF, I should have emphasised the point that I don’t know the Nürburgring that well. A veteran of just two laps of the Nordschleife, I’m in a prototype G20 3-series, zebra camouflage and all, following senior engineer Thomas Käfer in a BMW M2, acting as a pathfinding pace car. And that pace is quick; very quick.

Thing is, the 3-series is so planted and agile I feel like a ’Ring regular. The BMW’s high-speed stability is quite something. Piling into the Hatzenbach sweepers, it’s clear this M Sport-spec car (with lower, firmer suspension, on the standard passive dampers) doesn’t really do bodyroll, and resists dive under braking like a sweetly set-up competition car. It gives you the confidence to push hard within the first few corners, even on this most unforgiving of circuits.

The power steering, too, feels at home on a track, staying unerringly true under braking and requiring very little lock for the ’Ring’s rare tight corners – you hardly ever need move your hands from quarter to three. It’s a variable-rate system, as introduced on the facelifted F30 3-series, but it’s been fettled for a smoother ratio, with less of a sudden change as you progress around a corner. It gets my vote.

This prototype is fitted with what will be an optional M Plus package when the 3-series goes on sale: 19-inch wheels with wider tyres at the rear, an electronically-controlled locking diff and larger front brakes with four-piston calipers. Even the servo is different, for a shorter, more defined pedal feel. When I climbed into the car, still ticking from a previous hot lap (the car, not me), the pedal felt soft but from the first press they’re spot on, faithful and full of loquacious feedback.

As the Nordschleife unfurls ahead, I’m occasionally confidence-lifting for corners where I shouldn’t be at three-figure-speeds, in ways that would unbalance most mainstream saloons, but the 3-series is made of sterner stuff. Its limits seem unassailably high, and when you do scale them the stability control system, set to its most lenient mode here, already feels well calibrated; there to step in effectively when needed, staying unobtrusively in the background otherwise.

This particular car uses the 330i engine, a development of the outgoing 2.0-litre four with a little more power and torque than before, up by around 7bhp and 37lb ft respectively to 255bhp (despite a new, more restrictive filter), while fuel consumption has reputedly improved by five per cent.

Performance feels ample for a four-pot, and it’s a linear, free-revving engine, with a moderately zesty note – albeit partially enhanced by the speaker system. The chassis certainly feels like it could handle more power.

Headroom for an M3, then? On the basis of this frantic first impression, the regular 3-series already possesses M-worthy stability and agility. A touch more tactility and feedback below the limit as well as on it is the only area it feels lacking. Improving on this base car could be a tall order.

‘We think our colleagues at M Division might have a difficult task,’ smiles integration engineer Robert Rothmiller. Or, put another way, they’ve got a hell of a base to work from.4

PILING INTO THE HATZENBACH SWEEPERS, IT’S CLEAR THE NEW 3 SERIES DOESN’T DO BODYROLL