June 2021

In 2013, I purchased my dream car. It was a 2002 (E46) BMW M3 in Laguna Seca Blue. As a schoolboy, I remember seeing it on the cover of car magazines, and it was perfect. I can vividly remember watching Tiff driving it on the television, too, telling 14-year-old me that it was 'simply awesome'.

I remember driving my dream car home for the first time from where I purchased it. It immediately felt raw and visceral. The mystical motorsport-derived engine honked in air through the air intake ahead of you and rasped it out of exhaust pipes behind you. The suspension felt firm and purposeful, the steering felt sharp and predictable, and the interior was simplistic yet provided everything you needed. There was only really one driving mode with the E46, too - 'on'. There was a button titled 'sport' that sharpened up the throttle response and another that gave the option to turn off the traction control, but beyond those two choices of adaptation, it was very much a case of 'what you see is what you get.’

The E46 M3 changed the way I looked at cars. It showed me that motorsport engineering in affordable road cars was a very real thing, and it made me fall head over heels in love with BMW's powerful letter, 'M'.

A few years later, I bought myself another M car, a 1999 Z3 M Coupe. As a slightly older M car than the E46, it felt even more engaging to drive, and it became my 'track day toy', which I still own to this day. When people would ask me for recommendations for an 'out of the box everything car', I'd say without any hesitation at all, "BMW M, ideally an M3." I made new friends with M cars, and I experienced other models too; I drove E39 and E60 M5s and E90 M3s plus older models like E36 and E30 M3s. Everything was just so brilliant - BMW M could do no wrong!

Now we all know the glory years of motoring have been and gone. This is not a line worthy of headline status or even a slightly bolder font. Rules and laws set by governments around the world to ensure cars are safer and less polluting mean that some of the 'edge' and 'excitement' that made performance cars of yesteryear so raw and engaging have dulled things down a little.

Last week, a friendly man dropped off a 2021 BMW M4 Competition to the office. Given my deep-rooted passion for M3s, this is a car I have been quite excited to drive.

As you'll probably know, the M4 came along as a slightly confusing replacement for the M3... but not all M3s, just the M3s with two doors. M3s still exist, but they only have four doors now instead of having the option of two or four doors. It was confusing at first, and to be honest with you, it's still pretty confusing now too, but essentially, the M4 and the M3 are still the same thing... except the model with two doors now has a different name to the model with four doors. Are we keeping up? No? It's okay. It's all a bit unnecessarily complicated, which is a theme that will stick around for a while.

Anyway, a Sao Paulo Yellow BMW M4 Competition (with two doors) parks up in the office car park, and I go out to meet the driver, who kindly offers to run through a few things on the car. Be it M or non-M, I am a fan of the BMW product. I like the styling, I like the interiors, I like the I-Drive system, and generally, I find the collective aesthetic of BMW quite pleasing. As I sat in the driver's seat for the first time, the gentleman from BMW talked me through the various driver modes, all of which are configurable - of course. You can change feel settings for the engine, the steering, the suspension and even how the brakes feel. Then there are two red forward-triggers on the steering wheel ‘M1’ and ‘M2’, which can be individually programmed to offer you, the driver, a couple of quick go-to presets to give you the feel of the car you like best. For many, this might seem like a bit of fun, but for me, it just seemed like a bit of an initial faff.

I was then introduced to the gearbox "have you driven a ZF8 box before?" the friendly man asked.

"well, yes." I replied, "however, I wasn't expecting to see one in here!"

This triggered my first alarm bell. Historically, BMW M cars have come with two gearbox options, either 'full manual' with three pedals and a gear stick or paddle-shift options of SMG (sequential manual gearbox) on the older cars or DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) on the newer cars.

The M4 has a 'ZF8' which is ultimately an automatic gearbox with the option to override via paddles on the steering column. Now, let me be clear, the ZF8 gearbox is a glorious bit of kit. It's one of the best auto-boxes on the market today, and as a result, it can be found as standard equipment in many other marques beyond BMW, including; Alfa Romeo, Audi, Bentley, Chrysler, Dodge, INEOS, Jaguar, Jeep, Lamborghini, Lancia, Land Rover, Maserati, Morgan, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Toyota and Volkswagen. Whilst the choice of the gearbox is logical on the premise of it being 'very good', it's not what you'd call 'an exciting choice' in a car with more than 500hp.

The paddle-shift SMG or DCT boxes of yesteryear were savage and, as a result: brilliant. Upshifting on acceleration felt like you had been kicked from behind, launching you into the next gear ratio of acceleration with a 'bang'. It didn't have to be savage; you could, of course, tone things down with some tinkering of settings allowing you to drive it perfectly sedately to and from the office, knowing that you could (if you wanted to) give yourself spinal injuries through gearshifts as and when you saw fit. The ZF8 doesn't do spinal injury. What it does instead is smooth and fast shifts, and that's fine, but it's not very 'motorsporty'.

"That's okay. I'll get the manual box then, John!" - I hear you cry. And yes, that is fine as long as you don't live in the UK. Here in blighty, the only gearbox option available to us is the ZF8 auto. In the USA, you can happily walk into your preferred BMW dealership and put down a deposit for your new M3 or M4 with a six-speed manual. But not here.

Now on the subject of dealerships, we should probably mention the price too. Here in the UK, an entry-level M4 will cost you around £78,000. Once you've ticked some option boxes, the 'Competition' will set you back around £92,500, and that's a pretty significant pile of cash. For reference, the previous model M4 Competition was £60,000.

So, it's drastically more expensive, it has a drastically less exciting gearbox, and there is something else we need to mention; the design. Chances are you're reading this, and you're probably waiting for me to talk about the grilles - and I will, now. D'you know what? I don't actually mind them. I was shocked like many when the press pictures were first released, but I quickly adapted tolerance, and in the metal, I don't think it looks that bad at all, especially on a car with a darker colour choice.

BUT, elsewhere on the M4 (and the M3), there are some rather confusing styling quirks that leave me feeling a little miffed. I’m not a fan of the shape of the mirrors and I don't particularly appreciate how the rear side windows flick up at the bottom to look like a Ford Mustang. I don't particularly enjoy how the wheels seemingly get lost in the arches, and I'm not too fond of the silly fake diffuser on the rear bumper either. The more I look at the styling new M4, the more I get confused by it. Fortunately, the interior is typically BMW and is smart, exceptionally comfortable and has just the right amount of fuss.

So what's it like to drive? In a word: fast. The M4 Competition has an inline six-cylinder 3.0l twin-turbo producing a frankly hilarious 510bhp with 650nm of torque. We're officially into 5 to 10-year-old supercar territory now in a car that will happily accommodate granny in the passenger seat and the weekly Tesco shop in the boot. It handles typically like an M car should (very well), although the Competition offers Michelin Cup 2 tyres as a factory option (which this car happened to be equipped with) and I find that to be a curious choice. Cup 2 tyres are fantastic but only really come to life once they've warmed up to a toasty temperature. Like any motorsport-focused tyre, when cold, the grip can feel a little vague and wayward, and in the wet, cornering in any of the dynamic or sporty modes can be quite the event.

Despite being fully electric (as opposed to directly linked from the wheel to the steering rack), the steering is rewarding, and the M4 turns into both the tight and twisties and big sweepers very nicely. Still, for me, electric steering is something I'm not yet ready even to try and learn to love. It just doesn't offer the precise feel that good old fashioned hydraulic power steering does. Some settings add weighting to the wheel, but frankly, I found it best in comfort mode.

The suspension is firm, and like the steering, I enjoyed the ride best in comfort mode. In sport or 'dynamic mode', it's just a little too firm to be enjoyable unless you're driving on super smooth tarmac.

The engine is terrific with little-to-no turbo lag, thanks to the twin-turbo set-up. The car pulls brilliantly in all settings, but of course, the most exciting mode with all the noises, rumbles and roars is dynamic.

Overall, I wished it wasn't quite so complicated. I thought back to the happy days of me driving my E46 with a button for more throttle response and the on/off switch to let me rip a skid on a track day... but in the new car like all modern performance cars, endless options of variety seem to be the current trend.

Seeing as my time with the car was limited only to the public roads, I couldn't really push any boundaries to see what it's it's like when driven in anger, but I feel like with a slight geometry set-up and some learning time, it could be quite 'the thing' on a track day.

So, do I love it? Do I want to rush out and buy one? Is this a fitting encore to BMW M models of the past? No, no and unfortunately, no. And that makes me a little sad - but I do forgive BMW. With all the bureaucratic demands and desires of the average everyday motorist (read as: the majority of buyers), it can't be easy to follow on from the glory years of M cars.

The truth is, the average buyer isn't going to want spinal injury induced by gearbox up-shifts. They probably don't really care about steering feel either. They'll enjoy having the ability to accelerate from 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, but then they probably won't consider booking onto an evening session at Donington Park to see how it slides through Redgate corner with all the driver aids turned off.

I genuinely enjoyed the M4 Competition as a road car in sensible driving modes. As 'a car' that I drove 1000 miles of mixed motorways, A-roads and B-roads, it is brilliant. But because of the gearbox, the controversial styling and the frankly staggering choice of driver modes to pick and choose from, if I were an average buyer, I'd probably want to consider the M440i instead, which would also save me around £40,000.

If I was looking for a car to enjoy driving daily on the road, I'm just not sure the new M4 Competition would justify the extra cash spend with its lack of truly raw or visceral feedback over the already brilliant M440i. And if I was in the market for a car to make my brain explode with excitement on track with unadulterated driver-focussed interaction, I think I'd be visiting the BMW Approved Used sales desk instead.

Maybe a visit to the USA is required. After all, a third pedal and a gear stick might be all it takes to change my way of thinking.

A very special thank you to Partridge BMW for arranging the loan of the car.

Words by John Marcar
Photographs by Richard Fullbrook
Special thanks to Partridge BMW, Hampshire