BMW M3: introduction
Take arguably BMW's best known and most loved model. Make it even faster, as in silly fast. Then make it miles more efficient and much easier to live with than ever before.
Garnish with BMW's latest and greatest technology – you know, a fancy head up display, a clever new app, that kind of thing. Result? The new M3 saloon. It's a genuine game changer for both BMW and the segment in which the M3 operates.
What it will really be remembered for is rebooting performance expectations for this class of car. The M3 saloon and its closely related M4 coupé sibling are stupendously, staggeringly, sickeningly quick.
In fact, they feel faster even than BMW's sobering performance claims. But at the same time, this new model is both preposterously civilised when it wants to be and startlingly fuel efficient.
For the record, a few nagging questions do lurk amongst all this tarmac-trampling triumphalism. For instance, to what end all this performance? Is speed the same as driving enjoyment? How relevant is huge velocity in the current context? Hold those thoughts for a moment.
Power play
There have been many M3s down the years. But barring the 1986 original, which was something of a touring car refugee, all have been able to lay claim to the title of junior supercar. Back in 1993 when the second generation E36 M3 appeared, 286bhp was a big number.
Here in 2013, 431bhp for this latest model doesn't sound so spectacular, what with 500bhp-plus saloons from the category above (including BMW's own M5) now common place and the likes of Mercedes making hatchbacks with 360bhp. The world has gone a bit power mad.
Despite all that, the new M3 is still something special for its performance alone. Forget the 'junior' bit, this thing is a bona fide supercar.
That's been achieved through widespread application of BMW's latest tech. It starts with a major weight loss programme courtesy of a number of aluminium panels up front.
Then there's carbon fibre for the roof panel and chassis bracing pieces. Along with a range of detail measures, the upshot is a new M3 that's lighter than its predecessor for the very first time.
OK, it's only 85kg lighter than the old M3 saloon. But given the uptick in tech and equipment, 1,520kg overall is very impressive. Audi's competing RS5 is getting on for 1,800kg.
The other part of the performance package is the shift away from BMW M Power's classic approach to high performance, namely a nut-job of a high-revving engine.
In its place comes turbo charging. The peak horsepower number of 431 from the new straight-six engine is only slightly up on the old V8 model. But torque is up massively across the rev range. Combine that with the lower weight and you have a recipe for a step-change in performance.
Mmm, technical...
As for broader tech, it falls into two categories. First there's kit directly related to the drive. Then there's more peripheral stuff including multimedia.
On the driving side, the big news is driver configurability. This M3 is more tunable to suit your preference than ever before.
Then main options are throttle response, gearbox (assuming you've gone for the optional dual-clutch robobox, which BMW reckons 90 per cent plus of buyers will), suspension and steering. Each offers three settings ranging from comfort / efficiency up to super sporty and aggressive.
The two most dramatic are the gearbox and throttle response parameters. With the dual-clutch box in default mode, gearshifts are super smooth – you really only know they've happened due to the change in engine note.
In the most aggressive mode, they slam home, thump you in the kidneys and light up the rear tyres. It's almost a bit much and indeed it's the middle mode that works best unless you really must show off to your passengers.
The throttle response likewise ranges from soft and mild mannered to spiky and whip crack at the touch of a button.
The suspension and steering modes are more subtle, but the general gist is firmer and weightier as you step through the levels.
If four settings each with three levels sounds complicated, BMW provides two memory profiles with corresponding buttons on the steering wheel. That way, you can quick-jump, say, between your preferred settings for cruising and hooning.
Overall, the result is just what BMW claims. An M3 that offers a combo of comfort and sharpness not seen before.
BMW M3: in-car technology
As for multimedia, you get the latest build of BMW iDrive with ConnectedDrive, which we think is one of if not the best system currently out there.
Input is done either by the selector wheel that now boasts a touchpad on top or voice commands. You get all the usual functions including navigation and entertainment and more cutting-edge features like internet connectivity and apps.
Our favourite bit is the new app for controlling GoPro Hero sports cameras - It's one of the best in-car apps we've experienced.
The head up display is super, too, and for the M3 now features an option rev counter for when you are driving in manual mode using the paddle shifters. Nifty.
On the downside, the nav system can be tricky to follow. As ever, it's a tiny bit laggy, which can lead to missing exits on roundabouts. The live traffic data and alternative routing is borderline useless, too.
That's a flaw BMW's nav shares with many other systems. But it's no less galling for that. In the end, nothing beats pulling up Google maps and using your MK1 eyeballs to judge how the traffic is looking.
Devastating drive
This is what it's all about. Driving the M3. Words frankly don't do justice to the relentless shove the new M3 offers. It absolutely pulverises the old V8 model. Really.
Honestly, numbers like the claimed 4.1 seconds to 62mph don't do the real-world performance justice.
Its best party trick is accelerating from 5,000rpm in fourth gear (out of seven). At that stage, you're doing 90mph and the M3 explodes forward like the Millenium Falcon with warp drive engaged only to bang into the 155mph speed limiters moments later. It's faintly ridiculous.
Of course, it's not the fastest car in the world. We've driven plenty more powerful and faster cars. But not in this segment. Thanks to the light kerb weight, the M3's acceleration often feels more vivid than the bigger, more powerful M5 and M6 models from BMW.
Oh yeah, and the new M3 achieves all this while emitting under 200g/km of CO2. That's plain ridiculous.
Thanks to the work BMW has done on the chassis, things like carbon fibre bracing and solidly-located subframes, the new M3 feels even more precise through corners, too. It's quite a package.
So, what's the catch?
If at this stage you're thinking surely BMW mucked something up somewhere, we can confirm the new M3 won't be for everyone. The character and noise of the turbo engine, for all its epic thrust, won't please purists who love naturally-aspirated zing.
In fact the character of the performance is more 335d uber diesel on steroids than old school BMW M car, despite the work BMW has done in making this petrol turbo rev to 7,000rpm.
The augmented engine noise using the car's audio system will offend the same old school crowd.
And more generally, the new M3 has less character as slow speeds. It's remarkably comfortable, remarkably refined. For most that will be all for the better. But for a small minority, the missing sense of driving a real weapon, even when pottering through town, will be sorely missed.
The new performance saloon standard
But the biggest problem is that the things the new M3 does best are things your conscience and the law doesn't allow for on most public roads.
It's at its best when you are driving it like you stole it. Then it's electrifyingly fast and impeccably precise, bar a little loss of body control in extremis.
The rest of the time it's very refined, very, well, normal BMW. What you make of that is up to you. For a tiny minority, the M3 and its M4 sibling represent the end of BMW M cars as we once knew them. Highly strung, utterly unique.
For everyone else, we reckon the M3 is bang on for what most people want from a modern performance saloon. It certainly makes something like an Audi RS5 feel hopelessly flat footed.
So, there's nothing unique about the mix of ingredients here. Turbo power, paddle shift gearbox, a metric tonne of tech. But the way BMW has blended them into a devastatingly usable package truly sets new standards. It's not a BMW M car as we knew them. But it is an exceptional achievement.
The new M3 is available now from £55,654 in the UK and $62,000 Stateside.
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