But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The
new M3 has undergone some pretty unprecedented evolution. If you take your foot
off the throttle in a regular turbocharged car, the turbo starts to spin down,
creating the ‘lag’ factor. There’s no such thing in the new M3 — the blow-off
is rerouted back to the engine to maintain turbo speeds at 80,000 to 90,000
rpm, even in off-throttle conditions. Net result? Quick access to torque and
thrust, even if you upshift a bit too soon.
The
M4's cabin offers superb driving ergonomics
Speaking of upshifts, the biggest takeaway
from this reorientation is that the best way to drive this car is to upshift
quickly. The M-DCT 7-speed dual-clutch transmission is lightning quick with
part-throttle shifts in Sport or Sport+, inducing what are equivalent to
violent kicks to the base of your neck. This is probably what it feels like to
fire a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile; except that you’re riding the
missile. The sheer velocity with which the new and lighter M3 guns for the
right-hander that hides behind the crest on the roller-coaster Portimao track
makes you wonder what the last expression on the face of the pilot might be,
when he sees that missile getting larger in his canopy.
Strangely, what makes this 'plane' of thought
go down in flames is the manner in which BMW's Motorsport division has
re-altered the car’s positioning. For one, the M3 is now 'saloon only', thus
completing BMW’s allocation of odd digits for sedans and evens for coupes,
convertibles and roadsters.
Switchable
modes turn the BMW M3 from comfortable cruiser to track weapon
That brings us to the M4 in that yellow
corner. No, contrary to what you may think, that’s not a new shade. Wind the
clock back 14 years, and you will find the Phoenix Yellow E46 M3 in that
corner. This one, though, is called Austin Yellow — a tribute to the Circuit of
the Americas Track in Austin, Texas. The blue M3 saloon with the Yas Marina
branding is also the third M3 sedan since the E36 and E92. It hasn’t exactly
been setting the markets on fire and BMW hopes to change that around.
And to that end, the company’s certainly
not pulling any punches — it’s the first iteration of the car with a
turbocharged motor, carbon ceramic stoppers (optional), carbon-fibre roof
(standard) and it's even outfitted with Hoonigan controls! The M3’s lean diet
is fired by a carbon-fibre constructed drive-shaft, a carbon-fibre strut brace
and lightweight forged arms that are not only new, but take away a lot of mass
from the car.
There
are plenty of premium materials at work in the M4's cabin, making you feel like
you're in something special
The cumulative effect of all this weight
loss is that this car is lighter than even the stock M3 coupe from two
generations ago — the E46 — and lighter than its predecessor by 80 kg. Adding
to the list of firsts for the M3 is the electro-mechanical steering setup,
which, as BMW M's bosses admit, was allocated a dedicated engineer (and not a
shared resource) to set up (at least one auto manufacturer seems to have taken
cognizance of all the complaints from auto hacks and enthusiasts over 'steering
feel'). The result is a deliciously feel-some steering with extremely good
weighting in Sport and Sport+ modes. That, coupled with the manner in which the
airflow is directed over the oil cooler up front using clever aerodynamic
design, results in a reduction in lift and improvement in steering accuracy.
Clearly, BMW is bent on making sure its pièce de résistance performance car
isn't in danger of getting jaded any time soon.
BMW
M3's front track is stretched to 1,579mm, 34mm up on the old version
What you also don't lose out on is the
immense traction, predictability and ease of control even when you go too hot
around the corner. And since adapting to the throttle sensitivity takes some
time, that happens quite a few times in the first few laps. The few degrees of
slip and slide don’t do anything more than bring a big grin on your face.
Later, when it becomes apparent to you that it’s perfectly acceptable to ditch
the track in-charge’s instructions to keep the ESP off, you become a rebel with
a cause. Nothing prepares you for the elegance with which the rear simply steps
out, albeit with lots of traction. But the darn throttle overwhelms you and
your first outing in a drift is simply a 180-degree exercise. It takes a couple
of tries, but finally, you get a hang of it. It's an absolute riot.
Where it becomes amply clear that the M3
and M4 have differences beyond a couple of doors is when you keep it clean and
go for a few hot laps. The M4 just seems to be better controlled, tighter and
that wee bit more accurate at the job. It could be down to fine-tuning and/ or
the difference in stiffness levels between the four-door and the coupe, but the
M4 feels just that little bit extra special. All of which is mostly true on the
track, because on-road, there's really little to differentiate the two.
