In fact, there’s so much grunt on the exit
of Portimão’s slow corners that second hits too hard, so you short-shift to
third to smooth out the torque onslaught. Same goes for the top end of third.
The M4’s ability to pile on speed and remain composed while loaded up with
g-force is impressive. It’s only over the most abrupt crests that you get some
squirm from the back axle.
The M4 really holds together on the track.
The chassis is wonderfully predictable – there’s very little understeer, you
can totally lean on the grip and if the torque surge does catch you out and the
rear end starts to swing, everything is clearly telegraphed. The balance is
fantastic and that clever electronic differential really knows its business.
Tone down the traction control (MDM mode permits some lairiness), and you can
string together clean, fast laps or exit each corner with some opposite lock.
Makes you feel like a legend.
There
are plenty of premium materials at work in the M4's cabin, making you feel like
you're in something special
There are other buttons, too. Portimão is
just about smooth enough to tolerate Sport Plus suspension (Sport is the sweet
spot on Portugese roads). The steering is best in Sport wherever you are – it’s
the Goldilocks mode, although the electro-mechanical system relies on weight
and accuracy, not genuine transparency, to give you confidence. But we know the
days of great steering are now past, don’t we?
But the Sport Plus engine mode is rather
special. It has an anti-lag system. This, for me, is the M3’s party trick. If
you lift off or brake, the ECU keeps the turbos spinning by managing the
airflow and injecting a bit of extra fuel. And we mean spinning. The teeny
turbos, each the diameter of a pill bottle top and driving three cylinders,
don’t drop below 120,000rpm (they have a max speed of 190,000rpm), so when you
get back on the power, they’re already there, forcing the induction. Look, it’s
never going to have the almost shocking response and immediacy, let alone the
yowling top end, that made the naturally aspirated M3s so utterly beguiling,
but this might just be the best (and certainly most instantly responsive)
turbocharged engine I’ve come across.
The
M4 comes with 18-inch alloy wheels as standard
Weirdly, if the M4 has a weak point on
circuit, it’s the same ceramic brakes that I praised on the road. It’s nothing
to do with their power, and they don’t fade, but the ABS is more active than it
needs to be, the pedal travel longer.
Is there a detectable difference between
coupe and saloon? At the risk of searching out pointlessly small differences in
order to make myself look more chin-scratchingly knowledgeable, yes, I think
there is. I drove the M3 on track too because, well, you would, wouldn’t you?
It felt a bit more flighty over crests, and the merest fraction looser at the
back. Put it down to the marginally higher centre of gravity, the tiny rearward
weight shift. Or perhaps I’m searching for differentiation where none exists.
Powering
the M4 is a new turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder engine
Both are good cars. Exceptional cars, in
fact. I’m dismayed that BMW has stepped away from natural aspiration, but I
understand the reasons it’s had to, and if I’m honest the end result is better
than I’d expected. And that’s not damning it with faint praise. Yes, some of
the purity and thrill has inevitably been lost, but the M3 is still on the
right path.
