The latest BMW M3 marks probably the biggest step change in the history of this iconic
performance car.
Firstly, this two-door is no longer an M3 Coupe, it's now an M4.
And secondly, the naturally aspirated engine has been ditched for the very first time,
and been replaced by a three-litre turbocharged straight-six.
It's a formula you don't really want to mess with, but BMW is promising us we're not going
to be disappointed.
The engine itself may be smaller than the old V8, but it's also more powerful.
It's got 425bhp, which is 9 more bhp extra and torque is also up by a mammoth 41 per
cent.
Combine that with a weight saving of 80kg over the old M3 Coupe, then you get some seriously
impressive performance figures.
So, all of that means the BMW M4 fitted with a seven-speed DCT gearbox like ours, can go
from 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds.
If you're worried about turbo lag, there's absolutely no reason to worry about turbo
lag.
This engine feels really powerful from around 1,500, 2,000 RPM and there's a really linear
acceleration all the way up until 7,600 and once you get there, just keep your foot pinned
there, flick the right-hand paddle and a gear change thumps home instantly.
It's pretty aggressive.
But while the performance is really good, the noise that this engine make sometimes
sounds a little bit too synthesised.
It's quite difficult to make a turbocharged engine sound nice and BMW has almost got it
right, but they've got a system where it plays the engine sound through the speakers.
It hasn't really been that obvious before, but in this car, you can tell.
I'll put in second and just floor it.
So, it does sound nice, but you can tell there's a synthesised sound there and it kind of detracts
from the experience a little bit.
Of course, there are benefits to the new, smaller engine -- particularly when it comes
to running costs.
With the dual clutch gearbox, fuel economy stands at 34mpg, which is 25 per cent better
than the car it replaces.
194g/km of CO2 is surprisingly low for a performance car, too.
So, the engine's good then, but what about the chassis?
Well, that's another masterstroke by BMW really, because you do have all of these buttons down
here next to the gearstick, which allow you to tweak the settings of the steering, the
suspension and the powertrain.
Or, alternatively, we've got a button on the steering wheel - M1 - which is pre-programmed
to put everything to comfort and efficient for the powertrain.
When you do that, it feels like a really nice 4 Series, actually -- it's really comfortable,
and it's really easy to drive.
But if you mess about with the buttons down there, or press M2, which here puts the powertrain
in Sport Plus, the suspension and the steering in Sport Plus, then it feels like a real M-car.
In the corners, it just refuses to understeer and the body stays absolutely flat.
If you just brush the throttle mid-corner, you can feel the back to just start to step
out.
But, it's really communicative, it's really easy to manage and just a little bit mental
-- it's exactly what you want from an M-car.
There's always a little bit of trepidation with a new BMW M3 or M4 as this one is called.
There's just that niggling feeling that they may not have got things quite right and this
turbocharged model could have been the one that really messed things up.
But there's absolutely no reason to worry, BMW has produced yet another amazing car and
it's not just how capable this thing is as a performance model, it's how impressive it
is during every day use.
It's as capable on a racetrack as it is as 100 mile slog from London to Birmingham.
It'll set you about about £55,000, which certainly isn't cheap, but this feels like
all the car you could really ever need.
A worthy addition to the history of BMW M?
Absolutely.