(birds chirping)
(classical music)
- Dear BMW M Division, happy 50th birthday.
All the best, Henry.
P.S. Would have got you a gift,
but I gather you've made yourself one.
(dramatic classical music)
(car revving)
(dramatic classical music continues)
(wind blowing)
You see, for only the third time in its history,
BMW has applied the letters C-S and L,
or S-L and C... this was a lot less windy when I planned it,
to one of its cars, Coupe Sport Lightweight.
And although we've had some really good CS cars recently,
that extra letter, well,
it brings with it greater weight of expectation ironically.
And that extra 12th letter of the alphabet
really has brought with it not just celebration,
but a bit of consternation.
When this was announced
a lot of people were up in arms
at the idea of a CSL that weighs 1,625 kilos,
that's the DIN curb weight, or 3,580 pounds,
being called a CSL.
That's just not a very light weight, is it?
And I get that.
It seems intrinsically somehow wrong,
but here are a couple of thoughts.
For a start, Ferrari 550 Maranello,
that's a car that weighs 1,700 kilos there or thereabouts,
so slightly heavier than this
and I've never heard anyone complain
about the way that that drives.
So perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to judge.
An R8 V10, 911 Turbo S, a Vantage,
the new C8 Stingray, and 812 Super Fast,
all weigh as much or more than the new CSL.
So in the modern world this car isn't a total outlier.
And then there's the fact
that just because a car is inherently heavy,
it doesn't mean that it's not worth taking the weight out.
Perhaps we should judge this car not on its overall weight,
but rather on the package, the CSL part of this car.
After all, you can't blame the M Division
for having slightly bulky materials
to work with in the first place,
and a 440i Coupe weighs 1,770 kilos.
However, costing a hefty 60% or nearly 50,000 pounds more
than a standard M4 Competition,
this CSL needs to be special.
So what has BMW's M Division done to make this lightweight?
Well, they've taken out overall 100 kilos or 220 pounds.
24 kilos has been taken out by something
that's not actually in this car.
You see, the most lightweight seats are fixed back
and they're manually adjustable,
whereas these have got the movable backs
that are electronically adjustable.
I do love these seats though.
They still feel really special and I can only imagine
that the proper buckets would feel even better.
And yes, they do still get
the curious carbon crotch catches.
Talking of seats.
21 kilos has been saved by removing the rear ones.
Back there now we've just got, well,
a couple of sort of indentations for storing crash helmets.
Another 15 kilos has been saved by removing
an awful lot of sound deadening
and having this four kilos lighter
carbon center console down here.
The carbon boot and bonnet, they save another 11 kilos.
There's a lovely titanium silencer,
which just looks fantastic with
all its rainbow colors on.
That saved another four kilos.
(car rasping)
And then there are a plethora of smaller savings,
like the almost worryingly gaping new kidney grill,
the omission of floor mats, the simplified air con,
again, not on this car and the rear lights save 400 grams
and I think look really cool.
They're wire lasers and there's just something quite,
I don't know, fitting about lightweight lights.
Perhaps the most important savings from
a dynamic point of view are the 21 kilos shaved off
with the new wheels, the carbon ceramic brakes
and lighter suspension parts.
All of that adds up to 100 kilos,
or 220 pounds saved overall.
Is it worth it?
Well, we'll get to the dynamics in a bit,
but I think it's worth it from the sense
that you get into this and unlike a CS model,
which I think you really have to drive
to understand the changes that have been made,
this feels special, well, from the moment you get in,
certainly from the moment you start up
and you hear that lack of sound deadening,
slightly echoey sound behind you.
It just feels special.
The fact you can hear the exhaust more,
hear things clashing around in the arches more,
that gives it an L feel.
There are plenty of other things that add
to the special, stiffer, more honed feel of this car too.
The extensive bracing under the bonnet,
the rose joints at the rear, the helper springs,
the eight millimeter lower ride height,
the increased camber, the solidly mounted gearbox
and the firmer engine mounts.
It all adds to the experience.
But to really get under the skin of the full CSL ethos,
what this car's really striving for,
I think we need a little help from another car.
(car engine rasping)
(gearbox paddle clicking)
(car engine rasping)
This is the E46 M3 CSL, and it is absolutely brilliant!
(car engine rasping)
There was, of course, an earlier CSL, the three liter,
but that was a pure homologation special,
and in its famous Batmobile form,
had a much greater focus on aerodynamics.
I think it's this E46 that is really
the inspiration for the latest G82.
(car engine rasping)
This car, just the fluidity of it through here.
Let's try it.
(car engine rasping)
(Henry laughing)
This just sits so nicely into a slide.
Takes a bit of aggression to get it going,
but once it's there it's so good.
I'm intrigued to see what the new one's like.
Can it match this for just pure front engine
rear drive balance when you can get it out on track?
Do you know what?
It still feels pretty quick as well, actually.
Certainly got some grunt.
(car engine rasping) (tires squealing)
355 brake horsepower, 273 pounds foot to be precise.
This engine had sharper profile cams,
and then obviously that amazing carbon air box
to help it breathe that much better.
And then the thinner walled exhaust as well.
(car engine rasping loudly)
Listen to that.
(engine rasping loudly)
(Henry laughing)
One thing that's definitely improved
in the new car is brakes, because famously,
this car had brakes akin to a chocolate teapot.
Thankfully the new one has carbon ceramics.
This car saved 110 kilos
over the standard E46 M3, taking it to 1,385 kilos.
Strangely this does actually obviously have rear seats
unlike the new one.
A big chunk of this car's weight saving
came from the carbon roof,
which was really trumpeted at the time.
It saved seven kilos.
Obviously the new car, you can't do that
because the standard M4 has a carbon roof already.
The E46 also gets lovely carbon door cards,
which are sadly absent in the G82.
But the Alcantara wheel and the carbon central tunnel
are both aped in the new car.
Other similarities in a way which you could draw I suppose
are the fact that this, perhaps controversially,
and you can feel there with the torque of interruption
on the upshift, had the SMG 2 gearbox,
which was a Getrag six speed that was then automated,
obviously with these paddles here.
And it was a controversial gearbox and I suppose
the latest one has a controversial gearbox as well,
because it has the eight speed automatic gearbox.
Would both have been better as a manual?
Arguably, yes, but there we are.
I'm gonna put the gearbox all the way up
to maximum attack just so you can hear it.
(car engine revving loudly)
Whoa!
You can hear the thump all the way back there.
(funky music)
Like the new car, this also had suspension changes
with shorter springs, retuned dampers,
larger diameter anti-rollbars
and aluminum rear suspension links with stiffer bushings.
The steering was also quickened from 15.4:1 to 14.5:1.
Love this last corner through here.
Set it up, just tease it all the way through
and run it out at the exit.
Woohoo!
(laughing) I love this car.
Now I think it's time for CSLs old and new
to pause in the paddock because there
are a couple more similarities
that I want to draw attention to.
Starting with aesthetics,
because this new M4 CSL has clearly chosen
to, well, mimic, remember the old M3 with a ducktail,
the integrated ducktail in its boot.
Shocked actually by just how much larger
this one is compared to this one.
We've got the two strakes here,
obviously coming down from the carbon roof.
And then we have the tires,
because tires were a big thing with the original M3 CSL,
because it came on the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rubber,
which was pretty extreme.
It took a long time to warm up
and then was incredibly sort of grippy
and really pretty edgy.
So I think it's only appropriate
that this new M4 CSL comes as standard,
not just on the Cup 2 rubber,
but the Cup 2 R rubber like this.
Pretty extreme, isn't it?
Today, both cars are on Pilot Sport 4 S rubber,
because, well, the weather is somewhat changeable.
It also means we have a straight fight.
(car engines rasping)
It's so interesting getting back into
the M4 CSL after the M3.
In some ways this car is on a hiding to nothing.
There's no hiding from it.
That S54 engine is just magical and brings the car alive
in a way that this engine simply can't match.
There's just no two ways about it.
It makes the old car in some ways outta reach of this.
More desirable than this can can hope to be,
which seems a bit unfair.
So let's concentrate on the things that,
well, this does better.
What the old car can't match,
as much as I thought it was, you know, it still felt quick,
this the almost extra 200 brake horsepower
and definitely over 200 pounds foot of torque more,
makes this feel monstrously rapid
and obviously gives you a lot to play with,
even through the really quick turns here. (laughing)
This is 3.7 to 62, so 1.2 seconds quicker,
and it feels every bit of that.
Interestingly, the CSL only has 39 brake horsepower more
than a standard M4 Competition and no more newton-meters.
Not that it needed it.
It's a car you can certainly rely on the torque.
I noticed in the Nurburgring lap time,
which Jorg Weidinger did,
that he was certainly short shifting in places,
and whereas with the S54 you definitely ring it out.
Sometimes it's easier just to sort of like through here,
just keep it in say, third instead of second,
or fourth instead of third.
By the way, that Nurburgring lap time was a 7:15.677,
some 13 seconds quicker than a previous gen GTS
and 35 seconds quicker than the E46 CSL.
The brakes, I mean just a different league in this.
The gearbox as well for all that, you know,
we might say, "oh, it's an auto," it is so much smoother.
Does this still feel lightweight when you get in here?
In some ways, obviously less so,
because it's just a more modern car.
We've got screens here,
which you need because this is obviously
much more adjustable than the old car.
In that there was really just a case of,
well, you had a sport button and you could turn the DSC off,
and that was about it.
In this, well, I've got the M2 button up here set up
to configure all of this.
Initially I had everything just up to maximum,
but actually I've reigned it back down,
the engine and chassis just to their middle sports setting.
Sport is what they used in fact around the Nurburgring,
this is quite a bumpy little tracking in places
and you use quite a bit of curb so it's just felt better.
It almost feels a bit too, sort of like it's trying
to fight itself if you have everything
ramped all the way up.
That might, of course, feel different if it was wearing
the Cup 2 R's and it was a little warmer.
And what about over the limit?
Its still got that front engine rear drive balance.
It's still a huge amount of fun.
It's just the fact that you
can definitely feel the extra weight.
You ramp it up and it's still, it's fighting itself.
You soften it off and, well,
obviously the weight is sort of isn't as well controlled,
the body's kind of just occasionally getting
a little out of sync perhaps with the suspension.
It's not just a big lumbering blunt instrument this at all.
It feels really finely honed.
(car engine revving)
(Henry laughing)
It's clear from driving both these CSLs
that they are a really interesting blend.
There is definitely some track in their DNA,
but, equally, they're not as purely pit lane
as the half caged GTSs that sit between them.
So it seems appropriate to have one final drive
in the M4 well away from the red and white kerbs.
On the road I don't think this is actually
any less comfortable than a standard M4 Competition,
which was already a pretty sort of firm car.
But it always feels firm in terms of its structure,
rather than just having sort of overly hard suspension.
I've got this in its sport setting on the suspension
because I think that just brings, well,
more complete body control to the car
when you are on a road like this and you want to enjoy it.
On the road this car definitely has
a more focused character.
Ironically, I think because this has different cambers
at the front to help it on track,
when it's fully loaded up it can feel almost just
a little bit larger, a little bit vaguer
around the straight ahead initially and in everyday driving.
So what to conclude about this third CSL?
I'd argue that there's actually
a greater sense of lightweight,
of weight saving, than those 100 kilos,
because everything else obviously feeds into
the feel of this car.
So you get greater response, you know,
on the throttle and to the steering,
and the way that it rides and it moves over the road.
So it feels lightweight.
I think it feels sufficiently special compared
to a standard M4 to merit those three letters,
the C-S and the L.
However, is it the best CSL?
No.
(slow classical music)
That title still belongs to the glorious E46,
or maybe the Batmobile,
but that's an argument for another day.
Perhaps surprisingly I don't think this latest CSL
has quite the dynamic magic
of the recent M2 and M5 CSs either.
But I think that's because it has traded
a little bit of those cars' utter brilliance on the road
in order to give more outright performance
at the limit on track on those Cup 2 Rs.
It has compromised in order to be a CSL,
in order to be the birthday present
that the M Division wanted.
Happy birthday, BMW M.
Here's to another half century,
and hopefully a few more CSLs.
(classical music)
(car revving in background)
(rhythmic beating)