BMW M’s priorities seem to have shifted over the past decade or so. Even during the time of cars like the E92 M3, it seemed BMW M was all about the sensory experience. It wanted to make your senses tingle, from the feel of the steering, to the thrilling sound of its engine, to the heart-racing rush of speed, in that order. However, it now seems the M Division has flipped the order of those priorities, for better or worse, and it’s evident by Car and Driver’s astonishing 2.8-second 0-60 mph time in the BMW M4 xDrive.
503 Horsepower from 3.0 liter Engine
If you want an all-wheel drive BMW M4, you need to get the Competition mode. That means its 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six makes 503 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. When combined with its eight-speed auto and all-wheel drive, the M4 xDrive becomes the fastest M3/M4 ever made. But we never truly knew it could take on genuine supercars from McLaren and Porsche.
2.8 seconds from 0-60 mph
The BMW M4 xDrive’s 2.8-second 0-60 mph time, during Car and Driver’s instrumented testing, is every bit as fast as some of the world’s best supercars. It matches cars like the Audi R8 V10 Performance, McLaren 570S, Ferrari 488, and Porsche 911 Turbo. Admittedly, C&D’s time was done with a one-foot rollout, which removes two tenths of a second from that time. Still, all of C&D’s 0-60 mph times are recorded with a one-foot rollout, so when you compare the M4 xDrive’s with some of C&D’s other impressive times, it’s still a good metric. It also means the M4 xDrive is one of only two sub-$100,000 cars to hit 2.8 seconds to 60 mph for C&D, the other being the C8 Corvette Z51.
All of that is very impressive but it does prove BMW M’s priority shift. M cars were never the fastest in a straight line. AMGs and even some Audi Sport cars were usually faster. However, M cars were always the scalpels, the cars that drove with such precision that outright speed felt meaningless. I spent a week in the BMW M4 xDrive myself and, while its performance is exciting, it does lack a bit the thrill of previous generations M3 and M4.
[Source: Car and Driver]
No. The current generation BMW M4 (G82) is powered by a 3.0 liter, six-cylinder turbocharged engine (S58). The only BMW M3 with a V8 engine was the E90 / E92 generation.
Given that both models are powered by an identical engine and drivetrain in the current generation, depending on the transmission you choose, the BMW M4 would be slightly faster car due to its marginal lower weight.
The BMW M4 is an excellent daily driver. It might not have the extra rear space like the M3, but from a driving perspective it can vary from a comfortable to a sporty ride. You can adjust several driving characteristics – suspension, steering, engine mapping, throttle response – from the iDrive menu.
