Some larger publications get access to long-term test vehicles. Carwow is one such publication and they have a fleet of long-term test vehicles. Being the main host of their videos, Mat Watson typically gets the really good ones to live with for awhile. He recently had a BMW G80 M3 Competition has his long-termer; a nice Isle of Man Green one; but it’s now being replaced with something much, much more exciting — the BMW M5 CS.
Without question, the BMW M5 CS is my favorite BMW of the last two decades. It’s so stupendously fast but it’s also shockingly fun to drive. It’s so much more than an M5 Competition with some added power and grip. It feels like an entirely different machine and is easily one of the best cars the M Division has ever produced. In this new video from Carwow, Watson compares it to his outgoing M3 Competition.
First, he compares how they drift and they’re both pretty incredibly at it. He also compares their designs, their interiors, and how they handle. Interestingly, Watson actually prefers the look of the M3’s front end to the M5’s, which is …odd on his side. All jokes aside, the M3 is far more aggressive looking and that’s what he prefers.
But what are they like to drive, back-to-back? The M5 CS is just far superior than the M3 Competition every way. It’s odd to see the heavier, more complicated, more luxurious car beat the smaller, lighter, less, complicated car in a test of driving dynamics but the M5 CS isn’t any ordinary M5. As Watson explains, there’s something so special about the way the M5 CS drives that the M3 Competition, as good as it is, can’t keep up.
