Tuesday 16th June 2015

BMW M4: PH Fleet

Poor Dan; he wanted an M3 long-termer and got lumbered with an M4 instead

---

The transition from spine tingling natural aspiration to doing the numbers turbocharging is one many of our favourite cars have faced recently. From Clio Renaultsport to Ferrari Berlinetta they've (nearly) all had to downsize and turbo up, some with more success than others. One of the first to face the music was the BMW M3 and M4, leading a charge of newly turbo'd fast car icons all desperately trying to convince us CO2, mpg, and diesel-like torque delivery can appeal like a wrung-out atmospheric engine revving to the sky.

Down two cylinders, up two turbos - fair swap?

The F80 M3 and F82 M4 impressed us in the Portuguese sunshine on the launch, had us a little more thoughtful under wintry British skies a few months later and got us rather worried in gut lord F83 convertible form. And then its AMG arch rival burst onto the scene, keeping its V8, gaining the inevitable turbos and looking worryingly like a cake and eat it solution. Somebody had to go first though. After that initial rush of excitement how's the M4 (no, still doesn't sound right) fairing? PH has been offered a long-termer to find out. Which is nice...

Hand on heart I'd have preferred an M3, for the dual reasons of family four-door friendliness and a preference for its more muscular styling. And the fact it's still called an M3. But an M4 it is. I can feel the waves of sympathy flooding in already...

Doesn't it look spectacular though! Dammit, a man should be excited at the prospect of a brand-new M long-termer and when I first walked out into the car park with the key in my hand it properly stopped me in my tracks. I loved that stealth-spec M3 we had in last year. But there's nothing subtle about an Austin Yellow M4 and, on visuals alone, I'm smitten. For now this is the M's trump card over the C63 too - the Merc is available as a wagon and both can be had as four-door saloons. But, traditionally, this is coupe territory. And ground the M4 can claim its own, albeit contested with the unexpectedly impressive Lexus RC F.

Wot, no manual?

Although I've driven both the coupe and saloon extensively my first exploratory commute in the M4 has been my initial taste of YJ15 WHF and limited thus far to trundling along in M25 traffic. And whiling away the time reacquainting myself with the BMW infotainment systems and other toys I grew to admire in my 435i long-termer. This time around there are a lot more buttons of course. Exciting ones, relating to suspension, steering, throttle, DSC settings and more besides. Obviously the first thing to do before even tuning the radio was to configure my two M buttons... M1 is mooching mode with DSC on, Comfort Steering, Comfort dampers, mid-setting auto gearbox and Sport engine. M2 is attack mode, keeping the Comfort steering, upping the dampers to Sport, going Sport Plus for engine, M Dynamic Mode for DSC and manual shift set to full SMG-alike punch in the gut mode.

Looking at the spec sheet there's a bunch of 'connected' this and 'assist' that to be exploring too. But that can wait. Oh yes. That spec sheet. Look at the bottom line. Yes, that's an on the road price starting with a seven... This, I'm sure, will ignite the conversation before we even get anywhere near exploring the car's abilities on the road.

Bigger worry; caliper colour clash or £6,250 price?

Of the options fitted to the car - and having driven a manual - I'd say the £2,645 for the M DCT dual-clutch is pretty much essential. I know, not very purist but the way it's integrated into the chassis and engine control systems completes the car. The £1,600 LED lights are very nice but a bit extravagant and you could probably ditch a lot of the 'assists' and not lose any sleep over it. But the £6,250 M Carbon ceramic brakes? Definite bragging points for the gold-painted bling within the wheels (even if it clashes with the Austin Yellow) but actually worth it? We got 'em glowing on track when we tested against the RC F but we'll have to see if they're genuinely an investment worth making. At least they're nicely modulated and not too grabby.

But let's get that conversation about the price out of the way first. And we can concentrate on the fun stuff later...

---

FACT SHEET
Car: BMW M4
Run by: Dan
On fleet since: June 2015
Mileage: 3,496
List price new: £73,870 (Basic list of £57,055 plus £1,330 for Black Merino leather, £545 for advanced parking package, £2,645 for 7-speed M DCT transmission, £6,250 for carbon ceramic brakes, £175 for 19" M Double- spoke style 437M alloy wheels/Black with mixed tyres, £265 for sun protection glass, £155 for extended storage, £140 for sliding front armrest, £440 for lane change warning system, £395 for Carbon Fibre interior trim, £1,600 for Adaptive LED headlights, £370 for driving assistant, £500 surround view, £825 Head-up display, £675 Harman/Kardon Loudspeaker system, £95 internet and £190 for online entertainment)

[vertastic]

£73k after options - Stone me..

[Mermaid]

vertastic said:

£73k after options - Stone me..

Who do they think they are - Porsche?

BMW M cars see to have lost a little of that specialness they always had, and why people question the price. I am sure a £15k discount could be easily arranged off that list price, supply probably exceeds demand.

The M3 seems so right, but at £50k'ish.

[Gandahar]

vertastic said:

£73k after options - Stone me..

Nugget me would be more appropriate.

Isn't the Nissan GT-R about that? That's also a turbo with about 150bhp more. And 4wd so your eyes hit the back of your head.

Bigger 6 cyl engine too

[J4CKO]

I read that these sound a bit polite, I had one trying to goad me into a race the other day and it sounded anything but polite, it sounded pretty epic and I passed up the kind offer of my arse on a plate.

A neighbour appears to have just got one as well, quite jealous !

[swimd]

Gandahar said:

And 4wd so your eyes hit the back of your head.

Which is a great because you won't have to look at your own car's after you park it.

[WokkaWokka]

Moneyheads....price matters

Awesome car I look forward to reading about this over the coming months.

[Patrick Bateman]

Do all these different settings not get bloody irritating? Can they not design a modern car now that just rides and handles well at the same time, straight out the box?

[malucnojes]

£190 for 'online entertainment'? Clearly going to the wrong sites...

[British Beef]

In our camping ground at le mans there was a TVR Cerbera Speed 6 and a new M4, both politely asked to rev for the crowds.
Lets just say in sound and looks the M4 does not hold a candle to the Blackpool rocket.

Speed 6 was quite loud and played a very nice tune, the M4 with eyes closed could have been any mid range turbo'd engine - very underwelming.

The previous V8 and the E46 M3, are to me far more desirable objects, despite performance and efficiency deficits.

[moffat]

M3 / M4 is probably the blandest sound M car ever.

Even my old 135i with M Performance exhaust sounded better.

I wanted to love the M3 but the engine and fake noise let it down.

M3 + the new C63's engine would be a perfect combination of amazing engine and great looks.

[D200]

As someone else said you would get a [much needed!] 15k discount from BMW for that car but even at that silly price its still a lot less then this [slightly tacky looking] c63:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

85k for a used C63 with 2500 miles...

[D200]

And at lease with an M3 [the nicer looking 4 door] you would never mistake one for a 318D due to its flared arches etc

But you could easily tackify a C180 with an AMG kit,some black wheels with red tape and someother red tat to make it look like that C63 :-)

[thelawnet1]

D200 said:

As someone else said you would get a much needed! 15k discount from BMW for that car but even at that silly price its still a lot less then this slightly tacky looking c63:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

85k for a used C63 with 2500 miles...

That's a silly price too.

C63 Coupe £68k
Premium Plus £2.5k
Chav tinted glass £330
Chav paint £1125
Rear diff £1745
Keyless go £665
Audio upgrade £650
AMG Performance Media £2040

So around £77k I reckon, new.

[GTEYE]

Funny how everyone seems to prefer the M3 saloon, yet every one I seem to see on the road is an M4 (either coupe or cabrio).

There are loads of new/nearly new ones in the classifieds in the low to mid £50s, which is probably where it should be. £70k+ is daft.

The sound is definitely not a strong point compared to the earlier generations - very muted.

My opinion of the 4 Series is that it feels it size much more than the previous E90/92/93, particularly with regard to width on narrower roads - and I say that currently owning a 4 Coupe and an E93 3 Cabrio.

Edited by GTEYE on Tuesday 16th June 16:23

[All that jazz]

Those black wheels with the bogey green paintwork just does not work a-t a-l-l.

And £140 for an arm rest? Seriously?

I like the 4-series in the lightish blue they do but this thing looks horrid to my eyes.

[GTEYE]

All that jazz said:

Those black wheels with the bogey green paintwork just does not work a-t a-l-l.

And £140 for an arm rest? Seriously?

I like the 4-series in the lightish blue they do but this thing looks horrid to my eyes.

The £140 gets you a sliding adjustment for the armrest that is already there. You're right though, its still a waste of money, albeit one of the cheapest extras.

[D200]

thelawnet1 said:

D200 said:

As someone else said you would get a much needed! 15k discount from BMW for that car but even at that silly price its still a lot less then this slightly tacky looking c63:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

85k for a used C63 with 2500 miles...

That's a silly price too.

C63 Coupe £68k
Premium Plus £2.5k
Chav tinted glass £330
Chav paint £1125
Rear diff £1745
Keyless go £665
Audio upgrade £650
AMG Performance Media £2040

So around £77k I reckon, new.

Mercedes configurator isn’t working at the minute but I guarantee you that car cost more than 77k, especially considering it is 68k basic.

I guess near 90k easy

I must check back when they website is working.

I recently saw an optioned A45 AMG for sale and the list price was over 52k, for an A Class

EDIT:

Not that this has anything to do with the M4 but people do comment on the options and price, its stupidly expensive I agree but no more so than its competitors [which are actually even more stupidly expensive]

I prefer the M3 to the M4 and would prefer either over the new C63 Saloon [on looks alone - but Merc has nicer engine]. Although the C63 Estate isn't bad, pity BMW never made an M3 Estate/Touring

Edited by D200 on Tuesday 16th June 17:00

[ecs0set]

I test drove one of these in DCT form and then went straight across the road to an independent dealer and test drove an E9x M3 with a manual gearbox. Whilst the M4 was initially impressive, it was starting to feel dull after just a few hours. It's just too big, too enclosed, too much like an M5 and the power delivery is just... meh. I don't care if it's turbo-lag, boost threshold or progressively applied torque, it's just not as responsive as an N/A engine.

In comparison, I just wanted to keep driving the M3 down to the south of France and too keep revving that addictive engine. The V8 M3 felt like a sports car in a business suit, the M4 felt like a fast business jet in comparison.

For driving pleasure, V8 manual vs turbo-6 DCT every day.

[Guvernator]

I've driven a close friends M4 convertible a few times now. Looks wise it is fantastic. An evolution of what has gone before but with added wow factor and aggression. In black with red interior it looks positively evil. However that is where the good stuff stops.

The inside looks too similar to the previous gen, the NAV is better but in terms of materials and general layout it's not a huge difference between this and the E9x which is a bit disappointing.

However what is more disappointing is the way it drives and sounds. I have no problem with turbo's per se but once again this makes the classic mistake of trying too hard to hide it's turboness. I'm really not sure why the German manufacturers seem OBSESSED with this but it just doesn't work as it seems to bring out all the worst traits of a turbocharged engine without letting the good bits out to play. It's laggy, not responsive, has slugs of low down torque but then runs out of ideas above 6k which just isn't fun. It also sounds artificially loud and yet muted at the same time if that makes sense. I guess this is the sound generator effect but it just doesn't sound right IMO.

It's a fully loaded convertible which means the price is even more shocking, it started with an 8! For this reason I didn't want to rain on his parade and tell him I preferred his previous gen M3 but luckily I didn't have to as he admitted to me last week that so did he....oops!

[loose cannon]

A bit off topic but if a slightly spec'd m4 is £70 odd k
Then how much now is a fully specced up 7 series or equivalent ?