![]() ![]() The S55 has proved responsive to modification, robust, and reliable. Note that after early headaches, the M4 has become one of the most common track tools for weekend warriors. There’s huge grip available from the front end as you dive toward the apex of Mid-Ohio’s cambered Turn 2 and the M4 seems to build speed with supercar pace after you exit each corner. The M4 wipes the floor with any of its predecessors, where lap times and spec sheets are considered. Is it prominent, ferocious, and singular among the range? Yes.Īnd when you hit those first two straights at Mid-O, it’s not the difference in noise but the contrast in speed that shocks you. Can the engine’s soundtrack compete the atmospheric M3s? Nope. There’s far more noise here than you thought possible from a boosted mill. Road & Trackīut as soon as you roll on to Mid-O’s front straight, the engine goes mecha-symphonic, spraying the sound of turbo compressor whine through the cabin, layering that high note over acres of straight-six howl. ![]() Our original performance testing data on the F80 M3 from the September 2014 issue of Road & Track. It was a welcome change, especially as the M4 sat idling in pit row, pointed toward a soggy race track. Some combination of suspension fettling, tire compound, throttle mapping, and wizardry harnessed the available power. With the later competition-package cars – like the one we borrowed for Mid-O heroics – BMW tamed the loss of grip when the S55’s fat midrange hits. Sometimes you want to let your hair down a bit but don’t necessarily want to YEEEEEHAAThe F82 was a stallion with wide flanks and flared nostrils – you couldn’t just reign it in. The S55’s power came on so hard and so early, it’d catch drivers out, especially if the traction control wasn’t there to reign them in. ![]() ![]() I tiptoed the car the rest of the way home, my palms slick with anxiety, and haven’t touched the traction control button on a roadgoing BMW since. When I poked at the gas, the S55’s glut of mid-range torque kicked right back, and the M4 nearly pirouetted into oncoming traffic. I loafed along in the car through a soggy city intersection just as the street light turned yellow. As peaky and loony as the V-8 mill was, you can’t argue with the raw effectiveness of two snails cramming big buckets of atmosphere into a Bimmer six. The engine, called the S55, features a dyno chart with power curves flatter than a pane of glass. Huzzah!.Īgain, the engine is the star a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six putting down 425 horsepower and 406 lb-ft. Frankly, we are still barely coping.Īt the track way back when, we clocked a 12.3-second quarter mile, 3.9 seconds to 60 mph, and measured a curb weight (3595 lbs.) lower than its predecessor. Splitting segments into ever-finer pieces wasn’t a new idea, but it didn’t feel genuinely BMW. The M4 badge had no history attached to it Many felt that BMW were chasing Audi’s nomenclature rather than following their own path (the A4 sedan and A5 coupe were mechanically identical but separated by two doors). Henceforth, the fifth-gen sedans would bear the M3 name. On the heels of the E92, the fifth-gen M4 arrived in 2015 like a Teutonic Terminator chiseled, menacing, gorgeously muscled. ![]()
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