Wild Rear Drive BMW M4 Competition Proves its Mettle
Difficult to get Into, Seats are Brilliant
As noted then, ‘the massive bolsters and the M Sport steering wheel don’t leave much room to clamber through and those trims under your seated balls cramp it even more’. It’s worse in the M4. And becomes a hell of an effort in confined parking bays where the long doors cannot open far to completely compromise access and make getting in the back near impossible too.
So there you go — six of one, half a dozen of the other. Sleek looks versus compromised access. Once aboard though, M4 Competition is a splendid place to be. The sea blue and dayglo greeny-yellow leather trimmed carbonfibre M Sport seats are a treat. Once strapped in, you’re splendidly comfy — even if you are among the fleshier-framed among us. Comfortable, bolstered and secure, the seats make you feel that you’re wearing the car.
A Splendid Place to Drive
BMW’s M-specific head-up display and analogue-like digital instrument display are s a treat, but the M graphics option is unnatural and confusing. A racecar-like dash on the screen would be so much cooler? M4’s cloud-based sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto-packed Live Cockpit Professional infotainment is superb, the tri-zone climate control pleasant and it has every driving nicety you’d ever dream of in there too. Even though its M setup menu is unnecessarily complicated.
Like the M3’s the M4 is tautness in superb, without making the car unduly rough or unpleasant. It drives splendidly, handling is sharp, taut and perfectly balanced and the large phallic interactive steering wheel has a splendid feel about it steering — positive and perhaps even intuitive and most impressive for an electric system. A real world supercar, M4 is also wonderfully noisy with gruff race car-like straight six howl And its fast. Super fast in fact.
Three Hundred and Five Horses Per Ton
It should be. 64 HP and 57 lb-ft up on the outgoing M4, this 305 HP per ton Competition has 503 HP and 479 lb-ft on tap to its eight-speed torque converter slush box auto rather than the old seven-speed dual-clutch trannie and a M Sport Differential. Add substantial chassis and suspension bracing for record body rigidity and 275/40 front and 285/35-profile Michelin Pilot Sports on those splendid 19-inch forged alloys.
Should you want to go bareback, be warned. Having 479 lb-ft on tap on the rear axle from just over 2000 rpm demands you drive with circumspection. Ignore that and you could be next on one of those youtube BMW M crash compilations. But if you’re able, you have the space and also the budget for new rear tires on demand, it is huge fun to explore this car’s limits.