What’s hot?
- BMW wanted this car to be usable everyday and it definitely feels it. Set everything to the least aggressive settings (steering, suspension etc) and it drives a lot like a really nice 3 Series. Especially with the excellent dual-clutch auto fitted.
- Select Sport Plus mode for the powertrain and the suspension and things get serious. The M3 darts in to bends, feeling as light as a Caterham, and with a near-unbelievable amount of front-end grip. This is a proper performance car.
- If you don’t believe us just enter a second-gear corner with the traction control off and floor the throttle. The rear instantly loses traction and you’ll find yourself in a nice, easy-to-control slide.
Up-market 3 Series inside, and with added gizmos to let you set different performance levels depending on your mood - No need to worry about the turbocharged engine either. There’s no perceivable turbo-lag, just a brutal hit of acceleration from around 2000rpm right up until 7500rpm.
- And you’ve got all that performance in a bodyshell that’s practical enough to carry four adults and their luggage in comfort – this is why the M3 is such a fantastic all-rounder.
- Get it in a dark colour and the M3 is capable of flying under the radar, too. The quad exhausts, bodykit and M badges are really the only giveaways that this isn’t a normal 3 Series.
- As for running costs, well they’re better than ever thanks to the turbo engine. BMW claims 34.0mpg, with CO2 emissions of 194g/km (for dual-clutch M3s). During our drive we easily managed 28mpg.
- As a company car buyer, that means the amount of tax you’ll pay is also lower than before. Standard rate payers will shell out £3605 per year, with those paying the higher rate coughing up £7210. Of course, as a company owner or director, you might also want to consider running one privately rather than paying the company car tax.
What’s not?
- Not much really. If we’re nit picking, the engine doesn’t sound as nice as the old V8. It sounds a little too synthesized at high-revs.
- You could also mark the engine down for not feeling quite frantic enough as the revs rise – there’s no extra power found at the top end like there was with the old V8.
- This is also going to be the rarer of the two M cars – BMW is expecting to sell only 180 a year, compared with 1000 for the more stylish M4.
