M4 Competition Pack - 6 months in
Discussion
At the end of November last year I took delivery of my M4 Competition, and I thought it might be interesting to share my thoughts so far, and to hear comparative opinions from any other owners or drivers out there.
This is the car in question, it's Mineral Grey with Coral interior, with only a few minor options since the Comp comes fairly well equipped in the first place;
Buying & Collecting
I heard of the good finance deals available and spoke to my local dealer in Bishops Stortford, negotiated hard, got offered a very good deal, with a good trade in for my '66 plate 440 Cabrio, and subsequently paid a deposit. I drove the 5 miles home, and took a call 5 mins later from the Sales Manager telling me they wouldn't/couldn't honour the deal. The lovely saleslady had warned me he was an arse, and so it proved.
Ho hum, off to Car Wow that night, and an offer came in very quickly from a dealer in Enfield (25 miles or so away), even better than the deal above, with a better trade-in. Much happiness! Factory order placed,and 7 weeks later collected the car on a Friday evening, albeit after we had sat in the dealer for 2.5hrs waiting for BMW UK's IT systems to work again. Scary moment for eldest son, as he joined me in Enfield via a train from his job in the City, and got off at the wrong stop, thereby having to make his way through a very dodgy part of Enfield (there are a few) in the dark.
The Car - First Impressions
I think it looks good, not too aggressive, the Comp wheels make a difference, but it could still be a 420d to most observers. I like the bonnet hump, and I like the black exhaust tips - I had those on my 440I, although they weren't meant to be that colour at all, perhaps my local Albanian car-washing friends never figured how to clean them properly.
I love the interior, coral works very well, and the Comp seats look and feel great - I love the way the M4 badges in the seat backs light up when you unlock the car. They're very comfortable too. The dash does look a little dated generic BMW, no digital instruments, but it all works very well, everything is where it should be. Top notch ergonomics!
The tech is a couple of steps up from my 440i, more advanced, and very intuitive to configure. I had a few problems re-setting BMW Connected to my new car, but then everyone does, I hear.
The Drive
With 450hp it's more than fast enough for anyone but the most demanding of speed freaks, it can do crazy-revvy-fast, torquey-subtle-fast, or just bumble along with the rest of the traffic. It's equally comfortable in any scenario. I've been fortunate to run some interesting stuff over the years - ISF, Gallardo, etc - and this is faster and more accomplished in a spirited drive by quite some distance than all of those.
The handling is brilliant, it's very fluid, and it has huge amounts of grip. In the dry it's scary how difficult it is to unsettle it is. In the damp, it's scary how easy it is to unsettle it - it has to be treated with absolute respect lest you find yourself in a hedge, or worse, in a wall, or artic, etc. It's actually better in the wet, when the roads are less 'greasy'.
The engine is a peach, flexible, revvy, linear. I like the sound, but I know others feels it's lacking, especially when compared to the AMG Mercs, and I get that, and it's certainly not as good to listen to as my ISF was.
What I'm struggling with at times is the DSG box - I find it can be 'caught out' when in one of the more comfier settings, it feels very dim-witted at times, with a lag in reaction when the throttle is pressed when you (try to) pull away after slowing down for a roundabout or some such. It's superb in the sportier settings however, and when pressing on the shifts are instantaneous. The car is of course very configurable, and I make very good use of the M1 and M2 settings I've set up.
I'm also tired of the gear selector shenanigans when trying to put it in Neutral when parking and switching off. Even though everything tells me it's in N, when I try and switch it off, it often then warns me that it's not actually in N and that it might roll away, etc, with bongs and messages flashing up left, right, and centre. Seems completely random, I've tried everything to address this - is there perhaps a 'technique' to this I should know about?
Living with it
So far, so good. No reliability issues whatsoever. I have a very slight rattle coming from the passenger side window, but nothing that bothers me - one for the next service,
The running-in service was carried out very efficiently by a dealer in Stevenage (20 miles away), having failed to talk to anyone who even knew what I was talking about when I spoke to my local dealer (you can't speak to the service people directly, you have to go via the franchise central call-centre, and they're f
king useless), and the supplying dealer, who never, ever, answers the 'phone, so I gave up in the end.
I'm averaging 25mpg, far more on a run, somewhat less when being spirited.
TLDR
I love pretty much everything about the car, and have very few issues with it other than the at-times dim-witted DSG and the infuriating inability for it to accept it's in Neutral when parking. The dealers are patchy.
This is the car in question, it's Mineral Grey with Coral interior, with only a few minor options since the Comp comes fairly well equipped in the first place;
Buying & Collecting
I heard of the good finance deals available and spoke to my local dealer in Bishops Stortford, negotiated hard, got offered a very good deal, with a good trade in for my '66 plate 440 Cabrio, and subsequently paid a deposit. I drove the 5 miles home, and took a call 5 mins later from the Sales Manager telling me they wouldn't/couldn't honour the deal. The lovely saleslady had warned me he was an arse, and so it proved.
Ho hum, off to Car Wow that night, and an offer came in very quickly from a dealer in Enfield (25 miles or so away), even better than the deal above, with a better trade-in. Much happiness! Factory order placed,and 7 weeks later collected the car on a Friday evening, albeit after we had sat in the dealer for 2.5hrs waiting for BMW UK's IT systems to work again. Scary moment for eldest son, as he joined me in Enfield via a train from his job in the City, and got off at the wrong stop, thereby having to make his way through a very dodgy part of Enfield (there are a few) in the dark.
The Car - First Impressions
I think it looks good, not too aggressive, the Comp wheels make a difference, but it could still be a 420d to most observers. I like the bonnet hump, and I like the black exhaust tips - I had those on my 440I, although they weren't meant to be that colour at all, perhaps my local Albanian car-washing friends never figured how to clean them properly.
I love the interior, coral works very well, and the Comp seats look and feel great - I love the way the M4 badges in the seat backs light up when you unlock the car. They're very comfortable too. The dash does look a little dated generic BMW, no digital instruments, but it all works very well, everything is where it should be. Top notch ergonomics!
The tech is a couple of steps up from my 440i, more advanced, and very intuitive to configure. I had a few problems re-setting BMW Connected to my new car, but then everyone does, I hear.
The Drive
With 450hp it's more than fast enough for anyone but the most demanding of speed freaks, it can do crazy-revvy-fast, torquey-subtle-fast, or just bumble along with the rest of the traffic. It's equally comfortable in any scenario. I've been fortunate to run some interesting stuff over the years - ISF, Gallardo, etc - and this is faster and more accomplished in a spirited drive by quite some distance than all of those.
The handling is brilliant, it's very fluid, and it has huge amounts of grip. In the dry it's scary how difficult it is to unsettle it is. In the damp, it's scary how easy it is to unsettle it - it has to be treated with absolute respect lest you find yourself in a hedge, or worse, in a wall, or artic, etc. It's actually better in the wet, when the roads are less 'greasy'.
The engine is a peach, flexible, revvy, linear. I like the sound, but I know others feels it's lacking, especially when compared to the AMG Mercs, and I get that, and it's certainly not as good to listen to as my ISF was.
What I'm struggling with at times is the DSG box - I find it can be 'caught out' when in one of the more comfier settings, it feels very dim-witted at times, with a lag in reaction when the throttle is pressed when you (try to) pull away after slowing down for a roundabout or some such. It's superb in the sportier settings however, and when pressing on the shifts are instantaneous. The car is of course very configurable, and I make very good use of the M1 and M2 settings I've set up.
I'm also tired of the gear selector shenanigans when trying to put it in Neutral when parking and switching off. Even though everything tells me it's in N, when I try and switch it off, it often then warns me that it's not actually in N and that it might roll away, etc, with bongs and messages flashing up left, right, and centre. Seems completely random, I've tried everything to address this - is there perhaps a 'technique' to this I should know about?
Living with it
So far, so good. No reliability issues whatsoever. I have a very slight rattle coming from the passenger side window, but nothing that bothers me - one for the next service,
The running-in service was carried out very efficiently by a dealer in Stevenage (20 miles away), having failed to talk to anyone who even knew what I was talking about when I spoke to my local dealer (you can't speak to the service people directly, you have to go via the franchise central call-centre, and they're f
king useless), and the supplying dealer, who never, ever, answers the 'phone, so I gave up in the end.I'm averaging 25mpg, far more on a run, somewhat less when being spirited.
TLDR
I love pretty much everything about the car, and have very few issues with it other than the at-times dim-witted DSG and the infuriating inability for it to accept it's in Neutral when parking. The dealers are patchy.
had ham said:
What I'm struggling with at times is the DSG box - I find it can be 'caught out' when in one of the more comfier settings, it feels very dim-witted at times, with a lag in reaction when the throttle is pressed when you (try to) pull away after slowing down for a roundabout or some such.
I have this exact issue with my F10 M5, the box seems great in almost all situation apart from that one. I drive around the problem now, but feel slightly happier knowing it's not just how I'm operating the thing.I had an F80 Comp Pack. The issues you've talked about with the DCT don't sound right. Might be worth discussing with a dealer. DCTs aren't impervious to faults- mine was putting itself into neutral randomly at traffic lights. Looked a right numpty when the lights go green and you inadvertently rev the nuts off it expecting forward motion! Took two dealers to properly diagnose and fix (which solved the problem).
Ive got an M2 Comp so maybe its different but I think the idea is that you turn the car off in drive or reverse.
In N, I don't think the car locks - but if you press the start/stop button after you've turned it off (with all the bongs and no foot on brake) then it will put the car in D by itself.
In N, I don't think the car locks - but if you press the start/stop button after you've turned it off (with all the bongs and no foot on brake) then it will put the car in D by itself.
I'm sure it's the same gearbox set up.
I've just had a conversation in the village pub with a mate who had one until recently - against all (my) logic, it seems you're right!
Stop it in R or D, switch off, it adopts the P for Parking mode. Or if you ignore all the bongs in N and get out, with handbrake on, lock it, it does the same.
None of that seems at all sensible to me, and IMO it probably would have been better to configure a 'P' mode into the set up (Iike traditional Auto boxes), but I'm no engineer, so there will likely be a reason for not doing that - BMW are typically nothing if not logical.
I've just had a conversation in the village pub with a mate who had one until recently - against all (my) logic, it seems you're right!
Stop it in R or D, switch off, it adopts the P for Parking mode. Or if you ignore all the bongs in N and get out, with handbrake on, lock it, it does the same.
None of that seems at all sensible to me, and IMO it probably would have been better to configure a 'P' mode into the set up (Iike traditional Auto boxes), but I'm no engineer, so there will likely be a reason for not doing that - BMW are typically nothing if not logical.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 20th June 20:00
They're a pain the arse with the neutral/Park thing.
Seems to be complete random as to whether it stays in neutral or decides to go with engaging P. Wouldn't be such a problem if the handbrake was brilliant but mine's not.
I tend to use the DCT manually most of the time so can't say I've noticed much problem with the lag when changing, myself.
Anyway, pleased to see you're generally liking it. They're great to drive, and quicker than 450bhp suggests, aren't they?
Seems to be complete random as to whether it stays in neutral or decides to go with engaging P. Wouldn't be such a problem if the handbrake was brilliant but mine's not.
I tend to use the DCT manually most of the time so can't say I've noticed much problem with the lag when changing, myself.
Anyway, pleased to see you're generally liking it. They're great to drive, and quicker than 450bhp suggests, aren't they?
Terminator X said:
Ah no worries, nasty old auto on mine 
TX.
PS just FYI mine has P on the gear lever itself
Indeed, your M5 has the 8-speed Steptronic, does it not, and I think that's a 'normal' auto box, hence it will have a P! Must be something about DSGs, perhaps...TX.
PS just FYI mine has P on the gear lever itself
Edited by Terminator X on Friday 21st June 15:47
How you finding it? I had a drive of a mate's car a couple of weeks back - I was very, very surprised - so fast, secure, and chuckable, it certainly didn't feel like a 5-series-sized car, if that makes sense?
had ham said:
Indeed, your M5 has the 8-speed Steptronic, does it not, and I think that's a 'normal' auto box, hence it will have a P! Must be something about DSGs, perhaps...
How you finding it? I had a drive of a mate's car a couple of weeks back - I was very, very surprised - so fast, secure, and chuckable, it certainly didn't feel like a 5-series-sized car, if that makes sense?
It's the Comp so running a bit more power + slightly better tied down etc. Really liking it, hides its mass pretty well considering it is a bit of a bus^! Gets up to speed very very quickly so you do have to treat it with respect.How you finding it? I had a drive of a mate's car a couple of weeks back - I was very, very surprised - so fast, secure, and chuckable, it certainly didn't feel like a 5-series-sized car, if that makes sense?
TX.
^came from a RS4 so tbf I am used to bus like vehicles!
Good write up. Had mine 8 months from new and agree with your summing up.
I love the car mines in San Merino Blue and is stunning in the sun.
I know what you mean about the DCT sometimes struggles if a quick pull away is needed at a roundabout, you seem to have to floor it to get a reaction, but to be honest 95 percent I use the paddles.
As with the park neutral thing, I just stop, stick in N and press the starter twice, once stops the engine twice sticks it in park. Simps.
I love the car mines in San Merino Blue and is stunning in the sun.
I know what you mean about the DCT sometimes struggles if a quick pull away is needed at a roundabout, you seem to have to floor it to get a reaction, but to be honest 95 percent I use the paddles.
As with the park neutral thing, I just stop, stick in N and press the starter twice, once stops the engine twice sticks it in park. Simps.
s2000db said:
Just turn the engine off while you’re in R or D, and it goes into park, simple as that..
Indeed, completely counter-intuitive, this is my first DSG, all my other cars have had manuals or normal autos, where N is required before a P, I guess I'm just out of touch.1967 said:
As with the park neutral thing, I just stop, stick in N and press the starter twice, once stops the engine twice sticks it in park. Simps.
That would be great, but it doesn't always do that.Hey ho, no matter, I love the bloody thing with a passion - it has somehow gotten (apols, I hate Americanisms) under my skin like no other car I've ever owned, other than the ISF.
had ham said:
There isn't a 'Park' on the gear selector - it's a DSG dual clutch system, so your choices are R, N, -/+, or D/S. I just nipped out and took a picture...
Hence the confusion, it certainly 'works' in a way you wouldn't expect...
Never switch the car off in N. Leave it in D or R and it will revert back to P itself. You get the bong when you’ve put it in N. Hence the confusion, it certainly 'works' in a way you wouldn't expect...
As far as I know there are two reasons for this: 1 is it’s inherently the way the gearbox functions and second bmw didn’t want m engines to be sitting idle.
Nice write up! Glad to hear your enjoying it, high praise indeed on the back of your previous cars! Must say i'm sorely tempted by one at the moment just seems like such a great all rounder. Even the sound has grown on me.
I took offence to your slander of my home town Enfield though but being honest it's not nice walking through parts of it during the day let alone at night 
he must of walked through Ponders End or Bush Hill Park?
I took offence to your slander of my home town Enfield though
but being honest it's not nice walking through parts of it during the day let alone at night he must of walked through Ponders End or Bush Hill Park?Gassing Station | M Power | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff