BMW M is in a strange spot right now. As the cars have become heavier, more luxurious, more tech-laden and more-often-than-not-automatic, so they’ve also been imbued with an unprecedented level of track ability. Everything about the latest generation, from their lavish interiors to chunky kerbweights, suggested cars ill-suited to circuit driving - despite the illustrious badge. The tricolour devotees were up in arms. But the M cars proved themselves absolute animals: the first four-wheel-drive M5 became the sensational CS, the XXL M2 rides and handles better than its older, lighter predecessor, and the M3 CS is a sub-7:30 car at the Nurburgring. There’s some special sauce going in somewhere.
Hopes are high, then, for the M4 CS, given what the four-door equivalent and regular xDrive variant have already achieved. Although don’t forget the CSL, which arguably didn’t capture the imagination quite like an M car with those three letters on the back should have. It was very good, but perhaps expectations got the better of the CSL. Interesting to note that the £117,100 for a CS isn’t much less than the £125,955 once asked for the supposedly senior model. Might this be the special edition that delivers on the promise?
The CS looks the part, at least. While an M4 still seems about 15 per cent bigger than it needs to be, the wheels, ride height change and CSL hand-me-downs do mean it won’t be mistaken for a standard car. Especially in the Frozen Isle of Man Green, which is stunning. The haters will always hate this generation - and granted, the M3 is probably the more appealing design with rear doors instead of so much rear haunch - but this CS must be the best-looking G82 yet. Damning it with faint praise, perhaps - but in comparison, the CSL feels overdone, and a standard Comp not quite butch enough.
Time is tight behind the newly flat-bottomed, still too fat, newly Alcantra-clad wheel. While much is familiar from the M3 CS - more boost for 550hp, 20kg less for 1,760kg DIN, a detailed suspension rework - the key difference for this track drive is the fitment of Michelin’s Pilot Sport Cup 2R, as used for the wild 7:21.989 ‘ring lap (the M3 equivalent was 7:28.760). On a regular wheel, so the same size as standard - 275/35 ZR 19 front, 285/30 ZR 20 rears - albeit about as close as it’s possible to get to a road-legal slick. They are the optional tyre available for a CS (standard is mere Cup 2), yet the fact that we’re encouraged to weave on familiarisation laps for heat demonstrates these aren’t your average track tyres. Like flying a hot air balloon (probably), anything less than perfect conditions and you won’t want to go anywhere with Cup 2Rs. And a replacement set will be in the region of £2k. So we're talking about a pretty extreme spec. A few M4s are likely to get them, however, and it’s the only car offered, so here’s what it’s like.
The CS suits those Cup 2Rs like a sprinter suits their spikes. Obviously there’s very little validity in the real world, and the cost is prohibitive, but the outright ability is absolutely extraordinary. Crucially, too, the M4 doesn’t just come across as a grip monster, like a standard car has been stuck on slicks and you’re there to hold on until the grip gives out. There is sufficient finesse for the driver to get stuck into, albeit many miles per hour faster. This is an M4 with the experience elevated across the board, not just overloaded with abundant grip.
On an unfamiliar Salzburgring, the initial impression is of a GT4 race car. That’s much, much faster down straights. The CS is a model of composure, stability and confidence under enormous braking, the pedal resolute and the car remarkably unflustered; it feels damped like a touring car, absorbing every hit and landing with incredible poise. The turn-in speed and accuracy are freakish for something so heavy. And while the tyres are clearly contributing to that capacity, they’re not everything.
Experience of M4s on lesser rubber and with not quite such extreme specs means the throttle is feathered out of turns initially, only for greedier and greedier applications to be rewarded with phenomenal traction. So much more of the official 550hp and 479lb ft (they’ve never felt more conservative than here) reaches the road every single time - it’s genuinely remarkable. The xDrive system retains its uncanny knack of seeming like a benefit, aiding the colossal traction yet never compromising steering or the car's rear-biased attitude. There’s sufficient communication through the seat to gauge when the limit is going to be breached, too; the steering perhaps lacks a bit of sensation given the vivid, urgent nature of the chassis itself.
Whatever has had a fright in front from your cornering speed (and not just the grille in their mirror) will get no respite down the next straight. The M4 CS is wildly accelerative, gobbling up its intermediate ratios like they were the first three; even in sixth as it passes the 155mph a standard car would be limited to (188mph is the official top speed) the M4 seems emphatically in mid-stride. Doesn’t matter if, in the confusion, you’ve left the last bend a gear higher than ideal, either - the torque lassoes the next bend without delay. But with plenty of drama; the throb of an angrily turbo’d 3.0-litre through a titanium exhaust is part old-school JDM tuner special, part GT race car, part sonorous BMW straight six.
It all makes for an unforgettable track experience. Two laps in an M1 setting (Sport chassis, Sport engine, Comfort steering, Comfort brake, standard 4WD) and two in M2 (Sport Plus, Sport Plus, Sport, Sport, 4WD Sport) obviously isn’t enough to completely know a car, but it is enough to be hugely impressed. The ceramic brakes have enormous staying power, the front axle feels steadfast, and precious little seems to outfox the suspension. Six circulations in total with warm-up and cool-down isn’t many, though the cars continued going out with other wannabe racing drivers and lapped up the punishment (sorry), so there really does seem to be the substance behind the stellar first impressions. Granted, there are also hints here and there, as tyres get hot and inputs clumsier, of a familiar, fairly friendly BMW M balance in there as grip finally yields. But there was no hint of this spiky, slick-shod monster becoming undriveable when off the boil.
The CS isn’t perfect, mind. An automatic that broadly suits life on the road is exposed here, super quick going up the ratios yet still lacking some bite going back down. Even with the shift speed dialled up to the max, the downshifts don’t snap like they should. It undermines a bit of the confidence in that immense, tarmac-chewing stopping power. Again, the intensity of the rest of the package highlights precisely when the transmission can't step up. Furthermore, while a superb job has been done to lash down a car of this size and weight, the driver remains acutely aware of it - this M4 doesn’t shrink around you, or ever contrive some feeling of a smaller, more intimate sports car. It’s just a phenomenally well-sorted, very large car.
Indeed, the fact that it’s so sorted despite its gearbox and weight issues, makes it hard not to wonder what might have been. A dual-clutch ain’t coming back, and neither are 1,500kg M4s - but BMW has worked wonders on what it does have. And the upside to its heft and profligacy (if we can call it that) is that there's every chance this CS will follow the M3 and be a lovely road car on top. On those regular Michelins and with the standard xDrive, it’d likely be the perfect companion for a road trip to the ‘ring and as many tourist laps as you could afford, as enjoyable on one as on the other. Rabidly fast, undeniably absorbing and yet still quite luxurious, the whole endeavour comes across as an all-things-to-all-people compromise. Which makes it all the more impressive that the driving experience is shot through with quality and purpose.
That’s all still to be confirmed with a proper drive soon, of course, though clearly the CS has made a very auspicious start. If we're inclined to grade the current crop of M cars by their circuit-crushing abilities - and BMW seems intent that we do - then it might very well be the pick of an outrageously capable bunch. Let’s just hope that’s not just the Cup 2Rs talking…
SPECIFICATION | BMW M4 CS (G82)
Engine: 2,993cc, twin-turbo straight-six
Transmission: 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 550@6,250rpm
Torque (lb ft): 479@2,750-5,950rpm
0-62mph: 3.4sec
Top speed: 188mph
Weight: 1,760kg DIN, 1,835kg EU
MPG: 27.7 (WLTP)
CO2: 232g/km (WLTP)
Price: £117,100
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