► Harder, fiercer M3 CS driven
► Limited-run saloon all sold out in the UK
► Are those 100 UK buyers the lucky ones?
These days, the M3 is less a car and more a model range. As well as the M4 coupe, its myriad body styles, option packs, potential powertrains and seats (yep, seats – these are key) offer a world of different possibilities.
Just as some bemoan the 911’s gentrification, so the M3/M4 is now a hugely refined, capable and well-appointed distance machine, should you need it to be. We ran an M4 coupe on CAR’s long-term test fleet a couple of years back now, which did nothing but prove the point.
Snug in the standard seats, 500-mile days take about half an hour and leave you fresh as a yoga-retreat returnee. But if that doesn’t sound M3 enough for you, tick the M carbon bucket seat option (an admittedly punchy £3740). Now it feels less like a GT, more like a lap time-obsessed sports saloon with an appetite for high apex speeds and low-flying B-road missions.
I’m still not satisfied…
Then M presents the new M3 CS (rather, it presented the new M3 CS and promptly sold its UK allocation of 100 units), an M3 Competition with its lenses realigned and a tighter focus, at the expense of comfort and some semblance of affordability.
Power is up, to 543bhp, and xDrive all-wheel drive is standard, a curious but welcome decision for a car realistically more likely to live out its days between hedges rather than painted kerbs.
The list price also straps on a sturdy pair of boots and goes for a hike, to £115,900 (up from £84k for an xDrive M3 Comp). There is no manual option, same as the Competition: too much power, too much torque. To get three pedals you must opt for the new M2 or the ultra-rare M4 CSL.
Strewth – how much extra performance do you get for the cash?
To drive, the CS is an ultra-high-definition version of the Competition. Increased spring rates, revised anti-roll-bar settings and the more rigidly mounted engine and transmission all conspire to make you feel more: the bassy machinations of the ever-ready turbocharged straight-six as you work it between corners, the coarse blur of speeding tarmac as you peel into each curve, and the hefty excess of grip and body control that urge you to quickly raise your levels of ambition accordingly.
The M3 Competition is defined by its superb front end, which steadfastly refuses to countenance understeer, and the CS doubles down on the same. We’re driving it in warm, sunny conditions, where its limits appear largely unknowable. But I’d wager it’s sensational in the rain, perhaps around Spa under slate skies with the track to yourself, juggling traction settings and the set-up of the all-wheel-drive system (fully rear-drive can be dialled in) to get the best from the car, the circuit and yourself.
Time to weep, then, at what you’re already too late to buy? Don’t sweat it. While the adaptive dampers have a sophistication that allows them to handle rough roads better than you might think, the CS is still a fish out of water chuntering along busy, slow UK roads with their godawful tarmac.
At such times an M3 Touring (also all-wheel drive) is surely the smarter choice, plus you’ll save £30k. Which, coincidentally, buys a nice E46 M3.
BMW M3 CS: verdict
While it’s not quite as epic as the M5 CS and M2 CS, the M3 CS is right up there with some of the best BMWs to drive – for the lucky few.