BMW’s M4: Almost a supercar

Like promised, the full road test of our long term BMW M4 Coupe is finally here. And the results are impressive to say the least.

Of course, owners of these cars are going to say I told you so. It is the non-owners who should sit up and pay attention – because the numbers are that good.

Forget the previous generation V8 M3; this new fifth generation M car will destroy its naturally aspirated predecessor with ease. These new M3/M4 models are putting out numbers that put the cars not too far off the likes of Nissan’s mighty GT-R.

Just to be sure you are listening: no it won’t beat a GT-R, but it will make the Nissan driver pay a bit more attention than he would like to and that is saying something. Firstly, there is a committed lightweight design concept that produces a weight-saving of around 80kg over the old M3 thanks to the rigorous application of intelligent lightweight design measures.

These include the increased use of lightweight materials, such as carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) and aluminium for a number of chassis and body components.

Indeed, both the M3 and M4 Coupe models feature a carbon roof, and thatall helps with agility. The engine is the heart of every M model, and the new turbocharged six-cylinder unit fitted in the car combines the virtues of a high-revving naturally aspirated unit with the strengths of turbocharger technology. The six-cylinder in-line engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology produces a maximum output of 317kW, which is only 8kW more than the old car.

But it’s the peak torque of 550Nm that is available across a wide rev band that outstrips the figure recorded by the outgoing BMW M3 by roughly 40 percent – another one of the factors that make the difference.

Besides this and the reduced weight, the other big factor is that the new car gets its air forced into the cylinders via the turbochargers and is not nearly affected as much as the naturally aspirated cars up on the Reef with its thin oxygen deprived air. Couple to that you need a decent gearbox to communicate your power desires to the wheels, and here the only choice is the optional seven-speed M Double Clutch Transmission Drivelogic with Launch Control.

The third generation of the M DCT sees the M engineers once again setting the benchmark in terms of power and racetrack capability without having to compromise on everyday usability. As well as changing gear automatically, which is perfect for traffic or just commuting, in manual mode the transmission enables ultra-fast gear changes with no interruption in the flow of power and leaves it to you to decide when you want to change.

And when it comes to posting times, the integrated Launch Control function is the key to ensuring optimum sprinting performance off the line and producing acceleration figures that would simply not be possible for the manual gearbox.

I must state at this point: as good as this system is, you do need grippy type tar and decent rubber on your car. I have run this car at the ODI Raceway for the 1km Shoot-Out day with the BMW Car Club Gauteng. The surface is slippery, and all I got was wheelspin and more wheelspin and that sees the sprint times increase quite dramatically.

But I do and have done all my testing at the internationally renowned Gerotek Test Facility just west of Pretoria for well over 10 years now. I test the cars on 95 octane pump fuel and on OEM rubber at OEM recommended tyre pressures and in the same sequence of events and at the same place each and every time so I can ensure a high level of consistency and repeatability.

As the car had almost 12 000km on the clock when I finally tested it, and the rubber fitted being a little worse for wear after doing duty all around the country, we decided it was best to fit the car with a new set of tyres to be sure everything was as it would be if I was testing a new car.

And here we opted for BMW OEM tyre supplier and long time BMW Car Club Gauteng supporter Bridgestone SA to help us put the power to the road. The only choice for us was to fit a set of standard spec sized Bridgestone Potenza RE050 tyres that are available over the counter at any reputable tyre retailer. The Potenza RE050 is an ultra high performance tyre as fitted to the likes Porsche and Ferrari and uses technology developed through Bridgestone’s involvement with Formula One to offer dynamic sporty handling with excellent control, stability and steering response.

The tyre features and driver benefits of the Bridgestone Potenza RE050 are an asymmetric tread design that ensures there is a solid connection between road, tyre and steering wheel contact for superior stability. You also get jointless cap ply that ensures improved uniformity and high speed stability, and this you need in a car that has a top speed electronically limited not too far away from 300km/h.

So we were finally ready to go. The speed limiter moving the BMW M Driver’s Package was fitted as was the BMW M Performance exhaust (BMW claim no power increases for these mods by the way). The car was filled with fuel, tyres were good, VBOX strapped in and Gerotek was waiting. The 0-100km/h time was a lightning quick, 4.08 seconds.

The quarter mile was done in an equally quick 12.13 seconds at 190km/h, while the 1km was covered in 21.95 seconds at 247km/h. And like I said earlier, this car is only stopped from going beyond 300km/h because the electronic speed limite kicks in at 289km/h. And as you can see from the logbook, this supercar level of performance does not come at the price of excessive fuel consumption.

I have done just over 9 000km at 11.48 litres/100km. Obviously, do a track day or something like this and you won’t come close to this number, but take it easy sometimes, like I have, and you will get a number that is impressive for the amount of urge on tap at any time.

At a current price of just over R1 million for a stock unit, while you can easily add R150 000 to this price for the nice to have goodies, this is still the most performance you can buy in a car at this price today.

The last update on my time with the BMW M4 will be on Wednesday, March 30 in Citizen Motoring, and you can also follow me on @MarkJonesZA23 for up to date happenings with the car.

You will find all you need to know about Bridgestone SA and the products they offer at bridgestone.co.za and the BMW Car Club Gauteng’s happenings at bmwcarclub.co.za