WATCH: Can new BMW M3 live up to the hype?

We have taken BMW’s new M3, the most controversial car of the year, to Gerotek to see if its performance can match the hype its 375kW/650Nm on paper promises. And maybe win over a bunch of people who simply can’t come to terms with the car’s looks.

The current G80 M3 has some big shoes to fill. The previous F80 was a well-loved, rogue of note. It produced 331kW/550Nm from a low 1 850 rpm, which it ran through a brutal seven-speed double clutch gearbox to the rear wheels. This combination was an invitation to burn rubber at will and to leave black lines whenever you felt the urge.

What this did though was make nailing the 0 to 100 km/h times quite tricky, because if the road surface was not grippy, the torque would overwhelm the tyres. And there was nothing the launch control could do to prevent this. But still the F80 M3 hit 100 km/h in 4.27 sec, ran through the quarter  mile in 12.43 sec and the longer 1 km mark at 244 km/h. You could easily call the F80 M3 a wild child!

Now as you can see here on the video, the more powerful G80 M3 gets off the line without a hint of fuss or wheelspin despite still channelling all its power and torque to the rear wheels, but now only through a smoother shifting, conventional eight-speed torque converter gearbox.

If you were paying attention, you will notice some launch control trickery happening on this new M3. The car builds boost before it gives you the flag to let it go off the line, and it launches in second gear. Kinda clever. But will this make it quicker than the previous generation? And will it break into the four’s and get close to its claim of 3.9 sec to 100 km/h? Stay tuned for the complete test results.