BMW M4 Competition xDrive Fast Fleet test – six months in the £100k sports coupe

The M4’s quad tailpipes have pulled away from the evo office car park for the last time, and I feel really quite melancholy to see it go. Some cars you don’t miss when they’ve gone, no matter how good they were; I knew from early on this wouldn’t be the case with the M4. 

It’s been a lovely car to live with: as a long-distance tourer, as a commuting carriage, as a weekend getaway car, as a truly rewarding driver’s car and even an occasional track car. 

As mentioned in previous reports, I’m not crazy about the way it looks (though its design has grown on me a fair bit) and I felt a bit self-conscious about the borderline ostentatious image it presents to the world. But I loved the M4 for what it is and what it can do, rather than what it looks like.

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Others on the evo team who spent time with YC72 FUB have made the very valid point that it can’t totally disguise its weight– this is a 1.8-ton, 4.8m-long car after all – and always feels big and heavy to some extent, with some of its switchable modes for drivetrain and dampers geared around mitigating its mass. And it is big enough to rule out smaller parking spaces, which was a pain in urban driving. But I honestly didn’t mind the M4’s weight in the way it felt on the road. I quite liked its solid, muscle-car feel, and it never felt clumsy. Agile, in fact. I just love this car’s front end. So positive, so resistant to understeer. 

And so fast, the M4. In-gear acceleration from the 503bhp, 479lb ft 3-litre twin-turbo straight-six is laugh-out-loud instant. But the car was never edgy or peaky or difficult to drive. It could be a relaxed tourer when you wanted it to be, and I loved its ride quality with the adaptive dampers set to their softest setting. The optional M Carbon bucket seats, while a pain to clamber into and out of, are superbly comfy when you’re in them and the M4 is a great long-distance car. It returned mpg in the mid-to-high 20s in regular driving, and could break into the 30s on a long run.

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The interior was a smartly finished, tight-panel-gapped, high-quality vault to sit within. An easy one to get to grips with interface-wise, too. The (one generation old) iDrive system was intuitive to use and far less distracting to navigate on the move than most cars’ infotainment set-ups. Including the one found in BMW’s more recent models: I’m glad the M4 didn’t have the less-buttons, more-complication latest-generation iDrive interface.

The boot was usefully big and although the rear seats were no more suitable for adults than those of most 2+2s, they could fold flat, making the M4 a relatively practical car – though it should be, given its expansive exterior dimensions.

It’s a big car for big money: £85,375 basic when we started this test, £86,665 at the time of writing. And our car, with options including Frozen Portimao Blue paint, carbon-ceramic brakes, laser headlights and extra carbonfibre trim (plus a fair few other additions) topped £105,000 as tested.  

Writing the opening report, I wondered aloud if it could really feel like a car worth more than £100k. In terms of perception, the jury’s out. Like Dickie Meaden, who pondered the same question when he drove the car in its initial weeks on the fleet, I struggle conceptually with the idea of an M3 (albeit a two-door one) that costs six figures. But in terms of how it feels to drive, how adeptly it can turn its hand to every situation, I would have to say that it does back up its price. It’s as thrilling as many sports cars and a better GT than many grand tourers, BMW’s own M8 included. And with £10,000+ discounts being offered for unregistered examples, the justification only strengthens.

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All-wheel-drive M4 Competition xDrive or rear-drive, £2855-cheaper M4 Competition? You don’t feel like you’re missing out on tactility in the xDrive car; it’s so heavily rear-biased that it still feels predominantly like a rear-wheel-drive car in character. By the same token, I didn’t feel I was missing out much on grip in a rear-wheel-drive M4 Comp I spent a good few miles in a couple of years ago, but that was mostly in fair weather. If I were going to choose an M4 to drive in foul weather, I’d obviously plump for the xDrive one. Tyre-wise, our M4’s Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S rubber lasted impressively well, especially considering the car was driven with enthusiasm on the road and did a good few laps at Goodwood. 

I am still in awe of how well the BMW coped with Goodwood, a fearsomely quick track that puts heavy loads through a car. I was braking a good margin earlier than the M4 is capable of, to look after the brakes for the drive home and the remaining months of the loan, but the carbon-ceramic system never felt anything less than mighty on road or on track, despite the car’s 1775kg (as a minimum) kerb weight. And even leaving a margin for brake and tyre wear, the M4 Comp got around Goodwood’s 2.4 miles very deftly: balanced, eager and stonkingly fast in both straight-line pace and corner speed.

I knew I’d miss it even before it was gone. Mind you, the 911 Carrera GTS that joined the fleet in its place softened the blow somewhat. For all the M4’s brilliance – and I believe it really, truly is brilliant – a lighter, lower, more communicative ‘real’ sports car will always have the edge on something engineered around a saloon platform. But this M4 comes bloody close. For me it’s absolutely a five-star car and I loved every minute with it. I think many of you would, too.

This story was first featured in evo issue 319.