BMW M4 & M4 Competition Tested: To Competition Or Not to Competition!?
Is a manual RWD Coupe painted in 'Isle of Man Green' everything you ever dreamt of? Or do you lay awake pondering if you want the Competition? No need to ponder anymore, as I've got the answer to all your questions right here.
"To be, or not to be" is the opening of one of the most renowned pieces written by William Shakespeare but what does this have to do with the BMW M4? Well, there’s an existential question in this piece that has parallels with choosing between the non-competition M4 and the M4 Competition. Differences between these two might not seem like day and night but certainly offers buyers a tough choice. Lower in power but available with the magical stick, the regular M4 is an enchanting and consuming choice. Switch up to the M4 Competition and buyers get a weapon of mass destruction, yet lose the intimate relation shaped between owners of the beforementioned. I’ve been lucky enough to test both of these cars, the M4 Competition on the track of Zolder and the M4 during a multi-day road test. So bear with me while I run you through the thoughts and experiences that formed my preference.
No sycophancy about the nose
Let’s get one thing very clear: I’m not spending half of this article complaining about the design of the nose like some other journalists have done. You’re here to read about a performance car from Munich with a history that dates back more than 36 years, a car that has evolved vastly since then. It would be more fitting to say that the offspring has lead to a wider gene pool. The grandfather I'm referring to is of course the E30 M3, generations have led to it creating offspring in the form of what BMW calls an M4. A coupe that can be configured in more ways than ever as buyers can now opt for a manual, an automated gearbox, RWD, and even xDrive (no manual for that one) from this summer onwards. So instead of talking about what the eyes can see, the photos I took for this article should paint the picture.
And I'm not spending the other half of the article complaining about how heavy the new M4 is either. In the lightest trim, the M4 weighs 1775 kilograms. Want the Competition? That car will weigh a minimum of 1800 kilograms. Add another 50 kilograms if you want the xDrive setup. No lightweights but certainly not heavyweights either. BMW has made the M4 over a fifth stiffer than its predecessor, the wheelbase increased, and BMW had to oblige to new safety rules. Compare it to its direct rivals and you'll find similar numbers tipping the scales.
More power or more feel?
On paper, the difference between the BMW M4 and M4 Competition is easily portrayed if you look at the numbers. The first mentioned gets 480 horsepower (at 6250 rpm) and 550 Nm (between 2650-6130 rpm), launching the car to a hundred in 4.3 seconds. BMW's M4 Competition manages 0-100 in 3.9 seconds thanks to an additional 30 horsepower and 100 Nm coming from the 3-liter straight-six. Spend € 86.300 (BE) and you can take the M4 home, spend € 93.500 (BE) and the Competition is yours. Even mentioning the M4 comes as a manual and Competition comes with an 8-speed ZF automatic is pretty straightforward. See, it all seems so logical!? More power, more money, more speed. But once you take into account that Mercedes-AMG, Audi RS, and alike don't offer manuals, everything changes. Why? Because it changes the relationship between the driver and the car. But that isn't for everyone. Why? Hang on while I try to paint that picture.
First I'll start with the picture of the BMW M4 Competition, a car I had the pleasure of driving on a track. An experience that perfectly demonstrated what these machines are capable of: making you feel like you can drive better than you actually can. In everything you do, the M4 Competition gives you loads of confidence. An impressive feat while diving deep into brakes at 200 KPH on a track you've never been on before. The same confidence oozed out of the car when steering towards the apex, the feedback and levels of precision are tremendous compared to the predecessor. You know what the front axle is doing, clearly communicating the line between grip and understeer. The same goes for the rear axle. Overtaking slower track creatures had the same effect yet again, the 650 Nm and 8-speed are very effective at pushing you past anything and everything in a blink at any speed, and even without flipping paddles yourselves. Get it yet? BMW M has made a car that makes drivers feel good, they've made speed accessible with the M4 Competition. No matter your level of skill, the Competition makes anyone capable of partaking in a race. Without being disrespectful, one could call it a plug-and-play experience. You get in and go, go fast with ease.
During the track day, BMW proudly stated that they made the car more accessible. And they have every right to, as they managed to keep purists happy too by offering the manual M4 and made the Competiton useable for unskilled people like me. To demonstrate just how accessible the M4 Competition's potential has become, a BMW instructor accompanied a small group of M3s and M4s to make sure we push the cars out off their comfort zone (and a little past our own). They didn't throw me in front of the Lions without warning though. Both the M4 and Competiton trim get programmable M-Settings, these allow for the drivetrain response, the brake response (magic), the levels of traction, suspension stiffness, and steering feel to be anything from comfy to brutally unforgiving. As you can guess, we started in the comfortable part and ended with everything (but the ESP) in its most performance-orientated setting.
It was hard to imagine that these cars were running on the same setup as they would do on the streets. There was no brake fade, no slaying the rear tires. In fact, there was another group of drivers tracking them after us journalists did. It genuinely felt like you could just drive home in it, only to return the next day and track it all over again. So you see, the Competition is accessible performance in the broadest sense.
The Holy Grail, Or Holy Stick?
Enter the M4: gone is the easy accessibility of potential the M4 Competition offers. You'll have a steep learning curve to go through before you'll get the feeling that you know what you're doing here. And that's all because of the manual transmission. It demands a different mindset than with automatic. BMW does help you out with 'Gas Assistant' which gives intermittent amounts of throttle when shifting, making the drive smoother. And they help you out with a launch-control function for the manual, no joke.
The last time I drove a manual, performance-orientated press car, was with the Subaru BRZ. Down over half of the power, over half the price tag, it was less intimidating (accessible). But reminiscing about that BRZ made me realize that the manual in that car also played a big role in its performance being so accessible. Short travel distance between gears made getting from one gear to another quick and straightforward, the M4 has a bit too much distance to cover between gears. During spirited driving, this isn't an issue but you're not always slamming the car into gear during daily driving. The same goes for the position of the clutch paddle, it would be nicer if it was slightly closer to the brake paddle. And as I'm writing this down, it feels wrong to be judging the holy grail (the manual) like this. It is such a rarity to have the manual option that it feels unjust to be too harsh on it. Yet, a small part of me keeps saying it could have been a bit better. A tiny bit.
Never did I think the reward of a manual, and thus you being an important factor in the drivetrain, would be such a reward. Do you get my point? The more I contemplate about it, the more I realize the M4 and M4 Competition are in fact two different cars. With the manual, you keep searching for ways to improve your driving and for ways to get more out of the car. And that's where the M-Settings come into play, more so than on the track. In the Competition you use them to get set the car into its most aggressive state, in the manual you use them to set the M4 into a shape that you’ve grown into. You become far more connected with the whole in the manual, far deeper into the settings. My favorite was: DSC in sport with ‘drift assistant’ at level 8/10 to keep me safe, brakes in sport, engine in sport plus, damping in sport, and I turned off the gas assistent. Get this right, and the reward is far greater than the Competition gives, if this your kind of reward. This only happend after a few days with the car though, the whole lot is simply intimadating at first. And without my beloved partner next to me.
To Competiton or not to?
The BMW 4 Series is a fundamental part of the brand's identity, the M4 maybe even more so. Therefore getting this car right was, yet again, a necessity for the Munich-based manufacturer. And without a doubt in my mind, I can say that BMW has gotten this car very, very right. Making the manual available might have made it a future icon too.
Whether you go for the easily accessible performance of the M4 Competition or the purists manual, you'll always end up in a car that will provoke a wide range of pleasant emotions. Inside the German quality is severed plentiful, but if opted for can become way fancier than the regular 4 Series (review about that car and its interior here). A radical exterior design fits the dynamic nature and will trigger a lot of compliments from people, especially about the rear and the stunning ‘Isle of Man’ green. Using it on a day-to-day basis won't kill the bank either, as the average consumption was a very decent 8L/100km during the test period. But when you opt for the manual, daily driving might hurt your relationship if he/she isn't a petrol head. Why? I said it before: it's a lot to digest in the manual M4 form. Intimidating for some, no doubt about that.
So what's my advice? I'd advise the M4 over the M4 Competition any day. Not just because its manual is such a rarity these days, but because of the intimate relationship you will develop with the car, because of the great reward mastering the shifts will give you. Sure, the M4 Competition will undoubtedly make many owners smile too but there's no greater reward than feeling the rear tires load up while you release the clutch and pound the gas paddle. And what about the relationship with your partner? See the price difference between the BMW M4 and the M4 Competition? You can use that to buy a second-hand MINI. I rest my case.
