2021 BMW M4 Competition Performance Review | The Ultimate Drifting Machine

The ultimate driving machine is what BMW likes to tag themselves as. And for many years I believed it. But in the past generation, a lot of other car makers have caught up to them in one way or another. This is the 2021 BMW G82 M4 competition and this is their answer to all that. So let's see if we can live up to the hyp.

The G82 M4 is now technically in its second generation, but if you think about it, it's really just a deviation of the M3, which has had a two door doppelganger since, I don't know, the mid-1980s. So what that really means is that the M4 actually has quite a bit of pedigree. But what makes this sixth generation of entry level compact M so special besides the 503 horsepower and updated technology as well? You guessed it, those enormous kidney grilles. Love it or hate it, I think they're here to stay. But even if it's not your cup of tea, you can't deny that BMWs have sort of become the industry standard when it comes to this, you know, entry level sports car segment. Anyway, let's take a look at what we got today.

So this is the all new M4 competition. It's longer, marginally wider, more powerful and significantly more bucktoothy than its outgoing predecessor. But is it a better sports car despite being doused with fancy computers, outfitted with a beefed up power plant and theoretically slower shifting, 8 speed ZF automatic? Well, that's what we're here to find out. Let's start with the subjective fact that I think it looks way better than the F82 M4. Yes, that means I do think the front end has a lot of merit given that it probably lets in double the amount of airflow. And I like that the fender vents pull a lot of design cues from the M8 series. It's a car that I don't mind waking up next to. Not only that, but its 3 liter twin turbo inline six produces 503 horsepower, which is 10 more than the previous M4 GTS and almost 50 more horses in the M4Cs that we tested last year. It doesn't sound like much given the 3,900 pound curb weight, but somehow it claims to put down last gen supercar kind of performance times. The interior is also overhauled with digital displays everywhere. They even changed up the paddles. But frankly I'm not impressed with it as a whole given what Audi and Mercedes has to offer at the moment. However, these competition seats are to die for. The pelvic hip support is something I never even thought I needed. If you don't option your M4 with these seats, you're committing a crime. Anyway, time to see what it sounds like.

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying this car. I mean, yeah, the front end does take a little bit getting used to, but it's not unattractive at all. You just, you just can't be running.

A front plate on this thing.

In a lot of ways, it's basically a baby M8. It's got a unique look to it, relatively aggressive styling, and, you know, it makes some cool noises like this. Oh, this thing loves to drift.

What?

All right. Anyway, it just kind of sucks because in a few years, you know, you'll probably see a bunch of these roaming around in the streets. Because, you know, BMW loves to just whore these things out on leases.

But aside from my love hate relationship with BMW Financial, the car really does hit the nail on the head in a few different ways. The first is communication with the driver. Although the steering isn't as heavy as I'd like it to be, it feels direct enough to the point where you can really command the car with the due under duress, it slides when you want to slide, and when you want out, it'll immediately bring you back in line. Power and throttle response in Sport is decent. It's punchy, but it'll never match the immediacy of a naturally aspirated engine like the E92. But one thing that definitely stands out is the extremely stiff ride. Even in comfort, it's unforgiving. And in Sport plus, well, you might as well book your weekly chiropractor appointments now. My favorite thing about the M4 is that despite its relatively compact size, the backseat is still massively useful. It feels a little tighter than the F82, but it might be because I put on some more dad weight lately. On top of that, I'm really into these new paddles that BMW introduced in this new generation of M's. I'm so glad that they moved away from the silly silver things that require slender man fingers to operate. These feel premium, sporty, and just as special as the car you're driving. Anyway, let's move on to the performance testing portion of this review. We'll start with our full half mile acceleration test tests. Fun fact, the launch control will force you into second gear. But I can see why, because this is what happens with a first gear manual launch. Anyway. Let's do all that for real now. Did I Mention that it needs to prepare itself to go into launch. So that means there's like a three second delay before the actual takeoff. I found it funny that it broke so hard that the draggy lifted up and hit the windshield. Anyway, now it's time to move on to my favorite and most important part, the handling test. Windows up. Manual mode. Face on. Feels pretty good here through turn three. A little bit of roll, but less than I imagine. I'm actually surprised at how fast I came through here. It felt really slow in the cabin, and there I am trying hard not to power slide. I broke early here because the brake fate is actually one of the weakest points of this car. Past turn eight and into the finish. Trying pretty hard not to power slide again. I don't know if you can tell from the footage, but this thing was all over the place on the test course. My wife actually thought I snuck in a beer before the runs. And honestly, I expected it to put down a pretty bad lap time. But it surprised me when I found out that it was freaking fast. So let's take a look at those handling numbers. First, the G82 M4 competition put down an astounding 46.75 seconds time through our course. And that is only literally a hair slower than the E63 SAMG. It's faster than both an M5 and Viper ACR. But before you question how I can beat a track purpose supercar, remember that I only get three laps around here. So the Viper would probably put down a faster time if I had more laps with it. And you know, wasn't afraid of destroying a collector's car. But the M4 is simply easier to just get into and be a hero with with the supporting metrics. It did pretty well too. Almost a buck nine on the back straight. 1.24 G's through turn six and exiting the course at basically 44 miles per hour. Granted, it was drifting a little bit out of line there for our straight line stuff. 4100 came in at an impressive 5.63 seconds, which means it's punching way above its weight class. And It's a solid 4/10 of a second faster than the previous M4Cs. 60 to 130 is where things get interesting. And it looks like a low to mid 9 second car with a 9.35 second runtime. That means it's faster than a 992 Carrera S and almost a second and a half faster than the outgoing M4Cs. The thing that shocked me the most was the half mile trap speed at 151.43 miles per hour. It is basically almost in supercar territory here and I feel like this car is either a factory freak or BMW is seriously underrating the S58s in these M4 comps. If you want to see more times and metrics from other vehicles, check out the fastest link in the description below.

You know, I actually had a much better time with the car than I thought I would. For some reason I was never really fond of the M3s or M4s. I'm more of an M2 or M5 kind of guy.

Even though the F82 M4Cs that we.

Drove a little while ago was quite interesting didn't really speak to me either. I like this car a lot because even though there's a ton of electronics helping out, it still felt like you had some analog control over the fun. And really it's kind of interesting because you know how Mustangs, we kind of consider them as crowd control vehicles and whatnot. This car here, on the other hand, it's sort of the polar opposite because it still loves to induce itself into oversteer, but it's so manageable and easy to bring back that, you know, becomes almost addictive. Back on the topic of the grille.

Though, it's really not that atrocious in person.

A little bizarre at first, but honestly.

It grows on you after a day or two.

You just got to hang out with it for a little while to be able to, you know, know, fully appreciate the weirdness at the end of it all. I feel like BMW has done it again with setting the benchmark in terms of the entry level sports sedan or coupe. Although it's getting a little tough to call these guys entry level now because you can spec them pretty close to, I think, almost $100,000, which is frankly a little ridiculous. I think the S58s and the new.

M3s or M4s going to be crazy with all the mods they already have.

Going on and eventually those all wheel drive ones will just be gnarly fast. Fast from a dig.

Anyway.

Hope you enjoyed this episode on what I think is BMW's ultimate drifting machine. And as always, I'll catch you all.

On the next one. I hope you guys enjoyed this video as much as I did making it. If so, it'd be awesome if you can hit that like button and share the video with your friends. I can't cover everything I want to in the short amount of time that I have, so if I missed something.

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