2022 BMW M4 Review | The Civilized Rocketship – Today I’m out in the woods with a very angry bumblebee this is the bmw m4 almost the pinnacle of the 4 series and bmw’s lineup why almost because this is not the competition option it doesn’t have the extra ponies it doesn’t have all-wheel drive it doesn’t have the automatic transmission that means this is the one that enthusiasts are always raving about it still has a six-speed manual I know it’s received a lot of flak, but I really like this grill over the new bmw grills since it looks more like old bmw females from about WWII or shortly following.
The reason they’re called kidney girls is because of this arrangement right here on an anatomical chart of the human body this is how your kidneys are arranged if your kidneys are rotated 90 degrees you should probably see a doctor because you don’t have long to live in addition to the leave it to beaver gif We have angry headlights, led turn signals, and a lot of extra cooling going on at the bottom of the bumper.
The functional vents on the front bumper help relieve pressure up front, as well as direct air around the front tires and improve brake cooling right there.
We also have a m4 logo skirts down there at the bottom, and then the distinctive bmw m mirrors.
They don’t have a double connection to the body, but it definitely has that look.
This model’s carbon fiber caps are available in three basic colors for 2022.
At the moment, one of them is called the m3, which is basically the sedan version of the four series, but to add a little more confusion, we’re also seeing spy shots of an upcoming bmw m4 grand coupe, which is the sedan version of the m4, although theoretically the sedan version of the m4 is also the bmw 3 series.
You can get this in coupe or convertible with the 4 series logo right back there, but the convertible only comes in competition at the moment.
BMW has not confirmed or denied the existence of an upcoming bmw m4 grand coupe, but you can logically expect it to receive the same styling treatment as this model, combined with the four-door format seen in other m vehicles.
This is a combination of restrained styling elements like the tail lights.
light from the headlights There’s nothing out of the ordinary there, although there are a few over-the-top style features like these.
Massive exhaust tips down here big fins right there with carbon fiber at the bottom of the bumper and then a pretty subtle and discrete spoiler added right there to the trunk lid the roof becomes carbon fiber to help reduce weight and of course lower the center of gravity and the tires wheels and brakes become enormous two-piece rotors here big brake calipers 275 with summer tires up front these are pilot sport 4s’s and in the back we have 285s in the phone booth size se If you get the competition package, which has 503 horsepower, the 8-speed automatic gearbox becomes standard, and although the 6-speed manual transmission is fun, the 8-speed automatic is likely to be quicker today.
There are generally three alternatives when it comes to phone booth size section.
If you want a performance luxury coupe in this size category, we have the bmw m4, the audi rs5 with horsepower from a 2.9 liter v6, and the c63 with up to 503 horsepower from a 4 liter twin turbo v8.
There is no Cadillac coupe available; if you want a black wing or a quadfolio, those are sedan only, so not exactly the same as the bmw m4.
Now, before I get in the driver’s seat, I’d want to show you this design since it’s a little contentious.
This is the optional seat for the m4 with an illuminated m4 logo right there, a carbon fiber back, and lots of contrasting stitching carbon fiber section right there.
It’s definitely a very distinctively styled seat with the shocking blue the yellow accents right there that don’t quite match the sort of greenish yellow accents on the outside of the vehicle.
a lot of people have been wondering about this if you sit in the m4 and take it out on a track or your favorite winding road the function of this becomes immediately obvious it keeps your legs from colliding it makes it easier to operate the pedals and keep those legs separate extremely large side bolsters for the seat bottom cushion and back cushion and you will notice that the bottom bolsters are not adjustable the ones on the side are there’s the infl People’s opinions on this seat design appear to be very strongly divided.
It’s a little bit tricky to get in and out of, especially if you’re driving a manual transmission, because I prefer sitting a little bit closer to the steering wheel because getting the clutch all the way to the floor is a little bit easier with a manual transmission, whereas in an automatic transmission vehicle, I might be a little bit further away from the steering wheel.
The seat bottom bolsters, however, are not adjustable, and there isn’t really any lumbar support in this particular seat design.
I find the base seats in the m4 to be just a little bit more comfortable.
We have a manual tilt telescopic steering column with a pretty decent range of motion and two position memory over there on the driver’s door, and the passenger seat is essentially the same as the driver’s seat.
This front seat is not adjusted for a six foot five passenger as I normally would, but rather for me, as you can see, I have about an inch of leg room left and a pretty comfortable back seat, which is basically the same back seat that we find in the lesser four series, and like the rest of the four series lineup, bmw didn’t skimp out back here, so we have a lot of stitched goods going on on the sides, no hard plastics, and easy reach of the rear passengers stitching The front seat design doesn’t have quite as much blue there’s that bmw m4 illuminated logo perforated leather sections right there in the middle a mixture of leather alcantara yellow section right here is the alcantara imitation suede definitely a very very distinctive seat design I know a lot of people who have been very negative about the seat so be sure and let me know what you think about this especially if you own a m4 or if you’ve been in one I a lot of high-quality materials I know I keep saying this is a stunning blue, but apart from the yellow accents, I actually like this blue interior and would want to see more intriguing interior colors from other automobile manufacturers.
There are so many cars out there that are simply plain beige or charcoal that I appreciate a car maker that is willing to offer us a little more color.
Moving over to the dashboard, we discover a mix of charcoal and more of that blue.
Lots of ambient lighting running along right there the large bin style glove compartment that I was easily able to fit a 10 inch tablet computer inside at the top of the dashboard we have a center channel speaker as well as two large air vents moving over here to the middle of the dashboard we have a touch screen infotainment system that supports apple carplay and android auto but you should know that it only supports wireless carplay so this is not a system where you can choose between the two.
This will only work wirelessly, however carplay does take up the full screen; other from that, the remainder of the display is identical to the rest of the contemporary bmw range, with the exception of a warning light button.
This button is quite useful since it enables you to change the sophisticated safety systems of the car.
You can have everything on on the interstate and then turn it off or into your individual mode when you’re out on a more exciting roadway.
For example, you can have everything on on the interstate and then turn it off or into your individual mode when you’re out on a winding mountain road.
I find that really annoying on a winding mountain road where it’ll kind of intervene for you.
Here are the controls for the automated tri-zone climate control system.
Some of the controls will be found in the infotainment system controls, which can be found down here.
There are two large cupholders right there under that carbon fiber trim area a small storage cubby right back there but not big enough for my larger smartphone this is the six-speed manual while I’m complaining or commenting on things, I’ll say that reverse over to the left and then up is not my favorite place to rumble.
This also manages the backup camera’s auto start and stop functions.
engine starts and then stops If I hit the m mode button here, you can see we get a different screen here where I can toggle between road sport and track.
If I hit the setup button, which is this top one, we get a screen where we can adjust the various features of the vehicle a little bit more granularly so engine gear shift assistant that basically blips throttle for you chassis steering brakes and the m traction control.
Back to the button bank, we have a button to make the exhaust louder or quieter, a traction control disable button, an electric parking brake, and the controller for the infotainment system, as you can see lots of carbon fiber trim between the front seats, and a large padded center armrest with more blue leather that reveals a moderately sized storage compartment, remember the transmission lives right there under the center console on the driver’s side.
Personally, I like a disco dash because when we engage or disengage the mode, the theme of the dashboard changes a little bit, and large and central is the gear position, which is really nice because it’s a very quick and responsive gear readout that’s really handy for me at least let me know what you think about that if I press this bc button over here on the steering wheel, we can toggle through some of the auxiliary screens that are going on.
The steering wheel has a very traditional design with thickly rimmed softly padded leather wrapped pretty traditional sport grips up there nothing fancy no crazy series of grips going on here and no flat bottom like we find in some sport steering wheels out there we don’t have any paddle shifters because of course this is the manual transmission model, if you have the automatic you’d find them on the back of the steering wheel but we do have these little m buttons here we don’t have any paddle shifters because of course this On this side, we have volume up and down, which you can use to scroll through tracks using the heads-up display or track forward and backward voice command button phone button, and then controls for the cruise control system over here on the left side.
First, let’s get the 0 to 60 numbers out of the way.
According to bmw, this model should go zero to 60 in 4.1 seconds.
I’m not a professional driver, but I got 4.2 seconds out of this vehicle.
With an 8-speed automatic gearbox, the competition model will go from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds.
a lot of that has to do with the automatic transmission, and we all know that the competition model with the 8-speed automatic and all-wheel drive is going to be the fastest flavor of bmw m4 and it’s going to be well under three and a half seconds.
I have to admit that as much as I love this manual transmission has a great feel to it, I love the shifter feel, and the engagement is great, I do wish that revs were higher.
I think that’s how I’d get my M4, but I really like the idea of all-wheel drive in this vehicle because it makes the power more accessible and it also means that things will be a little bit easier to drive in inclement weather when things get a little bit hairy because the rear axle is definitely a little bit lively and if you have all of the electronic nannies on it definitely needs to cut in on surfaces like that in that corner right there definitely keep t The all-wheel drive system distinguishes the car from the Audi RS5.
In terms of competition, according to Mercedes, the c63 will go 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, while the rs5 will go 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, according to Audi.
In reality, all three of these vehicles will be very close together and all three will be absolutely excellent performance machines, but they all have a slightly different character this is the only one in this trio to offer a manual transmission.
The entire engine is in front of the front axle, and while Audi has done an excellent job of balancing the weight as much as possible in the rs5, there are still times when it feels a little bit more front heavy and less willing to change direction than the m4 or, of course, the c63, but again, Audi has done an excellent job with that drivetrain, and all three of these vehicles are very good vehicles.
One of the ways that Audi has helped move weight to the rear is by using a smaller displacement v6 engine rather than a larger v8 because obviously the bigger the engine, having it entirely in front of the front axle, is going to send more weight up front and that new 2.9 liter turbocharged six pulls some of that weight towards the rear but back to the m4 this model went 60 to zero in 105 feet which is an excellent stopping distance keep in mind that my performance testimonies are based on On the downside, thanks to the electric power steering system, there’s not a whole lot of front steering feel going on here it’s a little bit video gamey you can of course change the effort on the screen here you can adjust it between regular and sport mode.
The ride quality in this generation m4 surprised me.
Right now, I’m in comfort mode, and the road surface isn’t terribly well paved, so this is very comfortable.
I don’t find the upgraded seats terribly comfortable, so I’d just get the base seats in the m4, but the ride quality in this m is absolutely excellent.
Obviously, if you want a more compliant ride, you can get something along the lines of a m340i, which is going to be Aside from the expense of repair, one disadvantage of the large tires on this model is cabin noise, notably road noise, which I measured at 73 and a half decibels at 50 mph, which is comparable to the c63 amg.
It’s also quite noisy thanks to those wide tires, but this is definitely going to be louder than other flavors of the 4 series convertible with the regular engine lineup included when it comes to fuel economy, well obviously that’s going to depend on how you’re driving the m4 i’ve been averaging about 18 miles per gallon over a week of mixed driving, which I think is actually a pretty good score for a vehicle like this remember that if you’re out on the highway When you’re driving at around 50 miles per hour, the engine is spinning around 2000 rpm in sixth gear.
One of the ways that bmw gets to that low 0 to 60 time is by giving this a very aggressive first gear and a very aggressive final drive ratio both now it’s time for the tricky question of which vehicle would I buy if it was just based on on-road driving The mercedes-benz 4 liter v8 engine sounds really great inside and outside the vehicle, it is a really really good engine now on the downside that engine is paired with the mercedes nine speed mct transmission it is a really really good engine now on the downside that engine is paired with the mercedes nine speed mct transmission it is a really really good engine now on the downside that engine is paired with the mercedes nine speed mct transmission Mercedes-Benz jargon for an automatic gearbox using a clutch rather than a torque converter.
A multi-clutch gearbox differs from a dual-clutch transmission in that it has more than one clutch.
A standard automatic gearbox already includes clutches within many of them, and then they add another clutch to replace the torque converter, which Mercedes refers to as a multi-clutch transmission.
The mct shifts a little slowly than certain dcts, but not as smoothly as a standard dual clutch automatic gearbox.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the c63 does not currently offer all-wheel drive.
I expect the next generation c amg to do so, but for now, the c63 is only available in rear-wheel drive.
Next up is the audi rs5, which starts at $75,900.
It’s a direct competitor to the m4, but the audi is a little bit different.
The rs5 has a slightly different weight balance that some people may like and some people may not.
Front heavy weight biases make the car a little bit more predictable, which I don’t mind, but if you’re really interested in the purity of driving, you should know that the rs5 comes standard with all-wheel drive; there is no rear-wheel drive version, and it will carry more weight on the front axle because the entire 2.9 liter engine sits in the front.
Let me know what you think in the comments area below, and if you’re wondering why I didn’t include the Lexus rcf, it’s because the rcf, in its present form, isn’t really the most direct competition to these cars.
The rcf is a little bit more like the c43 or the bmw m440i from 0 to 60, but it does have the body modifications found in vehicles like the m4 and the c63, such as the carbon fiber roof, extra flares, and so on.
I love the purity of the rcf, but if I were buying a vehicle for track use, depending on exactly what kind of track use you were doing, the rcf might be my vehicle of choice In my opinion, the steering is better than the steering in the m4, I love the torque vectoring rear axle, and I love the sound of the naturally aspirated v8 engine, but it just doesn’t have the power that we find in the m4 or the c63, and in everyday driving when you’re driving one of these vehicles on the road, I think what a lot of people are going to be interested in is the 0 to 60 performance and the bragging rights that come with it, even