Bmw M4 Coupe F82 & F83 - One With The Machine

                                               BMW M4 M Performance Parts: Exhaust Sound

Yet enthusiasts have sent a message to BMW: Keep your mitts off our M3. This is the holy of holies, the sport sedan like no other. Those fans can breathe easy, as easy as the 2015 M3 (and the newly named M4 Coupe) rushes ahead with its new 425-horsepower 3-liter twin-turbo in-line 6.

The previous M3, with a 4-liter naturally aspirated V8, howled to 414 peak horsepower. But with just 295 pound-feet of torque, it was like the high-strung friend who is wild and fun, but often exhausting.

Despite that, some fans have feigned outrage that the M3 and M4 share an identical downsized 3-liter engine block, though little else, with the conventional 3 Series sedan or 4 Series coupe and convertible. In their orthodoxy, every molecule of the engine should trace to the company’s M performance division.

 Black 19-inch alloy wheels seem a must for $1,200, a sinister coup de grâce on these already aggressive-looking bodies. An adaptive M suspension with settings from soft to stiff is also worth the $1,000 upgrade.

 The new M4 is powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight six engine that puts out 425bhp and 406lb ft

 The convertible weighs 1,839 kilograms (4,055 lb), 41 kilograms (90 lb) less than its predecessor. The three-piece retractable hardtop folds in 20 seconds.

But such critics may have missed the auto industry’s message: Downsized, turbocharged engines not only seem inevitable, but they are also unbeatable for their combination of torque and fuel economy. Not only does BMW’s new twin-turbo engine generate 406 pound-feet of torque — remarkably, 111 more than before — but it’s at your service at any engine speed from 1,800 to 5,500 r.p.m.

The engine delivers a surprisingly basso rumble for its size and configuration, but as with many turbo mills, it still sounds relatively muffled and distant.

 This is M division’s variant of BMW’s two-door 3-series, hitherto called the M3. The original M3, the E30 of 1985, was a homologation car created to allow BMW to go Group A touring car racing.

Now have a good look at how the M4 Coupe looks in Sakhir Orange Metallic, seen here with the optional M Carbon Ceramic Brakes.

Cavernous air inlets and BMW’s aero-enhancing air curtains dominate the front view, along with a “power dome” hood bulge and lovely exterior mirrors perched on slender dual stalks. A rear diffuser and quad exhaust pipes jut from the rear. A carbon-fiber roof shelters both models, with the M4’s specially shaped carbon-fiber trunk lid adding extra downforce.

 On a backwoods tour of the Catskill Mountains, the M4’s superlative power, balance and brakes made a rousing argument: This is the rare four-seater that truly belongs on a track, including the Nürburgring in Germany, where engineers honed its reflexes. When the rear tires finally break loose around curves, a light flick of countersteer brings the body back into line.