OUR BMW M4 Competition: It is definitely not pink

It's not quite red. Definitely not pink. A colour that’s as unconventional as it’s brave. And controversial. So controversial I bet you haven’t even noticed the grille. If social media reactions are anything to go by, half the world is screaming about a pink M4, while the other half are marvelling at our design sensibilities. Okay, I exaggerate. The former, vocally screaming bunch are owning the comments section. But nobody, not one, is hating on the grille. Rocket-scientist-genius diversion tactic, to toot our own horn. Not even with the best will in the world can you call the BMW M4 a pretty car. The face. The size of those kidneys. The anger seething out of those nostrils. You could even say the M4 has a face only its mother could love.

What we have here is the mid-life facelift that came in 2024. LCI in BMW-speak – Life Cycle Intervention. You get new LED lights, and super-cool detailing in the taillamps. And then there are the over-the-top details that are retained, a seemingly random but definitely deliberate interplay of convex and concave surfaces that, even after a month of living with it, keeps things fresh, interesting and new. This is not a car that flies under the radar. Not a car that you blend into the crowd with. Of course, Ruby Star doesn’t help with slipping by unnoticed. This definitely is not the car to drive while picking your nose.

The wishlist that blew holes in BMW’s press budget

To start with Ruby Star is not a colour you will find on the standard BMW configurator – this is an individual shade for which your friendly BMW M sales consultant will guide you to another configurator to relieve you of an appropriately wild ₹11.9 lakh. Then comes the fun part. Blowing sizeable holes into BMW India’s press fleet budget. Top of my shopping list is M Drive Professional – a very reasonable ₹2 lakh – which unlocks the M Drift Analyser. This is a software tool that detects, records, quantifies and scores your drifts. What it is not is an electronic drift assistant – it will not make the car drift; it will not compensate for your lack of talent. This measures the duration and distance of the drift, even the slip angle and using an algorithm gives a score out of five stars. I am not sure how the algorithm of the star rating works, but I do know that gunning for five stars is a sure-shot way to destroy the rear tyres. With 523bhp, the question is not whether it will drift, but how well it can be drifted.

I’ve also blown ₹5 lakh on the M Driver’s Package. This is purely an ECU-unlock, no mechanical changes, but I’ve also prudently added the M compound brakes for ₹75,000. You can also option carbon ceramic brakes, but at ₹20 lakh, was an elicit a firm pushback from the press department. More opportunities to splurge present themselves in the form of beautiful carbon wing mirrors. But that’s ₹9.55 lakh so, no thank you. I’ll remain content with the standard carbon roof. I considered the M carbon bucket seats which save 9.6kg, but I chickened out at the ₹8.3 lakh price. Stupid move in hindsight. Speccing the Merino full leather trim in fjord blue/ black set me back ₹4.55 lakh – carbon seats wouldn’t have been that much of a jump, especially because they look epic, though I’m not sure how comfortable they would have been. The tactile feel of M Servotronic steering is also enhanced by the optioned Alcantara steering wheel. That’s a good lakh of rupees well spent.

The delightful engine and powertrain

The 20 more horses massaged out of the S58 3-litre twin-turbo straight-six, compared to the pre-facelift, prompted BMW to say that’s too much for only the rear wheels to handle, so you now get the M4 Competition with only four-wheel-drive. Or xDrive as BMW calls it, which gets three modes: four-wheel-drive; more rear-biased 4WD Sport; and 2WD, which is your drift mode. First things first, the S58 straight-six produces mad torque, 650Nm to be precise and it peaks at 2750rpm and stays flat until 5730rpm.

On road the M4 feels incredibly, inexhaustibly, fast. Performance is devastating no matter what the conditions are. The S58 delivers linear and forceful power delivery and pulls incredibly smoothly all the way to just over the 7000rpm redline, with volcanic torque through the revs. The 8-speed torque converter gets software tweaks to deliver punchy and more responsive shifts. And you can ramp up the aggression via the multi-stage Drivelogic gearbox settings – D1 through D3 and S1 through S3 – activated via either the infotainment or little buttons on the gear lever.

I’m being honest. There is a sport exhaust button, but that doesn’t make things loud enough. With everything in max-attack mode, it does get better with some gratuitous pops and bangs that are liberally piped into the cabin. I’d spend good money on optioning a sport exhaust, except BMW M doesn’t offer one for the M4.

A drift analyser, and an excuse to use it

With the engine, suspension, my pants, even the brakes in the sportiest mode (you can even toggle brake feel and sensitivity between comfort and sport), and we take to our rooftop drift pad at the Amanora Mall in Pune. It makes overwhelming grip from the 20-inch rear Michelins an absolute piece of cake – there’s no need for any violence, scandi-flicks, or even crying about the lack of a manual handbrake. Kick the throttle, and you’re immediately sideways. And if you do it smoothly, you have a smooth transition to oversteer. Now that we have it sideways, this is where the active M rear differential comes in. What it does is lock the rear axle to keep both rear wheels spinning together, giving the slide stability and controllability. Instead of one wheel lighting up and killing momentum, the diff keeps the drift going and balanced.

That’s why the drifts you (probably) saw in our Instagram Driftmas video look so smooth; not scrappy. As for my drift score, weirdly, my 3.5 star drift had a longer drift angle than my 4.5 star drift. Much like the Instagram algorithm, the M Drift algo is a mystery. And with that, we exit our drift pad and hit the road.

On the Road: taming the beast

First impression is that the ride quality is not bad at all. The suspension has received a thorough reworking, with M-specific springs, adaptive dampers and kinematics. Making it noticeably better on our murderous roads, which make even moderately stiff cars borderline unusable. And in that environment, I can confidently confirm you can use the M4 Comp as a daily driver. You will, of course have to scan the road more times a second than the ADAS, which I did not option on this car. You will still have to slow down for every road imperfection and crab nasty speed breakers, as I did for the month I had the car with me. But it’s not brutal. The adaptive dampers, when left in comfort, really do work well.

Now 2WD and that drift analyser is best left to closed locations. On the road, if you’re in the mood for it, there’s 4WD Sport and its adjustable traction settings activated via the infotainment screen; not having a rotary knob to adjust traction settings like on the previous-gen AMG GT-R is a massive missed trick (and opportunity to cash in on the options). This 4WD system is not a front-biased pull system but a rear-led push system, employing a multi-plate clutch to vary front axle drive, and at the back you’ve got the active diff we’ve already experienced working a charm.

There’s so much torque the tail will step out easily, but the front axle can feed in just enough drive to pull you out of the slide if you’re running out of talent. That gives the M4 a safety net, which – with 523bhp – you really do need on the road. Understeer? There’s nothing. Killing the rear tyres is a breeze. Killing the front tyres, you have to be driving like a moron to scrub that. You will also notice the torsional stiffness of the M4’s structure. From the very first corner, the very first time you turn the steering wheel, there’s terrific response, giving confidence to place it accurately and carry a lot of speed through bends. Leave the suspension in comfort, and you notice the body stays firmly supported. Sport Plus is best left to the race track but in Sport, on undulating roads, it works very well to keep the big, heavy body keyed into the road.

Does it feel fast?

Does the M4 feel fast? What a ridiculous question! Anyways, scientific road testing calls for a launch control run, activating which is a bit counterintuitive. You put it in max attack mode, brake torque it and no launch control indication comes on. What you need to do is switch off traction control (a scary thought with 650Nm), then you brake torque it and, oh my word! With four-wheel-drive traction, none of the 523 horses is left lazing. 0-100kmph takes 3.5 seconds, 0-200kmph takes 11.8 seconds, and this car will go all the way up to 290kmph because of the M Driver’s Package.

Conclusion

How heavy? 1850kg. And it can’t totally disguise the 1.8 tonnes or its 4.8 metre length. It feels big and to an extent, heavy. You get distinct old-school muscle car vibes. But it definitely doesn’t feel like a 911. Despite how entertaining the M4 is, even the base 911 Carrera feels more finely tuned; more of a purpose-built sports car; clearly one level higher for finesse and feedback. But with the M4 you have two proper rear seats, you save ₹60 lakh, you will get to 100kmph a wee bit faster, and you can drift it like you cannot even contemplate on the 911. The M4 is a bit of a brute, an intent advertised in no uncertain terms by the emotionally burdened face. Not that you would have noticed. Because… Ruby Star