Bucket Seat: 2021 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe

BMW's first generation 4 Series Gran Coupe proved to be quite a hit worldwide, it was a car that we didn't realise we needed. A niche between a family sedan and a coupe, looking sleek and elegant while still being practical and comfortable for more than 3 people. Fast forward to today, where BMW has launched their second generation 4 Series Gran Coupe, much remains the same in its purposes and boy does it look good! The new four-door coupe captures the imagination with its noticeably enhanced driving dynamics, a sharper design following the BMW brand's new design language, a refined premium feel for its interior and a host of innovations in the areas of operation and connectivity. 

While the BMW press release is long and filled with a lot of information, the key aspects from it are that the car basically comes with everything the current 4 Series has but with added space. The main area is the overall length which is now 4,7 meters long and the luggage space being 470 litres with the option to drop the seats which extends loading capacity to 1,290 litres. The rear seats have a 40:20:40 split, providing the user with the option of dropping just the middle or either side seats for their convenience. 

Engine wise, the new 4 Series Gran Coupe will be getting the same engines as the coupe, but BMW has made mention that a performance version of the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe courtesy of BMW M will be available from the cars market launch, my guess this will be the M440i xDrive, as I highly doubt BMW will be making an M4 Gran Coupe. What I'm keen to see is the all electric version of the car, the i4 which BMW SA still haven't confirmed if we will be receiving locally, it will be built on the same production line as the new 4 Series GC.

The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe is striking in every way you look at it, it is just as elegant as its predecessor and with the bold new lines from the new 4 Series and the large kidney grilles just enhance the esthetics of the car and its overall presence. I cannot wait to see this in the metal as the 4 Series GC is my favourite model from the German brand, pity we have to wait a bit to get details on the local availability and pricing of the car. 

Bucket Seat: BMW M4 Competition Convertible

This week saw BMW unveil the topless version of their most controversial model yet, the BMW M4 Competition. With the M3 and M4 already being acclimatized to the market, there still are some who still get uncomfortable looking at the large grille. Yes it is in your face and rather different from the brand but come now guys, its time to build a bridge, for me and many others, it looks great and the performance speaks for itself so lets forget about your opinion on the cosmetic aspects. Needless to say there was always going to be a performance model of the M4 and thank the heavens because BMW have opted to re-introduce the soft top. I mean, no offence to the hard top on the previous model but if you've ever driven the 4 Series with the folding hard top, you would know how much extra weight is added to the rear when folded as well as the car just not feeling hundred percent balanced. The only good thing I could speak about the folding hard top was that it looked cool while being opened or closed, almost like a transformer but that's about it for me. 

Anyway, lets not dwell on the past and look to the future with the all-new M4 convertible and my isn't she a beauty. BMW say that this is a new generation of top-class high performance sports car for the premium midsize segment. At the heart, the new M4 convertible retains the M TwinPower Turbo 3.0L inline 6-cylinder beast that powers its siblings the M3 and M4 Coupe, delivering 375kW and 600Nm of torque which propels the can from 0-100km/h in just 3.7 seconds! Doing that with the roof down must be another level of thrilling and probably will give new meaning to the term "feeling the wind in your hair". The engine is a high-revving one so you will be able to hear the sweet symphony of the exhaust even better with the convertible. 

Just like its hard top sibling, the M4 convertible will be offered in a host of colours and options for the end user to choose from, which includes all the cool stuff like multi-spoke rims, carbon kit, carbon seats not to mention some great textures and trims for that interior. Standard spec includes three-zone automatic climate control, ambient lighting, hi-fi speak system, plus BMW Live cockpit professional featuring fully digital display grouping, cloud based navigation system on BMW Maps and BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. BMW promises an emotionally engaging drive with this new M4 convertible and I'm pretty sure it will deliver. The BMW M4 Competition Convertible M xDrive will be available in South Africa from the fourth quarter of 2021. Pricing yet to be announced. 

 

Bucket Seat: 2021 BMW M3 & M4 Competition

It's probably the most talked about car/s this year, and for one particular reason which has nothing to do with the overall performance of the car...its about the grille. From spy shots early on, most of the internet came to terms that the new M3 sedan will be featuring the same front end as its two-door partner in crime, the M4, that meant having the large, elongated grille. This news didn't go down well with majority of the fan-boys online though, in fact many of them kicked up a fuss and said how it's ruined the new cars for them, so much so they won't be buying one (whether or not they had the financial means to do so in the first place is up for question). In any case, BMW stuck to their guns and with the official reveal of both cars this morning, it's confirmed, both the G80 M3 Sedan and the G82 M4 Coupe sport the new elongated grille with extends from the top of the bonnet right down to the bottom of the front diffuser and you know what? I think it looks great! Even though I would have liked the M3 to have still sported the original 3 Series front, I don't think its that bad for it to having the same front as the M4, it makes the car easier to differentiate from a normal 3 Series sedan and also has custom shops scratching their heads on kits to transform normal 3 Series sedans into ones that look like an M3. 

I don't want to get into the font end too much because the rest of the car looks great too, with added lines and creases, including a vent just behind the front wheel arch, featuring the M badge of the respective model. The wheel arches are accentuated more stronger than the normal 3 Sedan as well as the rear diffuser, with a blacked our bottom where the four tail pipes are, the rear lights are also tinted in back to give it a sportier look. The roof of both cars come standard with CFRP with two fins running longitudinally along it, obviously to help in aero. The cars have racing inspired extended side sills in high-gloss black and have forged M light-ally wheels, 19" at the front and 20" at the rear axle. On the inside, its very similar to the current G80 interior but with a host of M inspired interior textures and trims to choose from, with optional interior trims in carbon fibre to make the car look more racer ready. There's even the option to choose M Carbon bucket seats with structure-based design, racing functionality and full electric adjustment, with an illuminate M badge integrated to the head restraints. From the looks of things, there are loads of ways for each owner to personalise their car, with so many options available, this is bound to be a unique experience for anyone. 

Lets get down to the business end of things for these new cars now, the heart that powers it. BMW SA have confirmed that we will only be getting the Competition models of the cars, both the M3 and M4 Competition will be power by a six-cylinder in-line motor with signature high revving style which produces 375kW and 650Nm of torque. That is mammoth figures for both cars which translates to a 0 to 100km/h time of just 3.9 seconds! Extra variety in the powertrain offering gives one an authentic performance experience in the new BMW M3 and M4 Competition, with them having an eight-speed M Steptronic transmission and both car offered with M xDrive all-wheel-drive system for the first time. Dynamic Stability Control including M Dybamic Mode and for the first time, integrated wheel slip limitation and M Traction control adjustable through ten stages. The M3 and M4 will come with the BMW live cockpit professional digital display, which displays powertrain and chassis settings which can be individually configured. It also has the M Drive Professional which includes drift analyser. 

Both cars will be launched in the country, next year March with official pricing still be announced but if we would have to have a guess, I'd say bank around the R1,8 million for either of them. Adding the optional extras could easily see that price hike over the R2 million mark. 

BMW also revealed pictures of the official M Performance parts available for the M3 and M4 Competition. 

Bucket Seat: BMW M5 Competition - First Impressions

BMW SA launched its all new M5 in the country about a month ago, the much anticipated super saloon was everything and more than what people expected. Being the first M5 with four wheel drive, it sure did astound many journo's and one would have thought this would be the pinnacle of the super German sedan but in true German fashion, they pulled a trump out, with the new BMW M5 Competition which was relieved earlier today. So whats the deal? Well obviously its more powerful, although it shares its 4.4L M TwinPower Turbo V8 with the standard M5, it has an extra 25bhp power more taking it up to 625bhp and producing 460kW allowing for high revving in longer periods. Which catapults the car from 0-200 in just 10.8 seconds, which is 0.3 seconds quicker than the standard BMW M5. The engine also has specially designed mounts to optimise responsiveness and cornering characteristics. 

Now many might be thinking, why would BMW release the Competition so soon after the standard M5 was launched? Well I'm sure there were many deciding factors to this, with rivals showing their cards with their new models, which on paper look to perform better than the standard M5, Germans being Germans cannot have this so they must have decided to through this one out a bit earlier than anticipated, but thats just my take on it. Don't treat it as gospel, also another key factor would be pricing, while we don't know at what price the Competition will come in at when it arrives in the country in the third quarter of this year, it will be a few pennies more than the standard one. So for some, maybe the bank will only grant them finance on the standard version as apposed to the Competition. 

So, if you had the money, why would you chose the Competition over the standard version? Apart from the performances differences, their are elements to the car that sets it apart from the other. The Competition is offered in BMW Individual paint options, high gloss black kidney grille and mirror caps, exclusive 20" forged lightweight alloy wheels, a blacked out "M5 Competition" badge, sports exhaust system with black tail pipes, BMW look at the Competition product as a new category which in the future will offer the most powerful variants of its high-performance cars as standalone models, we've already seen this in the M2, M3 and M4 Competition. Overall, the BMW M5 Competition takes the standard BMW to the next level in terms of performance, while still having the aesthetics of a modern four door saloon. While figures might be close or less than its direct competitors, we will have to see how it performs to make a final judgement on the car.  

Bucket Seat: BMW M2 Competition - First Impressions

When it comes to "pocket rocket" performance cars, one doesn't look to far from the BMW M2, as it has everything a motor sport enthusiast would need in a small sized performance sedan/coupe. But when the M2 was released, there was already a lot pressure on it to deliver, following in the footsteps of the much praised 1M was not going to be easy and while it did do a great job, many felt that there was that margin for improvement as you could get the M240i and still have as much fun with it as well. Obviously this got to the engineers in BMW and what that transpired to is the BMW M2 Competition. 

Like the M3, M4 and recently announced M5 Competition, the baby in the stable gets a beefed up version of the M Performance variant and boy does it sounds good!  The M2 Competition will feature a new six-cylinder in-line engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology based on the power unit from the BMW M3/M4. So essentially they doing what they did with the 1M, giving it the 3L motor from the M3, tweaking it to suit the M2 frame and wheelbase and all this results to 302kW and 500Nm of torque! The claimed 0-100km/h time is 4.2 seconds which is about 0.1 seconds faster than a standard M2 but a buyer of the M2 Competition would know that you're not just buying this car for straight line speed. 

The car features high-precision CFRP strut and bulkhead strut for increased front section rigidity, a new cooling system, including new front skirt and larger, redesigned BMW kidney in high-gloss black. The car also has a new dual exhaust system with two electronically controlled flaps to optimise noise on them. The cars true potential lies on the track, where it was made for. In terms of design, it might not look that much distinctive to the normal M2 but subtle differences do make the cars appearance more sporty. Like the front angled scoops which help with aerodynamics as well as air intake for cooling. New multi-spoke Competition rims. The large kidney grilles as mentioned before and a fatter rear diffuser which adds to the cars bulky appearance and gives it a more aggressive look. 

The M2 Competition will be available in SA from September this year, no indication on the price yet but be expected to cough out over a million for this one. Is it worth it? Well if you look at the cars it's competing against, the RS3 Sedan comes to mind and the CLA45 which the new one hasn't been released yet, and after this move by BMW you can bank on a CLA45S model coming. But overall, yes, BMW had a good car with the M2, and for those who felt it was lacking, this should be the remedy it needed. The car looks great, figures on paper are great and I'm sure it will be stellar to drive. Love it or hate it, I can guarantee you that order books will be filling up fast for this one.