[ScullyD]

As usual, I will not post the full review as I encourage everyone to buy EVO, it’s the best source of car journalism in the world.

[Needsdecaf]

Was. Was the best source of car journalism.

Granted, they drove me away after 2 decades and I haven't been back in 5 or 6 years so maybe it got better?

[ScullyD]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Was. Was the best source of car journalism.

Granted, they drove me away after 2 decades and I haven't been back in 5 or 6 years so maybe it got better?

Its the same people who have always wrote for the publication, so what makes it "was"?

[BmwFanBoy94]

Post the full review

[ScullyD]

Originally Posted by BmwFanBoy94

Post the full review

EVO on Apple News and you can get article previews on the Zinio mobile app. Or just buy a copy of EVO.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by ScullyD

Its the same people who have always wrote for the publication, so what makes it "was"?

Harry sold it and left. Hasn't been the same since if I'm being honest. Harris left. Catchpole left. Dan Prosser. Who is still writing there? At least Dickie Meaden and John Barker are still around. Sutcliffe is there now but not a fan, TBH.

Maybe it is still the best and the entire lot has gone downhill? Because certainly R&T and C&D aren't what they used to be either. I was a voracious reader from the start through the late 2000's. Tried to suffer through their failed electronic editions and gave it another few years after that.

Maybe I should try reading it again...

[ScullyD]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Harry sold it and left. Hasn't been the same since if I'm being honest. Harris left. Catchpole left. Dan Prosser. Who is still writing there? At least Dickie Meaden and John Barker are still around. Sutcliffe is there now but not a fan, TBH.

Maybe it is still the best and the entire lot has gone downhill? Because certainly R&T and C&D aren't what they used to be either.

Catchpole still participates in ECoty, as does Sutcliffe, David Vivian, etc. Harris was there for 1 yr in the magazine’s history. Prosser also was only there for a very short period of time. Bovingdon, barker, Meaden, Gallagher, Towler all there.

It’s still the best, even if the best of the UK press is now in many different places.

[uniqueMR]

[yousefnjr]

BMW M3 CS

The CS badge has rapidly become the mark of the very best cars that BMW makes. Now the G80 M3 is available with those expectation-building letters – and it’s another M division masterpiece

BY STUART GALLAGHER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASTON PARROTT

The CS badge has rapidly become the mark of the very best cars that BMW makes. Now the G80 M3 is available with those expectation-building letters – and it’s another M division masterpiece
IT DOESN’T TAKE AS LONG AS REACHING the first corner. You don’t even have to wait until the first opportunity to relish in the straight-six engine’s heady appetite for revs, or its accompanying blend of power and torque that any mixologist would be proud of. No, the M3 CS takes no more than the first dozen rotations of its sticky Pirellis to tell you it is another brilliant execution of BMW M’s CS formula – a formula that has resulted in the last two recipients of such treatment being crowned evo Cars of the Year. No pressure, M3 CS.

Those two previous CS models, the M2 and M5, demonstrated the far-reaching possibilities of recent M cars when the shackles are loosened and the freedom to think about what’s possible is actively encouraged by M’s head of engineering, Dirk Hacker. In the M2 CS we got a sharper, more precise sports saloon. A small gem that delivered blinding excellence in everything it did. A car that could pick apart a road and convey the surface detail and texture back to the driver in a manner on a par with a performance car costing twice the money and wearing a badge that carries far bigger expectations. The M5 CS? Possibly one of the greatest cars we’ve driven. Not only the greatest supersaloon ever made, it’s also a driver’s car that scores top marks in every discipline we value.

The M3 CS, according to Hacker, is the M5 CS recipe refined for the M3, and as with the finest meals, your first taste of the G80-series M3 CS has you salivating for more. Its carbon bucket seat, which has been tailored specifically for the model, sits you on the floor; the Alcantara-wrapped wheel can be pulled into your chest to exactly where you want it. It’s chunky because this is a BMW M car, but not as ludicrously so as its forebears. The M3 CS is not as loud as its predecessors either, despite the fitment of a lighter (by 4kg) titanium exhaust, because particulate filters are sound thieves. But this doesn’t really matter once you’re on the move, because this latest CS has you feasting on its capability the moment you’re sitting down.

It starts with the ride, as is the case with so many of the best cars. Even with the adaptive dampers in their Comfort setting there remains a tautness to how the chassis reacts, yet it also smothers the surface and maintains cabin calmness without a single hint of aloofness. It makes an M3 Competition feel like it needs an edge or two smoothed away or, indeed, the CS’s hard- and software. Within a few miles you’ve nudged the dampers into Sport, which in years past would have required you to either be on a circuit or have a complicated and borderline sadistic relationship with your spine. Not so here.

Behind all this are revised axle kinematics front and rear, tuned to work with new camber settings and new active damper units. The auxiliary springs and anti-roll bars are also new, developed specifically for the CS and optimised to improve steering precision and better manage the lateral forces that are a consequence of the spring and damper changes. The result is a turbocharged M3 like no other that’s gone before: sharper in everything it does, more immediate in its responses, an M3 that feels significantly more dialled-in in every respect.

Fitted with Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres (a Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S is also available), grip feels unbreakable on turn-in as the front axle locks onto the line you’ve chosen, the CS pivoting around your hips with an unexpected alacrity for a car of its size (and bulk – the four-wheel-drive CS weighs 1765kg, 15kg less than an M3 Competition xDrive). Yet it feels organic and adjustable, and rear-wheel driven even when the loads across the rear axle continue to increase and torque is shuffled forward.

With such reassurance from the front end you’re soon leaning harder on it, opening the throttle earlier and feeling M’s active differential hook up the rear, causing it to follow in a symbiotic motion with the car’s nose. It feels like every component is machined from a single piece of complex material, eliminating every millimetre of slack and compromise. Less a sports car developed from a volume saloon, more a finely honed sports car full stop.

While the steering ratio remains the same as the M3 xDrive’s, it does feel more tuned in to the car’s responses, although there are times when more clarity to what’s happening would be welcome. There isn’t the initial sense of connection the best steering systems offer and it doesn’t possess the linear action you want in slow-to-medium turns, especially when the surface is variable. It means you can find yourself taking a second bite at a corner’s entry, feeling for that limpet-like grip to build. But when the road is flowing and the speed keeps coming, the CS changes direction and flows with the kind of accuracy and consistency you’d associate with a car residing in the supercar section of evo’s Knowledge.

Revisions to the rear differential, which are joined by a new oil-cooling set-up for the multi-plate clutch pack that distributes torque fore and aft, provide the M3 CS with a cornering balance that generates so much confidence, whether you’re driving within the limit or starting to explore beyond it. There are simply no surprises, just a reassuring sense of poise and purity that floods over you. It’s like few others in its sector in this regard. Yes, the regular M3 Competition is good, the xDrive model equally so, but the CS is such a step on that it feels like a bespoke car.

Opening the throttle as early as you dare is still not early enough to unsettle the M3 CS, the xDrive and active diff barely breaking sweat as the rear bias drives you out of the corner with grip to spare from the Corsa rubber. Soon you’ll be pushing harder, squeezing the throttle sooner and for longer as you begin to feel movement through the car and your instincts react accordingly. The window you have to work in when it comes to balancing the CS is slightly mind-blowing because it’s such a wide area of operation. Breaching the car’s limits – or rather the Pirelli’s limits – in the dry is not for the faint-hearted unless you have room to manoeuvre, yet it’s as you venture towards its higher limits that the CS really comes alive. The sensation when you nail the perfect apex and feel the weight transfer over the rear as the torque squeezes those tyres into the surface, the inside-front beginning to crest, feels majestic.

The way it takes a stance with all four wheels under equal load, pushing and pulling out of a corner, requires you to remind yourself this car will seat five adults (sorry, no M5 CS-style rear buckets here). And then there is the flamboyance, which when given the opportunity to reveal itself shows the CS to be even more polished and rewarding and satisfying than its Competition cousin.

Put simply, the M3 CS stands out because it feels special in everything it does, regardless of the road or circumstances. From how it steers and rides, via its multidimensional body control that’s rarely fazed or caught out, to how it plugs the driver into the process, the CS becomes harder to fault with every mile covered.

Work carried out to the S58 straight‑six isn’t as comprehensive as the chassis’ workover, the upgrades limited to an increase in turbocharger pressure from 1.7 to 2.1 bar and the ECU remapped accordingly. With an additional 39bhp, peak power increases to 542bhp, while torque remains at 479lb ft. In the lower gears (fourth and below) it’s rapid, throttle response as instant as the front end is reactive, and the speed seems never-ending as it builds. But while it feels relentless, it’s not frantic, rather it’s controlled and measured, in sync with the rest of the car’s behaviour. Higher gears – the auto ’box has eight in total – can generate some lag, not because the engine is tardy, but because its responses are not quite as sharp as those you experience in the lower ratios, yet it’s still willing and more than able to get you in trouble.
The meticulous work that’s gone into the CS makes itself known even before you’ve programmed the M1 button on the steering wheel, the gearbox holding on to gears mid-corner in auto mode and allowing the revs to build on exit before shifting up. Leave it to downshift too and its changes are a match for pulling on the left-hand paddle yourself.
Take a look behind the frameless grille and under the carbon bonnet (the roof, front splitter and rear diffuser are made from the same lightweight material) and you are presented with a sizeable piece of evidence as to the CS’s sharp dynamics in the form of an intricate but purposeful aluminium cross-brace placed over the S58. If you’re inclined to poke around some more you’ll also find the engine mount that’s been redesigned with a higher spring rate to improve rigidity between the engine and the car’s core structure. It’s a car dripping with attention to detail in every area that counts.

Including the interior. There are those carbon-shelled seats of course, which are standard equipment, plus that Alcantara rim and the new dual-screen set-up that was introduced with the mid-life update for the current 3-series. There’s also carbonfibre trim for many of the interior components, and like the M5 CS there’s no centre armrest or storage bin between the front seats, and much to the chagrin of photographer Aston Parrott, no cup holders as a result.

After the M2 and M5 CS, last year’s M4 CSL promised ultimate greatness but failed to live up to the sum of its parts, its changes injecting compromise rather than engagement and thrills. The M3 CS is the polar opposite, with an approach that, like those other recent CS transformations, results in one of the most resolved and exciting cars of its type. The M3 Competition is hard to knock. It sits among the very best in its class, and many will be thinking the £32,000 premium the CS commands is hard to comprehend (which we get). But if you can and have gone for an M3 CS you’ve picked one of the all-time greats. Roll on eCoty?

Engine In-line 6-cyl, 2993cc, twin-turbo Power 542bhp @ 6250rpm Torque 479lb ft @ 2750-5950rpm Weight 1765kg (312bhp/ton) 0-62mph 3.4sec Top speed 188mph Basic price £115,900

evo rating - 5 stars

+ Pure sports car approach to chassis upgrades
- Steering lacks the clarity of the rest of the car

[thebigcheese]

Originally Posted by yousefnjr

BMW M3 CS

The CS badge has rapidly become the mark of the very best cars that BMW makes. Now the G80 M3 is available with those expectation-building letters – and it’s another M division masterpiece

BY STUART GALLAGHER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASTON PARROTT

The CS badge has rapidly become the mark of the very best cars that BMW makes. Now the G80 M3 is available with those expectation-building letters – and it’s another M division masterpiece
IT DOESN’T TAKE AS LONG AS REACHING the first corner. You don’t even have to wait until the first opportunity to relish in the straight-six engine’s heady appetite for revs, or its accompanying blend of power and torque that any mixologist would be proud of. No, the M3 CS takes no more than the first dozen rotations of its sticky Pirellis to tell you it is another brilliant execution of BMW M’s CS formula – a formula that has resulted in the last two recipients of such treatment being crowned evo Cars of the Year. No pressure, M3 CS.

Those two previous CS models, the M2 and M5, demonstrated the far-reaching possibilities of recent M cars when the shackles are loosened and the freedom to think about what’s possible is actively encouraged by M’s head of engineering, Dirk Hacker. In the M2 CS we got a sharper, more precise sports saloon. A small gem that delivered blinding excellence in everything it did. A car that could pick apart a road and convey the surface detail and texture back to the driver in a manner on a par with a performance car costing twice the money and wearing a badge that carries far bigger expectations. [...]

My M3 CS appreciation >

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by yousefnjr

It makes an M3 Competition feel like it needs an edge or two smoothed away or, indeed, the CS’s hard- and software.

The cool thing is that half of this sentence is easily and affordably obtained!

[ScullyD]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

The cool thing is that half of this sentence is easily and affordably obtained!

the dampers in the M3 CS are different hardware configured with the software. So i don't think its that easily obtained.

[Bonziii82]

Originally Posted by ScullyD

the dampers in the M3 CS are different hardware configured with the software. So i don't think its that easily obtained.

I've concluded that the dampening is a massive part of what makes the handling feel special. I'm ~800 miles in...Steering is also very light but communicative, as other have mentioned.

[somer]

So just monoballs and we have the perfect sedan?

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by ScullyD

the dampers in the M3 CS are different hardware configured with the software. So i don't think its that easily obtained.

That's why I said half the sentence.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by somer

So just monoballs and we have the perfect sedan?

I am definitely eagerly awaiting someone putting monoballs on a CS to see what that yields.

[Humdizzle]

it'll be interesting to see how it fairs in the car of the year test. they didn't have too many nice things to say about the CSL and put it in 7th place out of 8 cars. https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=29640178

[ScullyD]

Originally Posted by Humdizzle

it'll be interesting to see how it fairs in the car of the year test. they didn't have too many nice things to say about the CSL and put it in 7th place out of 8 cars. https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=29640178

the M4 CSL got a 4 out of 5 stars in its driven review, and Stuart already said "Roll ecoty?" at the end of this review. I think its a pretty safe bet it will do better than the CSL in eCoty.

Probably the stiff competition will be Civic Type R (which is a manual), GT3 RS, Spyder RS, the 911 ST (if that gets released), McLaren 750s. Not many other cars out there for this year, its not a great release year. Maybe Ioniq 5 N?

[Humdizzle]

Originally Posted by ScullyD

the M4 CSL got a 4 out of 5 stars in its driven review, and Stuart already said "Roll ecoty?" at the end of this review. I think its a pretty safe bet it will do better than the CSL in eCoty.

Probably the stiff competition will be Civic Type R (which is a manual), GT3 RS, Spyder RS, the 911 ST (if that gets released), McLaren 750s. Not many other cars out there for this year, its not a great release year. Maybe Ioniq 5 N?

yeah i can't think of many other new 2023 cars that compete in that price range. RS5 competition would be the closest and the CS probably wipes the floor with that. The R8 GT is new for this year but pushing 250k+.

[ScullyD]

Originally Posted by Humdizzle

yeah i can't think of many other new 2023 cars that compete in that price range. RS5 competition would be the closest and the CS probably wipes the floor with that. The R8 GT is new for this year but pushing 250k+.

That R8 is cool but I don’t see it being included after the other R8 variant last year. Maybe the RS6/RS7 performance?

The Huracan Tecnica would had to be last year and missed out. All the other new supercars were in it last year.

Lotus Emira maybe but it’s reviews from EVO weren’t very good and I think out of deference to the marque, they just left it out of the test so it didn’t lose badly.

[DO444]

Neat,
Now race the CS and the CX, not some carwow shit.

Put Randy Pobst in the driver’s seat and let him do a lap in each at Laguna Seca.

That’s all I want to see.
Get on it Motortrend or I am going to cancel you!

(Use the same tires for crying out loud.)

[willyp]

I just wanna see some Nurburgring times already! Is it faster than the M4 CSL?