Maybe some of you have been in this position: you’re in a romantic relationship, and it’s … tumultuous. At some point, you come to the realization — or they tell you during a fight — that although you love this person, you definitely don’t like them. They do so many things that baffle you to death, and almost deliberately annoy you, and make you feel icky for liking them at all, but they have the core tenets of romance so thoroughly nailed that it’s hard to turn away. This was my experience with the 2024 BMW M3 CS.
The CS is a limited production, extra piquante varietal of the venerable M3 sport sedan. It’s not quite as spicy as last year’s M4 CSL, given that it still has some basic amenities that that car lacked, like front seats that don’t need tools to adjust, and a back seat at all. The biggest mechanical differentiation is the presence of all-wheel-drive, which does the most brilliant job of staying out of the way, serving only to enhance performance and fun, rather than act as a nanny-state fun-sap.
BMW’s xDrive AWD system set up to be heavily rear-biased, only intervening when needed. It can be dialed back to even more rudimentary duty via the M3’s M Dynamic Mode, allowing a generous degree of rotation before gently reigning things in. It can be outright defeated, too, if you really want to embrace your inner, tire-ruining hooligan. The kids-at-heart at BMW’s M division know you’re probably going to embark on such delinquent behavior, and as such have incorporated a drift analyzer, complete with all the ridiculous telemetry you could ever need, and even a high score. This car is very serious about nonsense.
Such nonsense is delivered via BMW’s S58 straight-six engine, fed by a big, angry turbocharger pushing more than thirty pounds of boost through its three litres of displacement. It’s tuned for an alleged — because BMW is known for underrating everything, and it shows — 543 horsepower at a lofty 7,200 rpm and 479 pound-feet of torque at 2,750 rpm. It’s suspended on much stiffer mounts, which transmit considerably more vibration to the cabin than the normal M3. However, because of the impeccably smooth nature of the engine, this means vibration and harshness levels rise from absent to minimal.
BMW claims this engine has been tuned for high rpm power, which is difficult to believe, as it seemingly doesn’t suffer at all, still has abundant low-end torque, and is perfectly usable around town. The only giveaways of this engine’s rambunctious nature is the violent shove that begins at 2,500 rpms, and the surprisingly greedy appetite for fuel. I averaged 15.7 L/100 km in my with it, and I wasn’t that much of a delinquent with it.
It comes to life with a loud, furious bwarr before settling into a baritone blat idle. Even in its most mild setting, it accelerates with alacrity and more than a little theatre, fully committed to masquerading that it’s a race car. It snaps, crackles, and pops with every shift in every drive mode, and this is only amplified as you work your way up into the sportier modes, eventually graduating into flat-out violence with everything set to kill.
Despite a sizable weight penalty over the M4 CSL, the M3 CS’ addition of all-wheel-drive allows it to launch just a little bit harder, ripping from zero to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds. The intense power of the engine is perfectly managed by a specially calibrated version of the eight-speed automatic transmission manufactured by ZF. It’s designed to mimic BMW’s recently departed M Dual Clutch Transmission, and it is flawless. It’s snappy and impressively smooth, recreating the experience of playing a video game — it is so good to the point of being surreal.
Similarly video game-y is the handling of the M3 CS. Our tester came equipped with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, which are no-cost option. They enable absurd levels of grip. Even in rear-wheel-drive mode with every assist disabled, you have to be driving like an absolute gorilla to get the chassis to break traction. The steering is surprisingly talkative and pin-sharp, feeling just a tiny bit over-eager with an exceptionally strong, almost springy urge to return to center. Turn-in is immediate and lateral grip is limitless, and the gigantic ceramic brakes provide unflappable stopping power with good, linear feel.
I can’t speak to the at-the-limit handling and transient behaviour of the M3 CS, because I could barely get close to that point in my road test time. It makes you feel superhuman, with fierce acceleration, unbelievable handling, and relentless brakes. The odds of encountering a faster car are close to zero, and there is no reasonable way to get anywhere close to its limit on the street. Just like a race car compared to a street car, it’s on another level entirely.
Race car vibes continue into the cabin, where wind and road noise are elevated over the standard M3, with the sticky Michelins flinging every little piece of gravel against the thinly insulated floor. Further contributing to the race car feel, for better and worse, are the seats. The carbon fibre buckets are aggressively bolstered to the point of being fat-shaming, they’re tricky to get into, and they’re a royal pain to get out of. But they are very comfortable once you’re settled in, and given the lateral forces this car is capable of exerting, they’re a somewhat necessary evil.
There’s no denying they look fantastic too, with carbon fibre backs, big cut-outs for ventilation and a race harness, and lined in black Merino leather with red inserts. The rest of the cabin makes abundant use of real carbon fibre, too, comprising the entire center console, as well as lining the dashboard and steering wheel, which itself is wrapped in Alcantara. There are no cup holders in that carbon console; you only get water bottle cut-outs in the doors. Race car drivers don’t sip cappuccinos on track, and that means you don’t, either.
As much as it tries to be a race car, the bottom line is that the M3 CS is still a 3,900-pound sedan from a luxury brand. Materials are all top notch, fit and finish is excellent, the Harmon Kardon sound system is more than adequate, and you still get a massive panoramic curved display with the newest generation of BMW’s iDrive infotainment, which is slowly growing on me. There’s still a large powered trunk, power seats, excellent climate control, parking sensors, cruise control with lane departure warning, and a full, uncompromised back seat — all the accoutrements you’d expect from a BMW.
It’s loud, it rides hard, it’s thirsty, it demands that you are trim and limber, but it’s just barely on the cusp of being something you could use every day. It’s not that loud, it’s not that punishing over rough roads, the seats are comfortable once you’re in them, and it does have seating for five and a commodious trunk. On day one, I thought this was the most ridiculous car in the world, a fat sedan pretending to be a race car. On day five, I found myself starting to think its daily-driver-race-car-fantasy theme almost makes sense. It clouds your judgment and corrupts your mind.
What doesn’t make sense is the price tag. This is where it all falls flat on its face and crashes back down to reality. At a starting price of $148,000, it is almost sixty grand more than an M3 Competition; our test car, with its Signal Green paint and optional carbon ceramic brakes, rang up to $162,900 as-tested, putting it very deep into Porsche territory. But BMW can do that, because they’re BMW. They’re that good, and they know it. Only 72 cars are allotted for Canada out of a worldwide run of 1,000 examples, and they’re all spoken for already, so clearly, the M3 CS makes enough sense to some people.
The 2024 BMW M3 CS is stupid, outrageously expensive, openly anti-social, obnoxiously overstyled, and its track-focused intentions make it deeply compromised as a daily driver, which is all the more absurd because despite its showboaty lightweighting measures, it’s still, fundamentally, a two-ton executive sedan. Despite all of these glaring flaws, the M3 CS stands apart as one of the most memorable cars I’ve ever driven. There’s no universe where I’d ever want to live with it, but I’ll always cherish my week with it. I don’t like it or anything it stands for, but I definitely loved driving it.
See Also
Track Test: 2021 BMW M3 and M4
