BMW News

    With just months to go before the debut of the new BMW M3 and M4, it’s time to catch a prototype or two testing. This M4 coupe prototype was spotted (striped?) testing recently at the Nurburgring.

    The biggest clues to this BMW coupe being an M4 are up front; the car packs an aggressive front aero kit that goes beyond modifications you’d expect from an M Sport package. The black wheels hide gold brake calipers, which signal BMW’s carbon ceramic brakes, and the rear diffuser sits next to quad-exit exhaust pipes, long a hallmark of the BMW M3. There’s no aggressive rear spoiler, but the camouflage on this car hides a lip spoiler neatly integrated into the trunklid.

    Those gold-painted ceramic brakes are there for a good reason – the next M3 and M4 are going to be  faster than the current model. The next-generation will ditch the natural aspiration and V-8 engine for a twin-turbo six-cylinder that will make about 450 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque — an increase of 36 horsepower and 106 pound-feet over the current engine.

    BMW engineers will continue to make the M3/M4′s roof panel out of carbon fiber, but we’ll also see it on the hood and trunklid to keep weight and the center of gravity low. Total weight loss for this new model is estimated to be 220 pounds; with the increase in power and decrease in weight, the M4 you see here should be able to sprint to 62 mph in 4.3 seconds, down from 4.6. Top speed will be limited to 155 mph, as usual, but unrestricted cars will be able to hit 180 mph, if you can spare a couple of days for jail time.

    Expect the final car this fall at the Los Angeles auto show with full release next summer.––Paul Duchene