BMW is seriously on fire. Not only does the German automaker never disappoint in delivering the sort of cars that we have always liked to see and expect, but every once in a while it throws an unexpected curveball that makes us take extra special notice.
That’s what the M4 GTS is. It’s a pretty bold statement from a manufacturer like BMW; the colouring alone and the choice of wheels is something that many people wouldn’t have expected. But if this doesn’t show us that BMW and its M division is on par with modern trends and tastes, I don’t know what would.
So I was very happy to see that BMW brought the M4 GTS to the Tokyo Motor Show so it could be admired by the Japanese public. And it’s this public who every year continue to buy more and more BMW cars, be them diesel-powered station wagons all the way up to the hottest performance variants.
The GTS is a 500hp circuit-oriented special for those that demand a little bit more. If you’re into tracking your car and you think the stock M4 is a little soft, this is the car that BMW is proposing for you. The wheels are one of the most visually distinctive additions to the car; a polished star-spoke design painted inside with the same Acid Orange used on the front splitter and in the cabin.
And that carbon fiber front splitter is actually adjustable.
While the stock M4 gets a carbon fibre roof, the GTS also benefits from a lightweight carbon bonnet which is vented to help channel hot air that’s passed through the radiator away from the engine bay.
The show car was finished in Frozen Dark Grey Metallic, which really highlights all the lines of the F82.
The hike in power from the turbo straight six is mostly due to a factory water injection system fitted on the cold side of the charge cooler. As you can see above, there was a cut-out section on display so people could see how it works. This system basically increases knock protection while boost is upped, meaning the 500hp can be developed safely and without impacting the fuel consumption and low emissions the direct-injection motor is able to achieve.
My favourite angle of the GTS has to be the rear. Here we see a return to the E46 CSL like integrated trunk spoiler, and the world-first OLED tail lights will probably soon start making their way across the entire BMW range.
Using OLED technology means that the light is distributed more evenly across the lit-up surface, allowing designers to really play around with complete designs and the way each of the elements illuminates. The future is here!
Lots of testing at the Nürburgring, where the GTS clocked a 7-minute 28-second lap, dictated that the car receive a small carbon trunk spoiler to add a touch of downforce and help stabilise the rear end through the faster corners.
The interior is a very special place; you get to sit in hip-hugging carbon buckets (which weigh half of what a stock M4 seats do) and steer with the familiar thick-rimmed wheel that M cars are equipped with. The GTS is strictly a two-seater; the rear seats replaced by a GFRP panel upholstered in Alcantara. If you go for the optional Club Sport package, you also get a half rollcage colour-matched in the same Acid Orange as the rest of the accents.
Top job BMW – this is the sort of car we want to see!
Dino Dalle Carbonare
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Perhaps the best part of this car is that when you're thrashing it around a track you don't see the outside of it. I have no doubt it's very slippery and the aero provides great downforce, but it's not what I'd call a good looking vehicle.
Still, would bang.
How would one bang? Do tell XD
That's pretty rad.
Needs more splitter...
..nawt.
Excellent car and I reckon it looks great. It was never designed to be pretty.
Need more horse power
anthonyu777 Why do yo say that? It's not a Time Attack car. Most people don't even have the capability to wring out 500 HP on a track...
Too much. It should be more E39 M5, less computers, more power and the feeling of the car.
Roman64 anthonyu777 Trust me 500 HP in an M4 will be quite the handful
90nissanS13@my350z lol
Oh I'm fully aware. I'm not the one who doesn't get that. Mr. 777 upstairs is the stud who needs more power.
That gold color is mesmerizing.
awesomefearwave Yeah, totally. New cars should be old cars. Advancement in technology is so lame.
Saw it in person at the show - it is gorgeous!
Love it! Good they didn't throw away the interior to make you pay more, like in other track versions.
OLED looks good, soon lights will be just printed on the body.
Everything looked great until that rear end shot. While functional that wing is just hideous and simply doesnt fit the car at all. And im a big fan of large wngs (own a voltex type 2 myself) Well done BMW sans the rear wing design.
Sandbagged and Tag I don't think he meant that in the literal sense haha.
The original metaphor 'would bang' as in sleep with someone, to love. So in this sense they mean it as acceptance.
Not sure where you're from so I thought maybe the term isn't common for you
That aero, factory water injection, rollcage...
Hats off to you BMW. Thank you for contributing to keeping the spirit alive!
earmenau awesomefearwave Right? It's like if somethings good, why would anyone ever want to change it? Good things should just stay good and always be that way forever. Then when people are in the market for a new "thing", they will have no trouble finding something that's good.
I mean, why waste time trying to build a GREAT thing when you already have a few good things anyways.
Great things are overrated. Just have a showroom filled with good things and let the average buyer make a half-assed decision on something that appears to be pretty good?
Also, all cars should be one color. Probably just a white or something would be PRETTY good. Then put the same motors in all of them and have the buyer just sign off the rights for any of them to perform any upgraded? =-L
i23sonny I remember one of the BMW racing teams in South Africa doing something similar with a windscreen washer nozzle was placed in front of the radiator and inlet. It was banned soon after that.
anthonyu777 Yeah, you can upgrade it on Forza with 800hp!! Have fun.
Man you perfectly encapsulated what I was thinking.
Sandbagged and Tag i23sonny is correct. What I'm saying is given half the chance and all of the money I would buy one, and I would take it home and park it in my living room and stroke its flanks lovingly at night whilst cooing softly into its intake despite it being somewhat of a butterface, because the next day I would take it to the nearest track and thrash it within an inch of its life, again and again, until enthusiasm overwhelmed talent (which sadly wouldn't take long at all) and I punched an M4-shaped dent into the armco. And then I would buy another, and do it all over again.
And that's my story.
I'm still stuck on the E46 CSL. The M4 is just a marketing car....
I can't get past the fact that this is TWICE the price of a stock M4. Have they really added that much more to justify the price?
Roman64 Truth is that it can do more than that. In fact, the car is way
smoother than the big brother M6. Which is faster, BTW.
I normally like M cars but this car is just ugly in my opinion. It looks disproportionate or something.
Kinda boxy in the ass end. To each his own I guess.
Love the idea and bet it's fantastic to drive, but god it's hideous. Perhaps without the oompa loompa orange accents and a better looking wing?
earmenau awesomefearwave technology is taking away the experience and fun in driving. i mean don't get me wrong, tech allows us to make more power from less and provide more luxury, but it's just not good when tech interferes with the joy of driving, the feeling of the car through every turn, through every hairpin. Technology can stay in the interior, but i prefer everything else to be left mechanical. One example of how technology interferes is electric power steering. It takes almost all of the feeling away. At least with hydraulic PS you can still feel the wheels moving and such.
greenroadster Roman64 It's not about the car, it's who's driving it. 500 HP in capable hands...come on man. That's way more power than the racing legends of the past. They're our heroes, and they did so much with way less of a car. I'll let a quote from one of my favorite movies of all time sum it up, "What's steel compared to the hand that wields it?"
https://youtu.be/Pria9I-Ms4E
CJC_Matty Sandbagged and Tag HAHAHAHA!
BMW is not on fire. They haven't made a legitimately good looking car in like seven years.
I like it allot. But I would have carried the Acid orange into the interior more with fabric and carpet of the same color.
I am tired of boring black and gray interiors. Get me excited when I sit in it.
The rear wing is not wide enough to match the aggressive intentions of this build.
The rear diffuser is too understated and does no have enough balance with the front splitter.
@MrMoons *thumbs down*
eejjkk earmenau awesomefearwave Yes lets bring back 80s turbo tech! C'mon...
I'm sure is a great car. Only a car for a world I no longer belong. Age does that to you.
Water/meth injection on a $$$,$$$ car?? Slack engineering is slack..
Imagine this in a set of matching orange TE37
Sandbagged and Tag Is this sarcasm or what
wing looks stupid, should have gone with an updated version of the spoiler on the old E30 Evo.
This cars would looks much better with the orange paint of the E92 M3 GTS...
Awesome! And the water injection bit is one of a kind!
the car was very good
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