There seems to be a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming G80 BMW M3 and potential design. While we know it will have a radical new grille design, one similar to that of the Concept 4, we don’t know exactly how it will look. More importantly, we don’t know if it will look good and, if we’re honest, there’s quite a lot of pessimism regarding it’s potential design. So it’s interesting to see these new spy photos that have just cropped up. (We don’t own them but you can seem them here)

In these new spy photos, we can see that this G80 BMW M3 test mule is closer to production than any other we’ve seen before. So it seems to have its own wheels, not borrowed from another Bimmer, M-style side mirrors and a small decklid spoiler. But, let’s face it, we’re most interested in its front end.

Admittedly, we can’t really see it in these photos, due to the heavy camouflage, but we can see that it does have a lot of ventilation at the front. While we can’t actually see if the grilles extend as low as we’ve seen on the Concept 4 but they’re certainly quite big.

Potential New Grille Design

Personally, I don’t want to hear that the next-gen BMW M3 needs massive grilles for cooling because it will have the same engine as the BMW X3 M and that has (relatively) normal sized grilles. Under its hood, the M3 will be powered by the same 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged S58 engine as the X3 M/X4 M. That means it will make 473 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque in standard guise, with 503 hp in Competition spec.

What’s interesting about the G80 BMW M3 is that it will be the first M car offered in either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive spec. Not like the M5, which has an all-wheel drive system that can be turned off, the M3 will actually be offered as a rear-wheel drive model. That rear-wheel drive standard car will also be offered with a six-speed manual, praise the car gods. However, if you want the 503 hp Competition model, you’ll be forced to get all-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox. Though, I can already see a simple ECU tune offered on the standard rear-drive/manual car to give it the Competition model’s power.

Check out these new spy photos to see how it looks and let us know what you think it will finally look like.

[Source: Car Scoops]