BMW’s M Division has come under fire in the past few years, with critics claiming that BMW’s famous motorsport division has lost its edge. However, the month of April should do quite a lot to sway those critics and prove that BMW’s M Division is back in business, as next month will be the US launch of the BMW M2 and BMW M4 GTS.
We drove the BMW M2 a little while back and it proved to be an amazing little car, one that’s fast, highly capable and, most importantly, fun. The BMW M2 is a throwback to M cars of old, cars that tingled your senses more than impressed on stat sheets. While the modern M3 and M4 are great cars and highly capable performance cars, they aren’t the emotional machines they used to be and that’s where the M2 improves over its M Division siblings. The M2’s 370 hp and 343 lb-ft of torque may not sound like world beating performance figures, but they’re more than enough to permit a ton of grin-inducing fun. While the M3 crushes the M2’s 4.3 second 0-60 time, the M2 isn’t just about times and performance figures, it’s about fun and that’s exactly what the M2 is, fun.
On top of the BMW M2, the M4 GTS will be making its US debut next month as well. The fire-spitting track monster that is the BMW M4 GTS has yet to be driven by any of us, or really anyone for that matter, so we can’t comment on how it drives. But the M4 GTS is more about how it can demolish a track with ease, chew it up and spit it back out. The M4 GTS is a monster, and it’s a monster that has some seriously impressive technology. The M4 GTS uses the M4’s 3.0 liter turbocharged I6 engine but, thanks to water-injection technology, develops 493 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. Water-injection is essentially a system that sprays a fine mist of water into the inlet manifold which will then be evaporated, thus lowering the internal combustion temperature and increasing power. The lower temps also allow BMW to amp up the turbo boost without fear of engine knock.
But water-injection isn’t the only fancy bit of tech on the M4 GTS, oh no. It’s packing manually adjustable springs and dampers, which can lower the car by 15mm and manually adjustable aerodynamics, that require allen keys and some elbow grease to adjust. There’s also a carbon fiber hood, titanium exhaust and single-piece lightweight racing seats with a roll cage where the rear seats used to be. This thing is made to eat racetracks alive.
So if anyone feared that BMW’s famed M Division was going soft and that it wouldn’t be producing cars that tingle the senses any longer, fear not. April will bring two cars to the US that show that BMW’s M Division is back in business and ready to melt faces, rock star style.
