The BMW M4 GTS is the latest entry in BMW’s long line of track-oriented M cars designed to be pure driver’s cars and nothing else. The new M4 GTS is a stripped out, amped up and much faster version of the standard M4 and it’s simply awesome. With its crazy cool orange wheels and manually adjustable carbon fiber aerodynamics, the M4 GTS is the stuff car dreams are made of. However, it is incredibly expensive and costs around double what the standard M4 costs, if you can even get your hands on one of the few BMW has made. So is it worth the price of two M4s? Pistonheads has gone and found out.
Firstly, there are still a lot of BMW fans out there who think that the M4 GTS is just a standard M4 with a body kit and fancy wheels. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The BMW M4 GTS is packed with new suspension and geometry, revised steering, better brakes, manually adjustable carbon fiber aero and a nifty little thing called water-injection. The latter is a system that sprays a fine mist of water into the intake plenum, lowering combustion temperature and allowing BMW to add more boost to the engine without risking knock or detonation. This bumps power from 425 hp in the standard M4 to 494 hp. That’s a big difference. Plus, it has a wicked orange roll cage where the back seats used to be, awesome single piece racing seats with the option of four-point racing harnesses and bespoke Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires. So the M4 GTS is real deal stuff. But again, is it worth the money?
Well, in a word, yes. The standard BMW M4’s largest criticism is its lack of purity and excitement. Sure, it’s a capable thing that’s silly fast and incredibly competent. It’s a great sports car. But it lacks some of the excitement and drama, as well as feel and connection, that its predecessors had in spades. The M4 GTS gives that back to us by having delicious steering feel that’s more accurate and dripping with feedback and by being incredibly exciting.
Then there’s the noise. We’ve heard the M4 GTS before and it sounds wickedly evil in the best possible way (which is fitting given the name of its Style 666 M Wheels). It’s also incredibly loud, as BMW has taken all of the exhaust trickery off for GTS duty and removed quite a bit of sound deadening in the cabin, so you hear that straight-six scream in all of its glory. More importantly, though, is that there’s no speaker augmentation going on in the GTS. What you hear is pure mechanical fury.
There’s also the speed, as the GTS is far more rapid than the standard M4 and is probably too quick for public roads. It’s also very stiff and not all that comfortable. But that’s the idea, the experience of owning such a capable track car that fills its owner with excitement. If you want comfy, go buy a 7 Series. The BMW M4 GTS is dedicated to those who don’t want comfy and want to compromise comfort in the name of speed and handling. It’s for the people who want something that thrills them before they even thumb the start button. And once they have, they can drive it to the track, kick everyone’s ass and drive it home. It’s that kind of car. So add in the fact that it brings every ounce of purity that previous track-ready M cars have had and you have a car that’s worth every bit of its six-figure price tag. Now where do I sign, BMW?
