When BMW launched its 3.0 CSL Hommage Concept car a while back, the automotive world went crazy. Whether you liked it or not, there’s no denying its polarizing looks. Love it or hate it, you can’t look away. It beckoned to be driven. The problem, however, is that the CSL Hommage Concept will never be made, nor will its designs ever make it to a production car. Knowing that the CSL Hommage was a unicorn made it only that much more desirable. We all wanted to drive the CSL Hommage.
Well, it turns out that it is a drivable car and CAR Magazine got to drive it. Lucky bastards. With a very restricted speed limit, Georg Kacher was allowed to take the Batmobile for a spin. The doors open wide and the cabin is spacious. The seats are paper thin, the steering wheel is a funky airplane-style yoke looking thing and the interior as a whole inspires racing. The simplistic and futuristic design is a welcome sight in comparison to the button-filled interiors of modern-day cars.
When the 3.0 liter I6 engine fires to life, the side-mounted exhaust roars with the thunder of a true racing car. That I6 also came equipped with two turbochargers and an eDrive electric motor. BMW hasn’t been quoted on power, but that recipe sounds a lot like 500 hp. Kacher wasn’t allowed to drive it quickly, obviously, but he almost couldn’t help it, as even just a quick stab of throttle launches the CSL Hommage toward the horizon with incredible force. The car turns in quick and the ride is firm, as it needs to be considering the precious paint and body work might be damaged if there were much suspension travel.
In the review, the car seems so fantastic that it’s a tragedy BMW won’t build it. It’s such a gorgeous machine with a magnificent sound that it pains us as enthusiasts that it will never actually exist as a production car. The CSL Hommage could be one of the best looking BMW concepts ever, and the fact that not even design cues from it will make it to production is sad.
However, we can take solace in the fact that such a concept even exists. If only we could all be lucky enough to drive it.
