The BMW M4 has been spied at close range in public, giving us our most detailed look yet at the replacement for the two-door BMW M3.
Spotted in Germany by CarAdvice’s spy photographers finished in Sakhir Orange, the BMW M4 Coupe has only light camouflage on its bonnet bulge, fender vents, wing mirrors, side skirts, rear bumper, boot lid and what will likely be a carbonfibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) roof.
Following spy shots of the M4 Coupe and Convertible in August, and grainy but undisguised images of the all-new M3 sedan last month, the latest crop reveals a slightly revised version of the M4 Coupe concept‘s front bumper, without the lower lip spoiler and aggressive intake fins.
The concept car’s heavily sculptured bonnet with ‘power dome’ look set to carry over unchanged onto the production model along with amply pumped rear guards, though the stylised rear bumper and diffuser have been toned down.
Still looking the performance part, the spied test car features a quad-exit exhaust and gold-finished brake callipers clamping monster brake discs under black large-diameter alloy wheels.
Confirmed by the German manufacturer in September, the “just under” 1500kg M4 will team a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine with a six-speed manual transmission – with an automatic downshift rev-matching feature – as standard, coming with the promise of “approximately” 316kW and “far beyond” 500Nm. A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with launch control will also be optional.
Up 7kW and 100Nm on the outgoing 309kW/400Nm naturally aspirated 4.0-litre V8-powered M3 two- and four-door, BMW also claims fuel consumption and emissions for both the M4 and new M3 will be reduced by “around 25 per cent” – down to approximately 9.3L/100km and 218g/km.
The BMW M4 Coupe is tipped to join its M3 sedan kin at a twin premiere at January’s Detroit auto show.
