BMW’s M3 might have drawn some flak for going the force-fed route initially, but after spending time with it (and slapped with a speeding ticket), there’s so much to love…

Photos: Azfar Hashim

The BMW M3 is highly regarded, revered even, by every driver’s driver. Especially in 4-door guise as it delivers all powaaah, tenacity and most importantly, practicality in one package; which means if you’re single today, get married next month and planned for a kid next year, followed by a second bundle of joy in three year’s time, the M3 can still stay with you throughout. The Coupe on the other hand, was quite the favourite track machine.

In my years writing about cars, I’ve sampled a few Ms; but most notably were the E90 in manual and then later on, the E92 Competition Package with M-DCT. My word, the sheer brilliance of both cars; to the layman, the E90 looked like any other ordinary 3 Series while boyracers in their souped up whatnots assumed it couldn’t handle for nuts; let’s just say every single object were in for a little surprise when egged on. The same with the E92 CP – while the rest of the world thinks it’s a poseur’s car, the amount of grip it possesses down a series of bends is simply mind-boggling. Plus that noise from the sports exhaust along with the V8’s growl makes you want to just take the longer route home from office. Or even scare misbehaving kids…

Which should explain the popularity of M3s. But for some strange reason, the same could not be said of the convertible though; it just lacks the handling finesse, there’s the scuttle shake from the roof and lastly, do you really want to drive fast in an open top? On that note, the 325i Convertible is a good enough solution…

What we have here today is the F80 M3. One glance will give you the impression this is, most probably, a 335i. Scrutinize even closer and it’s a dead giveaway that this is no ordinary 3 Series; you get flared wheel arches on all four corners, highly detailed front and rear bumpers, four exhaust pipes, supersized brakes, big wheels with arch-filling offset wrapped in wide tyres, a pair of stylish side mirrors and weight-shedding carbon fiber roof. All the right stuff you need, well, M were obviously ahead of you…

Inside the cabin it’s no different than the M4 Coupe reviewed before, and that means you get a commanding layout with every control buttons laid closely for convenience. Build quality is definitely worth praising too, which to say the least, remains your typical BMW. The sports seats for both driver and front passenger are supportive, grippy and comfortable all in one; unfortunately you can’t find them for sale in either Courts or Ikea.

Although the rear seats were designed for three passengers, it is best to just fit two back there. If a third person insists, then perhaps his legs needs to be chopped off first for better comfort; you see, the transmission tunnel and air-con vents took quite a lot of space back there. And let us not forget the bootspace, which is another important factor for the M3 – a good 480-litres worth of stuff can be thrown back there.

Power comes courtesy of a turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine mated to a 7-speed M-DCT ‘box. With that combination, power output is a wholesome 425 bhp with maximum 550 Nm of torque available from as low as 1,850 rpm. Zero to hero takes 4.3 seconds, and I kid you not, the journey there in all Sport mode is a racket.

Unsurprisingly, the fellas over at M manage to somehow make this car sound as closely as possible to the V8 of its predecessor with a bassy growl at low revs that turns more melodious as you push it close to the 7,500 rpm redline; just the sort of noise you want while driving late at night along an empty stretch of road. Then along the CTE tunnel, keep it between 4,000 to 6,000 rpm in third and enjoy the exhaust note shutting everything else; a little too teenage delinquent, I agree, but it’s just something you must do here. Oh, and I might just want to add the M3 is best driven with you shifting your own gears.

However if family duties are yours for the taking, rest assured you can tone down the suspension, transmission, engine and even steering setting for everyone in the M3 to enjoy some quality time together. The cabin is well suppressed against engine and wind noise, which is a good surprise for a sports sedan like this.

Handling wise, the M3 dances to all the right tunes, meaning you get grip, grip and more grip even when you go slightly faster down a series of left-right-left-right-tight left bends. The electric steering provides enough feedback and in M2 (selected via the MDM button) mode, weight to give you a high level of confidence.

Safety is obviously a priority here and BMW wants to prevent you from getting into, well, sh*t. The M3 comes with an extensive list of nannies, like – take a deeeeeeep breath – Dynamic Stability Control, Cornering Brake Control, Dynamic Brake Control, Active M Differential on top of the usual ABS with EBD. So you need to be a real nut to ever lose control – well I’ve tried, but the nannies kept kicking in unless I fully switch off the traction control...

As a conclusion, the latest M3 remains the all-rounder that has it all in one good package. Let’s see - a useful boot, practical cabin, brilliant tunes from both engine and exhaust, high level of grip and a host of safety nannies. Pretty much, it still has the theme of its predecessor, albeit with slightly better safety.

With that, I’m off to pay for my speeding ticket; the other thing M3 owners are too familiar with. This here encourages you to drive fast and it’s bloody hard to resist…