Highly informative video. Was having second thoughts about getting the M4 after hearing that the car is always trying to kill you but you really put those fears to rest. Thanks for making a thoroughly helpful video.
I don't own an M4 but I remember when the reviews came out everyone was getting the traction control light flashing on the dash. I can see how that caused many people, including myself, to see the car as a handful. Thanks for clearing that up. I remember years ago people on the M forums telling me to always keep traction control on when on the street in my E46 M3. For the longest time I listened to them because I thought I was going to randomly spin out or something if I turned it off. But then I realized that none of my previous cars had traction control and I was always fine without it. I can only get this car to slide when I want to, it never surprises me or does something I don't want it to. Granted it's much slower than an M4. So yeah thanks for clearing up the confusion, I hope all M4/M3 owners see this.
Yeah there's so many cars that forums and reviews make you think must be a real handful or that you'd need to be a really skilled driver to be able to handle... but then you drive them and you're like oh its actually absolutely fine as long as you don't drive like an idiot
when i was driving back from holiday in germany a m4 was behind me while i was driving 200km i let him pas my god that thing accerlates like crazy! its very fucking fast youtube does not justify how fast it realy is inreal life!
oh yeah they're really fast don't get me wrong. Just that the massive sticky tyres on them means they're not as "playful" as people make out, that's all I was saying :)
Agreed! People don't understand how fast sports cars in that price range are too. The Jaguar F-Type and Porsche Cayman are insanely fast, but nobody thinks so because they only look at it on paper.
I've got an M235i and I can relate to what you are saying. I drive a lot of the time in sports plus and it's helped me appreciate the car more and become familiar with the characteristics. In sports plus you can slide about but the car will still help save you if you go too crazy with it. I love driving this thing and the longer I own it the more I appreciate it and look forward to driving it. I often take detours on the way home from work just so I can drive it. Getting the back out on roundabouts is fun.
I think the issue is most people don't know the limits of the grip in their cars. The only way to find that though is to take it to the limits (and beyond in some cases). But in order to do that it really needs to be on a track, which not many people do. The light flashing up when traction is on like you say causes a bit of fear and thought of "if it wasn't on would it just swap ends" and breeds the opinion of them being a handful. My M235i settings are everything off in the dry, Sport+ in the wet (had a couple of 'moments'). Cool informative video.
Yeah absolutely. What do you think of the 235 in the dry in relation to how much of a handful it is? That was another car that a lot of people said was really "playful" but that I felt you had to be pretty aggressive to get it to break loose in the dry at all. Obviously in the wet its a different story as always, like you said.
Agreed. Tight roundabout or bend, 2nd gear, boot full of throttle and plenty of steering input and it slides. Other than that it's either just got too much grip (not really a complaint) or I'd have to be driving way too quick or way too aggressively for the public roads to get it to slide. Can see why people opt for cars like the GT86 to drift at safer speeds. Different situation in the wet, not embarrassed to say even a Saab has beaten me off the mark in the wet. All that torque to the rear wheels with no grip and a bit too much throttle input - sat there spinning the wheels lol.
yeah that's exactly what I found. Like you said, 2nd gear round a roundabout loading it up and then flooring it you can make it slide, but other than that in the dry it doesn't want to know. Yeah the GT86 is quite different, although even that has a bit more grip in the dry than people give it credit for (when its warm anyway, if the tyres and road are freezing cold its pretty lethal even in the dry)
Geez! Making me miss my M4 even more! Can't wait to get back home and drive it!! May do a vid also describing the first 6 months of ownership, should be out soon!
"probably some butt hurt M4 fanboy in the comments saying its the best drift car in the world or something..but yeah.....Fuck em" That line made me laugh
totally agree with this. I've never had a m4 but I hate every TC system on all cars I've had. I am much more confident when I know the car will react in a predictable way. TC can cause bogging down in dangerous situations as well as horrible tank slappers. I learned the hard way not to go for big angles on the road. hanging it out on the lock stops is fun until the lockstops aren't enough and you smash your bumper on a grit box. do I blame the car for this. nope. it was a valuable Learning experience though.
Great review. I have a 435d, it was always good in wet and dry. I drove it down a private hotel road with everything turned off in slightly damp conditions, on the straight the back end started to meet the front by 30 degrees when I let off and it came back. This has made me cautious to say the least. I have now had it tuned which is great in the dry but the 730Nm torgue in damp conditions is twitchy with traction turned on and I can only use two thirds of throttle, having watched this I need to get the balls to try it without! I am sceptical though as it was losing traction in fourth at 70mph yesterday in damp conditions!
I know it's 50hp less than the M4 but I expected the M2 to be more 'lively'. You could mat it out of 2nd gear corners and it just stuck, had to be really aggressive with both the steering and throttle to get it to slide and only happened when I did it on purpose. Space savers on the rear are the way forward like Chris Harris' C63 video!
lol yeah its surprising isn't it. I think people forget that most of the people who say it is "playful" are driving it on track and throwing it in at high speeds
MJParker1804 Iv’e had the same experience in the m2. Journalists are always driving on the track and forget that most of us are only doing street driving. To get the m2 sketchy on the road you need to do something pretty stupid. If you drive hard but conservatively there’s no problem at all.
Can you do a comparative video of your M4 and the e92 M3 that you used to have? And if the extra 20-30 grand is worth it to buy a used Bmw F82 M4 over the M3 (e92). With pros and cons Thanks
kinda hard to say because I haven't driven the E92 for a long time now, but personally I'd say the F82 is a lot better yeah. Front end grip is noticeably better even on the road, interior is nicer and more modern, way more torque makes the difference in speed feel bigger than it probably is, etc etc. Whether or not its worth an extra 20-30 grand is hard to say though and depends how much spare cash you've got. In reality 30K is a hell of a lot of money for most people and its hard to justify spending that much more on a car just for a few advantages. But then you could say the same about an E92 vs an E46...
the e92 m3 is irrelevant with cars out like the new mustang 5.0/ or camaro that have more power for less, driving dynamics should be same or better too. 4.0 v8 displacement is now too small to make any real power from a power standpoint.
If it weren't for the ridiculous emission standards of today I'm pretty sure we would have seen an evolution of the S65/85 engines. But instead we got a turbocharged inline six with all of the power and torque right in the middle. The F8x M3/M4 obviously has difficulty putting that to the ground. The E9x is a legend and will never be surpassed.
Very interesting remarks on how the M4 behaves in the wet, thank you! You described what the R8 does in comparison - but what about your GT86? Sometimes I have the impression that my GT86 just really suddenly loses grip on the rear - while in the middle of making a 90 degree turn. And yes - I am not very experienced in driving a sports car...
GT86 is very different mate. Rear tyres are so skinny you can't compare it. Drove one on a skid pan along with my E92 M3. The M is a far better balanced and predictable machine, I found the GT86 more difficult to catch in a slide, but I'm only a novice in the world of drifting lol
The reason why you find it manageable is due to the tyres you have, the moment the tyres wear down or you put non branded tyres on the rear; it’s a completely different story.
Disagree to an extent. Both of these situations are user error, you shouldn't be hooning around a car with bald tires or running cheap tires on such high hp, which is something that would carry over to ANY RWD car and the video was addressing the complaints about M4s specifically being tail happy when you don't want it.
Think people who buy m4s are sometimes people who haven't driven many fast cars or RWD so as soon as they get one they're like fuck my focus doesn't spin up
The trouble with the M4 is it costs lots. So it's a "do I turn DSC off and enjoy the car and risk breaking it" question and most buyers who arguably buy one to brag rather than drive it properly - won't! The M cars are very very good!
It’s not a handful if you are used to driving rwd cars but if you’re coming out of an RS car having never driven an rwd car then i totally understand why one would say it’s a handful.
I've had both and the c63 has a linear torque curve being natuarally asperated, and a lot less torque to be fair. The M4 is far more a drivers car and the c63 is more of an executive muscle car. Both great at what they were built to do but also completely different driving experiences.
Thanks for the nice video man. I've been reading many posts and videos about F80 and F82. I have one question if you don't mind, how would you compare F80 and F82? I always heard rumors said F80 is always better with chassis control and stuff, so I cancelled my order for F82 for now. Have you tried the F80?
Hey @DedicationBlog , have you ever driven the jaguar f type v6? I am contemplating on whether to buy the jaguar f type v6 or the bmw m4....the jaguar has a lot better sound and better look but isn't nearly as practical and the m4 is probably a lot faster...there's no videos on youtube about it really. If you ever get a chance to drive a v6 f type you should totally compare it in a straight line, traction, and other factors! I would appreciate it! Keep making great content!
I would go for the Jag, better looks better sound, is way more fun to drive, very nice interior, and still pretty practical, large boot. Oh and just like the BMW it's comfortable in comfort mode.
AmeriCanonStudios I have driven both the M4 and V6 F-Type and I would have to recommend the M4. The M4 isn't just way faster than the F-Type, but it is so much cheaper. Also, the M4 may have a bit of an acquired taste when it comes to the exhaust note, but it's actually pretty loud. Personally, I just felt the BMW was way more fun to drive, and the Jag seems so overpriced in my mind.
Interesting. I was expecting it to be a wild drift machine given the media i've seen on it. I'm a bit disappointed to be honest. You make it sound a bit tame rather than oversteery and fun. Maybe it has just enough to remind you it's RWD and give you some cheap thrills on the road. Would an M2 Comp be pretty much the same? I'm also considering the new GR86.
Great car great review , its like riding sports bikes "to a degree" loose respect and drive like an idiot you will be eating dirt sooner than you think, Its one thing going fast its another thing handling it.
Hi Chris, what do you use to film your audio inside the car? I've just filmed my first video on a GoPro Hero4 Silver and there is a lot of road noise making it difficult to hear what i'm saying... Your audio sounds so much cleaner. I would appreciate any tips! Ross
The guys with top-notch audio (Chris Harris, Matt Farah) are using the Zoom H4n field recorder, and a wired lavalier microphone. The industry standard for field recorders is the Zoom H4n, and although I don't own a lav mic myself, I've had great experiences with AKG mics... they're inexpensive and sound fantastic. B&H carries the AKG C417 lav for $129. The Zoom H4n has a new "pro" model for $199. You'll be quite impressed.
only a handful if a novice with RWD cars,i.e coming from fwd or audi's quatros ,its a trait of all bmw's for the back to easily go if you want it to ,m4 are much better nearer the limit ,personally i think you learn better driving with RWD ,but thats just me and 35yrs of driving
Best review of a M4 No One else has done this simple test. Not everyone wants to drive sideways around a track. It's weird that 99% of the time m4/m3's are on the road but reviewers always spend more time on the track. I have watched review after review and no one else as stated how is it in the rain. We done, and thanks for the review.
By turning off traction control, unless you have one of them stupid black box things, your fine, be chase most cars turn all that shit back on as soon as you switch the car off, no way of finding out, unless you have a black box, or they data log your ECU
I did have a drone but managed to damage the camera mount and now its really wobbly footage. Keep considering fixing it or getting a better one but I dunno how much we'd actually use it.
That's a good point on the drones. It would be nice to have an aerial shot of the drone following you . .. To the best of its ability. Sorry, I couldn't reply under your comment as I don't see an option to do so from the RU-vid app.
but yeah like I said in the video, in the wet its obviously a lot more slippery. I was mainly talking about in the dry, as most of the comments I've heard about this car being a handful haven't included "in the wet", they've just said its a handful in general.
nothing too juicy lol I just said I was disappointed that in a video titled "BRZ BUILT MOTOR UPDATE" there was only 2 minutes about the motor and then 18 minutes of him chatting about his clothing line and stuff
There were hardly any used ones for sale that were manual, and my other 2 cars are manual so yeah for my daily I figured it wouldn't hurt to have the dual clutch auto
I'm about the body shape of +DedicationBlog and I've driven many 10+ hr drives in the M4 without getting tired. Took me about a month to find a good seating position though
DedicationBlog That is applicable to literally every car on the planet. By saying a car understeers or oversteers, we're talking tendency out of the box.
+jagerx Er, aren't all cars going to understeer if you go into a corner too fast and turn in normally? If you flick it in it will oversteer but otherwise...
Care to elaborate? Which bit in particular do you disagree with and why? Also, how can I have idea what I'm talking about when I demonstrated my points in the video and there's plenty of videos of my drifting this car and other cars on this channel. I'm certainly no pro, but I don't think anyone could say I have no idea when it comes to this kind of thing. I saw you comment on another M4 video where someone said "turn DSC off and enjoy" and you responded with "Why?" ... I don't even need to say anything else to show that you're the one who has no idea what they're talking about when it comes to traction control and slides.
