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2024 BMW M3 CS Looks Exactly Like My New Daily, but Why So MSRP-Serious?

Yes, it is (marginally) CFRP-lighter. True, it is stronger and way more powerful. And sure, that means it’s also faster. But come on, there’s a new elephant in the china shop, and it’s not the double-coffin grille!
2024 BMW M3 CS 135 photos
Photo: BMW
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This week has been filled with OEM novelties from across the vastness of the automotive industry like no other initial bundle of days of the year of Our Lord 2023. As such, after last week’s Aston Martin DBS 770 Ultimate, among others, these past seven days brought us stuff like the upgraded Polestar 2 (now with standard RWD instead of FWD, an interesting tuner’s truck, the Porsche Vision 357 tribute concept in honor of the iconic 356 roadster’s 75th anniversary, and a ‘Green Goblin.’

The Polestar 2 sounds quite interesting if you are tired of being branded as a Tesla freak and still want to live a sustainable lifestyle. As such, for the 2024 model year, the five-door fastback EV of Swedish-Chinese descent packs larger batteries with more range, switched from FWD to a brand-first RWD standard drivetrain, and even comes with more power. Alas, I would not necessarily make it my daily, as something about its production location (Luqiao CMA Super Factory in Zhejiang, China) still does not inspire my utmost confidence. Or, maybe, it’s just the fact that recalls are a plague of early adopters, as per tradition – and Polestar was no exception.

Still, as they sell even more vehicles (an 80k target for 2023 doesn’t sound ambitious, but it is), they will also garner more experience. So, next up on my week’s radar was the Hennessey VelociRaptor 600 Sherco Edition high-performance pickup truck. That is a cool Ford F-150 Raptor mixed with a couple of dirt bikes, since Sherco is a high-performance enduro motorcycle brand. Frankly, anything from Hennessey usually sounds neat enough to make it highly desirable – traditionally, because their tuned monsters also provide an enticing soundtrack. Only that on this occasion there is a little bit of an issue with the pricing - $205k for this collectible trio is way out of my bank account’s league.

Instead, the Porsche Vision 357 is just like anything else in the Visa commercial – priceless. Simply because it’s a concept car, of course, and one that will probably never see the inside of a factory’s production line. It’s still a fantastic way for the premium German sports car and SUV maker to kick off the 75th-anniversary celebrations marking the birth of their first 356 Roadster and the beginning of their legendary worldwide saga. This homage might also include clever hints toward the future of regular Porsche sports cars, so I am just going to keep an eye on it, just like the imaginative realm of virtual automotive artists. And so, we reach my final entry onto this past week’s hero presentation list.

2024 BMW M3 CS official introduction
Photo: BMW
That would be the 2024 BMW M3 CS, aka the aforementioned ‘Green Goblin’ because of its green and carbon fiber-black attire, plus my passion for Spider-Man. Yeah, I am not afraid of admitting that I like the friendly neighborhood superhero, even if not everyone agrees on which actor (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, or Tom Holland) portrays it best on the silver screen. Just like I am not afraid of admitting that after all this time, the 4-Series/M3/M4 grille treatment has finally started to grow on me. First, because in real life it does not seem as horrendously double-coffined as in most photos, and second because in the meantime BMW – and others – have corrected some of the styling errors.

Let us take the 2024 BMW M3 CS, for example. This new special edition, a hardcore treatment on top of the ‘regular’ BMW M3 Competition that matches the limited-series BMW M4 CSL with 543 horsepower under the hood, now has enough swagger to take the focus away from the quirky or hideous (depending on your POV) grille. Yep, that flashy paint along with the red touches and all the carbon fiber plus CFRP sure goes a long way toward achieving that distraction. So, the 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six engine was boosted with another 40 ponies, there’s a lighter construction, and some behind-the-scenes unique chassis tuning to make it even more hardcore.

But the Bavarians also promise that once production commences in March, the eager future owners of M3 CS sedans will find out they did not sacrifice practicality or everyday usability. That’s my kind of daily driver, and if they made the G81 M3 Touring in Competition Sport station wagon format, I would have a serious conversation with my financial advisor – aka the missus, about getting bankrupt trying to buy one.

And that’s how we arrive at my one and only problem. 3.4s to 62 mph (100 kph), 11.1s to 124 mph (200 kph), and a standard 188 mph (302 kph) top speed sure sound nice – except the fact that it has a bonkers MSRP. So, the new M2 Coupe kicks off at $62,200 in the United States, an M3 Sedan is $74,300, and even the M5 Sedan has a lighter touch with a $109,900 quotation. Instead, the fresh 2024 BMW M3 CS kicks off at $118,700 without considering destination and all the other fees. Yikes. Now even the M8 Coupe sounds good with its $134,100 asking price, while the mighty (fugly) BMW XM kicks off at $159k. Frankly, I am starting to think that the kids will not mind if we get their hair in the wind and jump on board the M4 Convertible bandwagon since the latter is ‘just’ $89,700!

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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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