Photo: BMW
When the first non-SUV BMW M model received an all-wheel-drive system, there was an outrage. Then, people seemed to realize the M xDrive only made things better, leaving everything that had to do with the essence of an M car intact.
People don't react well to change, especially when passion is involved, and you don't need us to tell you how BMW fans feel about the performance branch of the favorite brand. Still, considering Bimmers were being left in the dust by Audis and their quattro as well as Mercs with the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system, the Bavarians had to move.
Four years later and AWD transmissions have become the norm on pretty much all performance-oriented cars, with BMW making no exception. Even so, both the G82 M4 and G80 M3 were launched strictly in pure rear-wheel-drive form last year, though all-wheel-versions were always going to follow. Well, expect all the drag races you've seen featuring these two to get a rematch after this July because that's when BMW says the M3 Competition and M4 Competition equipped with the M xDrive and Active M Differential will become available.
Like with other M models, BMW promises the addition of the all-wheel-drive system will do nothing to harm the dynamic feeling of the cars but rather enhance it. According to the manufacturer, the cars will maintain a rear-wheel-drive bias at all times, even with the default 4WD setting selected. 4WD Sport will move even more of the power toward the two rear wheels, enough to allow "controlled drifts."
For anything more hardcore than that, the driver will have to engage the 2WD mode where, as the box says, all power is diverted toward the rear axle. Once there, the Active M Differential allows fully variable torque distribution between the two rear wheels to ensure maximum traction in all situations.
The question that's probably on everyone's mind right now, though, is how big of a difference does this make to the two models' 0-60 mph acceleration time. Well, since they're German, we'll be talking about 0-62 mph (0-100 kph), but regardless of the chosen reference, the improvement is huge.
Both the BMW M3 Competition Sedan with M xDrive and the BMW M4 Competition Coupé with M xDrive shave off 0.4 seconds off the time of their RWD counterparts, meaning they'll now reach the benchmark speed in just 3.5 seconds. That's enough to beat both the Audi RS5 (3.9 seconds) and the Mercedes-AMG C63 S (4.0 seconds) on paper, but we guess we'll have to wait until the summer to see how they do in a head-to-head drag race.
Four years later and AWD transmissions have become the norm on pretty much all performance-oriented cars, with BMW making no exception. Even so, both the G82 M4 and G80 M3 were launched strictly in pure rear-wheel-drive form last year, though all-wheel-versions were always going to follow. Well, expect all the drag races you've seen featuring these two to get a rematch after this July because that's when BMW says the M3 Competition and M4 Competition equipped with the M xDrive and Active M Differential will become available.
Like with other M models, BMW promises the addition of the all-wheel-drive system will do nothing to harm the dynamic feeling of the cars but rather enhance it. According to the manufacturer, the cars will maintain a rear-wheel-drive bias at all times, even with the default 4WD setting selected. 4WD Sport will move even more of the power toward the two rear wheels, enough to allow "controlled drifts."
For anything more hardcore than that, the driver will have to engage the 2WD mode where, as the box says, all power is diverted toward the rear axle. Once there, the Active M Differential allows fully variable torque distribution between the two rear wheels to ensure maximum traction in all situations.
The question that's probably on everyone's mind right now, though, is how big of a difference does this make to the two models' 0-60 mph acceleration time. Well, since they're German, we'll be talking about 0-62 mph (0-100 kph), but regardless of the chosen reference, the improvement is huge.
Both the BMW M3 Competition Sedan with M xDrive and the BMW M4 Competition Coupé with M xDrive shave off 0.4 seconds off the time of their RWD counterparts, meaning they'll now reach the benchmark speed in just 3.5 seconds. That's enough to beat both the Audi RS5 (3.9 seconds) and the Mercedes-AMG C63 S (4.0 seconds) on paper, but we guess we'll have to wait until the summer to see how they do in a head-to-head drag race.
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