If you're in the market for a fast Bimmer of the rear-biased variety, you're presented with many choices in the form of M Performance and full-on M vehicles. The M8 sits at the very top of the lineup, regardless of its body style, whereas the M3 Touring is a tempting alternative to the X3 M Competition.
carwow has recently pitted the only long-roofed M in production today against a canvas-top M8 to see which one's faster in the quarter mile, which is a bit silly because we all know the M8 has the upper hand. Or does it? On a very wet runway, it's the M3 Touring that proves faster, clocking a best of 12.0 seconds compared to 12.4 for the V8-powered sibling.
To make things as fair as possible, Mat Watson and Sam Maher-Loughnan switched sides after a few digs to see if either could improve their elapsed times. While it's true that one side was a bit wetter, the more affordable, more practical, and I6-powered M3 Touring once again asserted dominance (12.2 seconds) over the M8 Cabrio (12.5 seconds).
Advertised as the M8 Cabriolet in certain markets or M8 Convertible in others, the punchier car makes easy work of the M3 Touring from a rolling start. Then again, that's what everyone expects to happen when pitting a 4.4-liter V8 against a 3.0-liter I6.
The final segment of the video sees the M models perform an emergency braking test, which ends rather poorly for the M3 Touring. Why, though, did the lighter wagon (1,865 kilograms or 4,112 pounds) lose against the heavier cabriolet (2,100 kilograms or 4,630 pounds)? Given that both are pretty similar in terms of carbon-ceramic brake rotor size, tire type, and tire dimensions, your guess is as good as mine.
Photo: carwow on YouTube
Regardless of which is faster over a given distance and better on the brakes, we can all agree that BMW has a compelling performance model lineup. One could further argue that it's better than AMG's, for Mercedes-AMG has dumbed down the C 63 with a four-cylinder turbo. Although a true AMG engine, that four-pot is better suited to the bonkers A 45.
As opposed to AMG, which uses a non-AMG sixer in the recently unveiled CLE 53, the M division's engine lineup kicks off with the S58 inline-six of the M2, M3, M4, X3 M, and X4 M. One level up, the German automaker's twin-turbo V8 isn't going away anytime soon. Even though BMW has stopped building V8s in Germany, the S63-replacing S68 introduced by the X7 M60i will continue to serve everything from the upcoming next-gen M5 up in the coming years.
How many years? With a bit of luck, it will survive past 2030. In the Old Continent, the 2035 ban on the sale of fossil-fuel passenger vehicles may not be as harsh as originally believed due to e-fuel technology. Zuffenhausen-based Porsche, for example, intends to keep making the six-pot Neunelfer for as long as possible if synthetic fuels become viable by then.
On that note, 8 Series production is expected to come to a grinding halt in 2026 in favor of a new generation comprising the G75 coupe, G76 cabrio, and G77 sedan. The newcomers will reportedly end production in 2033. As for the 3 Series, both the G50 sedan and G51 touring are due in 2027 through 2024. The next-gen M3 sedan is allegedly dubbed G84.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News