G80 BMW M3 Competition RWD Takes Dreaded Moose Test, Passes It With Flying Colors

Teknikens Värld also forced Toyota to update the Hilux twice after failing the emergency swerve test, or elk test, whatever you want to call it. Closer still to the present day, the Japanese automaker came up with a software update for the RAV4 in 2020 after the compact crossover failed the moose test in 2019 due to the late intervention of the electronic stability control system.

Founded in 1948, the magazine has recently put a Bimmer to the test, a very different vehicle from the A-Class and Toyotas described earlier. The M3 Competition, to be more precise, with the ZF-supplied automatic transmission and good ol' rear-wheel drive.

Internally referred to as G80, this generation of the M3 is the heaviest one yet. Finished in a lovely shade of green, the go-faster sedan pictured in the video below features a gross weight of 2,210 kilograms (4,872 pounds). That's 1,783 kgs (3,931 lbs) in curb weight.

It's a hefty beast, and it can get even heavier with the addition of M xDrive. This all-wheel-drive system wouldn't have been possible without the switch to the CLAR (CLuster ARchitecture) vehicle platform, which also saw the switch from a DCT to an automatic box.

Turning our attention back to the Isle of Man Green Metallic-painted Bimmer in the video below, its curb weight is distributed 53 percent up front and 47 percent over the rear axle. Also the longest M3 yet in terms of both overall length and wheelbase, the G80 didn't even brake a sweat on the track, as expected of an M car.

To pass the moose test, the subject vehicle needs to clear the cones at a minimum of 72 kilometers per hour (44.7 miles per hour). The M3 Competition with its bone-stock grippy tires clocked 76 kilometers per hour (47.2 miles per hour), with Teknikens Värld noting zero twitchiness at the rear but slight understeer as well.

Over in Sweden where Teknikens Värld is headquartered, the M3 comes in three guises. There is no base variant with a manual transmission, but the rear-wheel-drive Competition, all-wheel-drive Competition, and all-wheel-drive Competition Sport. All of them use a twin-turbocharged sixer derived from the B58 engine, a 3.0-liter mill that packs a tremendous punch. Whatever the Munich-based automaker says it makes at the crank is only an understatement, for both the B58 and S58 are known to produce more power and torque than advertised.

Shared with the Competition-only M3 Touring, this variant of the S58 develops 503 horsepower (510 ps) and 479 pound-feet (650 Nm) of torque at the very least. In Competition Sport format, torque stays put while power improves to 542 ponies (550 ps).