FIRST DRIVES NEW CARS TESTED AND RATED
BMW M3 CS
The five-star M5 CS is a tough act for this new hot 3 Series variant to follow
TESTED 5.6.23, OXFORDSHIRE ON SALE NOW
Which way is the new BMW M3 CS going to go? Its bigger brother, the M5 CS, is perhaps the greatest M car of the current era, a supersaloon that set new performance standards while retaining everyday usability. On that basis, much the same recipe in a smaller package opens up a path for another modern great to emerge. Yet the M3 CS also shares much of its hardware with last year’s M4 CSL, a fine car but not an icon like the CSLs before it, its extremeness neither here nor there.
Rest assured that the M3 CS “is the little brother to the M5 CS”, insists BMW M development boss Dirk Hacker, whose team looked to simply “repeat the philosophy” that served them so well with the bigger car. The only real difference, he promises, is that one has eight cylinders and the other has six. That’s a relief to hear, and you don’t have to drive too far yourself to realise that this is another monstrously capable car that seeks to serenade you rather than scare you.
A disclaimer to start: I didn’t actually get to drive too far anyway, as this was the shortest of first tests in BMW UK’s first demonstrator, covering barely 30 miles.