Autocar June 22, 2022

HAPPY 50TH, BMW M. Our 20-page look (starting on p38) at ‘the most powerful letter in the world’ – one marketing slogan we’ll happily repeat – is, I hope you’ll agree, a fitting tribute. There are those who point to a perceived diluting of the M brand in recent years, in attaching its badge to ever-larger and heavier SUVs at one end and ‘lite’ models at the other, plus its first forays into electric cars, where it is very much still finding its feet. We’re having none of it. That is business; that is survival. Without those cars, many of which are excellent, regardless, M would become a nostalgic irrelevance – and those cars are hardly the only shows in town. Just as, perhaps simplistically, Porsche builds SUVs to fund its sports…

HAPPY 50TH, BMW M. Our 20-page look (starting on p38) at ‘the most powerful letter in the world’ – one marketing slogan we’ll happily repeat – is, I hope you’ll agree, a fitting tribute. There are those who point to a perceived diluting of the M brand in recent years, in attaching its badge to ever-larger and heavier SUVs at one end and ‘lite’ models at the other, plus its first forays into electric cars, where it is very much still finding its feet. We’re having none of it. That is business; that is survival. Without those cars, many of which are excellent, regardless, M would become a nostalgic irrelevance – and those cars are hardly the only shows in town. Just as, perhaps simplistically, Porsche builds SUVs to fund…

GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED The first-ever BMW M3 Touring is making its long-awaited world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, combining supercar levels of straight-line pace with the familiar comfort and utility of the 3 Series. Arriving as part of the ongoing celebrations for M division’s 50th anniversary, it is the latest addition to the M3/M4 family and follows hot on the heels of the strippedout, track-focused M4 CSL (see overleaf) revealed last month. This is the first time that BMW has applied the full-fat M treatment to the 3 Series estate in seven generations – although it did build a one-off Touring version of the E46-gen M3 in 2000 (but kept it under wraps until 2016). The new arrival will go on sale in September, ahead of production beginning in…

GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED The first-ever BMW M3 Touring is making its long-awaited world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, combining supercar levels of straight-line pace with the familiar comfort and utility of the 3 Series. Arriving as part of the ongoing celebrations for M division’s 50th anniversary, it is the latest addition to the M3/M4 family and follows hot on the heels of the strippedout, track-focused M4 CSL (see overleaf) revealed last month. This is the first time that BMW has applied the full-fat M treatment to the 3 Series estate in seven generations – although it did build a one-off Touring version of the E46-gen M3 in 2000 (but kept it under wraps until 2016). The new arrival will go on sale in September,…

We live in a world increasingly well furnished with electric and plug-in hybrid family cars that will crack 60mph in considerably less than five seconds. Cars that you can run surprisingly cheaply as fleet options as well as private buys – and that won’t earn you disgusted glances in responsible company, like a noisy, old-school, petrol-burning performance option might. Does that leave a lot of room for cars like the BMW M3 Touring? I’d say it does, for a number of reasons, although the petrol-powered fast estate car is clearly on borrowed time. There is pent-up demand for an M3 Touring, after all, given it has always been left to tuner Alpina to satisfy the appetite for a fast version of the 3 Series estate, which it has always done rather well. The…

Heading to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed this week? So are some of the loudest, quickest and most hotly anticipated new cars around. Here’s our quick-fire spotter’s guide to the event’s headline acts. BMW M4 CSL The most potent M4 yet arrives with 542bhp and 479lb ft from its beefed-up straight six, exactly 50 years after the legendary 3.0 CSL. The stripped-back monster will take pride of place on BMW’s stand. BMW CONCEPT XM BMW’s M division will display the concept that previews its first plug-in hybrid and only its second stand-alone production model: the 740bhp V8-engined XM SUV. BMW M HYBRID V8 BMW is returning to top-flight endurance racing 24 years after winning Le Mans. The boldly styled new M Hybrid V8 LMDh prototype will compete in America’s fearsome IMSA Sportscar Championship from next…